NAS recommendations...

Systems

Hello

Am thinking about getting a Network Attached Storage device and was curious if anyone here is using one and how they liked it. Seems like a good way to go these days.....

I don't need a huge amount of storage but like the raid configuration and multiple drives so theres no worry about lost data....

Heres a couple I was looking at:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4290914&csid=ITD&body=MAIN#detailspecs

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4974966&CatId=207


Thanks

howie777

I just installed a Netgear ReadyNAS NV+ with a pair of 1.5TB drives. Although one drive was DOA (bought separately from the NAS). So far this thing is pretty sweet. I have it backing up my Macbrook Pro with no issues. I run it on a timer so it is only on when I want it to be on. Has 4 drive bays with Raid X which allows me to hot swap in a new drive to increase my space automagically or replace a bad drive. The software is pretty easy and it does all the media support for itunes/PS3/XBox360/DLNA etc if you so wish. Also recognized my UPS with no setup so it will shut down when the battery gets low in case of power failure.

Only had the thing a week but pretty impressed. Easy to setup for timemachine backup (mac). Will play with it more this weekend when I have some time to get itunes server up. Try remote access software from my parents next visit too to see how that works.

Howie

unc2701

First off, RAID is not backup. It's better than nothing, but if you expect it to be backup, you will get screwed at some point.

Anyhow, I was kicking around a lot of the same things and decided to build my own. Check out:
http://www.openfiler.com/
http://www.freenas.org/

For backup, look into:
http://www5.crashplan.com/consumer/index.html


FreeNAS is pretty easy and you can run it off a thumb drive. Openfiler is a little faster, but harder to configure and might require a 64bit processor at some point in the future. You can also just run a full-fledged server like Ubuntu and set up some Samba shares, which is what I wound up doing. Still de-bugging, but it's pretty solid.

Systems

unc2701 wrote: »

First off, RAID is not backup. It's better than nothing, but if you expect it to be backup, you will get screwed at some point.

Anyhow, I was kicking around a lot of the same things and decided to build my own. Check out:
http://www.openfiler.com/
http://www.freenas.org/

For backup, look into:
http://www5.crashplan.com/consumer/index.html


FreeNAS is pretty easy and you can run it off a thumb drive. Openfiler is a little faster, but harder to configure and might require a 64bit processor at some point in the future. You can also just run a full-fledged server like Ubuntu and set up some Samba shares, which is what I wound up doing. Still de-bugging, but it's pretty solid.

Well I'm not real familiar with Raid, so even though its configured for Raid 1 and mirrored on a second drive I'll lost all data if one drive goes? Is that how I'll be "screwed"?

ViperZ

Lorthos wrote: »

Well I'm not real familiar with Raid, so even though its configured for Raid 1 and mirrored on a second drive I'll lost all data if one drive goes? Is that how I'll be "screwed"?

If you lose one drive in Raid 1, the 2nd drive still remains. That's the whole point of that 2nd drive.

unc2701

RAID protects you against single drive failure and assumes that everything will rebuild just fine when you swap in a new drive.

It doesn't protect against a program writing garbage in the wrong spot on the drive, the controller letting go, the entire device crapping out, your wife/kids/neighbors deleting files, etc. All those other things happen all the time, whereas drive failure is relatively rare. So it's better than nothing, but only protects you against a single type of data loss ...and most the time it just means you have two copies of a corrupt file instead of just one. True backup should protect against all kinds of data loss.

Google "raid is not backup" for some more elegant explanations than mine...

Systems

ViperZ wrote: »

If you lose one drive in Raid 1, the 2nd drive still remains. That's the whole point of that 2nd drive.

Okay, well thats what I thought....I looked at that crashplan site, my dsl out here in the sticks of Montana isn't all that speedy, so that continious monitoring and uploading isn't too good of an option for me....

I was looking around some more last night and came across this one:

http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/products/external/blackarmor/blackarmor_nas_220

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5077998&CatId=207

Little more in my price range......

Systems

unc2701 wrote: »

RAID protects you against single drive failure and assumes that everything will rebuild just fine when you swap in a new drive.

It doesn't protect against a program writing garage in the wrong spot on the drive, the controller letting go, the entire device crapping out, your wife/kids/neighbors deleting files, etc. All those other things happen all the time, whereas drive failure is relatively rare. So it's better than nothing, but only protects you against a single type of data loss ...and most the time it just means you have two copies of a corrupt file instead of just one. True backup should protect against all kinds of data loss.

Google "raid is not backup" for some more elegant explanations than mine...

Okay, thanks for the info, I'll look into that

unc2701

heh. oops, the "garage" there should be "garbage"...

Crashplan is a differential backup, so the first round is slow, but once you've got past the first round, it only sends what's changed, not everything. And you can restrict it to the folders you care about (photos, financials, etc).

Also, you can backup to another computer in your house or to a friend's computer- you don't have to use their backup service.

Anyhow, RAID is misunderstood and kinda over-rated for NAS. There's nothing wrong with a lot of the NAS devices, but there a number of linux builds that will do what you want for less and are more flexible.

blakeh

I love the QNAP NAS I purchased. And as a bonus, it will run SqueezeCenter on it (which is handy if you run any of the Squeezebox products). Here's a link to the model I bought, though they come in many configurations and price ranges:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822107020

blakeh

I agree with UNC in that RAID is not a good backup solution. It is definitely better than a single drive, but not as good as getting your data to a secondary media.

I have seen drives fail in RAID arrays both at work and at home, and in all cases I was very, very glad that RAID was implemented. In all cases I was able to pop out the bad drive, pop in a new drive and everything kept moving just fine. While it's true that I could've restored a backup from tape, but that takes time and never works 100% (in my experience).

I would put anything that would be a pain to restore from tape/external drive on a RAID array, but I would still back the array up as well.

howie777

Another nice feature of the Netgear ReadyNAS is a one touch back up via USB. So you can connect a USB drive, hit a button and the NAS will copy all the data from its drives to the USB drive. This is a nice way to keep things secure, maybe even store the USB drive in a bank vault or other off site storage (in case of fire or theft).

I thought about building my own too, but its really nice to have such a small box, ready to go. Either works fine.

Howie

Systems

howie777 wrote: »

Another nice feature of the Netgear ReadyNAS is a one touch back up via USB. So you can connect a USB drive, hit a button and the NAS will copy all the data from its drives to the USB drive. This is a nice way to keep things secure, maybe even store the USB drive in a bank vault or other off site storage (in case of fire or theft).

I thought about building my own too, but its really nice to have such a small box, ready to go. Either works fine.

Howie

Hello

Well I wound up getting the Netgear NV+ Rnd4250, got it all set up today no problems. Pretty slick setup alright, very seamless. Also when I built my new tower I got a USB external hard drive so I'll be doing the backup off of the NAS too, I think I'm covered now:)

vc69

I use Synology NAS boxes a lot. Good product.
+1 on using a backup solution as well. RAID is neat and works *most* of the time. Sucks when it doesn't though.

http://www.synology.com/enu/products/index.php

ben62670

Raid 5 sucks. Mirroring is great. Make sure the NAS uses a format that is recognized by a PC. You already know that if one HD gets a virus both have it with a mirror. Lighting strikes can fry both HDs, and If the NAS is damaged, or stolen you lost everything without a back up.
Take care Bro.
Ben

Systems

ben62670 wrote: »

Raid 5 sucks. Mirroring is great. Make sure the NAS uses a format that is recognized by a PC. You already know that if one HD gets a virus both have it with a mirror. Lighting strikes can fry both HDs, and If the NAS is damaged, or stolen you lost everything without a back up.
Take care Bro.
Ben

Yes I'm covered there too, its mirrored, all three computers see and open files just fine on it, viruses...phhhht...bring them on, its on a ups, storms are few and far between around here but I ususally unplug everything....