3 Reasons to Choose ECC RAM Over More Non-ECC RAM for a File Server

ECC prevents silent data corruption A file server’s job is to store data reliably. ECC RAM catches bit flips that non-ECC lets through, which can corrupt files or a ZFS pool.

16GB is enough for file serving Even with multiple users or basic Docker containers, 16GB is plenty. More non-ECC RAM is wasted if your data gets corrupted.

The cost difference is small insurance The price gap between 16GB ECC and 32GB non-ECC is usually $20-40. That is cheap protection against losing data you want to keep.