Server or NAS

bazwaldo

I need to start backing up videos, pictures, and music. I have a HTPC, XBOX running XBMC and a work PC which access these regularly.

I've been looking at the options and these look to be
1) Get a NAS and use SyncToy or some backup software sync to work PC disk when on
2) Get a NAS with 2 bays and use mirroring
3) Get a home server and this will mirrow and backup

Prices I have seen are in order above £110 for 1.5TB NAS, £275 for 1.5TB mirrored and £350 for Quad server with 1.5TB mirrored. BTW I have the option for delivery to the north hence the sterling prices.

I want it to be on 24/7 (maybe hibernate when not in use and wakeup when connection required) so being power efficient is a must. Currently I don't need a server to do any work/transcoding as I don't have a 360 (but may if the wife lets me and the price is right) for viewing as a extender.

NAS enclosure + 1.5TB

RAID + 2 disks like above

Server + 2 disks like above.

Any opinions on PROs or CONs of any of the above? Or a better suggestion. Any help appreciated. Thanks

webels

Would have to recommend this drive same specs as your WD one but very quiet and no delivery if you pick up from Blanchardstown. Very interested in the Lan enclosure - speed looks good.

MediaTank

Sounds like you need a NAS then as you want something quiet, with a small footprint, and low power usageand can be set to switch to standby and power down disks, and you don't need to do anything with the data other than serve and store it. I'd go for RAID 1 (mirroring) or RAID 5 if you can stretch to it. QNAP make excellent NAS boxes at all price points and have built in goodies such as an iTunes server and a media server (Twonky).

Some NAS are quiter than others so just check the noise levels before buying.

bazwaldo

MediaTank wrote: »

Sounds like you need a NAS then as you want something quiet, with a small footprint, and low power usageand can be set to switch to standby and power down disks, and you don't need to do anything with the data other than serve and store it. I'd go for RAID 1 (mirroring) or RAID 5 if you can stretch to it. QNAP make excellent NAS boxes at all price points and have built in goodies such as an iTunes server and a media server (Twonky).

Some NAS are quiter than others so just check the noise levels before buying.

The QNAPs are quite pricey. I don't need any an iTunes server, or bittorrent client, and standard folder sharing is fine (no idea about Twonky).

As the turnover of data isn't that much, I might just go with the simple enslosure and anytime I add stuff to the NAS, I can back it up. Not perfect, but inexpensive and simple to setup. And should be power efficient.

The etrayz isnt releases/reviewed yet afaik so thats a bit of a risk but it looks the business. The "Pine Digital" enclosure doesn't have much spec listed so thats more than likely not all it reports to be.

Its a tossup between the Samsung and WD. Dabs have them at a good price but no stock for 3 weeks. This comparison looks to rate the WD more than the samsung.

sirlinux

take look at vortexbox, www.vortexbox.org, if you get your own intel atom chassis and build your own one RAID and all, atoms are very power efficient.

bazwaldo

The more I think of it, the simple 1 disk NAS fits the bill. Fair enough its not a RAID with mirroring, but the data turnover wouldn't warrant realtime backups.

Anytime I add to the NAS, I can backup on another disk. The techy in me wants something bigger and better, so maybe down the road I'll upgrade. The NAS I linked to has wake on lan enabled so as long it as it goes to standby when requested and the disk inside is efficient then there shouldn't be too much of a power hog.