Since my very first DIY NAS blog, I’ve been wanting to keep a running “leaderboard” of what I think of the various NAS distributions as I get the chance to use them. I finally got up the gumption to start evaluating, comparing, and contrasting some of the different NAS distributions available. Best of all? I’m just getting started! As I review more of them, I’ll update this board and keep them ranked from top to bottom. Each entry is linked to both the NAS package’s homepage as well as to my articles containing my thoughts on each. Got comments? I’d love to hear them!
Brian’s NAS Roundup
- FreeNAS (link): A powerful NAS built on top of FreeBSD (9.3) and featuring the ZFS file system. The administrative web-interface is exceptional.
- OpenMediaVault (link): Built on top of Debian Linux, easy to manage and seemingly preferred by many home media server enthusiasts. Excellent single-file throughput in my throughput testing.
- NAS4Free (link): Shares a very common heritage with FreeNAS, also built on top of FreeBSD (9.3) and features the ZFS file system. I had some minor hardware compatibility issues (NIC was not detected) and I felt that the FreeNAS UI was slightly superior.
