Recommend a DLNA NAS? Should I bother?

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timmmay

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#75312 16-Jan-2011 15:10

I'm considering a NAS, pretty much exclusively to store digital content that can be watched from anywhere in the house. We have a home theatre setup that's used a lot to watch digital content via the PS3 and DLNA, my PC, and occasionally a laptop too. The house has ethernet cable installed, with 100Mb switches, though I could upgrade to gigabit if I needed to. I'd probably use the NAS for backups, though I have an offsite backup system plus a cloud backup system for important documents too.

I'm mostly considering a NAS as it seems a bit wasteful to have the PC on all the time. Then again the PC's on most of the time anyway, and it might be better to leave it on rather than turning it on and off several times a day. Sure a NAS takes less power than a PC, but it's on 24/7 instead of 12/7. Should I bother?

If I do bother, can anyone recommend a good product? I want at least 2TB storage, and it must have DLNA. I guess two drive bays would be nice, but if I fill a 2TB drive (which would take a year or two) I can always migrate it over to a 3 or 4TB drive when they're available. I have an offsite backup of all the content.

So far the Seagate BlackArmor series and the Netgear Home Media Network Storage series look promising.

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#427664 16-Jan-2011 15:26

Get one of this

It can do everything you wanted to do plus you can use it as a time machine server if you owned macs. Have a look at the comparison table HERE

ferg_nz

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#427678 16-Jan-2011 16:06

I have got one of these at work and would love one for home. they do just about everything

http://www.ascent.co.nz/productspecification.aspx?ItemID=387878

They have a few different models and storage options

timmmay

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#427683 16-Jan-2011 16:16

Wow you guys must be loaded. I could leave my PC on and power it for twenty years for the cost of those devices.

The ones I was thinking about are $200-$500 for one or two disk units. I don't need industrial strength raid to serve tv shows.

ferg_nz

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#427688 16-Jan-2011 16:34

I as i said we have one at work but i would LOVE one for home but can't afford it. for my tv shows etc i have an old server i picked up cheap and have slowly loaded up with disks.

illicit

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#427693 16-Jan-2011 17:04

I have Win7MCE here at home and use one of these

http://www.ascent.co.nz/productspecification.aspx?ItemID=9388460

timmmay

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#427700 16-Jan-2011 17:20

illicit: I have Win7MCE here at home and use one of these

http://www.ascent.co.nz/productspecification.aspx?ItemID=9388460

I was looking at those, they look quite good and very reasonably priced.

I'm still wondering whether or not I should bother with a NAS though.

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fahrenheit

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#427706 16-Jan-2011 17:42

I bought a Qnap TS-119 and put a 2TB drive in it.
Its my first NAS and I'm still learning what it can and can't do.

My biggest issue is slow or non-existant firmware updates and applications, but that is probably universal with all these products.

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#427742 16-Jan-2011 19:43

Have you considered re-tasking a PC with Microsoft Home Server? I have been running one for a couple of years now and it is a great option. Also with a addin called lights out it goes to sleep when we are not using it and wakes up if any of our computers get turned on so saves a bit on having something running all the time.
Unfortunately MS have essentially killed the next version by removed a key component but the current version is fine.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/windowshomeserver/default.mspx

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#427754 16-Jan-2011 20:15

fahrenheit: I bought a Qnap TS-119 and put a 2TB drive in it.
Its my first NAS and I'm still learning what it can and can't do.

My biggest issue is slow or non-existant firmware updates and applications, but that is probably universal with all these products.

well, thecus update their firmware every 3 months or so

have a look at this thecus NAS2200

i would advice against netgear stora. you have to pay extra for some features (yearly subscription)

LookingUp

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#427770 16-Jan-2011 21:25

I bought a Synology DS209 a couple of months back and put a couple of 2TB drives in it. Works great for backup (using a Robocopy script rather than the Synology software), and also works well as a Media server.

In my case I wanted it to back up the content on the 2TB drive in our Vu+Duo satellite decoder, which takes care of one of the 2TB disks, and the other is used to back up a couple of PCs and server Media. No point in going to a RAID config, as I'd have to lose the original drive AND the backup drive to lose data.

The other thing that attracted me to a NAS was the ability to put it somewhere where it could be easily grabbed if doing an emergency exit from the house. Not something I thought about until we had the earthquake in Chch back in Sept. Easier to grab one small box than an assortment of appliances!

In my case I went Synology over QNAP as it supported more media types, but there doesn't appear to be a lot between them on the top of the pile of small NAS boxes.

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#427783 16-Jan-2011 21:54

LookingUp:
In my case I went Synology over QNAP as it supported more media types, but there doesn't appear to be a lot between them on the top of the pile of small NAS boxes.

Very true. In my case, the Qnap won-out because the enclosure was black and fanless but there wasn't much to differentiate other than that.

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timmmay

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#427785 16-Jan-2011 21:56

Nety: Have you considered re-tasking a PC with Microsoft Home Server? I have been running one for a couple of years now and it is a great option. Also with a addin called lights out it goes to sleep when we are not using it and wakes up if any of our computers get turned on so saves a bit on having something running all the time.
Unfortunately MS have essentially killed the next version by removed a key component but the current version is fine.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/windowshomeserver/default.mspx

I'm not quite geeky enough to have spare PCs laying around. Once i'm done with a PC I usually give it away or sell it.

A small NAS that sips power would be much more practical, and more easily hidden too.

JimmyH

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#427790 16-Jan-2011 22:17

I am thinking along the same lines, although I have to sort my cabling & wireless options etc before I get around to storage. Probably at least a couple of months (or more) away from a NAS purchase, as cabling is problematic in my current house and I will likely have to go wireles for meda streaming. I am going to stream to my laptop and a pair of WD TV Live boxes, all of which are fine with network shares, so I am not too fussed about DLNA - what I need is a reasonably big storage pool.

Ascent has a 4 bay QNAP on special for $700, and a 4 bay Lian Li (a brand I don't know) for $450, both of which I am contemplating. Put a 2TB disk in for starters (which should hold what I need), and then populate the other 3 bays with 2 TB disks over time as the media collection grows. I think it would be some time before my storage needs outgrow the 8 TB capacity of these boxes, unless I really get in to HD capturing.

Not fussed about Raid. My plan is to duplicate media & backup files to USB drives as they get added to the system, and store them offsite at a family members house as backup. Cheap, covers against NAS box failures as well as disk failures, and deals to the fire/flood/earthquake risk as well. Possibly keep a second set of irreplacable files (as opposed to films) on a small encrypted USB disk in my desk at work as well, for aded safety.

timmmay

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#427794 16-Jan-2011 22:30

I found wireless and powerline streaming to a PS3 (via bridged 802.11G routers) problematic. They forgot their settings occasionally, and performance wasn't great - 10Mb/sec at most (bit not byte), even with good signal strength.

Wired performs much much better. Initially I didn't think I could do wired, but I found a way. It was worth it.

JimmyH

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#428109 17-Jan-2011 17:21

Yeah, I know that wired is superior, which is why I have been dithering so long. The configuration of the house and where I need to put things just makes it a major efford to do - and I don't really want to take the gib off the walls etc.

I thought I would try wireless first, since I have to buy a new router to get the gigabit ports I want for other bits of my setup anyway, and regroup & try other options if that failed. It would probably only cost circa $100 extra to get a router with good wireless performance, plus 1 wireless dongle for a WD TV Live to test the setup.

Sadly my most likely fallback was ethernet over powerline, and given your experience it sounds like that wouldn't work any better. Belkin has a (fairly expensive) PoE option that promises "up to" 200mbit.

Given that I am likely to move in 3-4 years, I don't want to spend a fortune re-gibbing and re-wallpapering etc just to run cables.

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