I was setting up FreeNAS, TrueNAS or something similar (FreeBSD-based) for a client years ago and they required utilizing all SATA ports for actual storage and

I was setting up FreeNAS, TrueNAS or something similar (FreeBSD-based) for a client years ago and they required utilizing all SATA ports for actual storage and booting from RAID flash drives. They made A LOT of backup copies of these USB sticks and were told to make new copies after system upgrades and reconfiguration. Last time I had any info from that site - it worked well for them.