Kernel Mustard

About 80GB into a backup, mah file server rebooted.

Do Not Want. This is bad, really bad if you value data security - which I do. So this is bad.

Applying some perspective this is something like 2000% better now its got a Promise SATA controller, which is a start. And I believe in starts. But I really want to be able to do whole machine backup-restore, as well as large scale copies of media.

Largly, because I've got a media centre PC and want to copy all of my music onto it. Worse than this, I've got a CD collection ripped to 320kbps MP3 that I've now got the storage space to rip to PCM. The magnitude of the task means I only want to do it once, and really want to rinse and repeat with my DVDs for that 21st Century On-Demand feeling. Physical scratchable disks, what is this - the nineties?

So an unstable fileserver is just NOT on the cards. FreeNAS 6.0 has been reliable for years but running on a low spec machine with 500GB bursting at the seams and this new(er) hardware and storage space should be enough to last for years to come.

So I'm about to go back to the log file(s) and find something new to diagnose and fix. All in all, its a bit of a bother. The project came about because I made some assumptions about reliability and stability which I'm still not sure about.

Recycling a 3.2Ghz Intel P4 with a few gigs of RAM as a fileserver seemed like a good idea, and seems like it should be stable enough. Its a known-good PC that served well as a desktop/gaming computer when it was up to the spec, and since being replaced putting some serious disks in it sounded like it would give it a new lease of life. RaidZ seemed like a good idea, FreeNAS seemed like a good idea.

So how come all of these good ideas haven't combined to form an uber-idea? The sum of the parts isn't all that grand and no matter how I look at it I can't help wondering if I'm using the wrongs tools for the job. What should be a really good domestic file server has tecked up until its become a second rate enterprise solution, and may have suffered in the process.

Setting my goalposts closer and storming past them might just serve better than aiming high and having to put effort in to reach them.