binger

So I’ve been wondering, What can I replace and still keep the license I paid for? Can I build a new(er) computer and bring in a GPU for Plex? Can I change everything but the boot drive? What if I want to change the boot drive to something smaller and expand the pool with other drives? Basically, where can I go from here?

can’t figure out how to edit the post, but: It’s actually a 500GB drive I think this is just a WiFi repeater, mesh network kind of thing. Came with my router. Meant to say 16TB, what the pool automatically set up as. Would kinda rather have 8TB with the ability for 2 drives to fail, but I don’t know if that’s overkill, and i don’t know how to set it up.

First time computer builder, and first time NAS owner here! I have long wanted to stop paying Apple and Dropbox for storing my pics and files. I have been hanging on to my 2013 Dell Optiplex 3010 since wet stopped using it years ago, just in case I could re-purpose it. I’ve periodically searched around for how to turn it in to a server, but was always discouraged by how tedious and involved the setup looked. I have no computer education other than what I’ve gathered using them. I watched the LTT video and thought “if I ever do this, $99 is a good price to pay to get in on the ground floor”. Decided to buy the license even though I didn’t really have the hardware. My Dell met the minimum specs (just barely), so I started shopping around for the other parts I’d need. I bought a 250GB SATA SSD (overkill for the boot drive I know, but can be used down the road too). I got 3 8TB HDDs on Amazon during an extended Black Friday deal. I then had to figure out how to mount them in the case. I needed a 2.5” to 3.5” adapter tray to get the SSD in to one of the bays. I took out the DVD drive and I found two 3.5” to 5.25” adapter trays to get the other HDDs in to the remaining bays originally meant for optical drives. Needed some SATA data cables, but there were 4 SATA power connectors already hooked up, so was good to go with drives. i didn’t have peripherals to set the machine up and do the initial boot and stuff like that, and instead of buying cheap crap on Amazon, I decided to buy cheap crap locally at a computer store that takes electronic recycling and refurbishes and sells some of it. Got a keyboard and mouse, and decided to see if they could upgrade the 8GB RAM that was in the Dell. They had a nearly-matching 16GB upgrade kit for me, so I decided to pull the trigger on the $17 for that. Returned home, plugged everything in, got to bios and everything was recognized!! Huzzah!! I felt like an absolute pro!😂 I had a great spot in the house for the server: custom cabinet built in the 90’s for tower PC, conduit in the back running to power, and ventilation up top to keep thermals under control. Only problem is it is far away from router. I elected to plug in one of my Xfinity Xfi Pods nearby. It has an Ethernet port on the bottom, and I thought maybe I could wire it up to the server. Followed the installation guide for HexOS, and got things loaded up on the system. Had a bit of a hiccup with deck.hexos not finding the server. I was nervous about the internet connection that I jerry-rigged, but the Xfinity app saw the machine. Being a total Noob, I just clicked around and followed forum advice, and eventually got to TrueNAS Scale on my laptop and connected to the system. Did an update there, a series of restarts, and low-and-behold, deck.hexos suddenly recognized the system!! After that, setup was totally a breeze! I’m super happy with the interface and how easy it was to set up folders for all my family members. Everybody is going to back their stuff up at my house now! Don’t know of I’ll ever fill up 16GB of storage, but I’ll try! Some system details: 2013 Dell Optiplex, CPU: i3-4160 GPU: none, integrated graphics RAM: 16GB-ish, not matched, but very close😃 Storage: SATA SSD boot drive and 3 8TB HDDs (the pool automatically set up for 16TB) couple photos attached. Thanks Hexos team for making EXACTLY the product I needed!!!

Thank you for your help!

Dang! I saw the other two SATA data connectors and they read OPTICAL or something like that, so I assumed they wouldn't work as HDD like the other ones say...shoot. Well, I got the expansion card installed anyways, if there is a glitch with that I'll try the ones on the main board. I ordered some 5.25" to 3.5" bay converters so I can mount the 3.5" drives up top, and a 3.5" to 2.5" converter to put one HDD and one SSD on the bottom. Should be ready to rock and roll by Monday! Looking forward to getting a Beta download invite so I can see if it works :-)

Ok awesome thank you so much for the quick reply! I think I'll wind up getting the SATA3 expansion card that has 2 SATA ports. I'll use one of the motherboard HDD ports for a SATA SSD and get a USB connector so I can get the download from one computer on to that, then plug it in to the NAS setup. I'll use the remaining 3 SATA ports for 4 or 8 TB HDDs for the storage array.

So I looked further back in the forum and saw the reply of no USB boot drive, so it will have to be an SSD that will have to use one of the sata ports, which will necessitate an expansion card I'm thinking...

So I’m new to this whole NAS thing. I saw the LTT video and bought the lifetime license figuring it was a good project to support and try to figure out. I’ve wanted to build one for a long time but have been intimidated by the setup process. I’ve only ever used Windows, so anything else seems hard for me. I’ve also never built a PC, but I know I can, I’m a pretty handy person. I’ve got a 2015 Dell with a 4th Gen i3 processor that I’ve been hanging on to for just this purpose. My plan is to buy 2-4 HDDs to hook up to this system. The motherboard has 2 “HDD SATA” plugs on the bottom right, and there are 2 power connectors coming from the power supply. So I’m confident in my ability to hook up 2 hard drives and slot them in to the provided bays. I have 2 questions though: 1) If I have brand new, blank hard drives, no OS installed on them, will I download HexOS on to a USB drive and boot in to that from BIOS? Will the BIOS screen just pop up when i power on the machine (if everything is connected and working properly?) 2) I’ve seen pcie expansion cards that add sata drive capability. There were 2 other power connectors coming from the power supply that went to optical drives. The connectors look identical to the ones that went to the HDD. Could i get an expansion card and use the 2 power connectors and get 2 more drives for this machine? If so, are there any specifications I should look for with these expansion cards? Thanks in advance for helping this NAS-curious newbie.