Setting up FreeNAS, a popular open-source network attached storage (NAS) solution, is not a difficult task. Here's how to get started and configure a working home server.

Our old guide used FreeNAS 7, which is great, but the new FreeNAS 8 makes installing plugins for BitTorrent, media streaming, Usenet, and other tasks much easier.

One USB thumb drive to install the FreeNAS OS image. One blank CD-R / CD-RW for writing the FreeNAS ISO in preparation for the installation.