NAS Advice needed

[artmaknev]

Everything is ready and assembled neatly inside Lian Li Q25A case, 4 WD RED HDDs, AsRock H77 mobo, i3 2120T processor, 8GB RAM, and 650W PSU. Now the big question is which OS to use?? I heard about FreeNAS, and might give it a try.

But if there is another better option, even if pricy, I am ready to consider it as well, because this NAS will be on 24/7, it will store all project files, and will do daily backups to my desktop PC's 2HDD.

Also, one more option I was considering, since I have a spare GTX470, to make this NAS also a gaming PC, so I will just install windows on 32GB usb stick just like FreeNAS, and whenever I want to play game, will just unplug FreeNAS and plug the windows USB, not even sure if it is possible... or whether its a good a idea to mess around dedicated file storage server.

[Jeff Mottle]

I've used OpenFiler in the past with reasonable success, but got SIGNIFICANTLY better performance with a proprietary NAS. My brother-in-law who is a systems analyst used both OpenFiler and FreeNAS before he too moved to Synology. Awesome hardware, phenomenal support and A LOT easier to administer than either FreeNAS or OpenFiler. http://www.synology.com. I know you have hardware already, but something to consider if it does not work out. I've have 3 Synology NAS devices. Two 2 bay and One 5 bay. My brother-in-law uses their higher end rack-mount devices for some of the customers his company does business with. They range from power companies to Oil companies.

[artmaknev]

Thanks Jeff, I will look into OpenFiler!