NAS suggestions.

[Tarmacsurfer]

I'm currently running an old P4 as a media server/BT machine, with a combination of recently failing hardware and noise/power considerations I'm toying with the idea of switching to a NAS.

Any recommendations for a home system? I've been looking at Synology kit. Main concern is that the hardware be capable of streaming quickly enough to cope with an HD rip hence I'm interested as to whether any of you have any experience here.
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[map]

Only experience of NAS I have is freeNAS.

Turned out to be a pain to setup, couldn't boot of USB stick as advertised and would lose the settings if turned off.

No doubt others have got this working but I will not be trying it again as the I'm too scared (re: annoyed) from the first time.
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[MarkJ]

At work we have two Seagate BlackArmor 440 (yes, I spelled 'Armour' correctly ). It has 4 x 2TB disks which you can set up how you want in RAID, and works very well. It did cost around £600 though, but I do believe they do single disk versions for a lot less.

https://www.ccnetworking.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/seagate_ba_nas440_rightopen.jpg

The 440s let you encrypt entire volumes and is fantastic. It has two gigabit ports on the back, although will only use one at once and has the other for failover. Interface is good too.

[panrider_uk]

I've considered NAS in the past but instead opted for a netbook with USB external drive attached.

Admittedly I only use it for music streaming (to Squeezeboxes), FTP serving and normal file storage so don't know if the USB2 would be quick enough for HD video.

Running with its lid down (so no screen display) it's very economical to run and does have the advantage over NAS that youu can run other stuff on it.

When USB3 becomes more mainstream it'll be an even better option.

Mark
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Current bikes: Honda ST1100 Pan European. Moto Guzzi V85 TT Travel

[chris-red]

I have one, can't rememeber who made it mind, over wireless the transfer rate is not brillaint and I can't stream HD media from it. Also it Only has a Networth connection for accessing the data, which is a pain as uploading my files took a hell of a long time. It has a USB port but that is for pluging pen drive into so you can access that on the network. It is also quite noisey.

On the plus side it was extremely easy to set up, plugged it in the router turned it on went upstairs and I had access to it and has been reliable so far probably about a year old. It round about £100 for a 1TB
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[Tarmacsurfer]

Cheers folks
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[chrisw]

There are a few options, it depends what you want from it.

If you want one on the cheap, get an old desktop and install FreeNAS or OpenFiler on it (both are easy to setup and both are multi-protocol).

If you want to spend some money then there are lots of different solutions, the Drobo units have been getting some good press recently. Look at the features of a few units and pick one that covers everything you want to do.

[Tarmacsurfer]

As I explained in the first post, running something like Freenas isn't really viable as one of the main aims is to cut back on power consumption. Embedded solutions are always quieter and usually far less hungry. The main problem is that home NAS units still seem to be in their infancy, you have hybrid shite like the SC101 which while it may technically be network storage certainly isn't a true NAS. Add in the streaming requirements and I was asking in the hope people may have direct experience rather than combing pages of SoHo hardware and hoping to hit on something that will cope.
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[tsmith]

these aren't bad

https://go.iomega.com/en/products/network-storage-desktop/storcenter-network-storage-solution/network-hard-drive-ix2/?partner=4735#overviewItem_tab


I use Openfiler running on a microATX PC with 4x 2.5" laptop hard disks and two gigabit nics teamed together. Cheap and cheerful.

[divuk83]

I bought a Thecus N2200 NAS a few months ago however I had a lot of problems with the media server running (or should I say not running) on it. I then returned it and bought a Netgear ReadyNAS Duo which I'm really pleased with. I only use if for streaming FLAC although I'm sure its more than capable of doing video as well. I take it this is going to be used over a wired rather than wireless connection? As for using more than 1 disc, I have my Netgear running in Raid 1 (with 2 hard drives) as I would rather not have to repeat the tedious process of ripping all my CD's again! With large hard drives as cheap as they are now it seemed daft not to.

Dave

[T1z3R]

i have the SC101 and an Icy Box.
the netgear device is pish. simply put dont but one.

for the rest of my needs i use a couple of servers for my streaming.

the icy box though does a good job. has ethernet and USB ports so you can network it or connect it via USB. its small, quiet and cheap.

worth considering IMO.
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[panrider_uk]

Computer Shopper has a review of various NAS boxes in this month's issue.

Mark
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Current bikes: Honda ST1100 Pan European. Moto Guzzi V85 TT Travel