Newbie: Looking to build first home network

[vicnyctl]

Hello Everyone,
I hope i have this on the right forum space.
I am new here and was referred tot he site by a good friend of mine. I have decided to try and build a small easy to manage network at home. I am hoping to get some advice if i am on the right track.
I have two Macs running OS X 10.11 one is an iMac and the other is a Mac Pro. I am upgrading my router to the Netgear Nighthawk AC1900, Link Below
http://www.netgear.com/home/products/networking/wifi-routers/R7000.aspx

I was thinking of the following NAS units for storage and sharing. It mainly for photos, music, and documents.
http://www.asustor.com/product?p_id=39&lan=en#specifications

http://www.asustor.com/product?p_id=38&lan=en#overview

https://www.qnap.com/i/useng/product/model.php?II=143

Since its my first crack at this I am trying to get something that i can grow into a bit overtime. Nothing crazy just something nice and easy to use when i get started. I am hoping with some research I have done combined with some of the member experiences and feedback I can make a decision. Any links or ideas are truly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

 

[L&LD]

For something that you want to 'grow into' over time, I would not recommend anything other than an Asus router. The RT-AC56U or RT-AC68U (both have same processors, features and capabilities) is the minimum I would buy today (and while the RT-AC68U is almost hardware equivalent to the NG AC1900 in your list, it is a great step above it in manufacturer support, firmware and configurability).

Above the two routers above, the next step would be a BestBuy Asus RT-AC1900P featuring a 1.4GHz dual core processor and beyond that, the RT-AC3100, RT-AC88U or the RT-AC5300 with the same processor and double the ram of all the routers above, bringing it to 512MB total (the others all have 256MB).

The RT-AC56U is a great value for $50 (on sale). The RT-AC1900P is also good value with a 40% faster processor for about the same cost as the RT-AC68U. The high end models are good value too if you plan to fully use all the features and options on your router (sooner than later).

With the NAS options, the 4 Bay models are easily recommended over the smaller units. But once again, the QNAP model with QTS 4.2.1 is (I feel) superior to what Asustor offers at this time. Another solid option would be an Synology unit, but in my experience, QNAP usually offers more hardware with comparable firmware (QTS) features and capabilities along with equal or better dependability and stability too (NAS units' lifetimes are at least in the decade range. Just make sure you have the drives handy that are compatible with them, for they will fail over that period).

With 4 Bays, you can put two drives to install the NAS os in a RAID1 array and then have two more drives to also use in RAID1 array for your data, or, use them as separate drives with one backing up the other.

What this configuration will offer is that if one of the drives that power the NAS os ever fail, you'll have a chance to replace it while still having full access to your files. I recommend that with a NAS you buy additional (identical) drives from the start. Better to have them handy when (not if) you'll need them (to replace a dead drive with).

 

[sfx2000]

For something that you want to 'grow into' over time, I would not recommend anything other than an Asus router. The RT-AC56U or RT-AC68U (both have same processors, features and capabilities) is the minimum I would buy today (and while the RT-AC68U is almost hardware equivalent to the NG AC1900 in your list, it is a great step above it in manufacturer support, firmware and configurability).

Asus Routers are known for not being very Apple friendly - so I'd suggest something other than Asus - the Netgear R7000 is a mature AC1900 class device, should work well enough for OP.

As for a NAS - QNAP is nice, but also consider a MacMini with OSX Server, which can replace both the Router (yes, a Mini can be a router) and a NAS - thunderbolt is cool, and it has lots of USB3 ports to attach drives to and RAID up...

 

[vicnyctl]

Thanks everyone.
The MacMini sounds nice but I am don't know if i would be able to configure it easily. I am a newbie at this. Sound like it might be a little above my skills.
With either Netgear or Asus the NAS would get connect to the router correct? Would that be via USB or Ethernet? Also would I have to mount it SMB, or would the router handle the sharing and mounting?
Is there any info on the Asus Mac issue? I tired looking it up but came up short.

Thanks everyone.

 

[L&LD]

sfx2000, I had a customer running an RT-AC68U for a few years with apple stuff, no problems. What issues would someone face with apple devices?

vicnyctl, a proper NAS (Networked Attached Storage) always connects via a LAN port.

The NAS will give you full control of how you want to setup and share the drives and shares on it. The router is needed to give all devices on the network access to the NAS.

 

[vicnyctl]

Thank you L&LD for that.

With the Qnap NAS I see it at BH Photo here

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1117189-REG/qnap_ts_451_4_bay_nas_server.html

This would be a RAID1 Configuration so The disks would mirror. In theory the first set would be mirrored on the second set of disks. I would get a set of drives for failures.

 

[L&LD]

Thank you L&LD for that.

With the Qnap NAS I see it at BH Photo here

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1117189-REG/qnap_ts_451_4_bay_nas_server.html

This would be a RAID1 Configuration so The disks would mirror. In theory the first set would be mirrored on the second set of disks. I would get a set of drives for failures.

Just to be clear, I suggest creating two RAID1 arrays with 2 drives each. The first array will contain the NAS os, the second array would contain your digital files (or, have the third and fourth drives being backups of each other, and not in any RAID array).

 

[vicnyctl]

Ok. I think I got it. It will probably all make sense once the unit is in front of me. Going to look into the router recommendations now.
Seems likes the QNaP NAS is a pretty solid unit for what I need
Thank you

 

[vicnyctl]

Two more questions. Sorry if they are stupid With either router I will be able to access the share (read and write) with either a hard wire or wireless right?
Also if later down the road I wanted to upgrade the drives (size) could I without a lifeboat type of scenario?

 

[L&LD]

Two more questions. Sorry if they are stupid With either router I will be able to access the share (read and write) with either a hard wire or wireless right?
Also if later down the road I wanted to upgrade the drives (size) could I without a lifeboat type of scenario?

Yes, access will be through either.

Note the maximum size drives the units support now to see how far you can go (for sure).

Keep in mind that you should also be doing a backup of your NAS files too (to a USB drive or to another NAS). With that in place, you should be able to move to any supported drive size at any time.

 

[vicnyctl]

Great!! Thank you.
Keep you posted on my progress.

 

[sfx2000]

sfx2000, I had a customer running an RT-AC68U for a few years with apple stuff, no problems. What issues would someone face with apple devices?

vicnyctl, a proper NAS (Networked Attached Storage) always connects via a LAN port.

The NAS will give you full control of how you want to setup and share the drives and shares on it. The router is needed to give all devices on the network access to the NAS.

Look over on the Asus sub-forums, and there's a constant drumbeat of issues related to Macs, iPhones, and iPads, esp. with the Apple specific verticals - used to be able to work around a couple of the wifi related issues, but since Asus moved to the closed source drive, those nvram settings are no longer available. (11h support for example)

Please don't misunderstand me, Asus is decent enough gear with a great 3rd party community around it, but OP is in a Mac only shop, and probably wants to spend more time to work, and not spend time futzing around with his router.

Hence the recommendation for the R7000 - Netgear has worked thru the initial issues, and it's a solid device these days, as good as the RT-AC68 series.

The QNAP is pretty good - QtS4.2.1 is very good, however, some folks have had some concerns with TimeMachine support (works for a while, then corrupts itself), but this isn't specific to QNAP, and there are better backup solutions in any event (SuperDuper/CarbonCopyCloner, both are very good there).

The AsusStor's - heard good things about them, but I've not had a chance to get my hands on one.

Don't rule out Synology - between QNAP, Asustor, and Synology, they're all pretty close in features, performance, and pricing.

 

[vicnyctl]

Thanks SFX.
Good Info.
For Time Machine I will have an external I will use for backing up. Now that will be freeing up some externals I might as well use them.. LOL
The NAS will contain mainly photos, documents, and some music. I just want to try my hand at a small network solution to store, and share everything at home between my macs. Hate having to transfer to this, or that drive, and constantly connecting, and disconnecting drives.
I did pick up the Netgear router last night. Its an easy return if i have any issues. Speed was not my main focus just a sensible and reliable solution. Hoping to expand after some exposure and comfort with this environment.

Also when your mentioning QtS 4.2.1 does that include the ts-451? I am guessing the 4.2.1 is the NAS OS?
Thoughts?

 

[sfx2000]

Also when your mentioning QtS 4.2.1 does that include the ts-451? I am guessing the 4.2.1 is the NAS OS?

QTS is the OS/environment for the NAS, yes

 

[vicnyctl]

great thank you

 

[RonaldJames]

Hello Everyone,
I hope i have this on the right forum space.
I am new here and was referred tot he site by a good friend of mine. I have decided to try and build a small easy to manage network at home. I am hoping to get some advice if i am on the right track.
I have two Macs running OS X 10.11 one is an iMac and the other is a Mac Pro. I am upgrading my router to the Netgear Nighthawk AC1900, Link Below
http://www.netgear.com/home/products/networking/wifi-routers/R7000.aspx

I was thinking of the following NAS units for storage and sharing. It mainly for photos, music, and documents.
http://www.asustor.com/product?p_id=39&lan=en#specifications

http://www.asustor.com/product?p_id=38&lan=en#overview

https://www.qnap.com/i/useng/product/model.php?II=143

Since its my first crack at this I am trying to get something that i can grow into a bit overtime. Nothing crazy just something nice and easy to use when i get started. I am hoping with some research I have done combined with some of the member experiences and feedback I can make a decision. Any links or ideas are truly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Really it is great!!

 

[vicnyctl]

I just want to say thank you to everyone for the feedback and advice. I finally setup the network. Got it running. I was wondering if there was any free apps that could provide me some speed metrics. I want to compare the wifi speeds and hard wire just for giggles. I am also going to try my hand at some of really cool features this NAS has. I am very excited about this.