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It’s apparent I’ve taken a little break from the HexOS implementation. It’s just that many questions are up in the air, a situation which don’t help me going forward. By writing them down here I try to make the road ahead a little smoother. It makes me being able to focus on one problem at a time. I hope. So here we go: Smb shares possible without installing anything? Separate pool for smb shares? (correct TrueNAS terminology?) Getting my main Windows PC going, for smb shares Delete truesnas_admin account, and create another administrator user? Static IP (realized by DHCP reservations?) Https instead of http? Useful comments are welcome!

New gear? Yes! I’ve just got a Raspberry Pi 5 to play with for a second unit placed elsewhere, with a USB drive for storage, OR as a separate device for implementing Nextcloud. There is a Nextcloud PI OS for this. I even found a wooden case for the Pi, to make it not look like computer gear.

Thanks for the video! GMKtec was actually the brand I considered before getting my PocketNAS. Interesting with a small main unit combined with the external drive case. I might by the way have good use for this video to help me setting up my own NAS properly 😀

So, installed and ready, would it work? TrueNAS dashboard has the answer. Success 😀 Next step would be playing with storage files. After I got the hang of smb shares…

Just one thing I forgot to mention earlier. My SSD chip should be connected to SATA 2 or SATA 3 on the motherboard, according to ipc.net support (Jessica Fang). The one I used, the more easily available is SATA 3 to the middle right in this photo, with the black connector and cable visible. You can also see half of another SATA port just below in the photo, with the other half hidden under the board above it.

By now I feel comfortable opening up this computer case, and here is the pre-installed RAM, top of the picture. The two shiny metal ”handles” left and right of the stick you push outwards to release the stick. New RAM installed, ready to be pushed down, to sit properly. Second picture.

About two weeks ago I mentioned I got a 48GB RAM stick, for a spare or for upgrade at some point. Could I resist installing it now? No. 48GB is the max RAM possible here, and I believe it doesn’t hurt with a little more of it 😉

So, @Dylan , I plan to use it for my files mostly, not a lot of apps on my mind, yet. Files being the regular ones: Digital photos Libreoffice files CD collection ripped to computer as files and played through a streamer. If buddy backup is offered it would seem like a good idea in general, but I wouldn’t be a very good buddy 😉 My storage drives so far only has space for my own growing collection of files. I may put a second NAS in my sister’s apartment for backup and security, and/or(?) some form of cloud arrangement, like ownclud or Nextcloud. Any suggestions are welcome! And my NAS may not end up staying on the shelf in my hallway. I put it there to show it’s not something you absolutely would want to hide somewhere. The white ”box” on the wall to the left is for fiber internet, not yet implemented by me. I use some form of mobile broadband for now. I’ve got 5-6 linux ISOs to play with for storage, as long as HexOS is under development. If catastrophe happens they are only a download away. As I described in an earlier post I tried to establish some RAID10 inspired setup in the TrueNAS environment. @Sonic suggested I try to take away one or two drives to see what happens. That’s what I’m going to do, when I got smb shares ABC in order, and the ISOs are in place.

So @Dylan you said a while ago ”Looking forward to see and hearing about it when you've got it all up and running.”. Well since last weekend I’m running HexOS on my Pocket NAS. I’ve just now realized I would have to catch up on smb shares though, to make it really work. So far no files on my NAS, just running ”empty”. If those cables were tidied up a bit it could well be sitting there in my hallway for good.

I ordered this memory module today. To have as a spare, or upgrade if I feel like it. The Pocket NAS can use up to 48GB RAM. Currently it’s 32GB.

I’ve also read in this forum that there’s an idea that maybe RAID-Z1 is better for Svensson/Mr Jones. He who lives will see 😉

Here’s the TrueNAS dashboard with respectable CPU temperatures, though my NVMe drives aren’t working much yet. When they are fully engaged temperature might rise.

So, when I did it the correct way it looked this in TrueNAS interface. Now, remember I’m not the expert here. I rely on other knowledgeable persons. If what I’m doing is completely wrong, I hope someone will tell me 😉 Anyway, I’m not doing all this with critical data. For now I’m only playing a little. I would only work with disposable files at this stage. I still need to catch up on static IP address for the server, and other things, like backup of OS disk and storage. Life is fun 😉

Now, RAID-Z2 is the talk of the town, in this community, I feel. I’m however not the person that does what ”Svensson” does, as we say in my country. In English it would probably be ”I don’t do what Mr Jones does”. It wouldn’t hurt with another use case, where I’m trying to implement the equivalent of of RAID10 in a ZFS setting. Like a ”striped mirror” or so. I found a TrueNAS forum post explaining about this. After spotting some post online I did exactly as the person asking the question in my linked post did, which was corrected by another member: https://www.truenas.com/community/threads/how-to-set-up-4-disks-with-2-striped-and-then-mirrored.7956/ Member Stephan Hochhaus: ”First I created a volume with two drives and selected mirrored, then I extended the volume with two disks and selected striped. Is that the proper way to do it?” This was answered by member paleoN: ”No, select mirror the second time as well. This will create your striped mirrors.”

As I said yesterday I always planned on using RAID10 for my old NAS build from 2015. My assumption about RAID-Z2 being the ZFS equivalent of RAID10 was corrected by @Sonic ”RAID-Z2 is more or less the equivalent of RAID6”. Now, with my limited knowledge of RAID and/or ZFS I was always fond of the idea of using RAID10. Especially after I sent a question to a Swedish computer magazine years ago, about hard drives for a NAS and talked about my idea of RAID10. ”That’s what I’m using” was the answer I got from the person at the magazine.