What would you have done different?

[Mobius]

Its been a lil while since the beta fully opened up to everyone that has bought a license,

i think it would be a great idea for us to look back and point out what we would do differently for our builds.

For me the big thing would be to have waited for beta 2 or full release since right now there isn't enough i can/want to do.

But that aside

• i never thought about looking into nic compatibility so i would defintely have picked a motherboard WITHOUT a realtek nic.
• I would also just fished for the other 2 14tb drives i had somewhere in storage instead of being lazy and making a mixed pool of 3x14tb + 2x16tb drives.
• I guess another minor thing would have just been not to bother spending the extra $5 on rgb ram if i was just gonna have to jump through hoops to turn off the rgb. (i bought it in hopes of increased resale value if i ever decide to part out this system)

[Mascot]

For me, I would have gotten a second nvme to add boot drive redundancy when installing. It looks like it can be done after the fact via TrueNAS, but it would have been nice to have that set up from the start and not have to risk boot failure from changing it later on. I'll wait for my JetKVM to arrive before I give that a go, I think.

I was generally aware the release would be very limited before I installed, and my mindset was pretty much "just give me a functional RAID5 with SMB shares". It turned out to be a bit worse off than I expected, but it still serves my purpose as a backup for my primary non-redundant NAS (long story).

As for waiting.. Yeah, I would tell anyone asking me to forget about it for 6 months or so, then check up on it again. This is more like an internal development build than a product at this point. It's not ready for any kind of "normal" consumer yet, not by a long shot. They got some money out of this, let's hope they use it well and don't rush the next release.

[markrieder]

Apparently, I had high expectations when I hoped that it would be at a different level of development. At this moment, it's just a nice UX for which I praise, but nothing more. It does not do what they describe on their website. There isn't even a section on beta releases on the forum, and it's the first time I've heard that there could be a beta 2 release. As previously mentioned, the redundancy of the boot disk is of great importance. Support for a wider range of RAID in Hex and pool import should not be missing. Finally remote access, otherwise it's just a brick on the shelf. Don't take it the wrong way, these are just challenges that we believe you will overcome. Keep going turn your vision into reality.

[ubergeek]

Tbh I would have used a better PSU, I will change it in the future " 550watt" but i am adding more cards in the computer to add GPu . other than that i cant think of much more i would do 

[Dylan]

The only thing I would change would have been to spring for the larger capacity drives. Currently at 4x8TB which is plenty for now but if I am going to cancel most of my streaming subscriptions my Linux iso collection is going to skyrocket quickly.

[ubergeek]

In theory could you not add lets say 4x 20tb and then use it for a cold store and move your more active stuff to the 4x8tb as a main pool ?

[Dylan]

15 hours ago, ubergeek said:

In theory could you not add lets say 4x 20tb and then use it for a cold store and move your more active stuff to the 4x8tb as a main pool ?

Are you talking about getting another chassis? My current one only has 4 total drive bays.

[ubergeek]

1 hour ago, Dylan said:

Are you talking about getting another chassis? My current one only has 4 total drive bays.

Oh that's right, I forgot what you had for hardware

[TheCamba]

At the moment, I wish I had played more with TruNAS.  I am finding that as I explore, I am staying in the Admin panel a lot more.  To give credit for the team, I am waiting to see what their next release is for HexOS.  I will probably spin up another computer and play with TruNAS before going all in on my primary PC with HexOS.  I am waiting to fully convert all my data over until there is a definitive 1.0 release.

[Kanucks]

I think I would have gone with a newer power supply. Right now, I'm using an older 1050W Seasonic X-Series, and finding cords for it was a nightmare. It doesn't have standard power connectors for CPU and GPU, so I repined the connectors.

[dinecoj]

There were always bottlenecks along the way. 

At first the HDDs were too loud for my office environment, so I went with SSDs. But 1Gb networking was way too slow, so I went for 10Gb networking. But then due to older motherboard, one of the SSDs was in a SATA 3Gbps port, which reduced throughput. Then one HBA later and we now have full 10Gb connectivity 🙂 

[Theo]

I made the mistake of getting 4 drives but with two different sizes. i have 2x 20TB & 2x 16TB Exos drives.

The intention was to run the 20TB's in stripe for media which could always be re-downloaded. Where as the 16Tb drives would run in mirror for critical personal files. Then an offsite backup for duplication.

In hindsight, i should have just got 4 20TB running in Raid-1, which would have given me ~54TB of usable data with 1 drive redundancy, plus room to expand. I thought i was making a good move with the different pools for the different use cases, but realistically, i've just caused more issues later down the line...

If the stripe fails, i've lost ALL media data, so have to buy a new drive + download terabytes of data...

If the mirror fails, yes only have to buy another drive, but also it's actually somewhat wasted space, as i probably only needed 5TB max for personal use.

Also for content i do have an offsite Hex backup as mirror isn't a backup! i know 😉

[Mobius]

i keep forgetting to hit follow on topics i make 😅
i would defintely have replied to everyone earlier

On 12/31/2024 at 8:07 AM, Mascot said:

For me, I would have gotten a second nvme to add boot drive redundancy when installing. It looks like it can be done after the fact via TrueNAS, but it would have been nice to have that set up from the start and not have to risk boot failure from changing it later on. I'll wait for my JetKVM to arrive before I give that a go, I think.

honestly thats a great idea and way less risky than what i did (grab a $10 ssd from craigslist)
but for now im not keeping anything critical.
 

On 12/31/2024 at 4:08 PM, ubergeek said:

Tbh I would have used a better PSU, I will change it in the future " 550watt" but i am adding more cards in the computer to add GPu . other than that i cant think of much more i would do 

What do you plan to do with the gpu? Im always looking to make the most out of my machine

On 12/31/2024 at 4:29 PM, Dylan said:

The only thing I would change would have been to spring for the larger capacity drives. Currently at 4x8TB which is plenty for now but if I am going to cancel most of my streaming subscriptions my Linux iso collection is going to skyrocket quickly.

This is a big one for sure. Between the premium that more bays cost and the power costs of more but smaller drives, going as big as financially feasible makes the most sense.

6 hours ago, Kanucks said:

I think I would have gone with a newer power supply. Right now, I'm using an older 1050W Seasonic X-Series, and finding cords for it was a nightmare. It doesn't have standard power connectors for CPU and GPU, so I repined the connectors.

Wow how old is that psu? My seasonic from 2017 used standard connectors.

3 hours ago, dinecoj said:

There were always bottlenecks along the way. 

At first the HDDs were too loud for my office environment, so I went with SSDs. But 1Gb networking was way too slow, so I went for 10Gb networking. But then due to older motherboard, one of the SSDs was in a SATA 3Gbps port, which reduced throughput. Then one HBA later and we now have full 10Gb connectivity 🙂 

You got the full experience from the rough to the better to to even better. An all ssd nas would be so nice but man does it sound expensive especially to get storage parity with hdds. I have around 50tb of storage at the moment in hdds active and getting that with consumer ssds would be around $4000 with 1 drive for parity.
maybe once i make it big in life i can afford a few of those 100+tb solidgym ssds

37 minutes ago, Theo said:

I made the mistake of getting 4 drives but with two different sizes. i have 2x 20TB & 2x 16TB Exos drives.

The intention was to run the 20TB's in stripe for media which could always be re-downloaded. Where as the 16Tb drives would run in mirror for critical personal files. Then an offsite backup for duplication.

In hindsight, i should have just got 4 20TB running in Raid-1, which would have given me ~54TB of usable data with 1 drive redundancy, plus room to expand. I thought i was making a good move with the different pools for the different use cases, but realistically, i've just caused more issues later down the line...

If the stripe fails, i've lost ALL media data, so have to buy a new drive + download terabytes of data...

If the mirror fails, yes only have to buy another drive, but also it's actually somewhat wasted space, as i probably only needed 5TB max for personal use.

Also for content i do have an offsite Hex backup as mirror isn't a backup! i know 😉

Yeah sometimes we really do just get too excited and way overthink and complicate things.

[Theo]

@Mobius there’s a setting in your notifications section that allows you to auto follow your own posts and comments! Super helpful.

 

[Mobius]

46 minutes ago, Theo said:

@Mobius there’s a setting in your notifications section that allows you to auto follow your own posts and comments! Super helpful.

 

oh thats awesome i gotta change that asap.
thanks for the help

[dinecoj]

3 hours ago, Theo said:

there’s a setting in your notifications section that allows you to auto follow your own posts and comments

The default should really be to follow posts you write or comment on :S 

[TMB]

I probably would have started with  at least three drives instead of only two. And would have bought a chassis with room for more drives than I currently have room for.

[Dylan]

4 minutes ago, TMB said:

I probably would have started with  at least three drives instead of only two. And would have bought a chassis with room for more drives than I currently have room for.

Preach brother!!!! 😂

I'm already looking at buying higher (more expensive) capacity drives. RIP my $$$

[Mawson]

3 hours ago, Dylan said:

Preach brother!!!! 😂

I'm already looking at buying higher (more expensive) capacity drives. RIP my $$$

You should throw caution to the wind and start by getting a case with plenty of drive bays... Perhaps something like the Sliger CX7302.

(10) trayless 3.5" bays, (4) internal 2.5" mounts, 3U rack mountable x 18" deep, Micro ATX, SFX/SFX-L PSU, color choices for the front panel... its a slick little chassis.
https://sliger.com/products/rackmount/storage/cx3702/

[Mobius]

the sliger defintely looks super slick but i might want more drives bays lol

[Dylan]

6 hours ago, Mawson said:

its a slick little chassis.

I dig it. It's just so damn big, though.

[Theo]

33 minutes ago, Dylan said:

I dig it. It's just so damn big, though.

I'm currently on the Jonsbo N2, though i'd definitely upgrade to the N5 next. Plus with that form factor you get the best of both, 'fairly compact' size, Lot's of drive space, and still upgradable!

[Dylan]

19 minutes ago, Theo said:

N5

That's a sharp looking chassis. I'm going to have to check some reviews as I wonder how loud that thing gets as full HDD capacity.

[Mobius]

26 minutes ago, Theo said:

I'm currently on the Jonsbo N2, though i'd definitely upgrade to the N5 next. Plus with that form factor you get the best of both, 'fairly compact' size, Lot's of drive space, and still upgradable!

im gonna grab myself a n5 too one of these days but it seems so big compared to the n2-4 

[Theo]

16 minutes ago, Mobius said:

im gonna grab myself a n5 too one of these days but it seems so big compared to the n2-4 

Yeah, i was thinking about the N3 originally, but opted for the N2. Not the N5's out, i'd opt for that over the N3 given the future expandability.