did I screw this up? : make sure to add ‘request:’ before your title

did I screw this up?

hey guys I just tried building my first NAS got an old Dell Optiplex and threw FreeNAS on it. slapped in some mixed hard drives I found on sale and... nothing works right. keep getting errors about mismatched drives and pool failures. also its loud as heck... like a jet engine. this normal or should I start over? lol feeling kinda lost here.

Submitted 11 months, 2 weeks ago by firsttimenasbuilder

hey, don't feel lost, we all started somewhere. freeNAS is picky about drives, might wanna look into that. as for the jet engine noise, maybe try cleaning the dust out if the box is old. could help a bit.

11 months, 2 weeks ago by DataHoarderJoe

Welcome to the world of building your own NAS lol. We've all been there thinking we could just slap things together and it'd work. Matching drives and proper cooling is kinda key. And if you think it's loud now, wait till summer hits and those fans are working OVERTIME haha.

11 months, 2 weeks ago by CableMessMaster

duuuude I had a loud setup too! got told to check fan settings in the bios, did that and now it's a bit quieter. not sure about the drive stuff tho. still learning all that.

11 months, 2 weeks ago by TechieNewb

For the noise, it's all about those fans and airflow. Swap 'em with Noctua fans if u can. They're pricy, but worth it for the peace and quiet. Look for some guides online, plenty out there on fan replacement for old PCs turned NAS.

11 months, 2 weeks ago by SilentPCFan

lol jet engine go brrr. Bet you could use that NAS as a space heater too! But seriously, try reading the manual next time, rocket scientist.

11 months, 2 weeks ago by TrollinStorage

Mismatched drives are a no-go for ZFS, which FreeNAS uses. You need to ensure identical drives for a reliable pool. Look for drives with the same capacity, speed, and cache size. Noise is common in older models like the Optiplex. Consider changing the case fans and check the BIOS settings; sometimes you can adjust fan speed curves there. You might also want to check CPU and case temps—if they're high, fans work harder, hence more noise.

11 months, 2 weeks ago by ServerSage

ah man that sucks! had a similar problem once, turns out mismatched drives can be a pain. try to get drives with the same specs next time maybe? and if it's too loud, maybe look into replacing the fans or moving your nas to a different spot where the noise won't bother u too much.

11 months, 2 weeks ago by CheapDrivesFTW

Sounds like you've got a classic case of mixed drive syndrome, my dude. FreeNAS really prefers identical drives in a pool for best performance and least errors. Check out their forums or the sub’s wiki for guidance on setting up your drives correctly. As for noise - those old Optiplex machines can be loud, but you might be able to swap the fans out for quieter ones if it's driving you nuts.