Simple NAS for DVD archive

foreright · 25 Jan 2011 at 09:46

I want a simple set up for up to 4TB of DVD rips to play in 3 rooms. I have routers and switches and the hard wiring already in place. Till 3 days ago I streamed from my PC to a Samsung TV MP and everything was great with Mezzmo as the DLNA. Unfortunately my PC has gone kaput again (twice in 18 months) and I want to disassociate my archive from PC.
An easy solution is WD MyBooks but I asume a small NAS with 2 x 2 TB drives wouldn't be much dearer.
As`I am not too savvy with this sort of thing RAID doesn't interest me but being able to connect to other HDD's for backup is.
Am I right in thinking that I would need this switched on all the time but the PC would be off and I could stream to 3 rooms but would need gigabit technology cabling if I wanted to stream BluRay rips.

cavemanoc · 25 Jan 2011 at 10:34

Slightly left field - but have you thought about setting up a Windows Home Server instead? A little more expensive initially, but it is hugely expandable and gives you soooo much more?

Syx · 25 Jan 2011 at 11:13

I've got no experience with WD MyBooks so can't comment there, but I can tell you that I stream blu-ray rips across my network to a device with only a 10/100 NIC with no problems.

JonJ678 · 25 Jan 2011 at 12:48

I've been using a Debian diy box for a while. It works well, but it's large, uses a lot of electricity, and makes a reasonable amount of noise. It was put together from spare parts, so was very cheap. I've just purchased a WD nas to replace it after a fair amount of research.

They only exist in up to 2tb at present. While it's possible you'll be able to swap a 4tb drive in later, it is far from certain. So the NAS option is pretty much a closed box. It'll be capable of running a fair amount of software, but not as easily as a windows system.

It's easy enough to check pricing. The WD option is around £140 for 2TB. It may be possible to do a two drive nas for less than £280 - drives but it'll be tight. A home server will cost more unless you have spare components lying around.

It's a difficult choice which one to go for. I suspect the home server approach to be the better one.