Back-up soultion into my network

Nick1881 · 1 Aug 2009 at 14:38

Here is a diagram of my home network, 2 buildings together.

On my PC there is about 800Gb of data on a 1.5TB drive, I would like to back this up. Some of this data is films that can be accessed via the media centre, it would be good if the films were available while my pc is switched off.

I have 3 x 500Gb drives sitting doing nothing, these could be used for some kind of solution.

I did look at the sharkoon duo dock but this would need my pc to be on.

How about a NAS? Icy Box IB-NAS4220-B Ethernet NAS Enclosure with 2 of my spare 500Gb drives in it, would this work?

I also considered building a server but I would have no idea how to manage this.

What ever happens the back-up solution needs to go in my flat and will be close to my pc, it must be silent, low power usage and be quiet. Also it needs to connect onto the gigabit network, looks like I will need another switch?

Any help would be great.

Thanks

3dcandy · 1 Aug 2009 at 15:24

NAS is easiest way tbh...set it up, plug in, turn on...data will be shared all over network quickly. My NAS is nearly full (750gb) and I use it all the time. Streaming movies, music etc. are easily done, so the missus can watch even, and it's available over the internet via ftp so if out and about, can ftp stuff up...

3dcandy · 1 Aug 2009 at 15:25

Bear in mind that if you run a server (i also run a server on my network) that you basically gain a pc if you equip it with keyboard, mouse, display. Our server is on 24/7, and most of our internet browsing, emails etc. are done through it....

Nick1881 · 1 Aug 2009 at 16:03

Thanks for the replies.

When I'm home my pc is on all the time and is in my front room so it's all I need.

Is the Icy Box any good? Any other 2 bay NAS enclosures worth looking at around the £100 mark? I'd pay more if it was worth it.

Nick1881 · 1 Aug 2009 at 17:21

Had a look round and this is what I have found.

EDIMAX 2 BAY GIGABIT NAS NS-2502 - £100
Icy Box IB-NAS4220-B 2-Bay - £105
D-link DNS-323 2-Bay NAS - £125
Thecus N299 SATA 2-Bay £125
Netgear RND2000 ReadyNAS Duo 2-Bay - £140
Synology DS209J Disk Station 2-Bay - £155
ZyXEL NSA-220 2-Bay SATA - £168

3dcandy · 2 Aug 2009 at 09:54

google some reviews of those you've mentioned and see what people think. Once it's setup, the differences *should* be slight, and it's just left doing it's stuff really. I've had no issues with my NAS and I wouldn't be without it, my only issue is the 750gb is now nearly full, and I need about 2tb to back it up and then swap the drives over...

iraiguana · 2 Aug 2009 at 12:14

Thecus is meant to be really good from what I have heard.

I am looking to build my own dual core atom box as a server. Lots of info available in the SFF subforum here if you have a look through.

You would have a similar priced solution to the more upmarket ones above for similar money, but you can do what you would like with it eg freenas operating systems or running linux etc.

Depends what you would like to do with it?

Nick1881 · 2 Aug 2009 at 12:22

Just act as a back-up and serve films to the media centre.

Between these 3

Thecus N299 SATA 2-Bay £125
Netgear RND2000 ReadyNAS Duo 2-Bay - £140
Synology DS209J Disk Station 2-Bay - £155

The Netgear comes with a free 500Gb drive.

Do any of these limit you to Raid1? As only having 500Gb space then backed up again would be pointless.

Can you put 2 different sized drives into them? At some point I might want to run a 1TB with a 500Gb, possible?

Thanks

Nick1881 · 3 Aug 2009 at 11:02

I ordered the Netgear this morning. I'm going to try to put it next to the gigabit switch to save me buying another switch.

3dcandy · 4 Aug 2009 at 16:51

excellent, I reckon that'll do the job just great!

Nick1881 · 4 Aug 2009 at 18:59

It arrived today and I'm having a go at setting it up, just done an update.

When it first started I though omg it's so loud but then it seemed to settle down and isnt too bad.

So far I can't seem to find where you choose the raid type, I'll be very annoyed if it can only do mirror when I read somewhere it can do more.

clv101 · 8 Oct 2009 at 00:06

mr_x_plosion, it would be good if you could post a mini review of the Netgear NAS. How are you getting on with it?

wij · 8 Oct 2009 at 00:41

mr_x_plosion said:
So far I can't seem to find where you choose the raid type, I'll be very annoyed if it can only do mirror when I read somewhere it can do more.

Well if it's only a dual bay NAS it will probably only have options for Mirror (Raid1) or Stripe (Raid0) with the latter obviously offering no form of data protection it certainly wouldn't be the first choice if it were my backup system.