OpenMediaVault VS FreeNAS – A Full Guide to Compare Differences [MiniTool Tips]

An Introduction to FreeNAS and OpenMediaVault

NAS is short of network-attached storage and mainly used for reliable digital asset storage, retrieval, sharing, and backup with connected to an internal network.

FreeNAS and OpenMediaVault, both devices belong to NAS devices but boast different features and functions. All of them have some salient features and functions to improve their competitiveness in the market.

Of course, they may share similar features, such as storage monitoring, Samba/NFS file sharing, and RAID disk management.

Then, there are some simple introductions to both of them.

• FreeNAS is an open-source network attached storage platform originally developed by Olivier Cochard-Labbé in 2005.
• OpenMediaVault is the next-generation network-attached storage (NAS) solution based on Debian Linux.

If you want to know more about the differences between OpenMediaVault and FreeNAS, there is a review depicting the specialties from varied aspects.

Related articles:

• Unraid vs FreeNAS – Which NAS System Is Better for You?
• Unraid vs TrueNAS Review – What’s the Difference Between Them?
• Synology vs TrueNAS – Which One Is Better? A Full Comparison Here

OpenMediaVault Vs FreeNAS

OpenMediaVault vs FreeNAS in Compatibility and Requirements

OpenMediaVault

OMV is based on the Debian operating system. The greatest advantage of OpenMediaVault is its compatibility with different types of hardware. You can expand the storage by installing OpenMediaVault on bare metal, as a virtual machine, or even on a Raspberry Pi.

Besides, OpenMediaVault will run perfectly fine on devices with as little as 1GB of memory and get minor updates monthly.

FreeNAS

FreeNAS is not suitable for low-powered systems. It recommends at least 8GB of RAM and a multi-core processor as a minimum. Apart from that, FreeNAS requires a minimum of 1 disk, which is preferably equal size disks for RAID setup.

OpenMediaVault vs FreeNAS in File Systems

OpenMediaVault

The default file system of OpenMediaVault is ext4. OpenMediaVault also provides users with the ability to set up a volume as various types of file systems, such as XFS, JFS, and BTRFS.

FreeNAS

ZFS (“Zettabyte” File System) is a key feature of FreeNAS. There are many good points to using ZFS. For example, ZFS can be used to store data of a large volume with advanced data protection and encryption.

It can also prevent and resolve many possible storage issues with many great features, such as snapshots, replication, and plugin support.

OpenMediaVault vs FreeNAS in Applications and Plugins

OpenMediaVault

Actually, both OpenMediaVault and FreeNAS can provide tons of great applications and plugins. OpenMediaVault can take advantage of a large number of Debian packages available and add new features with additional plugins.

Or, you’d better have OMV-Extras installed on your system so that you can enjoy more different plugins to install. It is easy to set up OMV-Extras and that can be your best choice to enjoy more features with plugins.

FreeNAS

FreeNAS also supports third-party plugins to expand your NAS capabilities. Those third-party plugins and applications can be easily and securely deployed on the FreeNAS storage system.

You can start and update those applications on the web interface along with configuration tasks.

OpenMediaVault vs FreeNAS in Pricing

Both OpenMediaVault and FreeNAS are free to use. FreeNAS is a low-cost solution that is very powerful and flexible to provide NAS services using existing drives and hardware.

OpenMediaVault can do the same thing as FreeNAS and has always been free and open source. There's no hidden fees or trial periods you have to worry about.

OpenMediaVault vs FreeNAS in Pro and Cons

OpenMediaVault Pros

• Better compatibility with different types of hardware.
• Free and open-source.
• Additional plugins and applications are available.

OpenMediaVault Cons

• Less-performed function design.
• The interface lacks an explanation of forms and options.
• Some errors happen upon installing plugins.

FreeNAS Pros

• Simplified user interface and ease of usage in volumes.
• Reliable data protection.
• Excellent web interface for managing storage, users, and general administration.
• Multiple redundancy configurations support.

FreeNAS Cons

• Support for the free version is very limited.
• Customers reported that it is quite time-consuming to have a backup of important files.

Back Up Data to Your New NAS Device

Then, all the above contents have compared OpenMediaVault to FreeNAS from different aspects. This OpenMediaVault vs FreeNAS review can help you make an overall picture of them both and be clear about which one can be the better choice for you.

Since you may have made your choice and the next step is back up data to OpenMediaVault or FreeNAS, a backup tool could be what you want. In this way, we would like to recommend this free backup program – MiniTool ShadowMaker.

You can use it for backup or sync and disk cloning is also provided. In terms of backup, the three sources you can choose include systems, folders & files, and partitions & disks; the four destinations lie on User, Computer, and Libraries, as well as Shared.

The button is for you to download and install the program and after that, you can open the program and click Keep Trial for the free 30-day trial version.

Free Download

When you enter the interface, please go to the Backup tab and choose your backup source and destination. In the backup destination, you should choose Shared to input the path, username, and password.

If you want to change some backup settings, you can click Options to configure backup schedules and schemes, as well as other features.

When all of that finishes, please click Back Up Now to execute the process.

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Wrapping It Up

NAS devices have many salient advantages attracting people for using and since more NAS brands emerge in the market, it is easy to be confused among those varied devices with different features.

Then this article about OpenMediaVault vs FreeNAS has listed two popular brands of them, you may learn something from this.

If you have encountered any issues when using MiniTool ShadowMaker, you can leave a message in the following comment zone and we will reply as soon as possible. If you need any help when using MiniTool software, you may contact us via [email protected].