NAS?

[Robosapien]

I'm getting fed up of having multiple external drives, would like to store everything on one array. I'd estimate I'd need about 12-16TB, with some sort of backup (if I understand things correctly I wouldn't need a mirrored amount of TB by using RAID/SHR.)

I've looked at the Synology units (minimal research) but surpised how much they bump up the prices after the very affordable 2bay (or even 4 bay), and that's just for the enclosure without HDD's.

Would anyone be able to recommend a cheaper solution? I don't actually require any wireless streaming, I'd be happy enough to connect to one USB/ethernet port on my laptop. However, I doubt I have the competency to faff with a HP Gen8 Microserver that I've seen recommended in another thread. All I need is a glorified multiple-HDD "caddy", essentially.

Hmm. Tempted to blow cash on a 24TB DS415PLAY but it's about 3-times my budget.

 

[Robosapien]

Thanks for the pointer on what to actually look for Diablo, a self-containted RAID enclosure, seems straight forward. I think I'll need at least a 5 bay though, maybe 8 for future expansion.

I know there's a difference in 'normal' HDD's and NAS drives. I'm tempted to not get WD Reds due to the price though. Are there actually any other viable (and cheaper) alternatives for well functioning RAID-array that won't be used for NAS wireless use across multiple devices?

The only other issue would be reliability of the drives but I expect the redundancy built into RAID would save me if I have a single drive failure? (I can backup anything I can't live without on an external hdd and stick it in a drawer.)

Any recommendations on cheaper RAID orientated HDD's, or should I really not skimp on them and get the Reds as they are optimally built for this sort of functionality?

Also, does anyone have advise on software?

Thanks!