Following this thread because I need to replace my dying Synology and I'm torn between building TrueNAS or just buying another appliance. The hardware RAID vs ZFS thing is making my head spin. Is TrueNAS SCALE still ZFS-only?
What do you use for hardware RAID at home?
quinnbizz
Member OP
@FallenMoe3 TrueNAS SCALE is ZFS-only, yes. CORE too. If you want appliance simplicity without the ZFS learning curve, maybe look at Unraid? Not hardware RAID either but different philosophy - parity on one disk, others can be any size. Lots of Plex people swear by it.
This thread has drifted hard from "what hardware RAID card" to "why even hardware RAID" to now "what NAS software." I think that proves my original point though.
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@quinnbizz your original point was that "hardware RAID at home" is becoming a misnomer and honestly yeah look at this thread, half the replies are ZFS or mdadm or Unraid, only me and maybe one other person actually running real hardware RAID in 2025
No cap the PERC H710 was free from work e-waste so I can't even say I chose it on purpose
Izmir
Member
I find best price for LSI cards in Turkey from server decommission from TurkTelecom datacenter. Sometimes 25-30 USD but no shipping because local. If anyone needs I can check, but shipping to EU is expensive and customs is nightmare. Better to find local surplus like @kasiaxus said with RackNerd or @PestWarsaw with sztore.
RAJ
Member
@FallenMoe3 Synology to TrueNAS SCALE is a big jump in flexibility and a big drop in hand-holding. If your Synology was working fine except hardware death, maybe another Synology? Or QNAP if you want to feel alive with security patches.
This thread covered most of it already but I'll repeat: for media+backups, ZFS on $20 LSI HBA is the consensus. Hardware RAID only makes sense if you already own the card or you specifically need bootable RAID without OS involvement.
your margin is my opportunity