Looking on the web at the various NAS devices, does anyone use one of there or something similar that they would recommend;

The only reason for the above is that I have a few spare hard drives.

http://www.google.co.uk/products/catalog?hl=en&q=nas&cid=4796633573005022907&ei=8VQ4TZPJB4_qwAWKi7D7DQ&sa=image&ved=0CAgQ8gIwADgA#p

See if you can find one which supports RAID 1 (or ideally, RAID-5).

RAID 1 = two disks mirrored. If one dies, the other will have identical data.

RAID 5 = three or more disks, but only the capacity of two. One of the three can fail, and all the data is still there. Plus, you can add drives to expand the data storage capacity.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/DUAL-SATA-NAS-ENCLOSURE-1-5TB-RAID-FTP-JBOD-LAN-/380281529179?pt=UK_Collectables_HardDriveEnclosures_RL&hash=item588a8ba35b#ht_5159wt_1139

With RAID the actual capacity of the combine drives is determined by the smallest drive.
So if you have 3 x 500gig + 1 x 300gig drive in a RAID 5 array you will be limited to 300gig of (pretty secure) space.

Never sleep, cos sleep is the cousin of death?

Oh not that Nas… 🙄

Have a look at the Netgear Reaynas Duo. I have one and can highly recommended them. Does most things you could want from a NAS as a home/small office user. Good community support too, plus plenty of extra plugins available. The only downside I have found is that the data transfer rates aren’t all that. That said, you can comfortably stream movies to other devices without stuttering or interuption.

+1 the NetGear ReadyNAS, mine been very goood, though others are available for a lot less.. M8 picked up a buffalo unit that promised the world and it’s sister in features. I was quite jealous until it turned out to be faulty (last one in stock)…

I’ve got a 2nd hand Icy Box 4220 for sale if you are interested? Well reviewed and was good for me, I upgraded to a much faster NAS (QNAP TS 239 Pro II) to stream HD to a couple of sources so needed more power.

http://www.icybox.com.tw/page/nsa_products/nas_ib-nas4220b.htm

Email in profile if it’s of interest.

Overall, if you have more than a couple of devices on your network, a NAS is a great addition for backup, sharing, streaming and media, really useful bit of kit.

I would personally stay clear from ReadyNAS. Been through 3 on warranty over here. Slow transfer speed, horribly slow admin interface.

Highly recommend a Synology NAS. Good performance and a lot of excellent features.

Had a single drive NetGear NAS that had unusably slow transfer speeds.

I have used a number of different NAS devices and would say steer clear of the Icybox, I had to replace everyone I bought (4 in total) and this was from a recommendation on STW. At present I have a Netgear ReadyNas Duo which seems to be okay if a little slow and a Netgear Stora which is fine but seems to have sleep mode, which I haven’t switched off, and takes a fews seconds to wake up.

xiphon that link you posted can’t do raid 5…
I’ve just bought this, it can’t do raid 5 either but its bloody good. I bought 2 x 2tb wd hard drives for 75 each and have got it full of all my pics, music and vids. Happy days.

Another vote for the Synology Nas. They are essentially a lightweight Linux server so you can install and run software from them.

I use mine to stream video, music, photos to the Xbox360. Also use it to stream music so I can listen at work. Also use it to backup my stuff of course.

I’ve got a Icybox 4220 too – it’s pretty good – got RAID, a basic bittorrent client so you can download torrents without needing to leave a computer turned on, and some media streaming software so that you can stream stuff to xbox or wherever (though it’s not exactly straightforward).

Just had to replace the power supply on it after a couple of years use.

No one recommending the QNAP 219P ? I’ve got one and it has been very stable and is also fast enough to also run a ( small ) photo website off. The software is improved on a steady basis bringing more and more functionality. If looking at another NAS I would buy another QNAP.

Review from The Register

I have a ready nas NVX Pro (4x1TB disks, currently 3 in a raid 5 with a hotspare) and its data transfer rate is superb, easy to set up, runs linux so you can add media servers to stream to the 360, bit torrent clients etc, remote access over the internet as needed. Its perfect for me in all but one area, the fans are too noisy. I can hear it anywhere in the house, even when its on power save. Its louder than my old poweredge 2950.

I would be careful of the netgear ready nas boxes as that does seem to be the must grumped about thing on the support forum, noise!

David.

Why not install FreeNAS on an old computer that’s probably collecting dust somewhere in your house.

If you want to experiment then download and install VirtualBox. Download a FreeNAS ISO file. Create a virtual machine in VirtualBox and add the iso file then boot it up.