Wireless NAS??

icysniper · 20 Jul 2010 at 22:56

hey been looking into getting one of these if possible :confused:

most people say you can get them, but i havent found any! Preferably, it will sit in the loft away from everything else and we will all be able to access the data over the network I presume through 'My Computer' and it lists as a network drive.

Any ideas?

Thanks, icy

vsmora · 21 Jul 2010 at 01:29

Apple Time Capsule running in wireless client mode. Otherwise, take your pick of regular wired NAS and add a seperate wireless client bridge (e.g. Netgear WNCE2001). The client bridge plugs in to any wired ethernet device and lets it join an existing wifi network.

icysniper · 21 Jul 2010 at 10:16

sounds good, had a look into the NETGEAR device as mentioned, it looks like it has an ethernet port, how could I plug in my external usb hdd? And will it then come up on the computers on the network?

vsmora · 21 Jul 2010 at 22:02

The Netgear device I mentioned is only for converting something that is network ready into wireless (e.g. game console, network printer or wired NAS). For connecting a USB drive have a look for USB NAS adaptors e.g. Iomega iConnect. However be aware that if you're looking at keeping this in the loft running 24/7, then a USB drive may not last long as these normally don't power down when idle. For this reason you may want to consider getting a full NAS box from Synology etc. instead and using it with the Netgear.

JonJ678 · 28 Jul 2010 at 09:16

Sounds like it would be a touch slow to me, relative to using a wired nas directly connected to the router.

Usb to ethernet adapters probably exist, otherwise taking the drive out of its enclosure and putting it in a new one works.

Im not disputing that wireless nas is possible though.

vsmora · 28 Jul 2010 at 14:47

It goes without saying that wireless will be slower than an equivalent wired connection (although I just had to say it

).

I'd always recommend wired over wireless whenever it is not too impractical. I presume in the OP's case that he wants it wireless in the loft to minimise risk of theft and accidental damage.

Makhaira · 28 Jul 2010 at 16:11

I think Buffalo do a wireless NAS. Personally I'd go for a wired one and hook it into your router - gives you the best of both!

icysniper · 28 Jul 2010 at 16:29

Makhaira said:
Personally I'd go for a wired one and hook it into your router - gives you the best of both!

yeh thats what I was thinking, basically one of these:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-030-SY&groupid=1657&catid=1659&subcat=1239

with a 2TB HDD, I will probably need to get a gigabit wireless router, as my current wireless router does not have a gigabit ethernet.

Can I then connect to the NAS wirelessly from a laptop through the router (I presume so) and what will the transfer speeds be like?

EDIT: looking into it, with a gigabit ethernet, the NAS gets 40.12MB/s upload and 58.07MB/s download, however this is not using a wireless connect which I plan to do?

JonJ678 · 28 Jul 2010 at 23:13

I'm not sure gigabit would be worthwhile here. Wireless N is meant to be good for 300mbit iirc, but I don't think this is a figure you'll ever see. Particularly if the drive is a fair distance from the router with ceilings / walls and the like in the way. So I'm not sure it'll be possible to take data off the drive faster than 100mbit would allow.

The performance, and whether it's good enough or not, rather depends on what you're doing with it. It'll stream music all day without a problem, but if you want to stream 1080p to several computers at once you're out of luck. If it's backups you're good to go.

I've been quite happy with a nas over 100mbit, but I've not tried using it with more than two computers at once. I have a suspicion that it would thrash if I tried this.

vsmora · 29 Jul 2010 at 07:54

There are only a handful of wrouters able to give real-world wifi throughput higher than 90Mbps, irrespective of having 100Mb or Gb wired ports to feed them e.g. some tests. In other words, 100Mb ports are enough to saturate the wifi on most wrouters, so I don't think you should bother replacing yours unless you know it is a particularly weak model. Realistically it's only worth worrying about Gb to a NAS if you have some other Gb wired device to get the benefit, or several 100Mb wired devices.

The NAS you linked has a Gb port but this is backwards compatible and will work fine into a 100Mb port. When wired in to the wrouter it will show up via wifi on the laptops. Transfer speeds depend on available bandwidth (interference and congestion from neighbours), equipment location (walls, metal objects, distance) and technology (frequency 2.4GHz/5GHz, channel width 20MHz/40MHz, a/g/n); the NAS you've picked won't be a limiting factor to performance.

a1ex2001 · 29 Jul 2010 at 10:51

If you want it tucked away in the loft I'd go with a homeplug setup, quicker and more reliable than wireless and you already have the cables in your house.