FreeNAS Setup (hardware & volume setup)

Question

I recently decided to set up a FreeNAS box for my storage needs using a combination of new parts and parts I already have.

First, I'd like some help to pick the correct hardware. What I have in mind is a Gigabyte H61M-DS2 motherboard with an Intel Celeron G540 CPU and 8GB of DDR3-1333 RAM. I plan on using HDD's I already have (3x1TB and 1x2TB = 5TB) and maybe get another 3TB HDD later.

What I really need help with is the setup of the volumes in FreeNAS. I will use ZFS and I'm confused as to what group type to select. I want to utilize the most space possible out of my drives but still have redundancy and not lose any data if one of the drives fail.

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

About drives. You can put 1TB drives in raid5 (if it is for home use). Raid5 is slow on writes but in home use i think that that not a problem. And 2TB drives you can put in raid1. Also i don't think, that nas server need 8 gigs of ram. I know - ram is cheap :) And that motherboard has only four sata port. So, You need motherboard who has at least 6 sata ports. And You can use hardware raid, but i suggest software raid if linux is not problem for You. because software raid is easy to recover... I am not used ZFS, so i can't comment that.