Up to this pointwireless access

, I was ready to say ReadyNAS Duo or NV+. Cheap, robust, and easy to slot whatever HDDs you have in. But they can't do wireless; you'd have to hardwire it into your router.

 

yes wireless is just a location issue, as route is in living room and partner not wild about me making it look like a geek haven

so it could be wireless or non geek looking 🙂

I bought one of these the other [url= http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3-5-Network-Attached-Storage-NAS-Hard-Drive-Enclosure-Conrad-New-retail-/160951662516?pt=UK_Collectables_HardDriveEnclosures_RL&hash=item25797777b4 ]A £12.50 NAS Enclosure[/url]

You do have to plug it into your router and software is basic, but once up and running it's been fine. Nothing cheaper!

wireless on a nas is bad practice imo, get it directly wired to your router for the best transfer speed.
if the router is in a different room then ethernet over power will still be better than wireless.
using a linux server on hp proliant micro server here

Yep, avoid wifi for a NAS. It'll be OK for streaming movies and music off the NAS, but an absolute PITA to get them all there in the first place! If you're after something that looks OK, have a look at the Lacie lot, then wire it to the router.

Recently got a Buffalo Linkstation, 2 x 1TB and will be run as RAID 1.

Can't comment on reliability, but it was easy to setup and easier to access than the Maxtor Central Axis we had before (which broke).

Setting it up next to the router would surely be the easiest option?

Setting it up next to the router would surely be the easiest option?

yes but NAS arnt silent and my misuss would have a fit if she found a box that made noise in the front room 😉

Any chance of running a UTP cable to another location?

Perhaps a compromise (as streaming should be OK) might be to have it wired whilst you upload lots of content to it, then move it away and run it on wifi for just general use.

Admittedly a faff, but you can blame your partner for that

This is easy, you just tell her that you can put it in the next room, but you need to drill big holes everywhere and run purple cat5e across the place.

I'm sure she'll see sense 😉

Alternatively - check your router it might be able to accept a usb HDD, will be a bit quieter as it'll only spin up in use.

I have a ReadyNas Duo wired to my router. Fantastic bit of kit!

Dual mirrored drives mitigate your risk of data lose due to HD failure and it's idiot proof.

There are many other benefits to this system. Netgear is a significant brand.

Aim to have a wired network if you intend to stream decent resolution video.

Depends on how much you want to spend, however I use a number of Iomega StorCenter ix4-200d to store my clients backups on as they are so reliable.

I have one at home too for my media libraries - iTunes, Windows Media player detects it automatically as a media server. As does my PS3.

Can use it in different RAID configurations, so you've got an excellent chance of failover if one of the disks fail. Can use it as an iSCSI drive as well if you want to get really into it. 🙂

Dual mirrored drives mitigate your risk of data lose due to HD failure and it's idiot proof.

Apart from if the controller fails, or there's a power surge...

RAID is not a form of backup, and I've had far more NAS (or external USB, for that matter) controllers fail, then been able to carry on using the disk perfectly happily in another caddy.

Synology DS411J here. Synology and Qnap consistently get good reviews.

Mine is hard-wired into my Router, but then used exclusively via wifi: by my Macbook pro to save the media to it/manage the media, and then by my apple Tv for steaming 1080p loveliness. The unit is just behind the sofa, and even during movie playback you don't really notice it whirring.

Files are often >5gb, and transfer rates aren't an issue unless there are other things happening at the same time on the unit (automated backups).

Cheap too: about 250 quid for the bare unit, I just bunged-in some HDDs from some old externals I had lying about.

Apart from if the controller fails, or there's a power surge...

No data loss will occur with either of these events.

PS spent over two decades making my living dealing with large scale computer hardware problems.

No data loss will occur with either of these events.

PS spent over two decades making my living dealing with large scale computer hardware problems

In large scale enterprise systems, no. In small home or SOHO grade systems where the RAID controller can't be replaced, then yes.

In large scale enterprise systems, no. In small home or SOHO grade systems where the RAID controller can't be replaced, then yes.

Surely the data would still be OK in the event of the actual device failing rather than the HDDs?
You'd just need to replace the ReadyNAS Duo box, wouldn't you?

exactly, if you are running a mirror set up then both discs should have all the data duplicated. Just put them in a new box or take a disc out and copy it to something as a precaution while you fix everything.

yes but NAS arnt silent and my misuss would have a fit if she found a box that made noise in the front room

They are not that loud.
You can get "silent" hard drives and they have auto power modes which switch it off when its not in use.

Are SSD's silent? That could be an (expensive) option.

I have a Readynas Duo V2 running Squeezebox. The fan is a bit noisy but overall it's pretty quiet. Hard Wiring is definitely the way to go to get stutter-free playback ,especially if you have a slow connection.I have 2x1Tb drives in RAID format which protects against a disc going down but not data corruption.You could always use network plugs through your mains wiring to get your signal to & from your NAS drive if it's in another room.

+1 for using PowerLine adaptors to enable you to stick it another room. Be far more reliable than WiFi. Getting a lot cheaper too - some good deals here:

http://www.misco.co.uk/product/Q522398/NETGEAR-Powerline-200Mbps-Single-Port-Mini-Bundle

In terms of the NAS itself, some good recommendations above.

I use a QNAP in work which is pretty good but also got a couple of Buffalo units which have worked fine for me (firmware is a bit of a pain though), but apparently other people have had problems with disk failure.

I recently got a Synology 212j and I'm very happy with it. It's near silent, works with very little faff, and has great forums and customer support.

im also interested in this. ive got a squeezebox, and arent there some that dont support that?

I've been using 2 different versions of the Buffalo Linkstation for a couple of years now. They're cheap, have flexible software, and have been reliable so far.

Agree you are better off wiring them to your router - wifi is painfully slow when you are transferring 1 TB across it.

iomega Ix-200 here - great bit of kit. I stream movies & music to ipad, iphone and tv (via raspberry pi running openelec). Plus it's a TimeCapsule backup and works as a print server (well, it's supposed to!) and Bittorrent client.

If I was buying now I'd buy a Synology 212 with 2 x 1Tb drives.

Wireless just isn't reliable enough, especially if you want non interrupted streaming. For backups overnight wireless is ok but mine (admittedly using wireless G) stutters with music and movies if the wife is surfing the web, which is quite annoying. Most of the time it's fine but I'm planning to wire everything with Cat5e.

Wireless ac (new standard) might solve these problems but claims were made about 'n' and 'G' that never lived up to the hype.

I'd suggest you look at what formats you want to stream e.g. mp3 or 1080p video, see what the bitrate is, see what wireless can do (and halve the claims). Don't forget to distinguish between mbits/sec and mbytes/sec!

Don't forget powerline adapters need their own socket i.e. they don't work with trailing leads. I think some have mains socket bypasses now though...

Can you move your router somewhere else? Mine is in a spare bedroom connected to the NAS.

Bit more pricy but you can get passthrough powerline adaptors. I use something similar to these at home:

http://www.misco.co.uk/product/164530/D-Link-PowerLine-Homeplug-AV-Passthrough-Starter-Kit

Don't forget powerline adapters need their own socket i.e. they don't work with trailing leads

I have two [TP-Link]that are happily working on 4 way trailing sockets, I suspect that are some trailing sockets that won't play nicely though.

andyl - Member
exactly, if you are running a mirror set up then both discs should have all the data duplicated. Just put them in a new box or take a disc out and copy it to something as a precaution while you fix everything.

You wont be putting the disks into a Windows PC to recover the data - the ReadyNAS systems use an incompatable file system - not sure if you could recover using Linux...most likely you would have to buy another ReadyNAS caddy.

You wont be putting the disks into a Windows PC to recover the data - the ReadyNAS systems use an incompatable file system - not sure if you could recover using Linux...most likely you would have to buy another ReadyNAS caddy.

Indeed. I've recently found this out with a LaCie nas, and that's just a single disk jobby. I can probably find a way, but it's not easy.

Which brings me back to my earlier point: raid is not a form of backup. What happens when the only option (a replacement caddy) is discontinued and a newer one uses a different file system?

Agreed - Ive just bought a pair of powerline LAN adapters, one to be used in the house, and one in the garage with a Buffalo Linkstation on each end.

What happens when the only option (a replacement caddy) is discontinued and a newer one uses a different file system?

I use mine as a back-up and really don't think the risk is that great
Everything is on my PC, and backed up to the NAS drive [2x HDD RAID1]
It would have to be a fairly major set of circumstances that rendered all 3 drives useless and unrecoverable, certainly not something that should overly worry a home user IMO.
If you have anything that is really critical [I don't] you can also have a backup to a cloud somewhere.

It would have to be a fairly major set of circumstances that rendered all 3 drives useless and unrecoverable, certainly not something that should overly worry a home user IMO.

Power surge, theft, fire? Not all that unlikely.

Cloud is fine for small amounts of data, but what about photos, or your music / movie collection?

All I'm trying to point out is that raid shouldn't be the only form of redundancy people employ, for some fairly obvious reasons. I'm struggling to see why there is any disagreement with this.

I've a ReadyNAS Duo wired into my router then running over powerline LAN adapters (with 'through sockets')/wifi to devices and it works a treat.

Agree on the failover points made though - I'm running two disks mirrored so if one disk fails the other will take over, but if the NAS itself fails (i.e. the RAID controller) then I can't just plug the disks into a Windows (or any other) PC and retrieve the data. I'd need another RAID controller (another ReadyNAS Duo box) to plug the disks into to retrieve the data.

*EDIT* and it's plugged into a surge protector. Fire & theft? I'd have bigger concerns than losing the NAS contents.

Fire & theft? I'd have bigger concerns than losing the NAS contents.

Cant disagree with that, but some things just cant be replaced - photos and videos of your children growing up, for example.

not [i]your[/i] children, obviously....

😆

Power surge, theft, fire? Not all that unlikely.

Oh I don't know
I have surge protection
Fire, I've not had a house fire in the 53 years I've been around and living in houses, so I'm going to put that one down as unlikely.

ditto the theft TBH

I'm not arguing that RAID is fully redundant in all circumstances, just that it a reasonable option for most home users, like the OP

I'm not arguing that RAID is fully redundant in all circumstances, just that it a reasonable option for most home users, like the OP

I still disagree. Buy a less expensive single nas disk, and periodically back that up to another much cheaper external disk that you can keep in your desk at work or at a friends. Costs a lot less, you lose no storage capacity, and its a lot more certain to keep your data safe should something catastrophic happen than a raid box.

Not cheap but ticks a lot of boxes

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Synology DS213air is not only a NAS, with built-in Wi-Fi® adaptor, DS213air can serve as a wireless access point and provide Wi-Fi coverage in hard to reach locations such as rooms too far away from the router, or different floors. The included software components make it easy to build a fast, robust and secure wireless IP network from scratch. The DS213air is all the gear needed for your home/office wireless networking environments, plus terabytes of storage and cloud applications.

With Synology DS213air, you can centralize and share up to 8TB of data and files with coworkers and friends. If you find this way of managing files useful, you can have your own cloud by using Cloud Station to access and sync files across different computers. There is no need to configure a router to remote access the DS213air, by using Synology’s ezCloud, you can easily extend coverage to the Internet.

Manage your files on your Synology DS213air with File Browser which provides browser based file navigation on your DiskStation, allowing you to copy, move, delete, rename, upload, or download files without boundaries.

If you are always on the move, Synology provides a handy app, DS file for iPhone®, iPad® and Android™ users. Anything stored on Synology DS213air can now be accessed remotely using DS file via the Internet.

Synology DS213air delivers an average 95.22 MB/sec reading speed under RAID 1 configuration in a Windows® environment, and 57.11 MB/sec writing1. DiskStation DS213air provides a reliable solution for data sharing with an easy to use interface, and comprehensive office applications, including a complete backup solution making it one of the best values in 2-bay NAS devices available today.

Coming with USB 3.0 support which offers transmission speeds of up to 5 Gbps, namely 10 times faster than USB 2.0, DS213air takes less time for data transfer for external hard drives and consumes less power.

DS213air brings innovative and enjoyable multimedia entertainment to your home. Enjoy sound and sensation while enriching your life with personal online albums and blog services. Your social life just gets better.The iPad®, iPhone® and Android™ App, DS audio, allows DiskStation users to stream music stored on DiskStation with their mobile devices wherever Internet access is available.

Web Assistant is a web-based utility to make DS213air as easy to install as possible. It is even possible to install the whole system just with mobile device, by setting up all vital system components in few simple steps. Combined with a quick start widget, users can simultaneously tour the DSM operating system and set it up to use right away.

[url= http://www.expansys.com/synology-ds213-air-2-bay-nas-drive-enclosure-with-wifi-3-5-241844/ ]Synology 213 Air[/url]

+1 on the Readynas Duo. Had one for 3/4 years and no problems.

Synology. Any one will do. The web interface is light years ahead of the competition, and makes it easy to access settings and files from a phone/tablet/laptop.

Definitely NOT ReadyNAS. They've gone downhill badly in the last few years, and the current ReadyNAS Duo is absolute junk in comparison to the Synology rivals. The high-end Intel Atom ReadyNAS models are ok, but even then I'd steer most people towards Synology or, at a pinch, Qnap.

just revisiting this to ask for recommendations......

not a big user, so id just be after storing my music, few vids and photos on it, and hardly ever adding to it. so im thinking a smaller 1 HD nas, 1Tb maybe, and then also buying a separate external usb drive for about £40.
everything on the one drive, back up to external drive, shove in drawer. every month or so update the back-up, shove back in drawer.

anyone got any recommendations for a smallish, quiet nas thats good value? or external drive too come to think of it....
oh, and must be compatible with squeezebox.

thanks

I have a QNAP which is pretty good. they keep adding features which is great. Some of the newer ones have a HDMI port which allows you to stream directly to an attached TV. You can attach USB TV tuners and turn it into a PVR - might sell it living under the TV.

I recently got a Synology 212j and I'm very happy with it. It's near silent, works with very little faff, and has great forums and customer support.

+1 but not sure about squeezebox.

Synology do a single bay as well. It is only about 40ukp cheaper and I went for the more expensive with a view to adding a second drive when I could afford. All fairly painless and backed up where necessary onto an intenso usb hard drive. Also a fan of network plugs as a way of networking the house. I use the solwise ones and no issues so far.

as is usual for me, ive been dithering over what to buy as im just not sure whether theyll run with squeezebox software, and also the best way of running a set up. this is still my situation.....

not a big user, so id just be after storing my music, few vids and photos on it, and hardly ever adding to it. so im thinking a smaller 1 HD nas, 1Tb maybe, and then also buying a separate external usb drive for about £40.
everything on the one drive, back up to external drive, shove in drawer. every month or so update the back-up, shove back in drawer.

anyone got any recommendations for a smallish, quiet nas thats good value? or external drive too come to think of it....
oh, and must be compatible with squeezebox.

ive also got a sony bravia tv, and that may be a consideration if anything needs to 'talk' to the telly to stream a movie stored on there too?
any recommendations thatll fit the bill these days?

thanks

sadexpunk, check out mede8er 600x3d or 1000x3d they are probably overkill for your requirements but are excellent devices and good value, the 600 is silent but has no internal drive but should work well with a usb device or flash cards.
they are technically not a nas but a media player but can use samba nfs or dlna to share files.

thanks mate, but im thinking i need actual storage? my laptops playing up and im thinking of installing linux to see if it improves, and id like around 200Gb of files to be kept somewhere safe 🙂

Synology. My 211J runs squeezeserver with no problem.

We use one of the four hard drive models in our upstairs bedroom, powered via a back up system so when we gave a power cut it power itself. We then have outside grade network cable running outside and into a wall port next to the TV and into a switch/router that sends it to a small media pc running xbmc. The qnap handles all our downloads and storage and works faultlessly and always has. Only problem is we're running out of space!

Stupid double post

I recently got a Synology 212j and I'm very happy with it. It's near silent, works with very little faff, and has great forums and customer support.
+1 but not sure about squeezebox.

Synology do a single bay as well. It is only about 40ukp cheaper and I went for the more expensive with a view to adding a second drive when I could afford. All fairly painless and backed up where necessary onto an intenso usb hard drive. Also a fan of network plugs as a way of networking the house. I use the solwise ones and no issues so far.

Dragging this up from the depths - thinking of doign the same - will the 212J support the single disk with no issues and allow me to add another later if needed?

Thought I'd ask here as there seems to be a lot of axperts rather than try and plough through all the info inline.

Gaz

will the 212J support the single disk with no issues

Yes

and allow me to add another later if needed?

Not sure, haven't tried yet

Not sure, haven't tried yet

Yes just plug in, tell it what you want to do with it, eg add as another mount or mirror existing etc.

Ok that's cool then - cheers gents

Begs the next question - what hard drive would everyone recommend? Unsure as to what's good bad or indifferent. Is there an obvious candidate? Not too fussed on brand but would like it to have a good reputation. Are they all much the same?

Is this combo as good as any (first link on eBuyer)

Synology DS212j 2-bay (no disks) NAS Enclosure

WD RED 2TB 3.5" SATA 6GB/s 64MB Hard Drive

Also is eBuyer the best place to source? Anywhere cheaper and/or more local/ethical to buy from?

Sorry for so many questions

Another data point for you:

I got a cheap dlink-320l (The L in important) which was great apart from very loud fan. I replaced this with a Noiseblocker BlackSilentFan XM2 (yes 12v is correct) and now it is great.

For example, the fan and drives spin down when no in use. Under use, with highest fan. It was quieter than the attached 2.5 inch usb drive!!

It sits in a slat doored cupboard in the corridor with next to the bedroom.

The web-setup is a bit of a pain, but Im using it as shared drive, timemachine backup and media server.

The mediaserver isn't the greatest. I was going to re-flash it with debian, but it's just too useful. Maybe I'll get a second to play with.

Cheap as chips on amazon....

Just bought a DS212j - we'll see how this works out. 🙂

You should look for disks with TLER, e.g. WD Red.

I could tell you why, but you would be asleep before I finished explaining. 🙂

Yep bought a WD Red disk - 3TB should do for a while

Old PC + USB stick + SATA PCI card + drives + NAS4Free.

Oh, and RAID isn't backup either, it's for minimising downtime.

I use local rsync between three disks, A B and C.

Backup night 1 = A -> B
Backup night 2 = A -> C
Backup night 3 = A -> B
Backup night 4 = A -> C

As has been said, RAID-based NAS may not prevent data loss in the event of controller failure. If you're concerned about data loss you need a proper, off-site, backup. If you have the bandwidth or the time then [url= http://www.backblaze.com ]Backblaze[/url] is handy. Ongoing online backup with no storage limit. I use it to backup my RAW photo files (and other files) as well as the hourly TimeMachine backup and the weekly off site HDD backup.

NAS? Even nice NASs can be slow for many things except backups and movie/music files for streaming. Having said that, if I had a handy £1000 I'd be interested in the Synology DS413J with 4x4TB disks 🙂