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NAS for Mac Network ?

  • 25-03-2014 1:17am
    #1
    ZENER
    Registered Users Posts: 6,163 ✭✭✭


    I've been tasked with recommending a NAS for a network of 4 Macs. AFP - Time Machine and media serving are essential requirements.

    Research has lead me to understand that not all NAS units are created equal and it's important that this unit is quick and reliable and well as compatible.

    I've read that Netgear and Lacie make the most compatible units, anyone any experience of these ?

    Thanks

    Ken


Comments

  • #2
    Colonel Panic
    Registered Users Posts: 2,012 ✭✭✭Colonel Panic


    Synology. Always Synology. Supports Time Machine, great performance, amazing tech support, lots of extra packages you can install into it's OS.

    You can also set up per-user quotas so that Time Machine doesn't suck up all of your space.


  • #3
    Greentree_uk
    Registered Users Posts: 1,020 ✭✭✭Greentree_uk


    why not buy a mac mini and the server app. best NAS IMHO


  • #4
    whiterebel
    Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 14,822 Mod ✭✭✭✭whiterebel


    Colonel Panic wrote: »
    Synology. Always Synology. Supports Time Machine, great performance, amazing tech support, lots of extra packages you can install into it's OS.

    You can also set up per-user quotas so that Time Machine doesn't suck up all of your space.

    I've a Synology DJ212 and it has more features than you can shake a stick at. Be aware, though, that their Tech support isn't covering themselves in glory......Since the uproar over the Java insecurities, they are having serious problems with their surveillance product for the NAS. It needs to move away from java but they still haven't done it, and its a long time waiting to be fixed. I have an LG too, their Tech support for Mac is dreadful, and I won't buy anything else from them again.


  • #5
    Deep Thought
    Registered Users Posts: 4,380 ✭✭✭Deep Thought


    +1 here for Synology

    Best there is in my book

    The narrower a man’s mind, the broader his statements.



  • #6
    ZENER
    Registered Users Posts: 6,163 ✭✭✭ZENER


    A lot of the Mac forums suggested Synology too so the comments here confirm their recommendations, thanks lads - Synology it is !

    Thanks for the info whiterebel, the NAS will be purely for storage and only attached on the internal LAN so hopefully that Java issue won't effect it.

    I had considered getting a Mac Mini and OS X Server or even a dedicated NAS Linux Distro on a cheap PC but it would cost too much and be too complicated for the users IMO - a nice tidy appliance hidden away in the office is perfect for this install.

    Ken


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  • #7
    whippet
    Registered Users Posts: 7,668 ✭✭✭whippet


    QNAP would be my call ... Can be bought in any arrangement of drives and either tower or rack form factor


  • #8
    brav
    Registered Users Posts: 895 ✭✭✭brav


    Synology and QNAP would be my favourites, along with Netgear ReadyNAS afterwards.*

    I find the following website useful for researching NASs et: http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/

    *Although currently I don't use any NAS, just a mac mini running all the services I want


  • #9
    Paulw
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 13,381 Mod ✭✭✭✭Paulw


    I have 3 Netgear ReadyNAS on my network and they work perfectly fine with my macs. I also have a small Iomega NAS, which I use as my timecapsule just fine.

    No compatibility problems so far and have been running all these for months now.


  • #10
    davo2001
    Registered Users Posts: 3,317 ✭✭✭davo2001


    Using a few Buffalo NASs for a few clients and they work well with AFP and TM. No problems at all.


  • #11
    7upfree
    Registered Users Posts: 2,124 ✭✭✭7upfree


    We use this one:

    http://www.amazon.co.uk/Synology-DS214-4TB-2TB-Bay/dp/B00EQWR2O0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1396614829&sr=8-1&keywords=synology+ds+214+4TB

    On an iMac. Works perfectly. One thing to watch for is that Synology recommend at least three times the space be allocated for TM backup. Therefore, if your Mac is 600GB in total, you should have at least 2TB just for TM. Doesn't leave much space for anything else. TM fills the drive very fast. Unless you do manual backup.


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