Which NAS System??

Kevso

Hi there,

I'm currently looking to buy a NAS system for my apartment and was wondering if anyone here has some advice to give me in selecting the correct type for what I need it to do.

Principally I am looking for a 2 TB drive that can handle the following functions:

- Handle all my music, movies, photos and other data and stream it to all the computers in my apartment.
- Be OSX Lion and Windows Vista compatible.
- Allow me to stream the music to iTunes on both a mac air and a windows xp laptop
- Act as the storage space for my back-ups via time machine on OSX Lion.
- Sync with a logitech squeeze box touch to enable me to stream the music from the NAS to my surround sound system (needs to be able to run logitechs squeezebox server).
- Have USB outlets so that I can link a standard hard drive
- include a back up system in a RAID configuration.
- enable connection for a printer that can be set-up on the network.
- allow online access when I am away from the apartment (i.e. at work)

........so Im not really looking for that much..........

I think that the apple time capsule can do most of it (apart from the raid function) but was just wondering of any other options that may be on the market

my budget is between €150 and €250 but if there was something that ticked all or even the majority of the boxes I would look at stretching a bit further.

Its only lately that I have started looking into the use of NAS servers and as such Im not really up to sped with all the ins and outs of them

Any help, information and guidance greatly appreciated

Kevin

DeadSkin

I'm currently in the market for a NAS, been trawling thru' websites over the weekend......

Think this might do the trick for you, just an enclosure though, would need to add disks.

Kevso

Thanks for the info,

I had been looking at the Synology option alright and all the reviews seem to point to them being a great machine. Only downside is the price, if you wanted to stock it with say 2 x 1TB drive (for comparison purposes) you are looking at

Synology DiskStation DS211j 2-Bay NAS Enclosure €173.45
Samsung 1TB Spinpoint F3 7200rpm SATA 3Gb/s 32MB €126.69 x 2

So the bottom line price is €426.83 which, whilst providing an excellent system is a bit out of the range of what I am looking to spend. (if I was to go with it I would prob build it with 2 x 2TB drives which would push it up to around €550.

Probably not the best time to be looking at HD's as the floods in Thailand are likely pushing up the prices, however I aint been tracking them to know for sure.


From looking on the net over the weekend, here are the options I'm currently looking at along with what I can see are their pro's and cons:

1) Buffalo Linkstation Live 2TB €180
Pros: covers Majority of requirements, cheapest option
Cons: No RAID facility, USB does not allow connection of USB hub
Linkstation Live

2) Apple Time Capsule 2TB €279
Pro's: Compatible with Mac, includes wireless router, can connect USB hub to USB outlet
Cons: No raid facility, however you can archive the HD to a connected USB HD (compromise)
Time Capsule

3) Buffalo Linkstation Duo 2TB €306.07
Pros: Dedicated NAS server with RAID 0 and 1 array
Cons: Dearest of the bunch, doesn't recognise a USB hub
Linkstation Duo

Overall, I'm edging towards the time capsule, as it fairness it appears to cover my main needs and the mac compatibility is one of my main requirements

From what I've read, its almost impossible to get a one size fits all option unless you are willing to pay a serious premium

tommycahir

It is also worth having a look at the QNAP TS212

I have one of them and they cover all the items that you have listed above and then some more with it.

They are quiet reasonable @ £159 on amazon at the moment (Link) but you will have to add 2 disks to that price also.

Any questions on them drop me a PM or have a look in the QNAP forums.

fergusb

tommycahir wrote: »

It is also worth having a look at the QNAP TS212

I have one of them and they cover all the items that you have listed above and then some more with it.

Hi Tommycahir,

I'm pretty much looking for a system similar to what the OP was looking for. Can you tell me how much noise is produced by the QNAP TS-212? I'd be looking to place it in a living room so would want something pretty quiet.

I'm actually looking at the TS-412 as think a 4-bay is a bit better for upgrading in the future. Dabs.ie have both the 212 and 412 for a similar price as Amazon from what I can see.

tommycahir

I have mine set so that it goes into standby when not in use so it is silent then and the only audible noise happens when the drives have to spin up again out of standby but that only takes a second or two.

When you are accessing it the only noise that is audible is really the noise created by the HDD spinning (that varies from manufacturer to manufacturer and even very much so between the ranges of each manufacturer.) There is very little fan noise from the 212 but I am not sure what the 4x series are like as they are a different cpu and may have a different cooling fan associated with them.

Kevso

tommycahir wrote: »

It is also worth having a look at the QNAP TS212

I have one of them and they cover all the items that you have listed above and then some more with it.

They are quiet reasonable @ £159 on amazon at the moment (Link) but you will have to add 2 disks to that price also.

Any questions on them drop me a PM or have a look in the QNAP forums.

Cheers will look into it alright as it appears to be a good option, my only worry is how it will work with the MAC not just now but through future software upgrades, it seems from reading online that the Lion update affected some third party NAS software a lot.

From reading info online about QNAP it appears that it is directly comparable with the Synology range with people split 50/50 as to which one is best. They appear to be quite similar in what they offer, are there any clear differences between them or is it simply down to personal preference?

tommycahir

I think it is down to personal preference, I choose to go with the QNAP as it has quite an active community developing additional add-ons for the firmware and that a friend was using the 4x series in a number of SME businesses around the locality and running the SIP server for each business from them.

I think almost all NAS systems were affected by the OS upgrade on the macs and the QNAP was no different in that respect but they were relatively quick in getting a fix implemented from what I read on the forum.

{^Syntax^}

Drobo all the way!:D

DeadSkin

{^Syntax^} wrote: »

Drobo all the way!:D

Care to expand, recommend a model?

edanto

Just to advise people to stay away from Iomega IX-200 NAS, or whatever their current version is.

Damn thing cost me months of heartache and eventually locked me out of my files completely. It transpired this was caused by a bug they knew about with Mac OS, but hadn't patched in their Iomega firmware.

Their tech support from the states remoted in to the device and attempted to fix it, but bricked it completely.

I was very relieved I had backed up everything, so no data loss.

Anyways, I bit the bullet and went for a more expensive NAS that will probably last for many years. Netgear ReadyNAS NV+ with 4 X 2TB giving 5.4Tb of usable space and it has been glitch free for the past 6 months, just doing exactly what I want (which is the same feature list as the OP and some other extras).

mecco

Kevso wrote: »

Thanks for the info,

I had been looking at the Synology option alright and all the reviews seem to point to them being a great machine. Only downside is the price, if you wanted to stock it with say 2 x 1TB drive (for comparison purposes) you are looking at

Synology DiskStation DS211j 2-Bay NAS Enclosure €173.45
Samsung 1TB Spinpoint F3 7200rpm SATA 3Gb/s 32MB €126.69 x 2

So the bottom line price is €426.83 which, whilst providing an excellent system is a bit out of the range of what I am looking to spend. (if I was to go with it I would prob build it with 2 x 2TB drives which would push it up to around €550.

Probably not the best time to be looking at HD's as the floods in Thailand are likely pushing up the prices, however I aint been tracking them to know for sure.


From looking on the net over the weekend, here are the options I'm currently looking at along with what I can see are their pro's and cons:

1) Buffalo Linkstation Live 2TB €180
Pros: covers Majority of requirements, cheapest option
Cons: No RAID facility, USB does not allow connection of USB hub
Linkstation Live

2) Apple Time Capsule 2TB €279
Pro's: Compatible with Mac, includes wireless router, can connect USB hub to USB outlet
Cons: No raid facility, however you can archive the HD to a connected USB HD (compromise)
Time Capsule

3) Buffalo Linkstation Duo 2TB €306.07
Pros: Dedicated NAS server with RAID 0 and 1 array
Cons: Dearest of the bunch, doesn't recognise a USB hub
Linkstation Duo

Overall, I'm edging towards the time capsule, as it fairness it appears to cover my main needs and the mac compatibility is one of my main requirements

From what I've read, its almost impossible to get a one size fits all option unless you are willing to pay a serious premium

I have the older version of the Synology you are talking about the Ds210j. I actually couldn't fault it. It does absolutely everything I've needed (It's set up in a home network FWIW)

It was slightly out of my price range too so my solution was to get the two drives from my parents that christmas and the enclosure itself from my girlfriend!! Free NAS for me Although both drives together came to 150-160 at the time!

I know you are leaning away from the Synology cos of price but with the DS212j just announced, you might pick up an end of line 211j for a bit less? Worth keeping an eye out for at least!! That might apply to other brands too actually.

tommycahir

Just to throw this one out there also and I will admit I have no experience of this brand or knowledge of its performance/reliability but it is a cheap option at only €69 if you have a couple of spare HDDs lying around at home.

D-Link ShareCenter Pulse 2-bay Network Storage Enclosure - HUKD Link Amazon Link

DryCleanOnly

tommycahir wrote: »

It is also worth having a look at the QNAP TS212

I have one of them and they cover all the items that you have listed above and then some more with it.

They are quiet reasonable @ £159 on amazon at the moment (Link) but you will have to add 2 disks to that price also.

Any questions on them drop me a PM or have a look in the QNAP forums.

Qnap are bulletproof, vast amount of options and plugins including bittorrent.
Their level of customer service is unrivaled, i was dicking around with the settings on the nas almost lost 8 years of stuff, got onto skype with one of their customer service guys, gave him access to the nas via teamviewer and all was fixed within 30 mins for free.

Kevso

Hi Guys, quick update

I have gone with the QNAP TS 212 after the recommendations here and some reading up online. Purchased it with a single Hitachi 2 TB drive for now as the cost was a bit much to be adding the second HD at this moment in time.

Not too worried about having RAID capability at the moment as will use one of my existing HD's to back up everything on the NAS and with the 2nd bay being spare it is always something I can look into in the future or update my overall storage to 4TB if I so wish. Also not so sure that RAID is essential as backing up to external HD can do the same and more.

A quick question if I may. Do you have to have the same brand and serial HD (say 2TB Hitachi) for the two bays if you want to a) run them in series for a combined 4TB storage or b) run them in RAID formation with 2TB storage capacity?

Also could I add a 3TB second drive in the future to give me 5TB of space if I wanted?

DeadSkin

Kevso wrote: »

Hi Guys, quick update

I have gone with the QNAP TS 212 after the recommendations here and some reading up online. Purchased it with a single Hitachi 2 TB drive for now as the cost was a bit much to be adding the second HD at this moment in time.

Not too worried about having RAID capability at the moment as will use one of my existing HD's to back up everything on the NAS and with the 2nd bay being spare it is always something I can look into in the future or update my overall storage to 4TB if I so wish. Also not so sure that RAID is essential as backing up to external HD can do the same and more.

A quick question if I may. Do you have to have the same brand and serial HD (say 2TB Hitachi) for the two bays if you want to a) run them in series for a combined 4TB storage or b) run them in RAID formation with 2TB storage capacity?

Also could I add a 3TB second drive in the future to give me 5TB of space if I wanted?

Hey Kevso, do you mind me asking where you bought it, bricks & mortar or online?

It is recommended to stay with same vendor, but you can mix vendor drives. Would be good practice to keep the same speed also.

If you set up a RAID0 with the 2TB & additional 3TB you'll only utilize 2TB of the 3TB disk, giving you 4TB.

tommycahir

Kevso wrote: »

Hi Guys, quick update

I have gone with the QNAP TS 212 after the recommendations here and some reading up online. Purchased it with a single Hitachi 2 TB drive for now as the cost was a bit much to be adding the second HD at this moment in time.

Not too worried about having RAID capability at the moment as will use one of my existing HD's to back up everything on the NAS and with the 2nd bay being spare it is always something I can look into in the future or update my overall storage to 4TB if I so wish. Also not so sure that RAID is essential as backing up to external HD can do the same and more.

A quick question if I may. Do you have to have the same brand and serial HD (say 2TB Hitachi) for the two bays if you want to a) run them in series for a combined 4TB storage or b) run them in RAID formation with 2TB storage capacity?

Also could I add a 3TB second drive in the future to give me 5TB of space if I wanted?

Hi Kev I am running it using 2x 2tb seagate barrcuda green drives, however when choosing a HDD be careful as not all of them are compatible with the firmware

Have a look here to get the list of compatible HDDs - http://www.qnap.com/pro_compatibility.asp

Kevso

DeadSkin wrote: »

Hey Kevso, do you mind me asking where you bought it, bricks & mortar or online?

It is recommended to stay with same vendor, but you can mix vendor drives. Would be good practice to keep the same speed also.

If you set up a RAID0 with the 2TB & additional 3TB you'll only utilize 2TB of the 3TB disk, giving you 4TB.

I went with one of the QNAP recommended resellers. Im living an expat life at the moment so I looked up one of the resellers delivering to my current abode. Went with a company called DNL trading.

Cheers for the info on the 2TB v 3TB, wouldn't have figured that on my own

Kevso

tommycahir wrote: »

Hi Kev I am running it using 2x 2tb seagate barrcuda green drives, however when choosing a HDD be careful as not all of them are compatible with the firmware

Have a look here to get the list of compatible HDDs - http://www.qnap.com/pro_compatibility.asp

Thanks tommy, I had looked at the list alright before buying. I picked up a Hitachi HDS723020BLA642 2 TB drive which is recommended on the compatibility chart. Actually found it hard enough to source the recommended types of drives online.

I am currently transferring all my information across to the NAS which is taking an age. After that I hope to get everything set up for it (iTunes server, squeezebox server, mycloudnas, time machine and windows back-ups etc.) will take a while to get it all sorted I reckon.

I have to say I am very happy with my ReadyNas duo, installed with 2x2tB discs, for streaming video (and audio) to a Netgear EVA9100 aand also an old EVA8000, plus music streaming to Squeezebox devices (up to 2 receivers, two booms and a classic)

I don't have any issues with HD video, no buffering or stuttering problems

I also back up the main readynas to a second one, twice a week. All automatically done.

just do it

Folks

Apologies from a non-IT guy butting in on this thread. I've just this weekend started looking into upgrading my music system and last night learned of the existence of NAS!

So my query is, can I use an ordinary Western Digital 1TB external hard drive as a NAS?

tommycahir

just do it wrote: »

Folks

Apologies from a non-IT guy butting in on this thread. I've just this weekend started looking into upgrading my music system and last night learned of the existence of NAS!

So my query is, can I use an ordinary Western Digital 1TB external hard drive as a NAS?

An ordinary external WD hard drive can not be used as a NAS as a NAS has some basic requirements which a normal external drive doesn't meet.

1) Network interface port
2) Firmware to manage the network connection

the western digital NAS option is mainly based around the mybook range e.g. Link

mecco

tommycahir wrote: »

An ordinary external WD hard drive can not be used as a NAS as a NAS has some basic requirements which a normal external drive doesn't meet.

1) Network interface port
2) Firmware to manage the network connection

the western digital NAS option is mainly based around the mybook range e.g. Link

This is true. You might have a router with a usb port and these capabilities though? Many new routers do and will make an external hard drive accessible to devices on your network.

Another option is to get something that provides the requirements listed, like this link (just the first example I found, that particular one might be useless for all I know). Some people don't like them though as it requires another electrical socket.

tommycahir

mecco wrote: »

This is true. You might have a router with a usb port and these capabilities though? Many new routers do and will make an external hard drive accessible to devices on your network.

True I had forgotten about that option although many ISPs do not provide these routers and if they do most have them locked down to prevent somebody from messing with the settings so it is an option to explore.

mecco

Yeah actually, I should have said it'd be more of a case of if you had your own router.

just do it

Tommycahir, Mecca
Thanks for replies.
I have a WD MyBook ExtHD 1TB but I reckon it isn't a NAS. I also have the stanard issue eircom wireless router from '07 but it doesn't have a USB port.
Now correct if I'm wrong. If I get a router like you suggest combining it and the extHD it would give me the equivalent of a NAS? Our laptops, both Windows based, and something like the sqeezebox could all communicate together? (and an iphone4 & samsung galaxy s2?)

tommycahir

just do it wrote: »

Tommycahir, Mecca
Thanks for replies.
I have a WD MyBook ExtHD 1TB but I reckon it isn't a NAS. I also have the stanard issue eircom wireless router from '07 but it doesn't have a USB port.
Now correct if I'm wrong. If I get a router like you suggest combining it and the extHD it would give me the equivalent of a NAS? Our laptops, both Windows based, and something like the sqeezebox could all communicate together? (and an iphone4 & samsung galaxy s2?)

Do you have any model number for you WD MyBook ExtHD 1TB? by checking the specs online for that model you can determine if it has a network port or by seeing if there is a port on the back of it that looks somewhat like an oversized telephone port.

by getting a new router with USB port you should be able to make your files visable across the network and connect to it via IP addresss & port to access any files. How this is done on differing systems varies eg on an IPHONE you need to get a file browser app, you would also need ot check the requirements of a squeezebox, does it work if you are just able to map a drive or does it need some form of media server built into the NAS.

rai555

tommycahir wrote: »

It is also worth having a look at the QNAP TS212

I have one of them and they cover all the items that you have listed above and then some more with it.

They are quiet reasonable @ £159 on amazon at the moment (Link) but you will have to add 2 disks to that price also.

Any questions on them drop me a PM or have a look in the QNAP forums.

That looks interesting, would tick my boxes. What makes me less happy : the 1st review on amazon : is it true - it only streams flv (flash) or mpeg4 media
?
If so - the use is pretty limited as media server. Thank you for advise

conzy

Just a warning to anyone going buying HDDs at the minute, due to the flooding in Thailand there is a shortage in the supply recently and many retailers have inflated the prices hugely so its well worth shopping around to try and find the best deal. I have seen some crazy prices on HDDs recently!

tommycahir

rai555 wrote: »

That looks interesting, would tick my boxes. What makes me less happy : the 1st review on amazon : is it true - it only streams flv (flash) or mpeg4 media
?
If so - the use is pretty limited as media server. Thank you for advise

I think that is a limitation of the QNAP media server however there is a plugin available for twonky media server which will allow you stream the following according to the twonky web page

TwonkyManager and TwonkyServer can stream the following file formats:
Music: MP3, WMA, WAV, 3GP, M4A, MP4, LPCM, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, MP2, AC3, MPA, MP1, AIF
Photo: JPEG, PNG, TIF, BMP
Video: MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG2-TS, MPEG4, AVI, WMV, VOB, DivX, 3GP, VDR, ASF, MPE, DVR-MS, Xvid, M1V, M4V

Have a look in the qnap forums if your concerned about this.

Kevso

Ok so I have finally gotten all my info onto the NAS and it is working pretty well save for a few glitches.
Only issue is that I can't connect to mycloudnas due to internet provider restrictions. Have been thinking of changing providers this last while in any case so may just go ahead with it now. Want to dig out the "need to have elements" for a new router and internet connection, from what I can see I need:

upnp enabled router
fixed ip address (although from what I read these can be expensive)

Is there anything else I should be checking when looking at options to make sure it is mycloudnas compatible, will have decent read and write speeds, will keep a consistent connection and will be somewhat future proof.

Any help appreciated

unkel

Kevso wrote: »

Samsung 1TB Spinpoint F3 7200rpm SATA 3Gb/s 32MB €126.69 x 2

Crazy stuff. I bought one of those 2 months a go for €48...

If you don't urgently need to buy storage, try and put it off a few months until supply gets back up to speed after the floods...

tommycahir

Kevso wrote: »

Ok so I have finally gotten all my info onto the NAS and it is working pretty well save for a few glitches.
Only issue is that I can't connect to mycloudnas due to internet provider restrictions. Have been thinking of changing providers this last while in any case so may just go ahead with it now. Want to dig out the "need to have elements" for a new router and internet connection, from what I can see I need:

upnp enabled router
fixed ip address (although from what I read these can be expensive)

Is there anything else I should be checking when looking at options to make sure it is mycloudnas compatible, will have decent read and write speeds, will keep a consistent connection and will be somewhat future proof.

Any help appreciated

Do you have the option of using your own router on your broadband connection at the moment? if so then pick up a cheapo router with upnp (90% have this as standard these days, maybe try a tplink)

fixed IP address is not essential to use cloudnas unless you want to directly access your NAS via ip address or over ftp/ssh etc as you can use dyndns (and IRC mycloudnas takes care of that for you anyway) from the NAS if needed anyway.

will have decent read and write speeds, will keep a consistent connection

This really is a basic for any internet connection (assuming read and write == upload and download)