NAS4Free is an embedded Open Source Storage NAS (Network-Attached Storage) distribution designed for home users and small businesses primarily, but could potentially scale to larger projects.
Some users assume that NAS4Free is a “fork” of FreeNAS. This is absolutely NOT the case.
NAS4Free is the direct continuation of the original FreeNAS code that was under development from 2005 till 2011 under the name FreeNAS.
After the FreeNAS name was legally acquired by iXsystems, Inc. (year 2011), the code was unable to be developed any longer under the same name, and a name change was necessary. The founder of FreeNAS (Olivier Cochard-Labbé) did donate the original FreeNAS code to our project. IXsystems no longer wanted us to release new builds under the FreeNAS name, so the only option was to leave the FreeNAS project after so many years.
At the time we began publishing the new name. Many necessary updates were done, including upgrading the base system. NAS4Free went up from FreeBSD 7 to the FreeBSD 9.x releases, allowing support for a lot of newer hardware too. NAS4Free now also includes support for the latest Intel Atom based processors. This includes great advances in ZFS version support as well. These changes should vastly increase our ability to offer you an even better NAS system than ever before.
To facilitate the user interface, a WEB configuration interface (originally based on m0n0wall) is used.
NAS4Free supports sharing with UNIX-like, Apple, and Windows systems (and others that use the same or compatible network protocols).
Some supported protocols include: CIFS (Samba), FTP, NFS, TFTP, AFP, RSYNC, Unison, iSCSI (initiator and target), UPnP, Bittorent.
It supports ZFS, Software RAID (0,1,5), Disk Encryption, and S.M.A.R.T with Email notifications. The newest features added are Bridge, CARP and HAST protocols.
NAS4Free can be booted of from a LiveCD or LiveUSB, and optionally installed on Compact Flash, USB flash drive, SSD, Hard drive or a number of other bootable devices. (NAS4Free also supports advanced formated drives using 4kb sectors)
NAS4Free is build on FreeBSD 9.x series and supports ZFS v5000. Its first release under the new brandname was on (2012-03-22).
(Note: All FreeNAS 7 users easy can do a upgrade using the latest 9.1.0.1 release)
Latest release: 2014-04-28: Download Options (read before downloading anything)
Other NAS4Free 9.x series downloads are also available on SourceForge Project NAS4Free: https://sourceforge.net/projects/nas4free/files/
The NAS4Free team hopes you enjoy your experience with our software and that it is your perfect NAS solution for your home or business!
*Listed in alphabetical order:
Aspen Systems inc. (USA)
Jet Stream (USA)
Werkpart B.V. (The Netherlands)
*If you like to add your company also? please contact: info@nas4free.org