Looking for a 3GB NAS?

clv101 · 8 Jan 2013 at 15:07

A bit of background. Our household has the following computers:

3GHz C2D 3x320GB HDD running the TV
3GHz C2D 64GB SSD and 3x500GB HDD in the office
Three laptops
iPad

The only network infrastructural is the Virgin superhub, with everything connected wireless except the TV computer.

I need a NAS for timemachine backups of the laptops and to consolidate the data that's currently haphazardly spread over the six desktop HDDs. I'm looking for around 3TB of storage and RAID 1 security seems sensible. A two-bay NAS?

I'm not fussed about any fancy features, though a print server would be handy. I'd just like this 3TB volume to be available 24/7, without running up a large electricity bill. I'd also like to avoid any nasty propriety standards that would prevent me from just sticking the drive into a computer were the NAS itself to fail.

Can someone recommend a simple, solid and affordable NAS?

Edit, of course the title's meant to say TB!

welshdragon · 9 Jan 2013 at 11:35

A Synology DS212j would fit the bill perfectly. You can hook a printer to it so that the printer is network available. Drives are bought separately. I currently use WD red drives but have previously used green drives without issue. Check their hdd compatibility checker first when choosing drives.

clv101 · 9 Jan 2013 at 15:45

Thanks - I have read good things about the DS212J and it's relatively affordable.
I've also read about a few problems, excessive time taken to produce image thumbnails and issues with Time Machine.
Are there any specific hard drives that work better than others with it?

Rroff · 9 Jan 2013 at 15:48

Some of the Western Digital drives don't work so well with proper NAS boxes but I can't remember which ones off the top of my head - think it was the greens. I would seriously reccomend going for one of the Synology or QNap NAS if you can afford them.

welshdragon · 9 Jan 2013 at 16:39

clv101 said:
Thanks - I have read good things about the DS212J and it's relatively affordable.
I've also read about a few problems, excessive time taken to produce image thumbnails and issues with Time Machine.
Are there any specific hard drives that work better than others with it?

That thumbnail issue I think has been mostly resolved now. When using the Synology assistant it has the option to upload photo's and doing it that way means it will create the thumbnails as it goes, using your pc to do the hard work not your nas.

I've used greens for two years problem free but there might be an issue with other models of them. I currently use a pair of red's which are great.

Check the hdd compatability checker on their site HERE which gives a breakdown of what hdd's have been tested and known to work fine.

I've reviewed the DS212J HERE if it's of any interest.

Credo · 10 Jan 2013 at 23:21

Regarding the thumbnail issue, I have a DS213Air and use a third party sync app (Create Synchonicity - highly recommended BTW) and as it's that that syncs my 70GB photo collection not DS Assistant the thumbnail issue writes off any thumbnail creation for me, it just sits there on 100% CPU for ever. I don't care particularly, I just want my data backed up. I use 2x3Tb WD Reds and they work perfectly. Like Welshdragon, I highly recommend a Synology NAS as a solution for you, good bits of kit.