NAS
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- hedge
I need advice on buying/building a NAS device. I'll be using it to store and stream media to all my devices across a wireless network.
Help me out QBNerz
- hedge0
I'll also be using the sweet FreeNAS, if that matters.
- prophetone0
Nas is in your area, about to cause mass hysteria?
- adev0
Drobo and Synology are probably the easiest to to expand with, but they cost more than a simple NAS. Unlike normal RAID systems, they both take any size drives and build a single disk volume that you can hot swap bad drives in and out of. Windows Home Servers have(had) this feature too, but an upcoming update removes this feature for some stupid reason.
If you don't care about having a backup/raid solution you can get any cheap single drive offering.
At the least, if I were getting a NAS, I'd want something with 2 drives that were mirrored drives in case one fails. Ideally, you'd like 4+ drives but it all depends on how much disk space you want and how much money you want to spend.
Finally watch for network speed. I know Dlink makes 2 different NAS . I believe one is 100mbit and one is 1000mbit ethernet, so if you have a place with gigabit ethernet you'll want to make sure you get a NAS that supports that (or the fastest Wireless network you will be using if that's the case)
- JG_LB0
half man half amazing
- hedge0
Thanks, adev. I'm leaning towards just building one with an Intel Adom ITX board.
- adev0
Since you're going to build it, this shouldn't be a problem....
I've heard some of the standalone NAS devices have slow disk access speed/transfer rates (even with gigabit networking) so if you plan to stream high bit rate movies, you may run into issues. I think this might be from software RAID solutions mainly, but not sure.
And yeah, FreeNAS seems to be the way to go if you build it. That or Windows Home Server if you want to pay for the OS.
- kowalabearhugs0
I'll also rep the Synology brand. I own a DS210j and fit it quick and accessible.
If you're going to build your own NAS a atom 330 would definitely work. FreeNAS is a solid OS. Your key would be to build around a upgradeable, well ventilated case.
Checkout the how-tos and forums @ http://www.smallnetbuilder.com