FreeNAS Mini-ITX Build, Part One

I recently put together a FreeNAS/ZFS/RAID-Z box to act as a personal backup and file server. My main concerns were price, storage size, fault tolerance, and ease of configuration. FreeNAS and RAID-Z delivered more than I ever dared hope, but more on that later.

First, The Build:

Motherboard: I needed a Mini-ITX board to support as many SATA 6Gb/s drives as possible. The only board I could find to meet my needs is the E35M1-I DELUXE from ASUS, with five internal and one external SATA 6Gb/s connectors. It comes with an integrated AMD E-350 CPU as an added bonus. ASUS discontinued the E35M1 line in early 2011. It might be difficult to find. I was able to get one from Puget Systems for $185.

Case: Like the motherboard, I needed to fit as many 3.5" drives into this case as possible. Two popular Mini-ITX NAS cases came up repeatedly during my search: Fractal Design’s Array R2 and Lian Li's PC-Q25B. I ended up choosing the Lian Li case based on brand recognition and its success in similar builds1. It sports five 3.5" hot swap bays with room for two or three additional drives. $80 on sale at Newegg.

Power Supply: The Lian Li case does a great job accommodating half a dozen hard drives, but it doesn’t leave much room for the power supply and cables. In addition to the space limitations, I needed something modular, affordable, and from a reliable brand. At 5.51" long, SilverStone's Strider Plus ST50F-P fits the bill. There’s a short cable set available if you’re pressed for space. I stuck with the stock cables. $80 on Newegg.

Hard Drives: Dependable drives can be the difference between successful recovery and complete data loss during an array rebuild. A little extra time spent researching will pay dividends. Minimum requirements: 2TB, SATA 6Gb/s, 7200 RPM, from a well-known brand. I went with five Seagate Barracuda 3TB drives. $120 each on sale at Newegg.

Memory: The E35M1-I DELUXE supports up to two 4GB sticks. I’ve used G.SKILL Ripjaws Series memory in my last three builds without a single complaint. Two 4GB sticks is $35 on Newegg.

Data Cables: Several reviews complained about the left-handedness of the SATA connectors on the PC-Q25B’s hot swap bays. The usual right-angle cable would end up pointing towards the top of the case, making cable organization difficult. As such, I grabbed five left-angle cables for $5 each from Newegg. Lian Li must have been reading the same reviews, as the case I received was made to use right-angle cables. I ended up causing the very difficulties I was trying to prevent. C'est la vie.

The Result:

1Similar builds: Steven Blair’s NAS Server and Fortysomething Geek's FreeNAS Build