Advice please re attaching printers and storage direct to network

Namsnik · 17 Mar 2010 at 12:39

I would prefer a cost conscious solution to a high performance one! My research so far suggests three possible approaches. I would love some thoughts about which to follow and ideally some suggested products. I guess I am expecting to have to spend around £150 including 1 Gb. More if a larger drive.

We have a number of laptops and desktops at home variously running XP, Vista and Windows 7 64 bit . Currently one of the desktops is left on 24/7 in order to host a drive used to store all our data (plus backup drive images) and a laser printer (Kyocera 1020D). This arrangement means that we can all get to the files we need from any of the computers. I now need to buy a larger drive (1GB plus) and so am hoping to take the opportunity to connect both printer and data drive directly to the network and thus avoid having a pc on 24/7. The network is hard wired cat 6/5e from the router to the location of the storage & printers.

I guess I should look for a solution whereby the data drive goes into standby mode in some way rather than spins continuously. Would any drive do this?

Most useage will be via wireless connection and it would be rare for several large transfers to be going on at the same time. I guess this means that I don’t need anything special performance wise..

Option1: Should I go for a USB disk plus a "Darkstar USB-to-NAS NetMagic Quad Port" or similar. Should I be concerned if there is no reference to Wi7 support?

Option2:A network switch with USB ports? I can’t find any of those at the moment apart from "NetGear 54MBPS WIRELESS PRINT SERVER" this has 2 usb plus wireless (which I don't really need and don't understand how it would work alongside my existing wireless and again Win 7 support is not stated).

Option3: Separate NAS drive/enclosure and print dongle

Apologies for the long post. Thoughts and suggestions much appreciated.

Ch3m1c4L · 17 Mar 2010 at 13:37

get a nas drive with a usb port (for additional storage/printer) on it.

Or do what you said and get a usb > ethernet thingy, although if your running Gbit ethernet remember its only usb 2.0 so sucks for speed.

I dont actually know much about what printer stuff you can get for the home, i did look at getting a NAS though to use for backups of my PC and decided to just get a DAS for my PC instead, since the USB2.0 speeds sucked, and if i got a NAS, then i may as well replace all the storage in my PC and then it would have cost me too much. AFAIK the drives will spin down when not in use, at least my usb drives do.

Namsnik · 17 Mar 2010 at 14:46

Thanks, I didn't realise NAS drives sometimes have printer ports. That sounds like a good option if the price is right..

Is security a big issue with a NAS? I suppose I am more reliant on my router's fire wall and security settings but I assume it is not a show stopper.

From here I guess a 2 TB solution would be:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-029-BT
Icy Box IB-NAS4220-B Ethernet Network Attached Storage Enclosure Icy Box IB-NAS4220-B Ethernet Network Attached Storage Enclosure £107.99
Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000.C 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (0F10383)Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000.C 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (0F10383) £60.99 x 2 = £121.98
Sub Total : £230
I don't really need 2 Tb and certainly have never tinkered with raid. But could I use the above with just one drive?
A little concerned that the reviews suggest that I would need to do a firmware upgrade. Any other options?

feriso · 17 Mar 2010 at 15:23

Avoid the ICYBOX as they have problems, Choose summat from QNAP instead or synology

Biz.Kid09 · 17 Mar 2010 at 15:29

Im a bit confused as to what you want....You could get a wireless printer? and then just get a NAS for your files?

Namsnik · 17 Mar 2010 at 16:39

Thanks feriso, I will have a look at those makes.

Biz.Kid09: thanks for taking the time to try to understand - sorry I have made it difficult!
A. I have a USB/Parallel printer but would like to connect it directly to the wired network rather than to a PC that then has to be left on all the time.
(Wireless would not provide a full solution for me anyway - the signals do not get to all parts of the house. I have already installed 2 x Cat5e from many rooms in the house to a central point but that is a different story.)

B. I want to have 1Tb plus of networked storage. Again without the need for a PC to be on 24/7.
I think I am understanding that a NAS drive will give better throughput/transfer speeds than USB with a dongle or other means to convert it to RJ45. Is that right, even at the cheaper end of the NAS spectrum?

C. I don't want to spend a fortune.