NAS for home use

[EnglishRecluse]

Hello!

I was just looking for some advice about NAS storage. Basically I have been slowly accruing a number of external hard drives and computers over several years, and quite frankly it is getting a bit ridiculous - so I thought that rationalising them all into one NAS system would be the ideal solution.

Unfortunately NAS is something I am relatively unsure on and although given some advice about which one to get, I still have a few questions.

1. I realise the point is that this is to create a means of sharing data between multiple devices, but I live in a shared house, with a shared router, is it possible to directly limit which devices can access the data? or even only use the device via cables?

2. Is there usually some form of software encryption?

3. In terms of just everyday use, film watching etc, what are the significant differences between NAS storage and external hard drives in terms of user experience?

4. what do people think of these machines?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00FWURI8K/?tag=smallncom-21
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Synology-DS2...dp/B00CDG2XHC/

I am not a high end user, just have a very large collection of music/films with too many computers - so I dont need any more power/speed than is needed to watch a 5/6gig film.

Thank you for your help and sorry if the questions seems stupidly simplistic!

 

[thiggins]

The Synology would work fine. So would just about any NAS, single bay included. You didn't say how much storage you need. 5 and soon 6 TB drives can provide a LOT of storage in a single-bay NAS.

If you are accessing the NAS via Ethernet, you should notice no difference between local attached drive and accessing a NAS over an Ethernet link. Even a 10/100 link handles HD just fine.

Encrypting data on the NAS volume will incur a big performance hit- 50%+.

If you want to limit access, shares can be secured with username/password.

 

[EnglishRecluse]

The Synology would work fine. So would just about any NAS, single bay included. You didn't say how much storage you need. 5 and soon 6 TB drives can provide a LOT of storage in a single-bay NAS.

If you are accessing the NAS via Ethernet, you should notice no difference between local attached drive and accessing a NAS over an Ethernet link. Even a 10/100 link handles HD just fine.

Encrypting data on the NAS volume will incur a big performance hit- 50%+.

If you want to limit access, shares can be secured with username/password.

Thank you for your help!

I think in the realm of 2-4tb is likely, but has potential to grow much more. Is it possible to use a 2 bay- device but only fill one bay? to meet my current needs but also provide some room for expansion later? or realistically does it make more sense to get a 1 bay device now and just get a multiple bay device in a few years when I need it?

So I can use a shared router but block people from using it via the internal software of the NAS? otherwise, I can just only use it via ethernet cable directly connecting NAS to computers?

sorry for all the questions, and thank you again!

 

[stevech]

Be sure to have a USB3 or eSATA external drive (whatever matches what the NAS has) for a backup, and set the NAS to auto-backup daily.

In a 2 bay, I don't advise using RAID but rather use two independent volumes, and one can backup the other. Synology (and others I suppose) have a "time machine" like backup utility (Time Backup it's called on Synology). It can keep an archive of file versions for the last n weeks. That and USB backup product me from file system corruption, drive/electronics/power supply failure, and human error (oops, I honked up the file).

 

[thiggins]

You can start with one bay and add a second drive later, yes. That mode provides no data protection when a drive fails, however. You will also need to treat each disk as a separate volume. This means two top-level shared folders will appear when devices browse the network.

Yes, the NAS contains user account and share control. It, however, can't tell the difference between connections coming from Ethernet-connected devices and connections originating from wireless devices.

 

[this]

Hi,
You might want to read a thread I started "Need advice on how to choose home NAS...". I have similar needs to you and I got some good info from others on that thread. I'm thinking af the Synology DS214se too...

Tom