Basic NAS Suggestions...

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Starplay

267 posts

Ultimate Geek

#79543 18-Mar-2011 23:19

I know this question has been asked around here before... But im yet to find something that solves my problem.

Basically I want a NAS unit that I can just plug into the ethernet port of the router and that be the end of it... Only because it isnt going to be used for crutial things or regular backups etc... although the possibilty of being able to back up some equipment would be nice. Just a basic unit with some descent space on it to host a few files shared between a few computers.

So any suggestions? Thanks

PANiCnz

999 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 161

#449837 19-Mar-2011 12:26

I'm a big fan of the QNAP units, nearly bought the Qnap TS-410 before deciding to go the DIY route with FreeNAS.

Based on your needs I think you can't really go wrong with any NAS, just stick to a decent brand.

Whats your budget?

Also how much capacity do you need? e.g. do you want a 1,2,4 or 4+ drive NAS?

3g

341 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 24

#449857 19-Mar-2011 13:25

I wanted something basic so I went with this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Seagate-STDSB10G-FreeAgent-DockStar-w-FOREVER-PogoPlug-/110656847398?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19c3a97e26#ht_5299wt_958

Seems to work really well and means you can use off the shelf external hard drives.

I've accessed the data remotely using the Android Pogoplug client as well and it works surprisingly well.

Nigel H.

blakamin

4431 posts

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#449870 19-Mar-2011 13:41

I'm a huge fan of FreeNAS... mine is an old celeron 533! uptime as of today is 195 days!!!

PANiCnz

999 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 161

#449882 19-Mar-2011 15:11

blakamin: I'm a huge fan of FreeNAS... mine is an old celeron 533! uptime as of today is 195 days!!!

Mines been up for 29 days (sometime shut it down when I wont use it for a few days). Forget it was even running, finally clicked this morning that I should check the disks (e.g. no SMART errors) the thing just keeps trucking along in the cupboard.

cyril7

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#450284 21-Mar-2011 09:47

Hi, I use NasLite, but if I were find the time to rebuild I would probably go for FreeNas as DLNA I would now find useful, as for uptime, currently 85days but only because I pull the power on the house a couple of months back for alterations, but its been known to be up in excess of a year before I thought a reboot and fan clean was in order.

Oh and mines running on an old Cyrix 6x86 processor with with a 256Mbyte ram stick (4x what it needs) running 4x discs of 500GByte each (Naslite and FreeNas see past Motherboards limitation on disc size), boots off a CD with a 3.5" floppy keeping config files.

Cyril

salival

29 posts

Geek

#450480 21-Mar-2011 20:10

I've built my self a "proper" NAS using FreeBSD and ZFS, just need to improve on the HD space a bit.

Intel E6600 Dual Core
4gb ram (2x2gb sticks for dual channel)
onboard gbit network
4x WDC WD1002FAEX 1tb drives in a ZFS array.

Has been flawless since the moment I installed/set it up. ZFS flys with 64bit O/S and lots of ram (4gb min for performance options).

Survived the quakes, Heatsink broke off with the 6.3, main 130gb hard drive failed to boot, had to manually fsck (chkdisk for unix/freebsd) zfs array booted straight up with 0 issues and 0 data loss.

Best thing about ZFS is it's self healing.. It took me longer to install the drives than it took to setup ZFS.

With Gbit networking I can read/write to my NAS between 50-70MB/sec.

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PANiCnz

999 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 161

#450546 21-Mar-2011 22:36

salival: I've built my self a "proper" NAS using FreeBSD and ZFS, just need to improve on the HD space a bit.

With Gbit networking I can read/write to my NAS between 50-70MB/sec.

I get exactly the same level of performance on my not "proper" NAS with a Atom processor...

salival

29 posts

Geek

#450584 22-Mar-2011 07:07

PANiCnz:
salival: I've built my self a "proper" NAS using FreeBSD and ZFS, just need to improve on the HD space a bit.

With Gbit networking I can read/write to my NAS between 50-70MB/sec.

I get exactly the same level of performance on my not "proper" NAS with a Atom processor...

I dont doubt it, mine is quite overkill. But.. it also does run my web/mail/other services, too

raytaylor

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#451267 23-Mar-2011 22:39

Iomega home media hard drive (model MHNDHD)
I think they come standard with a 1tb hard drive installed.
Good basic unit. Have sold a few to clients and they work well as backup drives using syncback.

Ray Taylor

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floydbloke

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#452208 26-Mar-2011 21:32

3g: I wanted something basic so I went with this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Seagate-STDSB10G-FreeAgent-DockStar-w-FOREVER-PogoPlug-/110656847398?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19c3a97e26#ht_5299wt_958

Seems to work really well and means you can use off the shelf external hard drives.

I've accessed the data remotely using the Android Pogoplug client as well and it works surprisingly well.

Nigel H.

+1 for plug computing (the Dockstar is based on the Sheevaplug). I recently bought one of these. Instaledl PlugApps Linux and is running Samba for filesharing (NAS functionality), CUPS to share a the printer and a Torrent client.

It has replace an old XP laptop that was doing the same, prior to that had a cheapo Chinese made USB-NAS box from dealextremet but it proved unreliable.

Reasons for replacing the lappy with a plug:

power consumption, the dockstar draws less than 5W, and I'd expect the external HDD to be the same or less.

It's fanless, no noise. I sleep in the same room where most of the kit is a couple of nights a week and quiet is good.

(Blatant self-promotion. Anyone interested in a Tecra M3 with a busted graphics controller, it's on TradeMe at the mo :362775836)

Sometimes I use big words I don't always fully understand in an effort to make myself sound more photosynthesis.

Adappted

121 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 6

#452267 27-Mar-2011 02:27

I have a Synology Diskstation that has been superb. Running almost 2yrs now in a hot garage, has never skipped a beat. The setup is a breeze, and it has about 50 other things it can do such as time machine backup or itunes server, webserver, etc. Check them out.

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terryb8s

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#458317 13-Apr-2011 16:54

Something like this will probably do what you want.

http://pbtech.co.nz/index.php?z=p&p=HDDSEA3641&name=Seagate-BlackArmor-NAS110-1TB-Server-network-dat...-

Otherwise the apple airport express is pretty good as well, plug in any USB hard disk and share it via the interface.

vinnieg

2260 posts

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#458321 13-Apr-2011 17:00

I'm using a DNS-320, works well pretty low cost, has two drive bays for expansions

Supports Windows, Mac, Linux, usb backups/transfers, downloads bittorents, few other things too which I can remember but are probably on the specs. Seems very speedy too, have had it up for about 48 days without restarting yet

http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=815

I have moved across the ditch. Now residing in Melbourne as a VOIP/Video Technical Trainer/Engineer.

foremannz

34 posts

Geek

#458447 13-Apr-2011 21:31

Wow, that Seagate Black Armour looks impressive, considering its a NAS with a 1TB!

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