Which NAS....???

colemac

colemac

colemac

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21 Dec 2009
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Hi all,

I'm after some advise, I want a at home NAS device so I can store a lot of my films and stuff that I dont use very often or centralise my
Music library etc.

Ideally I want 2 bay's so that I can store everything on one an have it backed up on the other so I'm guessing some sort of raid configuration?

Any ideas.....?? Thoughts welcome.
 
Get an HP Microserver, just got myself one as they have a deal where it's £199 with £100 cash back so only cost me £99. Bargain and hugely faster than any standalone consumer NAS. You'll need an os but plenty of options for that.

Steer clear of Iomega Storcenter if getting a home NAS, got one here and is slow and noisy.
 
colemac said:
Ideally I want 2 bay's so that I can store everything on one an have it backed up on the other so I'm guessing some sort of raid configuration?
Click to expand...

Remember that RAID isn't a backup solution, it's for redundancy.

RAID1 will, as you say, store the identical data on both drives. If one drive fails you can carry on using the other drive, replace the failed drive and rebuild the array.

If you somehow end up with a virus the whole array would be infected and you wouldn't have a backup.

If there was a major hardware failure the array could be destroyed and you wouldn't have a backup.

If the NAS was stolen, destroyed in a fire etc. then your data is still gone, you wouldn't have a backup.

A proper backup would have your data on an external disk stored away from the PC/NAS. Ideally in another building altogether.
 
Appreciate the replies guys.

Am aware that RAID is not a full backup solution but the aim was that instead of keeping a copy of photo's etc ony laptop aswell as a hard drive I coul park it all on a NAS RAID knowing that if one disk failed then the other mirrors it until I could replace, etc. I would hate to dump all files on one hard disk and that fail with no othe copy.

Appreciate the only safe way is to take a copy and store away from my pc/NAS/home but this is not a practicle option.

Regarding the HP micro server do you have a link? My friend mentioned the HP proliant N40L as a good choice? Or we're you on about another one?!

Appreciate the input
 
colemac said:
Regarding the HP micro server do you have a link? My friend mentioned the HP proliant N40L as a good choice? Or we're you on about another one?!
Click to expand...

Yes, its the N40L, will post the link as I dont think these people are direct competitors to OCUK, they are server shifters: http://www.serversplus.com/servers/tower_servers/hp_tower_servers/658553-421

With the cashback offer, its a lot of kit for the money and can vouch for the quality of the hardware, its a pretty teeny little cube but has 4 drive bays.

You'd need an OS, I use Windows Storage Server Essentials as an OS but there are also freebies such as FreeNAS. You could even bung Windows 7 on it as an OS if you wanted, it'd do the job.

I've got a standalone NAS box but prefer the Microserver solution as its more flexible, going to stick an extra 2GB of memory in mine and use it as another development SQL Server box as well as a NAS - couldn't do that with a dedicated NAS box. For NAS use though, the inbuilt 2GB is fine, it runs 2008 Server R2 beautifully without upgrading anything.
 
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Noisier and consumes more power than the purpose built NAS's though? Would the sound be off putting in a bedroom for example?
 
The_Baron said:
Noisier and consumes more power than the purpose built NAS's though? Would the sound be off putting in a bedroom for example?
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No, they are quiet, wouldn't use one as a media PC but its loads quieter than my iomega purpose built NAS which sounds like someone throwing a bag of spanners down the stairs (tried to return it because of that but iomega wouldn't accept it as they say they make no assertation of noise or lack of).

The Microserver is certainly more suited to tinkerers though so depends whether the OP likes fiddling with kit, if not then a purpose build NAS is the way to go.
 
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