Home Server/NAS suggestions?

Really? Have you tried Windows Storage Spaces? Because it's pretty fucking epic. Much more versatile than what you can do with FreeNAS.

you mean jbod?

yea it's window's version of software raid. No more losing your raid 0 or raid 5 configuration after updating bios lol.

Thanks so much! I'll try to see if I can rearrange some of the shelves to get more space in my tv center and possibly get a larger case.

Thanks for the reminder I had completely forgotten to consider drive noise, thanks for the quieter hd recommendation! I was also planning on using an ssd as a cache for FreeNAS

I have no clue about the drive noise on these. I just stuck with the brand and chose NAS drives. Because NAS. :P
The quietest drives should be WD Red. They spin 5400 or so, that should be very quiet.

Second this. I use 5900 rpm drives in a Define R4. The drives are plenty fast enough to saturate a gigabit connection when configured in an array. The R4 has sound damping material on the panels as well so it makes for a pretty quiet build. I used to have it sitting out in the open right next to my TV. I could only hear it when everything else was dead quiet. The A/C unit is louder when it kicks on.