NAS Storage and Media Streaming

Lead_Head · 22 Feb 2012 at 13:38

Hello all,

Before I start I'm relatively amatuerish at what I'm about to describe but tend to pick things up quite easily with some assistance.

What I'd like is to be able to have is external storage, that might sound easy but what I want it for is as follows.

I've got a Macbook Pro that I use for my photography, it only has 500gb of storage so I want to archive old images on to a NAS drive, but still have access to them as / when required and use them in Lightroom / Photoshop.

The external storage will also be used to store music and other media that I want to stream to my TV (via an Apple TV?).

Ideally I'd like this to grow to a functional backup system so if /when a disk does go bang then I don't lose all my files.

I assume NAS is the right path to take but I'd obviously like to do this at the best value for money. I have a few SATA drives lying around that could potentially be utilised.

I'm not too fussed about being able to hotswap drives as I don't think that is a function I'd use, so there is not a lot of point paying for that additional functionality if I'm not going to use it.

I also would rather manage everything from the Macbook pro rather than have a seperate pc server running 24/7.

whitecrook · 22 Feb 2012 at 13:42

budget?

Lead_Head · 22 Feb 2012 at 13:49

I'd be interested to see options for every budget if possible. This way I can see what extra functionality I can get for the extra money.

lukext · 22 Feb 2012 at 14:16

Synology DS212j - £160
with
2TB HDD - £90
or
3TB HDD - £130

whitecrook · 22 Feb 2012 at 15:01

microserver + freenas.

welshdragon · 22 Feb 2012 at 19:46

lukext said:
Synology DS212j - £160
with
2TB HDD - £90
or
3TB HDD - £130

This.

idmanager · 23 Feb 2012 at 16:24

take a look at QNAP

El Pew · 23 Feb 2012 at 16:28

whitecrook said:
microserver + freenas.

If you're willing to put the effort in to it this is an ideal solution. The MicroServer is an honest-to-god server that can run pretty much any OS and software you want, and with the £100 rebate (is this still on?) it's cheaper than most of the alternatives.

If you don't like FreeNAS then you can run Linux or Unix or Windows (my preference) no sweat.

Deep · 25 Feb 2012 at 11:39

I used to own a Synology DS411j but purchased a Microserver. Would definitely recommend!

My Microserver currently has 7TB of space, and I stream to my PS3, laptop and my Acer Revo which runs XBMC perfectly

welshdragon · 25 Feb 2012 at 18:47

Deep said:
I used to own a Synology DS411j but purchased a Microserver. Would definitely recommend!

My Microserver currently has 7TB of space, and I stream to my PS3, laptop and my Acer Revo which runs XBMC perfectly

What does the microserver do that the synology drive couldn't outof curiosity? With particular reference to the op's needs.

deshepherd · 2 Mar 2012 at 15:40

lukext said:
Synology DS212j - £160
with
2TB HDD - £90
or
3TB HDD - £130

Quick question ... with the DS212j can you start with 1 drive and then later add a second drive to enable RAID1 (i.e. mirroring existing drive onto second).

Think I've read caveats that you have to take care on selecting 2nd drive as needs to be same size (or perhaps just at least as big) as first drive since not all drives which have the same "headline" size (e.g. 1TB) are exactly the same.

Lead_Head · 2 Mar 2012 at 15:48

welshdragon said:
What does the microserver do that the synology drive couldn't outof curiosity? With particular reference to the op's needs.

I'm interested to know this if anyone can answer?

welshdragon · 2 Mar 2012 at 15:53

Also given that you will be using it in a mostly apple environment the synology is easily setup for time machine/shares/itunes server and also has great ios apps. The synology enclosures are also about a quarter the size of a microserver.

Lead_Head · 4 Mar 2012 at 10:43

Which hard drives are recommended for the Synalogy?

welshdragon · 4 Mar 2012 at 11:31

List is here: enter the model of synology and it will bring up a list of drives tested as compatable

Lead_Head · 4 Mar 2012 at 11:38

Excellent, thanks.

PS. I got your trust message regarding the reviews. Just having a read now, thanks.

whitecrook · 4 Mar 2012 at 11:39

Lead_Head said:
I'm interested to know this if anyone can answer?

I dont know enough about the synology, but I imagine it goes something like this:
Synology=nas, that can be extended with certain additional software modules to provide additional services
Microserver=general purpse pc that can be configured todo amything you like using any software you like , including everything that the synology can do and infinitely more. Microserver probably performs much much faster /better than synogy as well, and it can be upgraded.

So for the op synology suits his needs now. What about the future though?

welshdragon · 6 Mar 2012 at 15:44

Just a heads up for those considering a Synology, DSM4 just left beta. Make sure you upgrade as it is a completely different experience!

lukext · 6 Mar 2012 at 19:04

welshdragon said:
Just a heads up for those considering a Synology, DSM4 just left beta. Make sure you upgrade as it is a completely different experience!

Cheers welshdragon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SidewinderINC · 10 Mar 2012 at 14:53

What are the microservers like to use?

I've used the IcyBox NAS units and the Synology NAS units, they're a piece of cake and don't really need much setting up in the grand scheme of things.

How much server knowledge would I need to be able to use a microserver? It seems that the extra functionality could come in handy for not much more money.