Network Access Storage

[Titan]

So I got my shiny new MBP up and running and did a couple of small movies of my kids stuff. Bam. Full hard drive.

I also have about a zillion pictures and one or two songs.

Anyways, I need some advice on an external HD. I would like to be able to house my Itunes on it and probably keep my pictures on both for redundancy. I would also like to store the videos and captures on it and then use what I need as I need it to make movies.

I have this router, which has a usb port: dlink DIR 655
http://www.dlink.com/products/?sec=0&pid=530, if that matters.

I have a Dell desktop and the MBP. Not a big network.
Any advice on brands? Functionality I should look for? Tips?

thanks in advance.

[CaptainCrunch]

What kind of capacity are you looking for?

[Titan]

in the ballpark of 1 tb if it can be had for around $350

[GoinAllTheWay]

http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX15362(ME).aspx

Had my eye on this job for a while. That's just the enclosure, you still have t buy the drives but a solid price. Also has FTP built in.

[CaptainCrunch]

I picked up a 1tb iomega external USB drive for $220.00 through FS

It works really well. Fairly quick access time as well.

[Titan]

I was thinking along the lines of this
Western Digital 1TB My Book Home External Hard Drive, USB 2.0 / FireWire 400 / eSATA

:http://www.memoryexpress.com/Product...20341(ME).aspx

but don't know about the brand? I think the firewire is worth the money no?

[Cliche]

Latest round of HDD price drops has 1TB going for around 200$ and under for OEM drives.
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products
Or NCIX
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...bminorcatid=63

External storage can be just a USB 2.0 enclosure which can retail anywhere from 30-60$

and the apple time machine will have no problems recognizing external USB HDD's. Not to certain about Itunes though.

[CaptainCrunch]

Firewire is awsome, I've just never been a Western Digital fan.

[Ironhorse]

I have an older Western Digital "My Book" (350 IIRC), and it works really slick. Nice looking enclosure too, looks like a hard cover book. Speed is quite good on USB 2.0.

[fredr123]

http://www.memoryexpress.com/Product...18677(ME).aspx



A bit pricey for an enclosure and it's not network-accessible without the add-on doohickey but I've heard good things about the drobo.

[Titan]

Come on Bobble. Don't Lurk. Post something!!

[photon]

Originally Posted by GoinAllTheWay

http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX15362(ME).aspx

Had my eye on this job for a while. That's just the enclosure, you still have t buy the drives but a solid price. Also has FTP built in.

I use this one and am pretty happy with it.

[metal_geek]

Originally Posted by photon

I use this one and am pretty happy with it.

I'm using this one too, bit slow set up in the mirrored configuration, but has proven to be reliable.

I also use this one for the same kind of thing you do, and other then the the couple times the HD doesn't "Wake up" and I have to power cycle it, it's been pretty much flawless...
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Product...20912(ME).aspx


If you get this one from memory express.. Technically it's free..
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Product...20976(ME).aspx
________
Gm foods

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by Titan

Come on Bobble. Don't Lurk. Post something!!

LOL, I was wondering if you really wanted NAS or external storage?

I think you are correct in wanting NAS, but then you linked an external hard drive.

I personally am considering, with the next wireless router I get (not immediately, when the 802.11 N becomes mroe robust) will have the ability to plug in an external hard drive for network storage. Like this

http://www.memoryexpress.com/Product...15809(ME).aspx

or

http://www.memoryexpress.com/Product....aspx?curtab=0

If Photon and Metal_geek have has success with that D-Link enclosure, it looks like what you are wanting so I'd give that a shot, since you already have a newer router.

[photon]

The only thing I can say negative about the D-Link is that the support is HORRIBLE. If you ever have to call them you'll want to kill yourself before you get anywhere.

Plus it's very picky about the drives you put in it, I had random drives work and not work at all, and some research showed this was common, so make sure you get drives that work with it.

[Boblobla]

Just wanted to pop into say that I <3 Memex, although, the do take much more of my money now there is a store in the NW on my way home from work...

[Titan]

Originally Posted by Bobblehead

LOL, I was wondering if you really wanted NAS or external storage?

I think you are correct in wanting NAS, but then you linked an external hard drive.

I personally am considering, with the next wireless router I get (not immediately, when the 802.11 N becomes mroe robust) will have the ability to plug in an external hard drive for network storage. Like this

http://www.memoryexpress.com/Product...15809(ME).aspx

or

http://www.memoryexpress.com/Product....aspx?curtab=0

If Photon and Metal_geek have has success with that D-Link enclosure, it looks like what you are wanting so I'd give that a shot, since you already have a newer router.

Maybe I don't know what I want.

I want a hard drive that I can access from my PC and MBP. The idea of being able to access remotely is nice but, like sex after marriage, seldom used. The router i have seems to be able to support plugging a hdd into it.

So I guess the question is, should I go with the enclosure mentioned or this: http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicatio...&Sku=M261-8108

Thanks.

[Bobblehead]

Your router has a USB port, but that is to allow for "Windows Connect Now", which is just a way to make it easy to set up your wireless computers. Judging by the link in your OP, there is no ability to connect an external drive (unless I'm missing something).

If you want to be able to access your files from any computer without needing to make sure a specific computer is turned on, then you need some sort of Network attached storage. It will always be on, but won't use as much power as a full computer (although it is a computer - it needs to get an IP address and manage network/disk I/O).
If one of your computers will always be on then it can act as a server and you can add an external hard drive and just share the drive (or a folder on the drive).

Generally an external hard drive will be cheaper since NAS is essentially an external hard drive plus a network card.

[metal_geek]

I've also used the USB router method with an external HD. I use an asus 500g router that has 2 usb ports... I have an external HD, and a printer connected to that. Works ok, but have had more success from a network storage perspective with the USB/Network enclosures.

The DLINK one posted above, the DNS-323 or whatever, can be configured as a raid 1/0 setup so might be a little more "robust" then you need, but if you wanna to take advantage of that then go that way. If you want just 1 drive and not worried about the raid, then save your money and get one of the nexstar/vantec enclosures, esentially the same minus the raid and cheaper.

The 323 gets a little hotter but thats likely because of the multiple drives. The Vantec one is faster, but again, I've never had the 323 in "single" drive mode so I can't make a fair comparison there.

Both were plenty fast to provide for streaming media, to 1 device, additional devices sometimes caused an issue.
________
NEVADA MEDICAL MARIJUANA DISPENSARY

[Titan]

Thanks all.