"Ideal" Router for NAS?

[MoonGazer]

Hello everyone,

I'd like to buy a new 802.11g/n router that lets me access one or several of my USB 2.0/3.0 disks via WiFi (e.g. 2 GB WD MyBook Essential). These are the candidates on my shortlist so far:

ASUS RT-N66U
Linksys E4200-EW
Netgear N900
AVM FRITZ!Box 7390

Ideally I could use this setup to configure both a Time Machine and an iTunes library with Mac OS Lion (mostly on a MacBook Air mid-2011). I understand that this won't work in a FAT32 or NTFS environment. Will I be able to hook up a disk formatted in Mac OS Extended Journaled? Also, I've heard about broken AFP compatibility under Lion. Is that still an issue?

Having more than one USB port makes it easier to connect additional drives or a printer. I'd consider that a strong advantage but not a necessity.

I live in Europe and sometimes use a subscription VPN service to access Hulu and other US-only sites. A nice feature would be to connect my PS3 via the router using PPTP or L2TP, but it's not very important important to me.

I've never used DD-WRT or Tomato firmwares, but I'm completely open to trying something new if there are tangible advantages to be had.

Any recommendations?

Am I applying the wrong search-strategy here? Should I go straight for "true" NAS-device...? (The price ceiling I originally had in mind for the router is 200 Euros.)

Any help is much appreciated!

 

[relax]

Sorry to "derail" your question, but.. since I also live in Europe and I'm also very much interested into getting access to US content, could you tell me which VPN service do you use?

 

[MoonGazer]

Sure: http://www.ibvpn.com/

 

[sfx2000]

Much depends on your patience and how you value your time...

Recommended approach since you have a Mac - Buy a TimeCapsule and be happy - they do USB2, and support hubs. Just works...

Tinker/Tweaker - there are many NAS boxen out there, they may support AFP, and if you're lucky, they might support TimeMachine's sparse images that Apple uses, but most NAS QA regimens don't extend out to 6 months worth of backup every hour...

Hacker Approach - build a PC, install linux (fedora, debian, ubunutu, etc...), and yes, install a current Netatalk and CUPS for printer sharing. Spend much time googling why it doesn't work and why your timemachine backups explode and iTunes shares mysteriously disappear. Discover there are better ways to do the same thing - install ReFIT on your MacBook Air, and then get mad at Canonical for screwing up a perfectly good linux distro - convert to debian and find out why Ubuntu became popular - go hardcore with NetBSD and then...

Seriously, for your use case, a TimeCapsule is a decent investment http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/images/smilies/cool.gif

 

[MoonGazer]

Time Capsule VS Airport Extreme

Thanks, sfx2000!

Do you see any particular advantage / benefit to the Time Capsule as opposed to hooking up an external HD to an Airport Extreme?

I'm referring to the newest installments of these devices using the BCM4331 stack.

Cheers!

 

[sfx2000]

TC has twice the RAM of the APX, and a SATA connection to the internal HD - the APX is a great router and access point - they run the same firmware as the TC, so the wireless performance is similar.

TimeMachine on the TC is a supported config from apple - TimeMachine on the APX with external USB is not, but generally works.

Drive access to the TC on the internal disk across GiGE is faster than USB on the TC or APX.

Really comes down to choices - the APX is a very good router, and supports external USB for NAS functionality. The TC is also a good router, has TM support.

The APX has a better history of long term reliability - the TC's have had issues with the early models failing due to internal power supplies dying after 18 months or so... more recent TC's suggest that issue may be resolved.