I'm considering setting up a NAS using an old i3 system that has a bunch of SATA disks and 16 GB of RAM. I believe the processor is 32-bit, which is why I initially looked at NetBSD. However, it seems like most of the NAS solutions require a 64-bit processor. I'm hoping to use this machine just to read and write files over a 1 gigabit network, ideally with around 2 TB of capacity since I have six disks but only four SATA ports. I would love to be able to utilize gigabit ethernet for both reading and writing, but if I can only manage a slower speed for writing, I would still be okay with that. I'm not interested in encryption or any additional servers on the NAS. Is this setup feasible, or do I need to upgrade my hardware?
1 Answer
You might want to double-check your info; all i3 processors are actually 64-bit, so you should be good to go! Your setup should work fine with FreeBSD for a NAS.
That's a relief to hear! I wasn't sure if I needed to look for something newer.