WD My Book World Edition or IcyBox Icy Box IB-NAS4220-B?

Gazb

Gazb

Gazb

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WD My Book World Edition or IcyBox IB-NAS4220-B?

Basically all I'm looking at the moment is to add NAS to my home network so that I can backup some of my data there and also for my dad as I will be virtualising his old PC and will host the image on the networked drive.

I don't need to be able to access the NAS from outside of my home network and I don't want to have to use any software to access the drive, which is the main reason I'm considering the IcyBox which is most likely overkill for my requirements.

Cost wise they will both work out at a similar amount £140-150 so thats not really an issue.

Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated.
 
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I'd go the ICY box so you can upgrade the hard drive in the future if you so need, I wish I had gone down that route rather than the mybook.
 
As I've been looking into this more it does look like IcyBox may not be able to fit my requirements.
The IcyBox only supports ext2&3 and FAT32 filesystems, so I would have to use FAT32 and that means a maximum file size of 4GB.

Usually I wouldn't even think that this would be an issue/a problem but as I'll be putting a virtualised image of a PC on it, that 4GB cap may indeed become a problem.
 
I havent actually tried it (but will be when i get my setup after xmas) but from what I have read I think it will work.

Edit: (from experts exchange)

With these sort of boxes, they have an embedded linux server on them

The drive is then formatted as EXT3 (preferred) or EXT2, from within the embedded linux server.

The server then shares these drives out using samba so that windows can use them, so would appear to windows as a pc with a network share on it. Windows would then not know that it wasn't a non windows partition.
 
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TheCrow said:
I havent actually tried it (but will be when i get my setup after xmas) but from what I have read I think it will work.

Edit: (from experts exchange)

With these sort of boxes, they have an embedded linux server on them

The drive is then formatted as EXT3 (preferred) or EXT2, from within the embedded linux server.

The server then shares these drives out using samba so that windows can use them, so would appear to windows as a pc with a network share on it. Windows would then not know that it wasn't a non windows partition.
Click to expand...

I'm guessing that is how most people would set up their Icy Box then.

Does the network share just show up as a networked drive that you can drag and drop (copy and paste) files and folders to?
 
As i say i havent got mine yet (need xmas money 1st)

But from what i have found out, windows will not know the diff, it will show up as a network drive and fully support all windows functions (drag/drop add/delete etc)
 
Pretty sure the Wd has some sort of protection to stop you from using it for music and videos, so the IcyBox is the better option, but i would look at something from synology or Qnap as they have lots more features and better support with monthly firmware updates for a few more pennies.
 
Lots more features? and better updates? you sure abotu that?

I've had the icybox 4220 since july and already had 3 firmware updates. pretty happy with it. imo best option if you want to be able to have 1tb now and then drop in another in the future.

not really sure what features the icybox is lacking, it's got much more than i would ever use.


and the filesystem is completeyl hidden to windows, it's just another network folder (smb or ftp). if something does go wrong, you can get software for windows that will read ext2 anyway so there's no disadvantages.
 
Thebug said:
Pretty sure the Wd has some sort of protection to stop you from using it for music and videos, so the IcyBox is the better option, but i would look at something from synology or Qnap as they have lots more features and better support with monthly firmware updates for a few more pennies.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately the Synology and Qnap are a lot more expensive and for my needs overkill.

Afaik the WD has some kind of protection stopping you sharing music and video's from it over the internet for the restrictions don't affect local sharing.
 
Well it looks like I will be going for the Icy Box as it seems to be the better option, more configurable and a lot less restricted.

I've decided on getting 2 1TB drives and set them up in Raid 1.

Any suggestions on what hard drives I should go for?
Usually I'd pick Western Digital drives but the apparently the Samsung Spinpoint series of drives are rather good too.
 
I'd recommend the WD greenpower drives for these. As you're massively capped on transfer rate by speed of the box, there's no point splashing out on faster drivers. In this regard the greenpower drives are ideal - cheaper, quieter, less power consumption.
 
Have just got a Icy Nas with 2x1TB WD Green drives.
Its Raid 1 with Ext3. Windows see's it as a network device no problems. Got all my iTunes music looking at it and have no problem. Also got the Twonkey media working so stream music and video wirelessly to Xbox360 no problem either.
Lastly a private share on it to keep the sensitive stuff on so no one accidently getting to that!
Only problem I have it I cannot rip a dvd to it. Think the connection is to slow. So I rip to local drive then transfer it!
Get about 15mb download and 10mb upload, roughly, with a gigabit LAN.
Only hassle I had was my router wanted the same IP address so setting up was a little annoying. Now both router and Icy have static IP's and everything works a treat!
Just stay away from Samsung drives with it, and set spin down to 15mins rather than 10mins.

EDIT
Also, In the future when even more space is needed, get 2x2TB drives, swap 1 and rebuild the raid, swap the other and you should have 2TB just like that! In theory anyway!!
 
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Sundance said:
I'd go for a Freecom Network Drive or the Pro version - better reviews all round
Click to expand...

I had thought about the Freecom drives but I like the idea of being able to setup raid if I want to, and also being able to configure it to the way I want it.
 
Gazb said:
Well it looks like I will be going for the Icy Box as it seems to be the better option, more configurable and a lot less restricted.

I've decided on getting 2 1TB drives and set them up in Raid 1.

Any suggestions on what hard drives I should go for?
Usually I'd pick Western Digital drives but the apparently the Samsung Spinpoint series of drives are rather good too.
Click to expand...

STAY AWAY from SAMSUNG and ICY!
Lots and lots of reported problems. Go for the WD Greens.
 
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