Gigabit NAS Enclosure

rhysduck · 23 Dec 2009 at 14:05

Anyone aware of the availability of one of the above please?

I've been after one for a while - just to act as a file storage server for the home network.
I'd like 2 or 4 drive slots (for raid 1) if possible.

They see to be very rare? :confused:

shine · 23 Dec 2009 at 14:17

This is the one I have. There is a + version which has a faster processor. I use mine as a file server but don't transfer large files so I can't comment on transfer speeds.

rhysduck · 23 Dec 2009 at 14:31

shine said:
This is the one I have. There is a + version which has a faster processor. I use mine as a file server but don't transfer large files so I can't comment on transfer speeds.

A very nice looking enclosure but really not in the price range I was hoping for..
Can you not get bare enclosure (no fancy lights or managing software) for about £50?
That's all I really want - maybe some Xbox360 / FTP support would be handy.

HEADRAT · 23 Dec 2009 at 16:47

I've yet to find any enclosure that will get near gigabit speeds, they may have a Gig interface but they lack the horsepower to utilize it.

Simon42 · 23 Dec 2009 at 21:03

rhysduck said:
They see to be very rare?

Indeed, which is why I am leaning towards a lower power (mini ITX) home server. There are some nice cases with 4+ removable drives bays but the cost of the cases and some other parts is significantly more than standard PC parts, but still not bad compared to the more powerful NAS units that get reasonable transfer rates.

Redgie · 24 Dec 2009 at 14:37

Building a Media centre PC could give you a lot of benefits over a decent enclosure, not least of which would be that it would be a PC, you can use it for thousands of different home sharing things, you're not limited to file storage.

+ It can easily be gigabit!

HEADRAT · 24 Dec 2009 at 14:45

Agreed I'd just buy an ION board and throw some discs in it.

rhysduck · 30 Dec 2009 at 10:10

Cheers guys, this is what I'll do a little bit down the line...
NAS Enclosures seem to be a bit overpriced so I'll head down the HTPC/Media Centre road instead.
Thanks

Demon · 30 Dec 2009 at 14:33

Although NAS enclosures are a bit pricey, they are very low power..

I went from mini-ITX server to full blown 10 Bay Full Server, and now am managing with a basic QNAP TS209-II..

The thing that sold it for me was the 24/7 cost and ease of use..

On idle, the NAS uses under 10W, and only adds the usual HDD power consumption when they spin up.. My mini-ITX used 62W on average, my full server 125W on average, my NAS so far has hit 12W on average over a 24 hour period.

Obviously it helps if you can use it as a meaningful 24/7 server, so I have the following running on the NAS (other then just basic shares)
- email collection/storage with IMAP server and web front end
- Newsgroup downloader (NZBGet or SABNZBD+)
- Bit-torrent Downloader
- FTP Server
- Subversion Server
- uPNP Media server

Performance wise, I get 25MB/s read speed and just under 15MB/s write which is acceptable and well into utilising the gigabit connection, the newer TS219 is nearly double that, so not too shabby..

Cheap NAS enclosures are OK for approx 100Mbit rates and OK for basic file sharing/storage, they are just quick enough to stream HD media etc, so can be made to work well enough...

HEADRAT · 30 Dec 2009 at 14:42

Interesting post Demon thanks, here's a copy from my WHS

Obviously this might be complete overkill for the OP but very handy if you are copy extremely large files around.

rhysduck · 30 Dec 2009 at 14:59

HEADRAT said:
Interesting post Demon thanks, here's a copy from my WHS
Obviously this might be complete overkill for the OP but very handy if you are copy extremely large files around.

Is that your ION board setup you are using for those speed HEADRAT or a NAS?
Mind posting some specs please? Quite interested in that.
Thanks.

Demon said:
The thing that sold it for me was the 24/7 cost and ease of use..

Id probably be using it (it being NAS or htpc/media pc) for ftp, storage and some server apps like Teamspeak.
I am wanting some kind of exchange server setup though for my various email accounts....

wij · 30 Dec 2009 at 15:03

My HP EX490 WHS box hits 90MB/sec writes with smaller files, large single files (talking 15Gb BR rips here) tends to be a bit slower at 55-60MB/sec though I think if I bump the RAM in it to 4Gb it will help out those larger transfers a bit.

Oh using Samsung EcoGreen F2 1Tb drives in the WHS, could probably get even better results with faster drives but those were energy efficient and very quiet in operation.

zetec452 · 30 Dec 2009 at 15:07

I'm looking for a NAS and noticed the Acer Aspire easyStore WHS unit. Its a little more expensive but comes with a 1TB drive and seems to tick all the boxes.

HEADRAT · 30 Dec 2009 at 15:38

rhysduck said:
Is that your ION board setup you are using for those speed HEADRAT or a NAS?
Mind posting some specs please? Quite interested in that.
Thanks.

My WHS is actually built around an old S939 board that I had laying about but I can do some test to an ION as well if you'd like.

HEADRAT · 30 Dec 2009 at 15:40

wij said:
My HP EX490 WHS box

Great little unit

rhysduck · 30 Dec 2009 at 15:46

HEADRAT said:
My WHS is actually built around an old S939 board that I had laying about but I can do some test to an ION as well if you'd like.

So it's something you've put together yourself? Forgive me for being dull - work is dragging.

As long as its not too much trouble

- I am liking the idea of putting a new PC together so maybe a media centre / htpc ION setup would go down a treat...

That HP EX490 is £400 :eek:

HEADRAT · 30 Dec 2009 at 15:49

Yar my WHS was built of old bit and pieces I had laying about, a A8N-SLI boards and a S939 4400+ if memory serves.

If I was just building a WHS I'd just buy some cheap stuff off of MM, if you want a HCPC then you probably need something silent with some GFX horsepower for 1080p decoding

HP EX490 is currently £339.00

iraiguana · 30 Dec 2009 at 16:27

If you think a 4 bay mini itx case costs £200, intel ion + ram + pico psu total cost = ~£400. So the HP thing isn't such a bad deal really.

wij · 30 Dec 2009 at 18:07

iraiguana said:
If you think a 4 bay mini itx case costs £200, intel ion + ram + pico psu total cost = ~£400. So the HP thing isn't such a bad deal really.

Got mine when they were on Christmas special too

Cost me just under £500 all in for the HP box + 3 extra drives from OcUk.

Really can't complain about it at all, and HP have even made it integrate with timecapsule on my Macs which is nice.

The unit is very quiet, infact nearly silent most of the time unless it's had a lot of activity then the fans kick in a little. Also fairly power efficient, certainly compared to the ML115 that it replaced!