What single or dual drive NAS for new home setup?

[wolfh1045]

Hi

I've been reading through the articles/reviews on this and other websites trying to work out what type of NAS setup will give me the best setup for the home.

After reading the 'Smart SOHO's Don't Do RAID' article I decided that I don't really want to pay extra for an expensive RAID setup when a secondary NAS or external hard drive will do the job and give me the peace of mind that my data is safe. But this is where I get stuck, with such a wide rage of devices at various price points I'm left confused*as what to buy. I don't want to be paying for features that I would not need. After reading through the other articles here I understand that not all NAS devices are compatible with other backup devices so I also need advice on this too.

With this in mind could anyone give me advice on specific products I should consider for my primary NAS and secondary backup? I am looking at single or dual drives (to keep costs down). I have listed below some of my other requirements:

NAS will be used at home in a MAC/Windows environment
*I would like the primary NAS to back up more than once a day.
*Work with Apple Time Capsule
*iTunes Server
*Bittorrent Client
*Stream video. (Xvid, DivX at the moment may stream HD content in the future)
*Ideal capacity of 2TB or more
*quiet and cost effective
*FTP Client (not essential)

Many thanks for looking.

 

[thiggins]

Of all your criteria, Apple Time Capsule/Machine support is the most restrictive. Right now, all Buffalo NASes can act as Time Machine targets. They also support scheduled backup to attached drives. NAS-to-NAS backup is also supported, but only to other Buffalo NASes. Look at the Linkstation XHL for single drive and TeraStation Duo for dual-drive.

 

[wolfh1045]

Of all your criteria, Apple Time Capsule/Machine support is the most restrictive. Right now, all Buffalo NASes can act as Time Machine targets. They also support scheduled backup to attached drives. NAS-to-NAS backup is also supported, but only to other Buffalo NASes. Look at the Linkstation XHL for single drive and TeraStation Duo for dual-drive.

Many thanks for your reply. I have been looking at the Buffalo Linkstation XHL but from postings on forums the Buffalo is a good product but is hampered by poor support for the device. Would you agree with this comment? Also how well does the torrent client work on the Buffalo?

Secondly if I removed the time capsule requirement would you still recommend the Buffalo NASes over others?

Sorry for all the questions

 

[thiggins]

I can't comment on the Torrent downloader because I haven't used it, sorry.

I have no experience with Buffalo support. I will say that Buffalo does not often issue new firmware for its products.

To be clear, I am not "recommending" the Buffalos. I am pointing you to products that meet your criteria.

What are you going to be using to receive the streamed video, i.e. what is the player?

 

[wolfh1045]

To be clear, I am not "recommending" the Buffalos. I am pointing you to products that meet your criteria.

Fair comment, I appreciate you are going by my criteria

The support side of the Buffalo concerns me a little as I'm not very experienced with NASes and I would like any bugs in any firmware to be ironed out by the manufacturer on a regular basis so things just work well and as advertised. What are my alternatives if I don't include Apple Time Capsule support?

What would be my back up options for the NAS? I was thinking of using an external HDD attached to the NAS. I be buying everything from scratch and putting it all together so am pretty flexible on how I approach this

What are you going to be using to receive the streamed video, i.e. what is the player?

It'll be primarily be Macbook and PC's, so 1 movie may be accessed at the same time by 2 machines at any given time. Also I have an Xbox 360 which I would like to look into for streaming videos and family photo's too.


I realise you can't give me a definitive answer as to what is the perfect NAS specificity for me as everyone's requirements are different but your advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[claykin]

My vote would be to look at Netgear's Readynas, QNAP and Synology. I really like the Readynas product line. Their support and public forum are arguably the best of all vendors in this space. On the other hand the Readynas Duo, the product to likely fit your budget, is somewhat aged in comparison to the competition.

I have not used the Buffalo products, so cannot comment. All NAS products have issues/bugs, including Buffalo, and their lack of after the sale firmware support worries me. Its always been this way with Buffalo, yet their products usually receive fairly positive reviews.

 

[Qyv10]

In regards to your quesiton about Buffalo support, I have a Linkstation Live (single drive) that I bought from the CircuitCity going out of business sale that I tried to flash the latest firm ware on to.
Needless to say I messed it up somehow, called the number and talked to support.
They wakled me thru a couple things to try after I explained what I did.
Couldn't get it fixed so they said send in the unit on RMA xxxx and they sent me a new one in a couple days with overnight delivery.

In my book that's pretty good service.

Hope this helps, Q

 

[Qyv10]

On another note I am considering a ReadNAS Duo upgrade mostly because I would really like to get my Squeezebox server off my main computer. I really like the Squeezebox as a music server but don't like being tied to leaving my computer on 24/7.
I primarily got the Buffalo because adding the Squeezecenter server to it was not too complicated but it proved not to be able to handle it very well, very slow to respond and generally slow at all times.
It it pretty limited as a server I think, memory pretty low and cpu slow for that task.
The netgear comes with Squeezecenter preinstalled so I assume it works good.

Q

 

[wolfh1045]

Thanks for the reply guys

If I were to go with the ReadyNas Duo, what sort of things would I be missing out on compared to the latest NASes? I mean would it be mainly performance issues that I'll notice e.g. when streaming music and Video?

I also understand the ReadyNas Duo is quite flexible when it comes to backing it up. How do Synology and Qnap compare? i.e. what are their limitations to backing up?

 

[thiggins]

If I were to go with the ReadyNas Duo, what sort of things would I be missing out on compared to the latest NASes? I mean would it be mainly performance issues that I'll notice e.g. when streaming music and Video?

The Duo is very full-featured and also supports third-party modules. But it is based on an older processor platform and will be slower then current-generation NASes. Check the NAS Charts.

You started this thread by saying that you don't want to pay for features that you don't need. But sounds like you're willing to bend that rule. So you should also look at Synology and QNAP products, as claykin suggested.

I also understand the ReadyNas Duo is quite flexible when it comes to backing it up. How do Synology and Qnap compare? i.e. what are their limitations to backing up?

ReadyNAS, QNAP and Synology are about equal for attached backup, although the QNAP supports the most formats, I think. You do get the benefit of faster attached backup on QNAPs that support eSATA ports.

The limitations come with NAS-to-NAS networked backups. All products use rsync at their core and can be made to work, as explored in the NAS-to-NAS backup series. The ReadyNASes are the only one of the three that can backup to and from any networked share. They also can backup multiple times per day vs. a minimum of once per day for the QNAP and Synology.

 

[claykin]

ReadyNAS, QNAP and Synology are about equal for attached backup, although the QNAP supports the most formats, I think. You do get the benefit of faster attached backup on QNAPs that support eSATA ports.

The limitations come with NAS-to-NAS networked backups. All products use rsync at their core and can be made to work, as explored in the NAS-to-NAS backup series. The ReadyNASes are the only one of the three that can backup to and from any networked share. They also can backup multiple times per day vs. a minimum of once per day for the QNAP and Synology.

I find the built-in backup feature on the Readynas to be a bit more flexible than that offered by Qnap and Synology. This is especially true when using an external backup device such as a USB disk.

For instance the Readynas will allow you to use the one touch button on the front of the unit to begin a backup job. That same button can be used to unmount and eject a disk. Try doing that with a Qnap or Syno NAS. They both require you to enter the web admin to accomplish the same functions. Dumb if you ask me since they both also have one touch buttons.

This is one of the reasons why I recommend the Readynas to end users. Backup of share data is important and most end users understand the Readynas way better. That means backups get done, and to me thats valuable!

 

[wolfh1045]

Many thanks for your reply guys. In the end the choice was between a ReadyNas Duo and Qnap TS-219P. I decided to go for the Qnap even though it was the most expensive of the two. In my eyes the better software and hardware (more RAM, eSATA port, iscusi) meant the Qnap gave me more flexibility and therefore was more future proof. I liked the option of trying new things out with my home network.

Thanks Small Net Builder - Awesome site