….. Doesn’t have to be massive (500 Gb would do, though I see 1 Tb seems to be the de-facto standard), wired ethernet (wifi not necessary) and something that powers down the disc when not in use as, initially, it might not get used a lot.

Yoru thoughts and links please 🙂

I’ve had a Netgear NASDuo for the last couple of years and it’s been faultless

Quiet too

Does your Wifi Hub not support this function already? I plug USB drives into my Aiport Extreme and it mounts them – works very well too.

Check out the Synology range (I have the 110j) – advantages are it can stream data to TV / XBox so you can put a load of movies / TV shows / music / pictures etc. and watch on your TV.

Check out the Synology range (I have the 110j) – advantages are it can stream data to TV / XBox so you can put a load of movies / TV shows / music / pictures etc. and watch on your TV.

They’ll pretty much all do that I think

LaCie networkspace2 here. Plugs into the network and “just works” without intervention. Powers down when not in use and wakes up on demand. iTunes server and torrent download onboard. USB port to make an additional external HDD available to the network. In the year or so I’ve had it I’ve not physically touched it. Shoved at the top of the rack, plugged in and left to it’s own devices. Brilliant device.
Apparently can make data available on the web but I’ve never had cause to try this out.

It’s part of a larger plan:

Upstairs – Wifi router with 4 port switch and main PC wired to router, (though PC hardly ever on).

Downstairs – Laptop for surfing wirelssly….. plus a ‘Smart’ tv, Humax box, Blu-ray player and MP3 jukebox, all with network connectivity options that I haven’t scratched the surface of.

As the PC’s are hardly ever on, a NAS device connected to the router seems like the best way to go for central storage/sharing between these other devices, and to avoid running ethernet cables all over the shop, or having four seperate wireless dongles to connect the other bits to the network, I was thinking about something like this downstairs

to connect all the USB outputs of the AV kit to a central downstairs wireless hub so they can talk to the router -> NAS device.

They don’t all stream to AV boxes natively – some need additional software such as Twonky server, which makes things a bit clunky.

Am interested in the answer to this one. I think you need a DNLA compatible NAS – sure someone will come along to confirm or mock me.

Oh, and I’m liking the ‘RAID-lite’ capabilities of that Netgear NASDuo to make it even more fit and (sort of) forget.

Why not build a media centre with a raid storage option (or purchase an off the shelf version)?

Thermaltake case

Barebones system

If the main use is downstairs would save a lot of hassle with the network connections, and can be connected directly to an unmanaged hub, as well as connected directly to the screen / sound system ?

Wifi connectivity to the upstairs hub can be built in.

Another Synology DJ110 here. Will do all that you need (everything in the whole above thread) and more. Easy to configure, very quiet (depending on the drives you install), very impressive transfer speeds.

Why not build a media centre with a raid storage option (or purchase an off the shelf version)?

That would be far too easy (there are a few other issues as well…), just go with me on this 😉

I recently bought a Buffalo Linkstation Live. Easy to set up, provides all sorts of other functions (the one that springs to mind as being most useful is a print server) and it works with iPod/iPhones as well.

It was £64 from eBuyer. Only 250gb drive though (you can add further stroage via USB)

I’ve got a Western Digital World Book. Does the job for me, stream music etc.

Supplimentary for the home networking crowd – is that Belkin network USB hub I linked to up there ^^^^ going to play nicely with my existing Netgear router?

I’m liking the sound of the Synology device….. except for the price 😉

I have a buffalo NAS, 500 gig and it’s wired into my router which makes it wifi available on the network. Has USB if you want to add more storage and it powers down when unused, and powers up pretty quick when called upon. Easy to set up and I mainly use it to store family photos and as a iTunes server. Good kit. No problems in the couple of years I’ve had it.

The Qnap range are also worth checking out.

Excellent for what you plan to do – all our music, video and files are stored centrally and accessible from any machine on the network (desktop, laptops, mac mini as itunes/media machine and also readable direct by the DNLA equipped TV).

Choose an enclosure based on what you plan to do then add your own hard drive.

Might be worth going for a twin bay if you can afford it – at a later date you can add a second drive to expand storage or migrate to a larger drive plus have the option to run RAID in case of a drive failure.

CPU speed mostly affects file transfer on/off the device but won’t come into play when streaming HD.

Finally, I’d also look for one with a backup function. My Qnap is set to automatically back up when a USB drive is connected to the back port, which makes complete backups quite and simple.

i have a 1Tb Buffalo wired to my router. Only time I have problems is when the old laptop is connected to it, if the laptop goes into standby, it doesn’t close the drives correctly, so it has to be physically rebooted.
Of course, if I fixed the laptop, that would help…

If you’re interested in file transfer speed, and by god you should be, then you’ll want to bypass the pedestrian mainstream NAS devices. The Synology DS110 turns in respectable speeds. I can read/write a 701MB file over Giga Ethernet at 41MB/s and 18MB/s respectively. Buy a quieter cooler longer life 5400rpm drive; the NAS is the bottleneck not the HDD speed.

**edit I too would bypass the ‘mainstream brands personally..when i did research to buy mine Synology and Qnap were the two who stand out from the rest.

Synology 2 disc version, very happy with it.

Does all i need and more (and would do what you want).

Qnap also very good. Both have excellent support and forums for getting going.

With the photostation it enables my parents and family & friends to see our photos online, and they can upload theirs to us too.

my itunes library is on ours and our radio takes the music from there..all just works.

as you want it to store your media make sure what you get supports a RAID configuration and make sure you set it up as so.

Icy Box for me.

slight hijack.

What media server software do people use ?

Any good free ones ?

IF you would like to be able to access your files remotely, or give access to friends or family this is meant to be really good.
My Ditto

Review here:
RegHardware MyDitto review

I’d agree with MadBillMcMad about RAID, but when you start looking at QNAP and Synology it can get quite expensive.

I’ve got an Icybox. Not sure if I’d recommend it though. The first power supply burnt out, which was a pain. Also media sharing isn’t really simple, as you need TwonkyServer software. It works OK with my Xbox, but it’s pretty clunky and slow.

It’s got a built in Bittorrent client though which is neat. Again though, very clunky.

Yeah, I’m heading towards the twin disc Synology route set up as RAID…. despite the cost……

Spookily, I was looking at NAS options only this morning.
Anyone got any experience of this HP Proliant microserver

I realise it needs drives and an OS but seems well thought of and not too expensive when the £100 cash back from HP is factored in.

Would be set up as mirrored (RAID1) sharing media files and data between laptops.

Wadya think?

I have a hacked craptasic buffalo, but when I replace it it will be a qnap or a synology. The important thing is to search around and find someone with the same setup, DLNA is a standard only in that everyone has paid for a sticker, most of the devices will just not work together(Yes that’s you I’m looking at, Sony)

I went for a 2tb Buffalo Linkstation Live. It had so many extra features DNLA Itunes and Time Machine support, web access (though I’ve not got this to work just yet) Paied just over a ton for it which is very cheap.

Qnap here, and it gets plenty of use. It seems bulletproof, and apart from backup/streaming/download functions it also runs my photo website.

Western Digital World Book and ReadyNAS duo in my house (both used for different things).
World Book runs Twonky and now that I am FLACing all my music the Naim Uniti works with it perfectly, tried using WAV but tagging was a mess. Has been faultless (2x1TB raid-1). The ReadyNAS is used by my exchange server as storage only.