Recommend a NAS - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

Flames Fan, Ph.D. · 12-11-2010, 11:15 AM

I have a 5 year old Buffalo Linkstation that is becoming intolerable, and would therefore like to purchase a new NAS. Hoping some of the better versed could offer a few suggestions.

I intend to use the NAS primarily to maintain my music collection, so I would like a system that will have no trouble streaming music (30-50 mb files) to my D to A converter. I would like some type of RAID configuration so that I don't lose everything in a disaster... RAID 1 appears sufficient with something like a 2 x 1 TB setup.

I would also like it to have a means of remote access, whether it be through an FTP app or a browser based interface. I'm a pure Mac guy at home, and I've set the lab up as a Mac area as well, so Mac compatibility at home and during remote access is a high priority.

Budget is $400 max, but I see many options in the $250-$300 range so I'm obviously down with cheaper options. I currently have a Netgear WNDR3700 router that the NAS will connect to; a TV and a PS3 are close-by in case there are other streaming goodies that I could take advantage of with certain NAS setups.

Thank you for any suggestions.

sclitheroe · 12-11-2010, 11:23 AM

You mention you have a lab - any reason you wouldn't consider just hanging a nice fat chunk of local storage off one of the Mac's? You could software RAID1 a pair of external enclosures using Disk Util. It's a fairly robust solution in my testing.

Otherwise I don't have any advice - I went higher end and got a Drobo. Despite not being a fan of proprietary storage solutions, it's definitely a nice solution that works as advertised. It's pricy though.

photon · 12-11-2010, 05:39 PM

Just got a Synology 411j, and am liking it so far. Nice interface, robust features, even is working as an iSCSI target for me.

Runs linux, uses software RAID which is nice if things go really bad.

rururu · 12-11-2010, 05:43 PM

D-Link DNS-323, remarkably strong for me, very cheap but extremely reliable. In 1 year of use I only had to reboot it twice only because webpage access to the torrent client was acting up, but the drive was still working. There are probably better NAS units but for a small budget I do not believe there can be anything better. Works extremely well with my WDTV Live and all my laptops. You can access it externally too but I have never done it myself.

photon · 12-11-2010, 05:49 PM

DNS-323 was my old one, and yup pretty sturdy. Only 2 drive slots and doesn't support Time Machine officially, a couple of the reasons I switched.

McG · 12-11-2010, 08:29 PM

i spent a great deal of time looking at the drobo fs...very close to pulling the trigger.

i ended up buying the synology 411+; i just bought it last week so i haven't hooked it up yet but hopefully at somepoint this weekend...

the reason that i went with the 411+ was for the dlna 1.5, the mac and pc backups, and the synology version of beyond raid (from the drobo fs) which means that i can use mismatched HDDs. it has super speed as well so looking forward to that!

i got ncix to price match the cheapest canadian site that i could find. easy transaction!

sclitheroe · 12-12-2010, 03:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by photon

even is working as an iSCSI target for me.

Runs linux, uses software RAID which is nice if things go really bad.

Wow, both extremely nice features!

Flames Fan, Ph.D. · 12-13-2010, 09:57 PM

Thank you for the recommendations guys.

Hadn't really heard of the Synology brand and it seems a good one to research further.

amorak · 12-14-2010, 09:44 AM

I am just running a WD My Book World Edition to serve 1080p movies to the LCD's throughout my house, as well as backup both time machine'd macs and my PCs. Works great for that (very simple). Obviously you can't do much else and it has no real horsepower for transcoding or decoding stuff, but as a backup device / media server, it's surpassed my expectations.

OldDutch · 12-14-2010, 11:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by amorak

I am just running a WD My Book World Edition to serve 1080p movies to the LCD's throughout my house, as well as backup both time machine'd macs and my PCs. Works great for that (very simple). Obviously you can't do much else and it has no real horsepower for transcoding or decoding stuff, but as a backup device / media server, it's surpassed my expectations.

Thanks for this. I was going to pick one of these up, but the reviews are mixed. I was thinking of a dlink, but for just 2 computers and a ps3, that might be overkill.

Teh_Bandwagoner · 12-14-2010, 08:29 PM

agubuan · 12-15-2010, 02:52 AM

I am on the market for a NAS product as well.

Can anybody on CP find something negative about the specs on this product?

The salesperson at Fry's Electronics implied that I could access Quicktime files from my iPhone with an IP address and a password.

I'm going to use it as a media server for my iTunes as well.

It comes with 1 or 2 TB with a blu-ray or DVD burner.

http://www.lg.com/us/computer-produc...ge-N2B1DD1.jsp

Jimmy Stang · 12-05-2011, 11:24 AM

A year later, I'm giving this thread a bump as I'm looking for a nice, fast NAS for our office here. We currently use a DNS-323 and I actually quite enjoy it, but I'm looking to add another one to physically separate some of our files up.

Our office is only 3-4 employees, but we all have our email (Thunderbird) stored on the NAS, which slows things down a little. So ideally, I'd like to have the email on one, and the other files on the other.

All of that being said, I have traditionally avoided a proper server approach as I figured that it would be overkill for our small office. The NAS solution is nice, compact, and basically gets the job done. My thinking (perhaps incorrectly) is that I should just buy a new, fast NAS and split the files and bandwidth across the two devices and we'd probably be made in the shade. Thoughts?

cKy · 12-05-2011, 01:23 PM

I use a DNS-323 and while its stability is nice - i find it frustratingly slow to copy to and from. With the price of hard drives skyrocketing, i wonder how (if) that will effect NAS prices

OldDutch · 03-03-2012, 04:52 PM

Bumping this thread again.

Thinking of a new NAS box, to replace my DNS 323. Thinking of a QNAP.

Either:

http://ncix.com/products/?sku=58629&...E&promoid=1009

or

http://ncix.com/products/?sku=64221&...stems%20Inc%2E

The wife is getting into photog, so I would need something fast to copy her pics to. Any experts out there think it is worth it to go with the TS-219P II over the cheaper one?

Any other suggestions in that price point?

silentsim · 03-03-2012, 07:33 PM

I use a readynas nv+. It's pretty good. Haven't had any issues with it yet, but only have 2*2TB, waiting for them to drop in price again!

Hockey_Ninja · 03-03-2012, 07:42 PM

i recommend his album Illmatic. Arguably one of the best hip hop albums of all time. Wait what?....

cKy · 03-04-2012, 02:07 AM

I picked this up just after Christmas. Patriot Javelin S4 Media Server 4 Bay NAS

http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX33892

I upgraded from my DNS-323 which was running out of room (due to being 2 bay) and it was painfully slow. The Javelin is noticeably faster, although the software it comes with it crashes all to hell on my Win7 box. The web gui works alright - but doesnt seem as user friendly as the DNS-323.

It states the NAS is DLNA certified, but I havent found an app on my Android phone that will detect and play music/movies properly (but its probably cause I have no idea what app to use)

Jimmy Stang · 03-04-2012, 02:35 AM

At work we ended up getting a Qnap 459 Pro+. I have been very impressed with it thus far. It is faster than the DNS-323 by a very noticeable amount, and it is also very stable. The web panel for administering it is easy to use yet provides a load of features and options. But it is blazing fast compared to the DNS-323 box, for sure.

Physically it is built really well, has dual Gigabit LAN for load balancing, the drives can be hot-swapped and they have nice little sliding trays with locks, etc. Not earth-shattering features, but handy to have. You can configure the 4 bays to use all sorts of RAID setups (and/or save some slots for future expansion), and you can run an FTP server on it if you want. The DNS-323 did FTP, and we actually still have the DNS-323 set up as our FTP server at work as it was easier to leave it for that purpose only, and the relatively slow speed of that box won't matter for internet transfers as much.

Even little things like being able to come back after a power loss or be woken by magic packets can also save you some time if you access your network remotely. We had a power failure at work during that wind storm on Grey Cup Sunday, and the power was out for longer than my battery backup could handle. So everything else in the office came back when the power was restored, but the DNS-323 was dead in the water. I was the only person in town to power it back up, and the others needed to access it remotely early the next morning from Ontario... so I had to drive to work in the aftermath of that storm in the middle of the Grey Cup to press a button.

/cool story bro, but with my Qnap box (and probably most other newer types of NAS boxes), it would have saved me tonnes of time.

OldDutch · 03-04-2012, 04:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jimmy Stang

At work we ended up getting a Qnap 459 Pro+. I have been very impressed with it thus far. It is faster than the DNS-323 by a very noticeable amount, and it is also very stable. The web panel for administering it is easy to use yet provides a load of features and options. But it is blazing fast compared to the DNS-323 box, for sure.

Physically it is built really well, has dual Gigabit LAN for load balancing, the drives can be hot-swapped and they have nice little sliding trays with locks, etc. Not earth-shattering features, but handy to have. You can configure the 4 bays to use all sorts of RAID setups (and/or save some slots for future expansion), and you can run an FTP server on it if you want. The DNS-323 did FTP, and we actually still have the DNS-323 set up as our FTP server at work as it was easier to leave it for that purpose only, and the relatively slow speed of that box won't matter for internet transfers as much.

Even little things like being able to come back after a power loss or be woken by magic packets can also save you some time if you access your network remotely. We had a power failure at work during that wind storm on Grey Cup Sunday, and the power was out for longer than my battery backup could handle. So everything else in the office came back when the power was restored, but the DNS-323 was dead in the water. I was the only person in town to power it back up, and the others needed to access it remotely early the next morning from Ontario... so I had to drive to work in the aftermath of that storm in the middle of the Grey Cup to press a button.

/cool story bro, but with my Qnap box (and probably most other newer types of NAS boxes), it would have saved me tonnes of time.

Actually that is good to know. I maybe using it remotely since that feature works out of box.

I loved my DNS 323, rock solid but slow. I mainly use it for photos, work docs, and home movies. Has been flawless to stream over wireless to my WDTV Live even at 1080p.

However, just 2 weeks ago, it stopped working. The NAS works fine to watch movies on my laptop. However, if I try and watch the same movie using network sharing on the WDTV it studders, even if it is a 300mb show.

So I rebuilt the RAID, reset everything to factory, and still the issue happens. No idea why. If I put the movie on my desktop and stream it works fine.

So that is my cool story. It has given me the push to upgrade.