Recommend a home media NAS?

BenEadir

Hi all,

I currently stream movies and music from my Dell Inspiron PC to other devices in my house (xBox media centre, XBMC on laptops, WD TV Live Stream Media Player etc) but the Inspirons 1tb hard drive is getting full and the PC has to be left on all the time to facilitate streaming so to kill two birds with one stone I'd like to get a NAS (preferably WD as I've had a good experience with their Media Player box) which I can plug directly into my wi-fi router (Asus RT-N66U) and have as a dedicated streaming device. I'd also like for it to be connected via the wi-fi network to the PC so that I can download content directly to the NAS rather than having to download to the PC and have to transfer manually to the NAS, if that makes sense!

I'd appreciate recommendations on what device to buy.

Regards,

Ben

PogMoThoin

Once it's connected by ethernet to the router it will be available over WiFi as they are the same network (unless you're doing something wrong). Have a look at the Netgear, Buffalo, Synology and Qnap

http://www.netgear.com/home/products/storage/prosumer/default.aspx
http://www.buffalotech.com/products/network-storage
http://www.synology.com/dsm/dsm_for_home.php?lang=enu
http://www.qnap.com/en/index.php?sn=180&lang=en

You should also consider the possibility of running software on them so you can run your downloads straight to it. Lots of NAS have uTorrent, Sabnzb, Couchpotato, Sickbeard apps you can install. I'd avoid WD for this reason, there isn't a modding community on WD like there is on the few I mentioned above. See:
http://wiki.sabnzbd.org/install-nas

BionicRasher

How about this?
http://www.cclonline.com/product/99136/NoMfgCode/Network-Storage-Drives/ZyXEL-NSA310-1-Bay-2-0TB-Network-Storage-Appliance/HDD3072H2T/

Thinking of getting one myself through Parcel Motel. Price looks good too.

CreepingDeath

tui0hcg wrote: »

How about this?
http://www.cclonline.com/product/99136/NoMfgCode/Network-Storage-Drives/ZyXEL-NSA310-1-Bay-2-0TB-Network-Storage-Appliance/HDD3072H2T/

Thinking of getting one myself through Parcel Motel. Price looks good too.

I got the 2-bay version of this, the Zyzel NSA325.
It's great.

NSA325 2-bay, No disk€93.66

Excellent hackability, it's basically a Linux box and you can add packages to it yourself.

1. download torrents direct to the NAS box.
Also, you can point to a blocklist of known anti-p2p IP addresses to filter out known people you don't want. (replicates PeerBlock program)

2. Multimedia server, streams video, photos and music to your lan

3. Web Server, iTunes server, DropBox client etc, etc, etc

Only last night I managed to get a Linux package ffmpeg to run on it, allowing me to record the video (and audio if I wanted) feed from my IP camera. It could do local WebCams too.

If you're a nerd and know a bit about Linux, this is the box to get.

TheDriver

thinking of getting the NSA325 also because it leaves room for expansion for RAID1, also has SATA3 as opposed to SATA2 on other units. I also read that zyxel can do torrents and RSS feeds.

CreepingDeath

TheDriver wrote: »

I also read that zyxel can do torrents and RSS feeds.

Yep, it can.

Torrent's I've done and it replicates the PeerBlock functionality.
In the NSA325 user interface you can point to a block list provider.
In my case it's
http://list.iblocklist.com/?list=bt_level1&fileformat=p2p&archiveformat=gz
which is the same list that PeerBlock uses.

And yes, it can do RSS feeds but I haven't configured it.
So you can point to RSS feeds for podcasts, it'll download them as they are updated, and it acts as an iTunes server too I believe.

I also like some little things.
There's a "sync" button on the front, which you can configure to copy from X directory to Y directory.
So without any logging in, you could configure it to copy from a specific USB drive/flash disk directory to some backup directory on the NAS.

There's also Polkast, but I didn't get that working and don't really need it. I think it required an open port 1900, but it looked like UPC blocked that.

BionicRasher

Unfortunately I am a nerd but not nerdy enough to go messing with these things and getting Linux etc working on them

That’s why I am looking at the basic plug and play ZyXEL NSA310 1-Bay 2.0TB unit as I want it wife proof and teenager proof too. All I want is to have somewhere to store pics, music, and video that will serve to the various devices around the house.
I will mess around enough I hope and get it set up to be the storage device for recorded TV shows from a Xbox with Windows Media Centre and maybe for the PVR storage from a PC and Android box running XBMC
Is it possible to get RAID1 working on it by adding an external disk?

Am I being foolish thinking it can do things like this?

TheDriver

Thanks creepingdeath, the only thing I was concerned about was the peerblock thing which I use on PC when using torrents currently. THink you have me sold on it.
Tui0hcg: I think the was each zyxel works is the exact same except have 2 disks vs 1 so you can do raid1 on it. WOrking them through interfaces etc is identical I believe.

CreepingDeath

tui0hcg wrote: »

Unfortunately I am a nerd but not nerdy enough to go messing with these things and getting Linux etc working on them

FYI: It's already a Linux box. You can telnet into it from the word go.

Everything I mentioned, with the exception of the WebCam/FFMPEG is standard and comes with a web interface.

Although I imagine the NSA310 has the same functionality.

CreepingDeath

TheDriver wrote: »

Thanks creepingdeath, the only thing I was concerned about was the peerblock thing which I use on PC when using torrents currently.

Note: blocklists are apparently only around 66% effective, so you can't rely on them, but better than nothing if you don't want to go the VPN route.

Ste-

Does that mean something like http://subsonic.org/ could be installed on it ?

PogMoThoin

Usenet FTW, no privacy worries, no VPN, full speed at all times and best of all no uploading

CreepingDeath

Ste- wrote: »

Does that mean something like http://subsonic.org/ could be installed on it ?

Edit: Looks like someone tried it, installation not for the faint hearted though...

Nsa325 SubSonic link



NSA325 Link

The Nsa325 has something called zMedia to stream audio, video etc.

But I bought an LG 620 Blue Ray player ( see bargain alerts ) and it has trouble streaming MP3's over my home Wifi... so I'm not sure how reliable that is, or where the bottleneck is just yet.

TheDriver

just ordered the NSA325 from dabs.ie, did a lot of research and seems good specs etc. What swung it for me was the availability of a second bay, having SATA3 which most only have SATA2 and price.

AntiRip

BenThere wrote: »

Hi all,

I currently stream movies and music from my Dell Inspiron PC to other devices in my house (xBox media centre, XBMC on laptops, WD TV Live Stream Media Player etc) but the Inspirons 1tb hard drive is getting full and the PC has to be left on all the time to facilitate streaming so to kill two birds with one stone I'd like to get a NAS (preferably WD as I've had a good experience with their Media Player box) which I can plug directly into my wi-fi router (Asus RT-N66U) and have as a dedicated streaming device. I'd also like for it to be connected via the wi-fi network to the PC so that I can download content directly to the NAS rather than having to download to the PC and have to transfer manually to the NAS, if that makes sense!

I'd appreciate recommendations on what device to buy.

Regards,

Ben

Ben, I bought that router a couple of weeks ago. Why do you need a NAS when there's two USB ports on the router for ext hdds and built in torrent/nzb/http downloader as well. When you install the downloader software it creates a download folder in the HDD.
Ive xbmc on the laptop and iPads and it works fantastic streaming the content from the hdds.

BenEadir

AntiRip wrote: »

Ben, I bought that router a couple of weeks ago. Why do you need a NAS when there's two USB ports on the router for ext hdds and built in torrent/nzb/http downloader as well.

Becuase I'm a complete newbie

I thought a NAS was essentially just a smart HDD anyway?

If I was to go with this 2TB NAS for €145 delivered how would that compare pricewise to just adding a 'dumb' 2TB HDD in the way you suggest?

Ben

AntiRip

BenThere wrote: »

Becuase I'm a complete newbie

Not at all, I'm the same myself.

BenThere wrote: »

I thought a NAS was essentially just a smart HDD anyway?

If I was to go with this 2TB NAS for €145 delivered how would that compare pricewise to just adding a 'dumb' 2TB HDD in the way you suggest?

Ben

I actually don't know I think the transfer speeds for one would be ALOT faster through the ethernet cable from the NAS to Router.

I sometimes download straight to the laptop and upload it wirelessly to the hdd connected to router. I only get 1mbps speeds that way (thought it would be a way faster!) but through the ethernet i get ~14mbps which is still slowish but that's probably due to the USB 2.0 connections on the router. If you use the downloader on the router, well you bypass all the transferring obviously. It works for me anyway.

Another thing I found is the WD 1TB HDD doesn't sleep attached to the router. My Seagate does.

3TB Seagate here for e110 delivered also
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0084LZJ1M/ref=s9_simh_gw_p147_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0F9VGS59Y06A0XZJKDSS&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=358549767&pf_rd_i=468294

lucast2007us

Do these NAS's have to be plugged in 24/7 cos I think the missus would have heart failure!

T-K-O

Amazon are having a sale on NAS drives, example

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004BE6MVW/ref=pe_208621_36070431_email_1p_1_ti

BenEadir

lucast2007us wrote: »

Do these NAS's have to be plugged in 24/7 cos I think the missus would have heart failure!

Yes, if you want to use them. Most of them go into a low power state if they are not actually being used and 'wake' up when there is LAN activity i.e. if you access the drive to stream content etc.

If you are not prepared to leave it plugged in all the time I don't think it would be a good idea to get one. They are designed to be always on ready to go.

Ben

BionicRasher

T-K-O wrote: »

Amazon are having a sale on NAS drives, example

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004BE6MVW/ref=pe_208621_36070431_email_1p_1_ti

Much better offer on DABS.ie - seem to have been at this low price for a while
http://www.dabs.ie/products/zyxel-nsa320-2-bay-power-nas-appliance-7BFV.html?q=nsa310&src=17

SoundWave

Synology FTW... great nas boxes, probably not the cheapest on the market but when it comes to Features they really stand out.

ive had a DS209+II for the last few years and im delighted with it. It has lots of Android / iOS apps for things like its Download Station so you can send a download to the nas very easily from mobile, also can auto-extract of multipart rars without issue.

it helps to have a decent BB connection but recently i downloaded some video content using the iOS app, and within about 5 minutes it had completed the download, extracted, deleted the rars and was in a watched media folder and was available to watch on the telly.

also has good apps for streaming all your video content to ipad whether on 3g or wifi , and with added USB dvb you can actually watch live TV from the NAS.

pretty much everything can be managed remotely either via DynDNS or apps. (photos, music, files etc)

ive got 4 mates to get them and 2 small businesss and they have all been extremely happy.... and no.. i did not received a commission for this post

lucast2007us

SoundWave wrote: »

Synology FTW... great nas boxes, probably not the cheapest on the market but when it comes to Features they really stand out.

ive had a DS209+II for the last few years and im delighted with it. It has lots of Android / iOS apps for things like its Download Station so you can send a download to the nas very easily from mobile, also can auto-extract of multipart rars without issue.

it helps to have a decent BB connection but recently i downloaded some video content using the iOS app, and within about 5 minutes it had completed the download, extracted, deleted the rars and was in a watched media folder and was available to watch on the telly.

also has good apps for streaming all your video content to ipad whether on 3g or wifi , and with added USB dvb you can actually watch live TV from the NAS.

pretty much everything can be managed remotely either via DynDNS or apps. (photos, music, files etc)

ive got 4 mates to get them and 2 small businesss and they have all been extremely happy.... and no.. i did not received a commission for this post

Cheers sound wave! Was really thinking about the syonolgy ds112j its great value and if I put a 3TB western red in it I should be sorted would you say the above nas is any good?

Ste-

Bought the NSA320 earlier. Looking to get things running when I get it. Like subsonic in the earlier post. Can packages be added straight out of the box or is the funplug stuff the way to go ?

28064212

Ste- wrote: »

Bought the NSA320 earlier. Looking to get things running when I get it. Like subsonic in the earlier post. Can packages be added straight out of the box or is the funplug stuff the way to go ?

There are packages available out of the box, but ffp is fantastic if you have any interest in playing around with a Linux install. It's very easy to install too, you can do it from the built-in package manager with one simple change: http://zyxel.nas-central.org/wiki/FFP_as_zypkg. I have Sabnzbd (Usenet download client), Transmission (torrent client), Sickbeard, Couchpotato, and Headphones all running on it. I also have a script which checks my external IP address every hour and emails me if it changes (so I can SSH into it from anywhere), and another one which can WakeOnLan other computers on the network (my router doesn't allow WOL from external sources).

Deliverance XXV

I bought two NSA320s recently and had some software issues with it but updates sorted it out. The NSA320s are cheap with a tidy design, feature packed (not that I use many of them) and it does the job admirably for the price.

Next on the shopping list is 4x 2TB drives so I can set up a RAID config... Just have to say it to herself...

vibe666

SoundWave wrote: »

Synology FTW... great nas boxes, probably not the cheapest on the market but when it comes to Features they really stand out.

exactly this!

I've quite a lot of NAS experience, I've played around with several software NAS solutions like freenas in it's early days, but when it came time to buy a proper NAS I went for a 7 bay Thecus model, the N7700 which on paper looks great, and although it is blazingly fast, it turned out to be somewhat of a turkey once i got beyond just sharing files from it and tried using it as a download station and that kind of thing.

eventually, i built my own freeNAS box with 8* 2tb drives (RAID6, so just over 10tb of usable storage) and i'm still using that now, but I'm thinking of switching back to my thecus which I still have and moving up to 4tb drives just for the increased performance as the firmware and apps/packages on the thecus are a lot better now than they used to be.

BUT, if I was buying a new NAS for myself, or for anyone else, I'd buy a Synology as I've seen them working and they literally blow everything else out of the water. don't be tempted to buy a cheap NAS just because it's cheap.

streaming and online content is exploding and pretty soon blu-rays and dvd's will be dead and buried. I have 4 TV's in the house and between Raspberry Pi's running XBMC and HTPC's I don't actually have anything capable of playing a DVD on any of them.

invest in a decent NAS now with some expandability and you'll be thanking yourself in the future.

PogMoThoin

vibe666 is spot on.

A NAS is something that's going to be needed more and more as our demands get higher as HD media gets bigger and the cost of displaying HD becomes pennies. I Myself last year bought a low power HP Proliant server and added my 2x3TB and 2x2TB drives. Along with being my media server it runs Sabnzb, Couchpotato, Sickbeard, Headphones and uTorrent. I've not long ago added a fifth 250GB drive for the recording of my external IP cameras. I have an external sata so can add another drive in future
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/ie/en/sm/WF06a/15351-15351-4237916-4237917-4237917-4248009.html?dnr=1

Access

Is there a subscription to pay though if you use usenet instead of regular torrents?

and secondly... i currently (maybe stupidly do everything manually on our NSA310)...

Torrent gets fully downloaded to the admin/download folder -> i access it via windows 7 laptop network shortcut and use "the renamer" program to correct the title (of the tv show in this case) -> then i access the nsa310's file browser and move the file into its correct folder (e.g.- NSA310/TV Shows/tv show name/season 1/)

I take it if i was to install the FFP package... this would cut out the need for me to do all this moving and renaming and it would do it automatically?

BenEadir

Access wrote: »

Is there a subscription to pay though if you use usenet instead of regular torrents?

and secondly... i currently (maybe stupidly do everything manually on our NSA310)...

Torrent gets fully downloaded to the admin/download folder -> i access it via windows 7 laptop network shortcut and use "the renamer" program to correct the title (of the tv show in this case) -> then i access the nsa310's file browser and move the file into its correct folder (e.g.- NSA310/TV Shows/tv show name/season 1/)

I take it if i was to install the FFP package... this would cut out the need for me to do all this moving and renaming and it would do it automatically?

I'm in exactly the same boat. Anyone care to enlighten us newbies??

Ben

28064212

Access wrote: »

Is there a subscription to pay though if you use usenet instead of regular torrents?

Yes, you need an account with a usenet server. Astraweb would be one of the better known ones, but there's lots of options. There's a "beginners' guide" to usenet here. It's a little out of date, but covers the basics. The "indexing sites" section in particular is pretty irrelevant, but I think it's against boards rules to link to newer ones

Access wrote: »

and secondly... i currently (maybe stupidly do everything manually on our NSA310)...

Torrent gets fully downloaded to the admin/download folder -> i access it via windows 7 laptop network shortcut and use "the renamer" program to correct the title (of the tv show in this case) -> then i access the nsa310's file browser and move the file into its correct folder (e.g.- NSA310/TV Shows/tv show name/season 1/)

I take it if i was to install the FFP package... this would cut out the need for me to do all this moving and renaming and it would do it automatically?

Essentially, although it's not as simple as just installing FFP. That's just the platform which allows you to install other programs on your NAS. The programs which actually do the work are Sabnzbd and Sickbeard. It does require some time and effort to get setup, but it's an excellent setup once it's running, and there's loads of resources online

Ste-

Is it better to install FFP when I first open the thing or set it up first, Partition the drives etc then isntall FFP ?

T-K-O

Question for experience NAS users.

Is it better to leave the disks running 24/7 or is it best practice to schedule power down when not in use?

28064212

Ste- wrote: »

Is it better to install FFP when I first open the thing or set it up first, Partition the drives etc then isntall FFP ?

Partition first. Unless you're using FFP on a stick, it's installed to the drive, so partitioning would wipe your install

SmithySeller

IMO, when it comes to NAS, I seldom look past Synology.

T-K-O wrote: »

Question for experience NAS users.

Is it better to leave the disks running 24/7 or is it best practice to schedule power down when not in use?

Good question. IMO I would leave them running 24/7, buts that's very circumstantial. I'd also be careful about the disks I put in, some are more suitable for NAS. Have a read about Western Digital Red Drives, they are built for how a NAS functions and give a lot more consideration to going to sleep and waking back up. From memory, a two drive Synology Home NAS uses only 3/4watts when not in use. Pretty good IMO.

mac_daddy

I recently went down the dedicated NAS path myself and can without doubt recommend the items below, particularly useful if you want a RAID setup:

Synology NAS - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005TOXMAW/ref=oh_details_o06_s00_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

2 x WD Red 2TB http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008JJLZ7G/ref=oh_details_o06_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I leave mine running 24/7 and can access it whenever I want from anywhere.

T-K-O

SmithySeller wrote: »

IMO, when it comes to NAS, I seldom look past Synology.



Good question. IMO I would leave them running 24/7, but I'd be careful about the disks I put in, some are more suitable for NAS. Have a read about Western Digital Red Drives, they are built for how a NAS functions and give a lot more consideration to going to sleep and waking back up. From memory, a two drive Synology Home NAS uses only 3/4watts when not in use. Pretty good IMO.

At the moment I power down from 3am to 6:30am, to be honest I wasn't 100% sold on the benefit of this. Thanks for reply, I'll check those WD Red disks.

unkel

The cheapest Synology 2 bay NAS is £127 on Amazon. Still a lot of money or is it worth it compared to the £54 Zyxel?

mac_daddy

I would say the Synology is definitely worth the investment. There is a reason why the Zyxel has dropped so much in price, look at the reviews it has on Amazon. Better to play it safe rather than entering a world of pain!

SmithySeller

unkel wrote: »

The cheapest Synology 2 bay NAS is £127 on Amazon. Still a lot of money or is it worth it compared to the £54 Zyxel?

I guess it all depends. But the Synology is very feature rich, but will you use them all? Its also very intuitive, and has good support.
Performance comes into it also, these are last years models, but a quick search reveals the Synology pretty much out-performing most NAS's out there at a comparative price point;

http://uk.hardware.info/reviews/2667/9/synology-ds212j-ds212-and-rs212-reviewed-performance-intel-naspt

Ste-

28064212 wrote: »

Partition first. Unless you're using FFP on a stick, it's installed to the drive, so partitioning would wipe your install

Was going to use FFP on a stick. Would I need to connected each time I want to install something ?

28064212

Ste- wrote: »

Was going to use FFP on a stick. Would I need to connected each time I want to install something ?

Haven't used the stick option, but I would have thought it always needed to be connected. Installs would be made to the stick, so you wouldn't be able to run the programs without it connected.

Again, that's just AFAIK

Ste-

28064212 wrote: »

Haven't used the stick option, but I would have thought it always needed to be connected. Installs would be made to the stick, so you wouldn't be able to run the programs without it connected.

Again, that's just AFAIK

Maybe I'd be better off installing it to HDD then.
Thanks for the advice. Still waiting on my disks to arrive from amazon. Fingers crossed Monday.

Thanks for the advice.

nedd

Looking to get a NAS myself. The Zyxel seems like a great deal, I'm sure a Synology would be a better option but I have serious budget issues.

How are people finding the 325? I want to mainly use it for DLNA Video and torrent downloads.

Thanks.

gavmcg92

Can the drives on the Zyxel NSA320 be removed and replaced down the line or is the device sealed like a standard hard drive?

BenEadir

gavmcg92 wrote: »

Can the drives on the Zyxel NSA320 be removed and replaced down the line or is the device sealed like a standard hard drive?

Yes, the drive can be removed and replaced. When mine arrived the drive was separate and had to be installed. It was a 30 second job.

Ben

gavmcg92

BenThere wrote: »

Yes, the drive can be removed and replaced. When mine arrived the drive was separate and had to be installed. It was a 30 second job.

Ben

Cheers ben. What drives were they? Are they own brand?

BenEadir

gavmcg92 wrote: »

Cheers ben. What drives were they? Are they own brand?

Can't remember!! I know mine was a 2TB but that's all I remember I'm afraid. I just unpacked it, clicked it in and away she went

Ben

nedd

BenThere wrote: »

Can't remember!! I know mine was a 2TB but that's all I remember I'm afraid. I just unpacked it, clicked it in and away she went

Ben

I just ordered a 325 without hdds and I bought a Seagate separately