[clue] File Server - URAID or FREENAS

[Yaverot]

--- toms_jeep at yahoo.com wrote:

I am looking to set up a file server at home, I have narrowed my search down to UNRAID or FREENAS. I have tryed UNRAID but it did not work with the 3WARE raid card that is installed in the server.
Server Details; 
Intel MB- Xeon quad core, 3WARE 12 port card, 12 500GB SATA drives currently set at Raid 50. I would like to set one up with UNRAID and one with FREENAS but did not want to spend the $$$ on a new Raid card if it would not be worth it.

--- yaverot replies:
In trying to figure out which questions to ask you, I'm trying to figure out which issues you have.  So my questions will be more disjointed than normal.

unRAID (lime-technology.com) or FreeNAS -> What features attracted you to these options, which options have you ruled out?

didn't work with current RAID card -> Does the card provide _any_ drives to the OS? (Driver issue) Is it set as JBOD for the OS to do RAIDing (each drive seen separately), or is it hardware/firmware RAID (OS sees one drive that is actually all disks)?  Which do you want?

set up one with ... and one with -> Do you have multiple servers, or intend multiple servers, or am I misinterpreting this?

Is/will it only be a file server, or will it be doing other things (bittorrent, email)?
How much RAM does/will it have?

And a question I'm failing myself: Once consolidated to the main server, how will you be backing that up? (Actually I do have an answer with how, I don't have a target system or a physical where for it.)