Please recommend NAS for use with HTPC

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Kopkiwi

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#112349 5-Dec-2012 19:45

Just picked up a HTPC with XBMC pre loaded. Looking at putting my blu-ray collection onto storage, can anyone recommend an appropriate (read good but cheap) NAS?

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#727605 5-Dec-2012 19:49

Synology DS212j or above models. Have one running 24/7 for past 7 odd months with 2 x 2TB Green drives from Western Digital without any issues.

http://www.amazon.com/Synology-DiskStation-Diskless-Network-Attached/dp/B005YW7OLM/ref=lh_ni_t

Do whatever you want to do man.

driller2000

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#727611 5-Dec-2012 19:59

another option - if you have some old hardware sitting around you could reconfigure it as a nas

i have had unraid running for 4 months now (8x3tb drives - with 21TB of storage available - unraid pro license good for up to 24 drives) and I am EXTREMELY happy with it as a media server serving 3 xbmc media clients, media player and several android devices as well - you can even try a free version first to see if it suits your needs which would allow 2 data drives and a parity drive - depending on what hw you already have / and what you need in terms of storage - you could even do this for free.

there are other options like freenas - haven't tried it myself but it seems to get good reviews too

suggest a quick google will throw up some options worth considering

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1392050/official-unraid-thread
http://www.avsforum.com/t/1409360/freenas-unraid-whs-which-one
http://www.avsforum.com/t/1302559/assassins-simple-beginner-htpc-buying-guide#post_19735070

good luck : )

mthredgo

80 posts

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#727635 5-Dec-2012 21:11

Another happy synology customer here. I've got the DS211j with 2 x 2Tb in it. I've got it on a UPS and it has been up since I got it about 18 months ago.

http://www.synology.com/index.php?lang=default

JimmyH

2886 posts

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#727730 5-Dec-2012 22:43

Kopkiwi: Just picked up a HTPC with XBMC pre loaded. Looking at putting my blu-ray collection onto storage, can anyone recommend an appropriate (read good but cheap) NAS?

Some more information might help you get advice. For example:
- How big is the collection? It's kind of hard to recommend a file storage solution if you don't say how much you are trying to store.
- Do you care about drive redundancy? Multi-bay costs more, but can be more resilient

etc

Ramjet007

319 posts

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#727793 6-Dec-2012 06:07

I'm looking at one as well. Been thinking of

http://www.ascent.co.nz/productspecification.aspx?ItemID=401716

they have some good reviews but are cheap.

mrphil

424 posts

Ultimate Geek

#727866 6-Dec-2012 09:38

i've been looking at getting a NAS too...it seems like synology rules the market as being the best available

for me i'm wanting the DS413 but at $1000 plus drives its out of my budget

reven

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#727874 6-Dec-2012 09:46

personally ive used

- Drobo
- unRaid
- Ubuntu with software raid5
- FreeNAS
- ReadyNAS

Drobo was good at first, but became really slow and a drive bay died, i wouldnt touch another drobo.

unRaid, Ubuntu, FreeNAS are all pretty good, but i ultimately didnt want a full system just for the NAS and i found they had higher maintenance requirements than I wanted. But still good options

ReadyNAS, what I'm using now and have been for over a year. Really good NAS, zero maintenance required, fast, has NFS options, plenty of storage space (I got the 6 bay model), dynamic storage so I can add more drives later (which i've done so twice, now using 4 out of the 6 drives).
I've got it running a mysql server that I use for xbmc databases. It does have a plex server as well thats running but i barely use this (only when i need to use my xbox or ps3 to watch something).

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Kopkiwi

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#727944 6-Dec-2012 11:11

Thanks for the info guys, looks like I?ve got some reading to do. Much appreciated.

In terms of storage size. I have at present 150GB of music and then around 200 blu-rays that I intend on full rips for (full HD audio and 1080p) that I want to store as well.

Throw in a WHOLE lot of TV Shows as well, some in 720p, that mounts up as well.

sidefx

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#727950 6-Dec-2012 11:19

I think you'll likely want to look at 4+ bay NAS for all that. You're probably looking at 3-6TB (EDIT: Depending how you choose to rip them) for the blu-ray rips alone.

(I've been very happy with Amahi with Greyhole for my home storage needs, though as Reven touchs on above the maintenance\setup requirements are higher than a straight NAS solution)

"I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change that here and there." | Octopus Energy | Sharesies
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rp1790

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#727954 6-Dec-2012 11:26

if you're only think 4-9TB, I'd suggest considering skipping a NAS and just purchasing a couple of external 4TB drives. or, even more cost effective 3 x 3TB drives (only about $229 ea).

Unless you ABSOLUTELY must have fault tolerance, external drives plugged directly into your HTPC are cheapest, by a mile, and make the least amount of noise.

I have a 4 bay ReadyNAS and while it's rather good, I wouldn't do it again.

Kopkiwi

2617 posts

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#727974 6-Dec-2012 11:50

rp1790: if you're only think 4-9TB, I'd suggest considering skipping a NAS and just purchasing a couple of external 4TB drives. or, even more cost effective 3 x 3TB drives (only about $229 ea).

Unless you ABSOLUTELY must have fault tolerance, external drives plugged directly into your HTPC are cheapest, by a mile, and make the least amount of noise.

I have a 4 bay ReadyNAS and while it's rather good, I wouldn't do it again.

Reading all the set up work required for unRAID I am thinking this might be the best option for me..

driller2000

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#728305 6-Dec-2012 22:26

"Reading all the set up work required for unRAID I am thinking this might be the best option for me.. "

yeah i read a bit - and i don't know much about computers, hence why i got clounge to build my unraid box - but installing unraid was easy i was up and running in 1/2 hr...

i hear what people say about potential maintenance time with a dedicated machine - that said i have only run it for 4 months - but have done no maintenance other than an auto parity check - and adding more drives - as you do :)

the key pluses for me are:

1. easy expandability
2. a certain degree of redundancy / back up
3. user shares for easy media amalgamation and access by streamers / clients
4. low power use via spin down and
5. pretty much the fact it's designed for local media storage

(note: i also have syncback free running on other machines on the network for regular back up purposes.)

i really do reckon the free license is worth a crack if you had an old / spare box sitting around as a test ....i used this, played for 1 hr and was sold on the concept

that said there is a lot to be said for pre-configured 2/4 bay nas's in terms of plug and play simplicity

as noted above it really does depend on how much storage you need now and will likely need in the future

but for me - 4 x 3TB = 12 TB wouldn't have been enough - or even 6 TB if i had mirrored the drives....

fyi - old thread re my unraid journey: http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumId=84&topicId=106329

sonyxperiageek

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#728310 6-Dec-2012 22:45

billgates: Synology DS212j or above models. Have one running 24/7 for past 7 odd months with 2 x 2TB Green drives from Western Digital without any issues.

http://www.amazon.com/Synology-DiskStation-Diskless-Network-Attached/dp/B005YW7OLM/ref=lh_ni_t

Did you notice a significant increase to your power bill with this?

Sony

Kopkiwi

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#728921 8-Dec-2012 11:20

Any suggestions on a good USB blu-ray ripper? USB 3.0 preferrable.

tukapa1

725 posts

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#729207 9-Dec-2012 10:43

This is a timely thread as it is something I am currently looking at doing at home.

Storage would be for a combination of blu-ray, DVD and CD full uncompressed rips as well as HD downloads.

I was leaning towars the Synology DS212j due to all the good reviews but as always I started wondering whether 6TB would be enough and started looking 4 bay units. The Netgear RND4000 v2 looks like a good priced 4 bay unit and I was wondering whether anybody has had any hands on with this one (can be found here);

http://www.computerlounge.co.nz/components/componentview.asp?r=p&partid=16719

It's only $60 dearer than the DS212j but provides for much more future proofing as long as it's not a POS.

Any comments would be welcome.

I'll probably just have a WD TV Live media player in my main lounge attached to a full HD 50" plasma. In my 2nd lounge I have both Xbox 360 and PS3 attached to 42"plasma and also 100" projector. Everything is attached to a wired network so I'm thinking a NAS would be a great way to store all my media for easy access anywhere.

Any thoughts welcomed.

Thanks.

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