Cheap (ish) NAS - this one seem OK?
11 August 2011, 08:09 PM
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Cheap (ish) NAS - this one seem OK?
Until now I've been using an external USB2 HD as a backup and relying on EZBackup for the SW end of things from 2 Windows (XP) PCs. Things have changed recently with my other 'arf getting herself a Macbook Pro (running Lion) and the paltry 160GB IDE drive just about out of space. First thoughts were just to get a 1TB drive for my PC but that means I'd have to do manual backups as before so I thought about getting a NAS as then a) I wouldn't have to have my PC powered on before backups were done b) I could plug the printer into it so again, my PC needn't be powered on and c) hopefully it would cover OS X and Windows.
Looked about a bit, including a 'search' on this forum (
), and most NAS boxes, if you wanted all-out performance and RAID, bla bla, were too much. So, I'm just after 1TB (plenty for now), NAS and USB for printer if possible. Anyone recommend one?
Ta
Dave
Looked about a bit, including a 'search' on this forum (
), and most NAS boxes, if you wanted all-out performance and RAID, bla bla, were too much. So, I'm just after 1TB (plenty for now), NAS and USB for printer if possible. Anyone recommend one?Ta
Dave
11 August 2011, 11:06 PM
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Buffalo?
http://www.buffalo-technology.com/pr...kstation-live/
had an older linkstation live and it was pretty good for fairly cheap
http://www.buffalo-technology.com/pr...kstation-live/
had an older linkstation live and it was pretty good for fairly cheap
12 August 2011, 09:17 AM
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Not strictly a NAS but just bought one of these:
http://h41112.www4.hp.com/promo/prol...ver/index.html
Comes in around £130 after the cashback, then got a 4GB memory stick for it (£35), 2*2TB hard drives (£110), and Windows Home Server 2011 (£35). The latter is supposed to be compatible with PCs, MACs, LINUX, etc. Total cost ~£310 for 2Tb of RAID1 storage. You could scale the above to your requirements. For me it's a great starting point for a centralised home network and I still have two drive bays free in the box so can easily double to 4TB as the need arises.
http://h41112.www4.hp.com/promo/prol...ver/index.html
Comes in around £130 after the cashback, then got a 4GB memory stick for it (£35), 2*2TB hard drives (£110), and Windows Home Server 2011 (£35). The latter is supposed to be compatible with PCs, MACs, LINUX, etc. Total cost ~£310 for 2Tb of RAID1 storage. You could scale the above to your requirements. For me it's a great starting point for a centralised home network and I still have two drive bays free in the box so can easily double to 4TB as the need arises.
12 August 2011, 09:40 PM
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Not strictly a NAS but just bought one of these:
http://h41112.www4.hp.com/promo/prol...ver/index.html
Comes in around £130 after the cashback, then got a 4GB memory stick for it (£35), 2*2TB hard drives (£110), and Windows Home Server 2011 (£35). The latter is supposed to be compatible with PCs, MACs, LINUX, etc. Total cost ~£310 for 2Tb of RAID1 storage. You could scale the above to your requirements. For me it's a great starting point for a centralised home network and I still have two drive bays free in the box so can easily double to 4TB as the need arises.
http://h41112.www4.hp.com/promo/prol...ver/index.html
Comes in around £130 after the cashback, then got a 4GB memory stick for it (£35), 2*2TB hard drives (£110), and Windows Home Server 2011 (£35). The latter is supposed to be compatible with PCs, MACs, LINUX, etc. Total cost ~£310 for 2Tb of RAID1 storage. You could scale the above to your requirements. For me it's a great starting point for a centralised home network and I still have two drive bays free in the box so can easily double to 4TB as the need arises.
Do you know if the "raw" hardware supports VMware ESXi? Now that would be really interesting!
mb
14 August 2011, 11:05 AM
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Didn't include the one I was thinking of in the OP. Can't remember which it was now .... doh! Anyway, after lots of trawling the ol' interweb I'm leaning towards a Synology box but will have to "justify" it to the missus. Probably a 2-bay one.
But all and any information appreciated!
Dave
But all and any information appreciated!
Dave
14 August 2011, 11:23 AM
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ah i didnt think you wanted all that 
Synologys are good little boxes, ive a twin bay at work thats pretty good, quite like the control for it, kinda web based OS looking thing
can also look at QNAP boxes, very similar NAS
Synologys are good little boxes, ive a twin bay at work thats pretty good, quite like the control for it, kinda web based OS looking thing
can also look at QNAP boxes, very similar NAS
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14 August 2011, 11:52 AM
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I've got a Netgear Stora - bloody amazing
It can take 2 3.5" SATA drives and either mirror or span between them (ive got mirroring setup with 2x 2TB drives giving 2TB usable space)
Managed via a web interface and best of all you can even access all your files via the web anywhere in the world!
Bargain on the moment i think.
I've actually got a full server 2003 box at home with a hardware RAID5 card in it so the stora is just the backup for that, got a robocopy job running every night to keep everything in sync.
It can take 2 3.5" SATA drives and either mirror or span between them (ive got mirroring setup with 2x 2TB drives giving 2TB usable space)
Managed via a web interface and best of all you can even access all your files via the web anywhere in the world!
Bargain on the moment i think.
I've actually got a full server 2003 box at home with a hardware RAID5 card in it so the stora is just the backup for that, got a robocopy job running every night to keep everything in sync.
14 August 2011, 11:57 AM
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Dave
14 August 2011, 03:49 PM
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I have Thecus and QNAP NAS boxes, and although both do what they're designed to do, I prefer the QNAP web-interface - which is important if you're going to be doing things other than just storing of backing-up files on there (such as media streaming, bit-torrent, web server, SQL etc)
15 August 2011, 09:40 AM
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Built mine on the weekend with Windows Home Server 2011, very smooth and painless install
Just got to move all the crap I have got on various PCs onto it. Intention is to backup photos, music, video etc. onto DVD-R as I do it. Probably get a big USB hard drive to back up the entire server at some point too. Can't have enough copies of stuff
15 August 2011, 11:40 AM
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26 August 2011, 10:52 PM
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Not strictly a NAS but just bought one of these:
http://h41112.www4.hp.com/promo/prol...ver/index.html
Comes in around £130 after the cashback, then got a 4GB memory stick for it (£35), 2*2TB hard drives (£110), and Windows Home Server 2011 (£35). The latter is supposed to be compatible with PCs, MACs, LINUX, etc. Total cost ~£310 for 2Tb of RAID1 storage. You could scale the above to your requirements. For me it's a great starting point for a centralised home network and I still have two drive bays free in the box so can easily double to 4TB as the need arises.
http://h41112.www4.hp.com/promo/prol...ver/index.html
Comes in around £130 after the cashback, then got a 4GB memory stick for it (£35), 2*2TB hard drives (£110), and Windows Home Server 2011 (£35). The latter is supposed to be compatible with PCs, MACs, LINUX, etc. Total cost ~£310 for 2Tb of RAID1 storage. You could scale the above to your requirements. For me it's a great starting point for a centralised home network and I still have two drive bays free in the box so can easily double to 4TB as the need arises.
It looks like the "ton back" offer is being extended until the end of September n'all So, one final question (and yes, i am going to trawl AVforums as well) - what disks do you use? An "official" HP 2TB disk is over GBP450
(and 500GB is £226 at Misco) so what other disks do you suggest (and ones that fit properly rather than blutac-ing into the slots I will probably buy/install an optical drive as well - even though i have a spare external USB one that i can use.
Cheers,
mb
26 August 2011, 10:55 PM
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any sata drive , i doubt theres anything special about them
i use Samsung HDD's at present
Storage controller
(1) Integrated 4 port SATA RAID Serial ATA-300
etc
i use Samsung HDD's at present
Storage controller
(1) Integrated 4 port SATA RAID Serial ATA-300
etc
26 August 2011, 10:55 PM
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27 August 2011, 11:18 AM
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Network Attached Storage
Basically a box the plugs into your network and is used to store files. It can be a dedicated box such as the Buffalo mentioned above or a normal computer configured to act like a file store (as per the HP Microserver running Windows Home Server).
Advantages include the ability to share files between many devices (laptops, destops, even over the Interwebs), one place to backup (and if you RAID the disks you can also survive a hardware failure) and other stuffs but i'll let you Google that.
For less than £200 plus the cost of the (large) disks, the Microserver is actually cheaper than most dedicated boxes and can do more that a bog-standard NAS box.
mb
Basically a box the plugs into your network and is used to store files. It can be a dedicated box such as the Buffalo mentioned above or a normal computer configured to act like a file store (as per the HP Microserver running Windows Home Server).
Advantages include the ability to share files between many devices (laptops, destops, even over the Interwebs), one place to backup (and if you RAID the disks you can also survive a hardware failure) and other stuffs but i'll let you Google that
.For less than £200 plus the cost of the (large) disks, the Microserver is actually cheaper than most dedicated boxes and can do more that a bog-standard NAS box.
mb
27 August 2011, 11:52 AM
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Nice one, thanks Boomer.
It sounds like it works a bit like how iCloud will work?
I've been looking over the internet trying to find out how to stream content from the Mac Mini to PS3, but it seems a bit difficult to sort it out. Would the NAS be the simple answer?
It sounds like it works a bit like how iCloud will work?
I've been looking over the internet trying to find out how to stream content from the Mac Mini to PS3, but it seems a bit difficult to sort it out. Would the NAS be the simple answer?
Last edited by drb5; 27 August 2011 at 11:57 AM.
30 August 2011, 09:48 AM
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Try as i might, i just can't avoid repeatedly seeing this "bargain" - eBuyer, Misco, El Reg adverts etc., so i think that i am being drawn in It looks like the "ton back" offer is being extended until the end of September n'all
So, one final question (and yes, i am going to trawl AVforums as well) - what disks do you use? An "official" HP 2TB disk is over GBP450 (and 500GB is £226 at Misco) so what other disks do you suggest (and ones that fit properly rather than blutac-ing into the slots
I will probably buy/install an optical drive as well - even though i have a spare external USB one that i can use.
Cheers,
mb
It looks like the "ton back" offer is being extended until the end of September n'all So, one final question (and yes, i am going to trawl AVforums as well) - what disks do you use? An "official" HP 2TB disk is over GBP450
(and 500GB is £226 at Misco) so what other disks do you suggest (and ones that fit properly rather than blutac-ing into the slots I will probably buy/install an optical drive as well - even though i have a spare external USB one that i can use.
Cheers,
mb
At the moment got two Western Digital 2Tb Caviar Green SATA II drives but as mentioned any SATA drive should fit. Got them from Aria for around £55 each but they seem to out of stock at the moment.
Memory upgrade came from ebuyer: http://www.ebuyer.com/244940-kingsto...-kth-pl313e-4g
And finally Windows Home Server 2011 for here: http://www.cclonline.com/product/587...-2011/SFT0108/
31 August 2011, 10:52 PM
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Thanks CD, although there is now another spanner in the ointment
Looks like HP are about to extend their range of Microservers, and as i am not really bothered about a few more CPU mega-hurtz i am hoping that the "old" model will get even more than the current £100 cash-back
And with RAM prices plummeting, they may even be paying me to take one off their hands
Cheers,
mb
Looks like HP are about to extend their range of Microservers, and as i am not really bothered about a few more CPU mega-hurtz i am hoping that the "old" model will get even more than the current £100 cash-back
And with RAM prices plummeting, they may even be paying me to take one off their hands
Cheers,
mb
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