Sean,   
      
   Friday June 24 2016 20:38, you wrote to me:   
      
    SD> There's a version of NAS4Free for the RPi.  Oh, now you've got me   
    SD> thinking...I have four external hard drives that need to be connected   
    SD> to the network.  Might look at the RPi 3 for that.   
      
    SD> Thanks for the idea. :)   
      
    SD> My wallet thanks you too. *snicker*   
      
   A well built NAS will save many hours of grief if built right by protecting   
   data integrity.  Just remember it is not a backup.  The important things are   
   to use drives made to operate in RAIDed configurations as those which are not   
   may experience enough errors to get dropped.   
      
   NAS4free appears similar to FreeNAS - supports ZFS.   I would recommend using   
   a minimum of 4 drives in a RAIDZ-2.   
      
   ZFS likes memory and you would want a minimum of 4GB of ram to get by (note:   
   recommended is 8GB). If could manage it ECC should also be used for memory.   
      
   If done right will be bullet proof - excluding hardware failures, power surges   
   or lightening.   
      
   I spent a decent penny for my build but it wasn't done simply to fulfil a   
   need.  It was relevant to the type of work I would be doing - supporting   
   storage environments.   
      
   We could talk more in depth if desired.  It need not be expensive to build.  I   
   was tossing out 500GB Hitachi RAID capable drives recently.  Just couldn;t   
   sell them... :(   
      
   Take care,   
      
   Matt   
      
   ---   
    * Origin: The Byte Museum - An IPV6 Capable System (1:19/10)