Goondu DIY: FreeNAS

Let me kickstart a new series here on Techgoondu – Goondu DIY, which gives a look at what goondus like us get our hands dirty with. By the way, it’s also disguised as a guide, so if you want to get your hands dirty, keep following these pages!

First off, I’m going to share my experience with FreeNAS, the freeBSD-based, open-source NAS software for turning your old PC or new, low-powered Atom-based PC into a NAS (networked attached storage). Since NAS is all the rage now, why not build your own, right?

Well, actually, it’s not for everyone. If you want storage, then a D-Link DNS-323 or QNap TS209 II, both of which I’ve tried and used, is a better bet. But what if you want to download fast over Bittorrent while sharing your files with your friends online and also to serve the media to your PS3 or XBox in the living room?

Then you need a proper server! This not only offers NAS functions, but also provides much faster BT downloads than the pitifully slow BT clients on regular NAS boxes.

Popular with many DIYers online, FreeNAS is the free software you might want to install onto your server to offer features that are essentially as good as regular NAS boxes. Why FreeNAS? 1) It’s free 2) It’s powerful 3) It’s relatively easy to run 4) It has low hardware requirements. Here’s my experience with FreeNAS… …