Goal: Build robust Network Attached Storage (NAS) appliance for my home.

Current status: Hardware and basic configuration is completed, but find tuning is needed.

My first choice for this project was FreeNAS, but I have decide to go in different direction. Main reason was that I had to build x86 compatible PC and if I want to be small and power efficient I had to buy new hardware like mini-ITX motherboard and case. This is specialized components and usually they cost little more than standard x86 hardware. Other alternative was to buy NAS from well known manufacturers like Netgear, Buffalo Technology or etc. The main issues with most of the NAS devices I was able to buy easy was that their software is proprietary. Because the bad experience in the past with closed source software on embedded devices, this solution was not attractive to me. My research allow me to discover manufacture from Taiwan called QNAP. QNAP offers Linux based NAS embedded devices. I selected the most power efficient model: TS-109Pro. The QNAP constantly improves the firmware and so far quickly address discovered bugs with TS-109Pro. Also the TS-109Pro has some additional features that I find useful in near future. I have bought TS-109Pro from NewEgg together with 500GB HDD from WD.

Currently, I use only file storage capability of the TS-109.