Hi need more space 1TB minimum. Would a NAS drive on an ethanet cable be THAT much faster than a USB2 drive thingy?

totally depends on the quality of the hardware/software

If you've got 1tb of data, raid 1 is really worthwhile. It really is not uncommon for drives to fail.

Also, don't count on the speed of the network or USB connection to tell you how fast the unit will work. I have a cheapy cheapy NAS box with RAID which gives only about 5mb/sec even over its gigE connection

I would definitely go for the NAS but then I also have a Gigabit switch so data transfer is really quick.

NAS gigabit drives are quite cheap at the moment: –

Buffalo NAS from Ebuyer

I was actaully looking at exactly that Buffalo!

I asked about NAS recently and got some interesting leads:
http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/what-nas-media-server-for-home-use

That Buffalo has no option for RAID as far as i can see, if its your primary backup\archive it serves no useful purpose unless its at least RAID 1

the other thread threw up the Netgear ReadyNAS Duo, its worth a look at

it serves no useful purpose unless its at least RAID 1

Why? Its half the price of the NetGear and twice the size.

It only has one disk. When that fails you lose everything.

RAID1 gives you some protection from that.

Why? Its half the price of the NetGear and twice the size.

Yeah brilliant value as a bit of scratch storage for music and ripped videos but if you are serious about having important stuff somewhere safe then its not the right thing to be looking at.

As GrahamS said if the disk goes balls up you are pretty much screwed….and believe me they do go wrong !!

It is mainly for music I think I will go for the buffalo and make sure I dont use it as a door stop.

Would a NAS drive on an ethanet cable be THAT much faster than a USB2 drive thingy

No, you'll most likely find a NAS drive much slower.

I have a mid price NAS drive on a Gigabit LAN and the transfer rate is 15-18Mbps. The NAS hardware is the limiting factor, not the network. Faster dedicated NAS drives are available but pricey. You can build a server from an old machine but it'll use a lot more power.

USB is simpler, cheaper and possibly faster if you only need the data locally.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/22517-42-ethernet-speed

For fast and RAID, Qnap TS219 looks good but still only hits 75MBps versus 480MBps from USB
http://www.qnap.com/pro_detail_feature.asp?p_id=113

I run a buffalo wireless NAS – 500gb. I use it for a back up of my laptop and as a iTunes server. if push comes to shove the ipod has the music on it and the laptop has most of the original files.

if u wanna know nething geeky why dont u use the avforums, they all know their stuff.

if u wanna know nething geeky why dont u use the avforums, they all know their stuff.

Are you new? Half the folk on here seem to be in IT or programmers. We're not exactly short on geeks who can answer "nething". 😉

For fast and RAID, Qnap TS219 looks good but still only hits 75MBps versus 480MBps from USB
http://www.qnap.com/pro_detail_feature.asp?p_id=113

I think you've got your numbers mixed up there. It does 75megabtyes/second over the network in their test, the absolute peak you can get from USB2 is 60megabytes/sec.

I think you've got your numbers mixed up there.

Sorry, yes I have! Thanks.

Icybox – 15MB/Sec (my NAS drive)
USB2 – 60 MB/Sec
TS219 – 75MB/Sec

My NAS is much slower than USB2, as will many entry level ones. This is absolutely fine for its purpose as a large network storage and even streaming video content but is slow for large file access. For things like video editting and Photoshop I work locally then store/backup to the NAS.

Basically, the point I'm trying to make is NAS drives vary in speed. Read reviews and be clear what you expect from it.

At work we had a RAID (which was arse), and a NAS. Both had their merits but we switched to USB for simplicity. Currently running twin 1TB's and it works bootifully.

Right thanks guys I am going to get a Buffalo NAS for storage and maybe back that up to a USB drive when I can afford more toys.

Sorry, yes I have! Thanks.

Icybox – 15MB/Sec (my NAS drive)
USB2 – 60 MB/Sec
TS219 – 75MB/Sec

gravity-slave – is the speed of your Icybox what you have measured on your network or what it is suppoed to run at. If its the speed you measured how did you do this (as I would like to check mine)?