Can I use this PC to run FreeNAS reliably?
238408
I've been running mine well over 12 months 24x7. Rebooting only with Microsoft updates and when I'm doing things. Hardware has never given me any grief.
2207812
You could definitely do that, but for less tech-savvy users this is very good. Additionally, it is power-efficient, the software is very solid, and set-up is easy. I got one because i didn't want to fiddle with FreeNas. The community that supports the DiskStations is massive, too. In essence, this thing is simlpy a NAS, and a very stable one at that. A dedicated PC like what you mentioned could and would be much more that a NAS, and if you were only using it as a NAS you would be wasting a whole lot of power. Go to the synology website and check out the DSM 5.0 demo. The software that they made for this hardware is quite slick.
1670308
Yes it can run server 2012 with hyper-v. I assume a standard sata ssd would be fine too though I can't say from experience.
1673523
Yes, but you should probably buy a drive more compatible with your workstation, unless you have built a super-balls-out gaming system or media server.
1300888
Yes. I did exactly that when I purchased my Synology NAS. The BlackArmor NAS was a piece of crap, but the drives are fine and the Syno. NAS will play well with them.
1395868
So far, for almost two years, it runs very well with Win7Pro and SSD with 16GB RAM and two 4TB drives (one internal and one external by USB 3.0) to serve as my network file server as well as my VMs (Ubuntu 12.xx and 14.xx) for computations. I never encounter any failure for this MB. Remember to install two different USB drivers (get them from ASUS driver download site) when you set up Win7/8 for enabling all the USB ports.
933957
I have a similar board running pfsense 2.1. Some features are not supported by freebsd but you won't likely need USB3 or fully featured video drivers. You'd probably want a second NIC though.
2246522
I'm running these for iscsi each port at 9000mtu FreeNas to esxi iscsi for vmdk files :)
2053269
The hardware should be compatible. The biggest variable will be the OS. If you are using Microsoft Windows, it'll work. Linux would depend on the distro / configuration (you should be able to get it to work with any of them, but the process is likely to be harder, and getting the burning to work may be non-trivial).
1267395
Yes, but since its optimized for NAS, it will be somewhat slower than a desktop optimized drive.
370703
This is as close to a desktop as you can get with a laptop(well Falcon but pricier). This should easily handle everything you listed. I would suggest a solid state drive as well if you are concerned about power and speed.
489485
I would guess with about 99.998% certainty....no. You will need to back up those drives. I'd say preferrably, you will buy all new drives for this or any NAS enclosure you're setting up. HTH.
438703
it just meets the requirement I have it running with 8 gigs and a 120gig ssd on whs 2011 64 bit. the realtek nic is the problem. may sure you get the win 7 drivers for them first
1430416
No you cannot. This is not a NAS, you cannot use it as a NAS, it has no ethernet port. Think of it as a box with an external drive connected to your PC except in this box you can have up to 8 drives and configure them in some RAID class.
2259009
I use it into a NAS as it is designed to run 24/2h every day. But it should work into a desktop, provided this desktop runs an operating system able to handle 4 Giga bytes disc drive. But in such conditions it is perhaps a bit luxuous to use such a powerfull device.
1429060
Also, if you have an existing FreeNas setup, you can move the drives into this chassis, copy the config over, and have things running on the new hardware with minimal effort.
558269
I use SHR (Synology Hybrid Raid) for ease and simplicity. Behaving fine since I booted it up. http://www.synology.com/products/spec.php?product_name=DS213%2B〈=us#p_submenu