As someone who tried TrueNAS at first, but prefers declarative reproducible configuration, do give NixOS a try. Best NAS base-OS I've tried so far, and when it was time to migrate to new hardware, I just switched the disks, re-ran the config and was up and running in no-time.

Ok, sounds complicated compared to a basic FreeBSD install.

I dont think its much more or less complicated, just depends on which one you're more familiar with.

What do you do for all the NAS-appliance stuff that TrueNAS provides?

A lot of the replacements are just a "services.grafana.enable = true;" or similar away. Of course, won't have fancy GUIs like in TrueNAS, but honestly, being able to keep it as source code feels better long-term. Otherwise it's all just configuration, like background scrubbing, backups and all that. The biggest reason I initially went with TrueNAS was because it used ZFS and could easily run services I wanna host at home, and NixOS ended up much better at both of those things, but definitively has less hand-holding.

I really didn't want to setup and admin my own Unix system when I was building my NAS, and TrueNAS made the software side trivial. It's basically plug-and-play and almost entirely configurable from the web interface. Why complicate your life needlessly?

But you are setting up and configuring a unix system, just with a third party gui bolted on.

Why do you think using FreeBSD as a NAS complicates your life?

But there is nothing fundamental to configure in TrueNAS. Everything crucial to the base experience works perfectly out of the box: just install, connect to Ethernet, and visit http://truenas.local in your browser. I only have to make decisions pertinent to the NAS layer such as ZFS management and access control.

With a FreeBSD or Linux machine, even step one requires considerable thought. Are there web UI packages that I can use? Which one do I pick? Where do I install it from? How do I ensure that it runs on boot? Do I have to mess with the network configuration to ensure that http://mynas.local is accessible? How do I configure SMB? What's the deal with security updates? And so on, dozens of times over.

It's great if you're already in the depths of sysadmindom and know what you're doing, but man, I just want to put my files on some LAN drives and call it a day.

I have used many of the appliance operating systems in existence, including TrueNAS over the years, hence why I’ve come to the conclusion I’ve come to. I used to evangelise them, particularly FreeNAS and pfsense. I used them for years and I was quite happy with them. But eventually you run into a bug with their (bolted on) interface and you have to dig inside the guts anyway. Except now it’s 10 times more difficult than just using the base OS, Debian FreeBSD or whatever, because of the extensive changes made by the appliance OS vendor…

If you are looking to replicate the exact same thing(why would a NAS need a web ui), of course there is considerable work ahead of you.

I believe you are overstating how difficult it is to configure a FreeBSD box as a NAS. Configuring samba for example is a breeze.

The questions you are asking are good questions that are answered by the manual. Keeping FresBSD updated requires the use of two commands, both well documented in the handbook, freebsd-update and pkg.

TrueNAS has migrated away from FreeBSD, current versions are now exclusively Linux-based.

Honestly, all the more reason to just run FreeBSD then. Surprisingly simple and still more robust with ZFS (even if Linux has come a long way in the last 10 years).

Incidentally I actually found Truenas to be a solid upgrade from my old vanilla FreeBSD install; the tuned performance defaults made things a lot better for me after I recovered my volume (the USB stick I was using for the OS died).

So, its sad to recommend something else, or obviating it entirely.

Is this rage bait?

"Just skip owning a car, just buy a nice pair of Adidas, they're easy to clean and don't cost much."

???

Sorry but this is a deeply flawed analogy.

This is what I recommend too, but for those who want something prepackaged, there's also XigmaNAS, basically a lightweight UI layer and basic configuration on top of FreeBSD. Some of the original FreeNAS developers have been working on the project for almost 20 years.

It's great for people who just want storage and don't want the heavy features that came with TrueNAS' move to Linux (Kubernetes, etc.) or who want full control over vfs_fruit options for serving Macs.

Are you sure it's not called LigmaNAS?

That might be a better name :) The project doesn't have as much visibility as it should because it's gone through several names over the last 20 years: FreeNAS (prior to the TrueNAS split), NAS4free, and now XigmaNAS.

I skipped through TrueNAS and FreeBSD straight to Windows.

YMMV but for my use case I have my NAS hooked up to a TV in my living room that also works as HTPC, gaming console, and occasionally a spare PC for visitors.

TrueNAS isn't even FreeBSD any more, it's Linux based now sadly

Then migrate straight to Linux

I think this is a valid approach, especially for the audience of Hackernews.

But I'd be a bit worried about the availability of drivers for much of the hardware found on this particular motherboard.

And keep an eye on sylve, and the other NAS turnkey ports being worked on.

For me, s/FreeBSD/Debian/. Same reason.