I use the SMB shares to stream to all the computers in the house, and there is no problem. Works fine with Macs and PCs - and for this reason i use SMB shares rather than AFP. Software RAID is reliable.Ī key point, if any of the hardware dies, the RAID array can be rebuilt when the software is installed on new hardware, unlike some proprietary solutions (NAS or RAID cards) where you may be tied to a particular vendor and/or model, which, after time, may not be sold/available. I love the ability to grab an old computer, fill it full of cheap hard drives, and install Freenas on a CF card or USB drive. Use built-in screen sharing to control.Can run a BitTorrent client to download Linux ISOs and Stack Overflow data dumps (some other NAS can do that as well).Works great as an iTunes master library, connected to my Apple TV and my other Macs via Home Sharing.Can serve as a Time Machine backup volume (some other NAS can do that as well).For more technical information on this, see the Find Any File FAQ, What kind of disks do support 'fast search'? In particular, it supports Spotlight and fast file searches ( CatSearch), something that other NAS systems cannot do as well: They usually use a Linux system with netatalk and an ext3 file system which, compared to AFP with HFS, are not optimized for the ways a Mac can search. Uses first-party AFP on HFS for optimal compatibility.The advantages to using an actual Mac over a true NAS system: In my case, I had an old MacBook that wouldn't hold a charge anymore so I rigged up an eSATA connection to my 2TB external drive.

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