TrueNAS Mini X+ Compact ZFS Storage Server with 5+2 Drive Bays, 32GB RAM, Eight Core CPU, Dual 10 Gigabit Network (Diskless)

My system was custom build from IXSYSTEMS. From the easy to understand initial setup to the boxing and how well they package the system. They also email you as your system progress from the initial purchase to the shipping. Platform: TrueNAS Mini X/X+ Configurations X: Mini X, 4 Core, 4xGbE, 32GB RAM 3.5″ Hot Swap Bay #0 X: 6TB WD RED PLUS 3.5″ Hot Swap Bay #1 X: 6TB WD RED PLUS 3.5″ Hot Swap Bay #2 X: 6TB WD RED PLUS 3.5″ Hot Swap Bay #3 X: 6TB WD RED PLUS 3.5″ Hot Swap Bay #4 X: 6TB WD RED PLUS 2.5″ Hot Swap Bay #0 X: Empty 2.5″ Hot Swap Bay #1 X: Empty My system Truenas has my order for my nas.

The TrueNAS Mini X+ is a thing of beauty. It works so much better than my home built TrueNAS did. I appreciate that iXsystems builds and tests the systems before shipping. While that meant I had to wait a little longer than I was hoping it was great to know it had been tested and was ready for me to put it to full use. Representatives from iXsystems kept me informed along the way, which was very nice as well. This is working great for a family Plex server and storage. I highly recommend this unit.

My QNAP finally fell victim to ransomware, and so I decided it was time to replace it with something else. Ive read that Synology NASs have also had similar security issues that left them vulnerable to ransomeware attacks. So I pondered the feasibility of throwing together my own solution using open-source software, as it is more likely to have better security. iX Systems TrueNAS Core (formerly FreeNAS) has a great reputation in the open-source community, and Ive been wanting to try it. I really did not want to roll my own NAS, although that is entirely possible with TrueNAS, and so was very glad that iX Systems offers a range of products for the home/small office user community. The Mini X+ is, for me, a serious upgrade over my previous QNAP. Plex transcoding should not be an issue for me if I have other things going on on the device at the same time as well. The Mini X+ itself is very well put together and has an excellent build quality, comparable to Synologys offerings. I am an IT professional and I have extensive experience administrating NetApp, Pure Storage, and Equallogic systems. I will say that the TrueNAS software itself is enterprise class, having many of the same features present in storage solutions that cost hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars. Out of the box, TrueNAS supports iSCSI, NFS, SMB, and even s3. One of the features I really love about it is the underlying ZFS filesystem. TrueNAS + ZFS gives you the ability to make snapshots of your datasets, and you have the option of reverting or even cloning the snapshot to a new dataset. This makes file recoveries relatively painless, reducing the need to recover from backup. You do back up your data, dont you? With 5 drives in the mini X+, selecting RAID-Z1 will provide protection for up to a single drive failure. Ive only been using this for a few days now, and the only negative thing I have to say about TrueNAS is that the login to the web GUI is limited to the root account only. It would be nice if iX Systems would, in a future version, allow the ability for other accounts to be able to access the GUI.

Everything was easy to set up with the provided manual and the server came with all the necessary parts, including two Ethernet cables and all the screws necessary for the full set of drives (plus spares and extras), even though the drives themselves were purchased separately in my case. The front door is a bit thinner than I expected, but otherwise the build is sturdy and the case easily opened up for upgrades in the future. Noise-wise, it is noticeable in a quiet room but not distracting unless you turn the fans up using IPMI (might be necessary if you prefer to keep your drives cooler than 45C when active). While the price seems to be inflated compared to what it used to be, I looked up the cost of building a similar product from individual components and it was not much cheaper. Youll probably get a better deal if you go for used server parts, but you wont necessarily get good power efficiency that way and it might be overkill for small-scale/home use. On the software side, community support is widely available on the TrueNAS forums and the like, and I had no issue finding answers to most of the questions I had starting off. I havent put much work into setting up jails/non-storage applications yet, but the configuration I have should have plenty of capability for those, though it wont be doing much high-performance computing work.

Fantastic - zero complaints.

I love this NAS. So many features and there are YouTube walkthroughs to get you all setup.