Got an unused thinkstation ts430 model 0441, currently with 12GB ram and 2x300gb hdd.
Attracted from Rockstor after evaluating ZFS based solutions (a bit too demanding in my understanding for our basic needs) and reading about BTRFS.
Want to use it as file server for a small group of 4-5, changing the hdd with 2x2TB new one. Most of the group of users is on Mac OS.
I didn’t have any experience with Linux nor time and will to learn or debug, I’m not a sys administrator nor I want to become but just a user, my question is if will play safe in using Rockstor/BTRFS.
As you (by your own statement) are unwilling to learn the basics of the underlying operating system, I don’t think you’ll find any home server solution that will suit your needs.
While some are more evolved and user friendly than others, I have found none that required no manual intervention (Used OpenMediaVault, FreeNAS, NAS4Free and Rockstor).
Without a desire to run (and understand) linux, you’re much better suited to something born as an appliance, such as a QNAP or Synology NAS.
If you change your mind, and are willing to undertake something that will require fiddling, and learning the underlying OS, Rockstor has a community of dedicated users (like myself) who try to respond to queries promptly and to the best of our knowledge.
Many of the users here are either Linux enthusiasts, or people who work in the field. I myself am and Linux Sysadmin.
We typically choose to use systems such as Rockstor (or the others previously mentioned) because we are inclined to choose something with more power, flexibility and access to the underlying OS than what is provided by fixed appliance alternatives.
Note that in the appliance world, I think only Synology uses BTRFS at the moment, however if you’re looking at disks of the same capacity and make you’ll likely not see particular advantage to BTRFS anyway, and will likely be better off with a basic software RAID (mdadm style)
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Thanks for the honest and useful answer.
Learn the configuration basics to reuse a machine with much better performance and fault tolerance than a home basic appliance is acceptable, what I fear is the need for bug troubleshooting or more technical activities I really didn’t have the time to follow.
Just as example reading about the fact AFS support it’s still in beta with most of the users on a Mac make me wonder what this mean for a basic everyday usage.
I like the modern interface and the usage of a file systems that try to overcome ZFS limitations maintaining the good things, just need to focus on my daily work after the first installation and configuration effort.