How I Set Up a Home File Server For Free - A Review of FreeNAS

Home file server... a dedicated computer used just storage and sharing of our files.  My research found a ton of products available that would do the job.  There are several dedicated Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices that I could purchase, but even the cheapest ones are still several hundred US dollars.   Then there is the server software.  Microsoft has its Windows Storage Server software that is also several hundred US dollars.  There is also many different Linux solutions that require a working knowledge of the linux file system and command line. 

In the end I settled on a free product called FreeNAS.  As the title suggests, FreeNAS is free network attached storage software, but that is not all.  It also has numerous features that make it extremely easy to set up, manage and expand.  Plus it has features that allow you to use it as a media server for various devices.  Since its hardware requirement is very minimal, this seemed like an ideal product for me to use.