NAS or PC

Matlough · 4 Jul 2011 at 17:50

Looking into various options at the moment for a central media server.

At the moment I have 2x 1TB drives (RAID1) on my main Windows 7 PC which store Music/Photos and Data ( Outlook files and word Docs etc).

The PC is on most of the time so it acts as my central server with APPLE TV, and OTHER COMPUTERS able to access it all.

My question is this, would I get better performance from a £140-£200 NAS or a HP MediaSmart Server EX490 1TB NAS OR do i keep my current setup.

I am not too concerned that the PC is on all the time (its up on the top floor).

My network contains both wireless and powerline ethernet.

DIABLO · 4 Jul 2011 at 18:47

You would'nt gain any performance by switching to those options but you would gain in power savings plus i think it's always better to have a pc dedicated as a file server. What i would reccomend getting is HP Proliant Microserver for ~£120-140 with the cash back which is bettet then any NAS.

KIA · 5 Jul 2011 at 02:06

DIABLO said:
What i would reccomend getting is HP Proliant Microserver for ~£120-140 with the cash back which is bettet then any NAS.

Abz Hussain · 5 Jul 2011 at 14:51

Matlough said:
Looking into various options at the moment for a central media server.

At the moment I have 2x 1TB drives (RAID1) on my main Windows 7 PC which store Music/Photos and Data ( Outlook files and word Docs etc).

The PC is on most of the time so it acts as my central server with APPLE TV, and OTHER COMPUTERS able to access it all.

My question is this, would I get better performance from a £140-£200 NAS or a HP MediaSmart Server EX490 1TB NAS OR do i keep my current setup.

I am not too concerned that the PC is on all the time (its up on the top floor).

My network contains both wireless and powerline ethernet.

I picked up a cheap and cheerful Netgear Stora on 'that' auction site for £35, Normal price about £70. 2 x 2TBs in there storing all my files, media etc. Not as advanced as some of the NAS's and Servers out there but for the money its pretty good.

Skidilliplop · 5 Jul 2011 at 23:46

As mentioned, there'd be little or no gain in performance.
But the power consumption would be far less. Lack of big graphcs card, big PSU, quad core CPU could probably save you 100-120W or so, which left on 24/7 is a fair bit. As much as leaving all your lights on at night (assuming you use energy saver bulbs)