NAS vs HDD attached to router via USB?

[getan]

Hi guys! I hope you can help me with this one and please do correct me if I'm wrong. I've read a lot about NASes and plan to buy one for our home. But I'm a bit worried about hard drives in general and their lifespans.

I'm torn between buying a NAS (such as the Seagate Central) or buying a desktop external HDD such as the WDC MyBook and attaching it to the network through the USB port on my wifi router. To be honest, I've had some bad luck with using my USB HDD as a NAS because I suspect my external desktop Maxtor drive died. Granted it was almost 6yrs old already. But when I used my Seagate portable external storage, the same thing seems to have occured and that my drive is constantly failing recently. Is there any truth to this?

With this information, assuming true, I wonder what advantage does a consumer NAS like the Seagate Central have over a USB attached drive other than speed (USB vs Ethernet)? Anybody out there leave their NASes running for several days and nights without rest? Should I assume that NASes should have measures to stop the drive from running when it's been idle for a couple of minutes or so. Please help!

 

[TonyH]

Hi,
IMO, if HDD reliability is a major concern, one can spend more $$$ to buy better drives with better MTBF which is not consumer grade. If data integrity is concern there is all kind of redundancy scheme such as RAID set up, back up, etc. There are drives costing like $500.00 a piece. My Synology small NAS contains all WD Red drives which are still holding up. They go to sleep when inactive, I never shut it down. Also USB 3 drives vs.
NAS---- speed difference.

 

[stevech]

Hi guys! I hope you can help me with this one and please do correct me if I'm wrong. I've read a lot about NASes and plan to buy one for our home. But I'm a bit worried about hard drives in general and their lifespans.

I'm torn between buying a NAS (such as the Seagate Central) or buying a desktop external HDD such as the WDC MyBook and attaching it to the network through the USB port on my wifi router. To be honest, I've had some bad luck with using my USB HDD as a NAS because I suspect my external desktop Maxtor drive died. Granted it was almost 6yrs old already. But when I used my Seagate portable external storage, the same thing seems to have occured and that my drive is constantly failing recently. Is there any truth to this?

With this information, assuming true, I wonder what advantage does a consumer NAS like the Seagate Central have over a USB attached drive other than speed (USB vs Ethernet)? Anybody out there leave their NASes running for several days and nights without rest? Should I assume that NASes should have measures to stop the drive from running when it's been idle for a couple of minutes or so. Please help!

NAS: I urge you to buy either Synolgy or QNAP
I have my 2-drive DS212 on every day from 7AM to 1AM. (automatic on/off). I have a very robust backup strategy to protect from the risks I see
1. Burgulary
2. Oops I deleted that file by mistake (Synology Time Backup for 90 days of changes)
3. File system corruption (no RAID. separate volumes)
4. Drive failure or NAS power supply/electronics failure. External drive backup in NTFS format.

My little 2-drive NAS therfore runs two separate volumes, not RAID.
And a USB3 drive as backup.
And more.

 

[getan]

Thanks guys! I've read lots about those two NAS boxes and I've been itching to get one myself. But my budget says I can't, which is why I'm probably going to settle with either the Seagate Central or a 4TB external desktop hard drive. I need to space for all my photos and videos as I keep all my RAW files.

That's why I'm asking about using a USB desktop drive as my "NAS". I guess it's safe to assume that it's going to eat up the drive's life if it keeps on running when connected to the router, right? I also heard of slow transfer speeds for the Seagate Central which sounds really disappointing for me since I expect it to breeze through transfers because of the utilization of ethernet.

I'll be sure to get a proper NAS but not today.

 

[TonyH]

Hi,
Another possibility is with some luck you can find used NAS box. You can try Synology
user forum or even eBay. It is possible to start with single drive NAS.

 

[stevech]

Rather than getting the Seagate NAS, I suggest you get two drives, connect to USB on PC. Double-backup.

Make one shared on the LAN for other PCs to use.

Cheap.

I think you'd regret the Seagate. Really not a good product.

 

[TonyH]

Hi,
Briefly I just did that B4 I purchased small Synology box. 2 bay box which allowed RAID 0/1, JBOD, or individual drive config. It had USB and eSATA port. Diskless box cost like ~50.00.

 

[getan]

Hi,
Briefly I just did that B4 I purchased small Synology box. 2 bay box which allowed RAID 0/1, JBOD, or individual drive config. It had USB and eSATA port. Diskless box cost like ~50.00.

Hey TonyH, could you give me the model of the box you got? I tried looking for Synology ones before and the prices are at least about 200USD. 50 is really cheap though.

 

[stevech]

Hey TonyH, could you give me the model of the box you got? I tried looking for Synology ones before and the prices are at least about 200USD. 50 is really cheap though.

Synology/QNAP are NASes whereas a disk enclosure with USB or eSATA is not. Such an enclosure, connected to an always-on PC, and shared on the LAN, makes it equivalent to only the folder share function on a NAS, that being one of many. And too, you may need the local/remote user access controls with a NAS.

So it depends on your needs.

 

[heehee62]

I'm far from an expert. I'm just looking for a NAS myself right now but have been doing research.

I'm going to guess you have a one usb port router. Do you have a non-wireless printer and do you want to make it wireless by connecting it to your router usb port? If so, then that one port is gone and you'd want a NAS.

Please correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think external HDDs spin down to save power on their own unless you set up your router to do that for you (if you're router allows for it). I don't know how much power an external HDD uses though if constantly on - someone complained to me that it was a lot.

The cost of an external hard drive versus a cheap NAS doesn't seem to be all that different to me (though like I said, I'm no expert). You can get a Buffalo Linkstation NAS 1 TB for $60 online on amazon. I'd try to get Bestbuy to match the price and get it from them though that way you can return it if you don't like it.

I must say, I find selected a network storage system to be pretty tough -

 

[stevech]

Suggestion is QNAP or Synology. Pretty much equal. Both best of breed.

I've had a Synology 2 drive for quite a while; very happy with it.

 

[PrivateJoker]

Suggestion is QNAP or Synology. Pretty much equal. Both best of breed.

I've had a Synology 2 drive for quite a while; very happy with it.

You and me both, we should be backup syncing buddies.

 

[PeteCress]

... if HDD reliability is a major concern, one can spend more $$$ to buy better drives with better MTBF which is not consumer grade. If data integrity is concern there is all kind of redundancy scheme such as RAID set up, back up, etc. There are drives costing like $500.00 a piece.

Bump - for whoever might be looking into this.

Another option vis-a-vis reliability is a NAS box with multiple redunancy.

Mine has 6 drives in it and is config'd so that any two drives can be down and out at the same time without the NAS losing any data. Takes more drives for the same space, but the likelyhood of two concurrent drive failures seems remote enough that I take some comfort in it.

But I also periodically image the whole thing to an old WHS box.

 

[stevech]

Bump - for whoever might be looking into this.

Another option vis-a-vis reliability is a NAS box with multiple redunancy..

we preach: RAID IS NOT A BACKUP! It ONLY protects from drive failure. Not NAS electronics failure, file system corruption, human error, and THEFT- which is too likely.

checkout the Internet talk of backup is 3-2-1

also.. to get a feel for what NASes offer in functionality, way beyond just storage (which is all a USB drive does) - try the demos at the web sites for Synology and QNAP.