Need a Backup device

wildest_jjk · 30 Dec 2012 at 14:43

Hi guys,

So for a while now I have been unhappy with the manual backups I perform of my PC. These are done on rare occasions on a single bay external hard drive.

Over the last few months I have looked into various options, cloud based solutions, servers with multiple harddrives in RAID (custom built or OEM e.g. Proliant microserver), NAS devices (2 bay running in RAID) and even just installing a piece of software to synchronize my files with my external hard drive.

My ideal requirements:

Media streaming
Bittorrent
Automatic/realtime backups
Remote access

So as you can these are pretty basic requirements. As far as I can see the best solution will most likely be a NAS (but I am open to suggestions). The option to maybe use VM's further down the line would also be nice, but I am not sure this is worth worrying about for now.

Anyway if I am to go down the NAS route, these are the ones that I have found to be reasonable:

Synology DS212J 2 Bay NAS Enclosure
Synology DS213 DiskStation 2 Bay Desktop NAS Server
QNAP TS-219P II Turbo 512MB Network Attached Storage

What do you guys think to these options or do you know of any more suitable ones? I realise there is about a £100 difference in the lowest priced and highest priced.

Again if you think it might be better to go with something else, I am open to suggestions

Thanks for your time

wildest_jjk · 31 Dec 2012 at 11:13

Anyone?

Thanks

shaf · 31 Dec 2012 at 12:07

I have a Synology NAS and can recommend it. The backup software is not great though and I instead use Acronis Image Backup to backup my files onto the NAS.

I also have other backups in case my NAS fails. I have a server which runs VMs including a RAID (openindiana ZFS) for backups and backup online using crashplan.

Hope this helps.

wildest_jjk · 31 Dec 2012 at 12:15

Thanks for your response.

That's quite interesting actually as I was just intending on using the NAS's own backup software.

I will have a look at Acronis.

Is your server custom built?

shaf · 31 Dec 2012 at 12:25

Yes my server is custom build and running Esxi and various VMs. It does not have server grade components as I did not need that.

I've also recently installed urbackup which is free and seems to work - well worth looking into.

wildest_jjk · 31 Dec 2012 at 12:30

shaf said:
Yes my server is custom build and running Esxi and various VMs. It does not have server grade components as I did not need that.

I've also recently installed urbackup which is free and seems to work - well worth looking into.

Just had a look at urbackup, it actually does sound pretty good. Well I think the server route is still an option for me, the fact that you can get so many extra features is appealing.

Thanks again!

Jarek · 31 Dec 2012 at 16:58

I've been using a Synology DS409+ with 4x 2Tb hard drives in RAID 5 for a while now. Unfortunately, I'm quickly filling it up. Initially I looked at a larger NAS system like the QNAP TS879 Pro but decided it would cost too much.

My solution I am going to incorporate into my new PC build, plans of which are here:
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18473571

I intend to buy an LSI RAID Card and then hook up Hitachi Deskstar 4Tb drives as I need them. As the case can hold a stupid amount of drives it should last me a long time. It seems to be a cheaper and faster solution than a NAS. Any thoughts anyone?

decto · 1 Jan 2013 at 00:13

I would vote for the proliant n40L microserver + 8GB DDR3 assuming that they carry on with the £100 rebate in January.

You can either run whs2011 native or install exsi on a spare 1GB usb stick then run WHS virtualised along with anything else you want to trial. If you move a drive to the top bay you can house 5 drives + 1esata and several USB if you really want to.

Backup of windows machines is automated and restore boots from a cd and is complete in around 30min depending on the size of the restore.

Media sharing is fine though the N40L isn't really up to transcoding though neither is a NAS.

Bittorrent will run on anything, perhaps a virtual linux install to isolate it.

WHS supports remote desktop and other interfaces, eg. a dashboard for basic config and can be configured to provide a vpn to allow you local access to your network from anywhere.

EXSI provides remote desktop but you need the client installed on the machine you access it from unless you like command lines.

AD

unleashed · 1 Jan 2013 at 10:42

+1 HP Microserver running WHS 2011

Alternatively build your own server by re purposing retired kit you may have lying around.

welshdragon · 1 Jan 2013 at 12:09

wildest_jjk said:
Hi guys,

So for a while now I have been unhappy with the manual backups I perform of my PC. These are done on rare occasions on a single bay external hard drive.

Over the last few months I have looked into various options, cloud based solutions, servers with multiple harddrives in RAID (custom built or OEM e.g. Proliant microserver), NAS devices (2 bay running in RAID) and even just installing a piece of software to synchronize my files with my external hard drive.

My ideal requirements:

Media streaming

Bittorrent

Automatic/realtime backups

Remote access

So as you can these are pretty basic requirements. As far as I can see the best solution will most likely be a NAS (but I am open to suggestions). The option to maybe use VM's further down the line would also be nice, but I am not sure this is worth worrying about for now.

Anyway if I am to go down the NAS route, these are the ones that I have found to be reasonable:

Synology DS212J 2 Bay NAS Enclosure

Synology DS213 DiskStation 2 Bay Desktop NAS Server

QNAP TS-219P II Turbo 512MB Network Attached Storage

What do you guys think to these options or do you know of any more suitable ones? I realise there is about a £100 difference in the lowest priced and highest priced.

Again if you think it might be better to go with something else, I am open to suggestions

Thanks for your time

wildest_jjk said:
Thanks for your response.

That's quite interesting actually as I was just intending on using the NAS's own backup software.

I will have a look at Acronis.

Is your server custom built?

DS212j would be spot on mate. Though the extra horsepower of the DS213 would probably be handy. I review Synology and QNAP unit's HERE

Take a look at the Synology Cloudstation feature. Though I just image my pc and store the image on the nas. ANd restore form that as required.

Nutella33 · 1 Jan 2013 at 13:20

can the 212j handle 4tb drives? the specs seem to indicate 3tb max (6gb in all)

welshdragon · 1 Jan 2013 at 16:32

Nutella33 said:
can the 212j handle 4tb drives? the specs seem to indicate 3tb max (6gb in all)

According to their hard drive compatability checker, yes

wildest_jjk · 3 Jan 2013 at 07:01

Well firstly thanks for everybody's responses.

As far as I understand its either the proliant microserver running esxi natively and vms with different OS's installed (such as WHS for backups) or a synology nas?

Thanks again!

wildest_jjk · 3 Jan 2013 at 21:33

I am even considering building something similar to the proliant.

Hopefully a similar price but better specs. Not sure if this would be possible or not though?

Thanks.

uniQ · 3 Jan 2013 at 22:15

I doubt you will beat the price of the proliant w/ a self build as they retail just above £200 and depending on the e-tailer HP normally offer £100 cashback making it a very cheap build.

I had a DS212J but I'm now considering the DS213 also as the extra horse power would definitely make a noticeable difference.

The advantage of the Synology is it just works, the warranties are good, support is good and the software is superb.

But if you like tinkering then the HP Micro Server is a great option as you install whichever OS you wan't and customise it all you like.

Stratosphere83 · 3 Jan 2013 at 22:31

Looking forward to the announcement of the Synology DS213J but also tempted by the ZyXEL NSA325. It seems to offer very tempting price performance but I’m expecting a slightly inferior and less polished feature set.

The HP Micro Server with the £100 cashback it almost too good to be true especially with the option of adding a low power GFX card for HTPC duties.

I love to tinker but I really want a NAS to be as self maintaining as possible.

wildest_jjk · 4 Jan 2013 at 19:46

Thanks for the response.

This really is a tough choice though. They are pretty close for different reasons. I just don't know what to do!

uniQ · 4 Jan 2013 at 20:22

Stratosphere83 said:
Looking forward to the announcement of the Synology DS213J

Nothing on the net suggests a DS213J is in the works? IMHO I wouldn't expect to see another J version before DS214J

EDIT; Confirmed:

wildest_jjk · 4 Jan 2013 at 22:48

That's interesting, but that still doesn't change anything right?

The DS212j is still excellent as far as I understand?

I just need to decide on proliant, custom server or the synology!

Thanks

uniQ · 5 Jan 2013 at 00:52

The Ds212j is very good but looking at what you want to do if you can stretch to the 213 the performance would definitely be noticeable. And it is newer so will have a good year product cycle between models unlike the ds212j.

Main difference is 2.0ghz vs 1.2ghz and 512MB DDR3 vs 256MB DDR2

The deciding factor should really be do you like to tinker and customise things (including when they go wrong) or do you want something solid out of the box?