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+---
+slug: create-nas-server-with-truenas
+title: Build and install of my NAS with TrueNAS Scale
+description: "Step-by-step TrueNAS SCALE homelab NAS build: hardware choice, installation, ZFS pool and datasets, SMB/NFS shares and snapshots."
+date: 2026-02-27
+draft: false
+tags:
+  - truenas
+categories:
+  - homelab
+---
+## Introduction
+
+In my homelab, I need a place to store data outside of my Proxmox VE cluster.
+
+At the beginning, my single physical server has 2 HDDs disks of 2 TB. When I installed Proxmox on it, those disks stayed attached to the host. I shared them via an NFS server in an LXC, far from best practice.
+
+This winter, the node started to fail, shutting down for no reason. This buddy is now 7 years old. When it went offline, my NFS shares disappeared, taking a few services down with them in my homelab. Replacing the CPU fan stabilized it, but I now want a safer home for that data.
+
+In this article, I’ll walk you through how I built my NAS with TrueNAS.
+
+---
+## Choose the right platform
+
+For a while I wanted a NAS. Not an out‑of‑the‑box Synology or QNAP, even though I think they’re great products. I wanted to build mine. Space is tight in my tiny rack, and small NAS cases are rare.
+
+### Hardware
+
+I went for an all‑flash NAS. Why?
+- It's fast
+- It's ~~furious~~ compact
+- It's quiet
+- It uses less power
+- It runs cooler
+
+The trade‑off is price.
+
+ Network speed is my bottleneck anyway, but the other benefits are exactly what I want. I don’t need massive capacity, about 2 TB usable is enough.
+
+My first choice was the [Aiffro K100](https://www.aiffro.com/fr/products/all-ssd-nas-k100). But shipping to France nearly doubled the price. Finally I ended up with a [Beelink ME mini](https://www.bee-link.com/products/beelink-me-mini-n150?variant=48678160236786).
+
+This small cube has:
+- Intel N200 CPU
+- 12 GB RAM
+- 2x 2.5 Gbps Ethernet
+- Up to 6x NVMe drives
+- A 64 GB eMMC chip for the OS
+
+I started with 2 NVMe drives for now, 2 TB each.
+
+### Software
+
+Now that the hardware is chosen, which software will I use?
+
+My requirements were simple:
+- NFS shares
+- ZFS support
+- VM capabilities
+
+I considered FreeNAS/TrueNAS, OpenMediaVault, and Unraid. I chose TrueNAS SCALE 25.10 Community Edition. For clarity: FreeNAS was renamed TrueNAS CORE (FreeBSD‑based), while TrueNAS SCALE is the Linux‑based line. I’m using SCALE.
+
+---
+## Install TrueNAS
+
+⚠️ I installed TrueNAS on the eMMC chip. That’s not recommended, eMMC endurance can be a risk.
+
+The install didn’t go as smoothly as expected...
+
+I use [Ventoy](https://www.ventoy.net/en/index.html) to keep multiple ISOs on one USB stick. I was in version 1.0.99, and the ISO wouldn't launch. Updating to 1.1.10 fixed it:
+![TrueNAS installation splash screen](img/truenas-iso-installation-splash.png)
+
+But here I encountered another problem when launching the installation on my eMMC storage device:
+```
+Failed to find partition number 2 on mmcblk0
+```
+
+I found a solution on this [post](https://forums.truenas.com/t/installation-failed-on-emmc-odroid-h4/15317/12):
+- Enter the shell
+![Enter the shell in TrueNAS installer](img/truenas-iso-enter-shell.png)
+- Edit the file `/lib/python3/dist-packages/truenas_installer/utils.py`
+- Move the line `await asyncio.sleep(1)` right beneath `for _try in range(tries):`
+- Edit line 46 to add `+ 'p'`:
+`for partdir in filter(lambda x: x.is_dir() and x.name.startswith(device + 'p'), dir_contents):`
+![Fichier corrigé dans l'installateur TrueNAS](img/truenas-iso-fix-installer.png)
+- Exit the shell and start the installation without reboot
+
+The installer was finally able to get through:
+![Progression de l'installation de TrueNAS](img/truenas-iso-installation.png)
+
+Once the installation was complete, I shut down the machine. Then I installed it into my rack on top of the 3 Proxmox VE nodes. I plugged both Ethernet cables from my switch and powered it up.
+
+## Configure TrueNAS
+
+By default, TrueNAS uses DHCP. I found its MAC address in my UniFi interface and created a DHCP reservation. In OPNsense, I added a Dnsmasq host override. In the Caddy plugin, I set up a domain for TrueNAS pointing to that IP, then rebooted.
+
+✅ After a few minutes, TrueNAS is now available on https://nas.vezpi.com.
+### General Settings
+
+During install, I didn’t set a password for truenas_admin. The login page forced me to pick one:
+![Page de connexion TrueNAS pour changer le mot de passe de `truenas_admin`](img/truenas-login-page-change-password.png)
+
+Once the password is updated, I land on the dashboard. The UI feels great at first glance:
+![Tableau de bord de TrueNAS](img/truenas-fresh-install-dashboard.png)
+
+I quickly explore the interface, the first thing I do is changing the hostname to `granite` and check the box below et it inherit domain from DHCP:
+![Configuration du hostname dans TrueNAS](img/truenas-config-change-hostname.png)
+
+In the `General Settings`, I change the `Localization` settings. I set the Console Keyboard Map to `French (AZERTY)` and the Timezone to `Europe/Paris`.
+
+I create a new user `vez`, with `Full Admin` role within TrueNAS. I allow SSH for key‑based auth only, no passwords:
+![Création d'un utilisateur dans TrueNAS](img/truenas-create-new-user.png)
+
+Finally I remove the admin role from `truenas_admin` and lock the account.
+
+### Pool creation
+
+In TrueNAS, a pool is a storage collection created by combining multiple disks into a unified ZFS‑managed space.
+
+In the `Storage` page, I can find my `Disks`, where I can confirm TrueNAS can see my couple of NVMe drives:
+![List of available disks in TrueNAS](img/truenas-storage-disks-unconfigured.png)
+
+Back in the `Storage Dashboard`, I click the `Create Pool` button. I name the pool `storage` because I'm really inspired to give it a name:
+![Assistant de création de pool dans TrueNAS](img/truenas-pool-creation-general.png)
+
+Then I select the `Mirror` layout:
+![Disk layout selection in the pool creation wizard in TrueNAS](img/truenas-pool-creation-layout.png)
+
+I explore quickly the optional configurations, but the defaults are fine to me: autotrim, compression, no dedup, etc. At the end, before creating the pool, there is a `Review` section:
+![Review section of the pool creation wizard in TrueNAS](img/truenas-pool-creation-review.png)
+
+After hitting `Create Pool`, I'm warned that everything on the disks will be wiped, which I confirm. Finally the pool is created.
+
+### Datasets creation
+
+A dataset is a filesystem inside a pool. It can contains files, directories and child datasets, it can be shared using NFS and/or SMB. It allows you to independently manage permissions, compression, snapshots, and quotas for different sets of data within the same storage pool.
+
+#### SMB share
+
+Let's now create my first dataset `files` to share files over the network for my Windows clients, like ISOs, etc:
+![Create a dataset in TrueNAS](img/truenas-create-dataset-files.png)
+
+When creating SMB datasets in SCALE, set Share Type to SMB so the right ACL/xattr defaults apply. TrueNAS then prompts me to start/enable the SMB service:
+![Invite à démarrer le service SMB dans TrueNAS](img/truenas-start-smb-service.png)
+
+From my Windows Laptop, I try to access my new share `\\granite.mgmt.vezpi.com\files`. As expected I'm prompt to give credentials.
+
+I create a new user account with SMB permission.
+
+✅ Success: I can browse and copy files.
+
+#### NFS share
+
+I create another dataset: `media`, and a child `photos`. I create a NFS share from the latter. 
+
+On my current NFS server, the files for the photos are owned by `root` (managed by *Immich*). Later I'll see how I can migrate towards a root-less version. 
+
+⚠️ For now I set, in `Advanced Options`, the `Maproot User` and `Maproot Group` to `root`. This is equivalent to the NFS attribute `no_squash_root`, the local `root` of the client stays `root` on the server, don't do that:
+![NFS share permission in TrueNAS](img/truenas-dataset-photos-nfs-share.png)
+
+✅ I mount the NFS share on a client, this works fine.
+
+After initial setup, my `storage` pool datasets look like:
+- `backups`
+	- `duplicati`: [Duplicati](https://duplicati.com/) storage backend
+	- `proxmox`: future Proxmox Backup Server
+- `cloud`: `Nextcloud` data
+- `files`:
+- `media`
+	- `downloads`
+	- `photos`
+	- `videos`
+
+I mentioned VM capabilities in my requirements. I won't cover that is this post, it will be covered next time.
+
+### Data protection
+
+Now time to enable some data protection features:
+![Data protection features in TrueNAS](img/truenas-data-protection-tab.png)
+
+I want to create automatic snapshots for some of my datasets, those I care the most: my cloud files and photos.
+
+Let's create snapshot tasks. I click on the `Add` button next to `Periodic Snapshot Tasks`:
+- cloud: daily snapshots, keep for 2 months
+- photos: daily snapshots, keep for 7 days
+![Create periodic snapshot task in TrueNAS ](img/truenas-create-periodic-snapshot.png)
+
+I could also set up a `Cloud Sync Task`, but Duplicati already handles offsite backups.
+
+---
+## Using TrueNAS
+
+Now my TrueNAS instance is configured, I need to plan the migration of the data from my current NFS server to TrueNAS.
+### Data migration
+
+For each of my current NFS shares, on a client, I mount the new NFS share to synchronize the data:
+```
+sudo mkdir /new_photos
+sudo mount 192.168.88.30:/mnt/storage/media/photos /new_photos
+sudo rsync -a --info=progress2 /data/photo/ /new_photos
+```
+
+At the end, I could decommission my old NFS server on the LXC. The dataset layout after migration looks like this:
+![Dataset layout in TrueNAS](img/truenas-datasets-layout.png)
+
+### Android application
+
+Out of curiosity, I've checked on the Google Play store for an app to manage a TrueNAS instance. I've found [Nasdeck](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.strtechllc.nasdeck&hl=fr&pli=1), which is quite nice. Here some screenshots:
+![Captures d'écran de l'application Nasdeck](img/nasdeck-android-app.png)
+
+---
+## Conclusion
+
+My NAS is now ready to store my data.
+
+I didn't address VM capabilities as I will experience it soon to install Proxmox Backup Server as VM. Also I didn't configure notifications, I need to setup a solution to receive email alerts to my notification system.
+
+TrueNAS is a great product. It needs capable hardware for ZFS, but the experience is excellent once set up.
+
+Next step: deploy Proxmox Backup Server as a VM on TrueNAS, then revisit NFS permissions to go root‑less for Immich.