Completely Confused

[rjupiter]

Hi -

I really do need some help. I cam to the site and read the "How To Choose the Right NAS for You" and looked at the "NAS Charts", been going back a forth for a few months, and I still am not sure what the heck I need to get.

From some stuff I read and a friend it was suggested that I get a NAS. As of right now the four computers and two Xbox's that are in my place all pull content off my desktop, of which I share the files, and is on multiple HD's inside my desktop. Needless to say my PC, cause of all the HD's, is quite large and I want to reduce the case and so on.

Right now I have quite a lot of video (have run out of HD space for it) and music files but I also do photography/art and back up my writing for school and family photo (separate from my photography)

I really honestly don't know what I should be looking for as I want to share some stuff with some computers but not all stuff and everything I look at seems to be extremely expensive. Would it be cheaper to build a NAS than to buy one? Would it be a less hassle?

I would really appreciate any advice that help clear up my confusion.

 

[thiggins]

I wrote How To Choose the Right NAS for You specifically to help first-time NAS buyers like yourself. So I'm interested as to why it isn't helping you narrow your decision.

So let's start with the basics:
How much capacity do you need?
What is your budget?

By the way, most all NASes allow you define users and groups to satisfy the "want to share some stuff with some computers but not all stuff" requirement.

 

[rjupiter]

probably because I am stupid? but maybe I try and read it again.

So let's start with the basics:
How much capacity do you need?

I shoot all my images in RAW and convert to TIFF they take up a lot of room sometimes 45mb or higher per pic. My music is only at about 50-80gb but I am always adding. My video is taking up the most room as some stuff I just leave it ripped from the DVD in .VOB format and a lot I convert to make it more easily playable on media players like the xbox. I have over 900gb of video, I need much more room for that.


What is your budget?

Um, well I would like to not go over 1,000$ and if I could I would like to keep it a bit lower maybe the 500-800 range but not over a grand.

 

[thiggins]

Sounds like you need more than 1 TB, which means a multi-drive NAS.

You might consider a Windows Home Server based NAS like the LX195. WHS-based NASes are very flexible for storage expansion and you don't have to hassle with RAID.

Whatever you do, also consider backup in your planning. RAID is not a substitute for backup and you should never trust your data to a single device.

You might take a look at the Price vs. Performance Charts. Makes it easy to see what you can buy for your $1000. Just keep in mind that all the QNAP, Thecus and Synology products come without drives.

 

[rjupiter]

Sounds like you need more than 1 TB, which means a multi-drive NAS.

You might consider a Windows Home Server based NAS like the LX195. WHS-based NASes are very flexible for storage expansion and you don't have to hassle with RAID.

ok, so RAID is not the best thing? This might be where I am confused the most. Some tell me it essential to have and others say its not.

Whatever you do, also consider backup in your planning. RAID is not a substitute for backup and you should never trust your data to a single device.

Yes, right now I have my stuff on several drives, video on one drive, music on another etc... but I am never sure where to back all that up too? another larger hd? I mean should I not put all my stuff on the NAS? or if I should where do I backup all the stuff on the NAS to a lrage external HD?

You might take a look at the Price vs. Performance Charts. Makes it easy to see what you can buy for your $1000. Just keep in mind that all the QNAP, Thecus and Synology products come without drives.

Ok,I'll give that a look over. Not coming with the drives is fine, I build my own computers. I think I get more lost in the networking aspect of stuff. I was actually debating between the QNAP and Synology products after reading some of your reviews. But for me it feels more like a guess as to which is best/right than a surety.

 

[thiggins]

RAID is just a way of making a larger storage space out of multiple disk drives. It was essential before the days of 2 TB drives. But today, for many people, it's just not necessary.

Right now, you use multiple disk drives in your desktop. How's that workin' for you? You're probably getting along just fine without a single 1 TB+ folder,right? If you need a single volume that is larger than 2 TB (today's largest drive), then you'd need RAID. But you are accustomed to dealing with multiple volumes (hard drives) now, so RAID isn't essential.

The downside of RAID is that it can be fragile. Google for "Broken RAID" or "RAID failed" or similar and you'll see plenty of tales of woe. RAID is designed to handle single (or sometimes multiple) drive failures. But if a power supply or main board fails or there is a power glitch while drives are being accessed, then bye-bye to your data...unless you have a backup.

Speaking of backup, as long as you have data someplace besides this NAS that you intend to build, then you have backup. You don't need to also back up the NAS storage unless you want another level of backup. NAS backup is essential for people whose primary storage is their NAS. Not so much for people who are using the NAS mainly as a backup for other systems.

QNAP and Synology are very appealing to people who like their toys with lots of knobs to twiddle. But they are overkill (and overpriced) if you just need basic network data storage. Both companies build fine products, but you'll pay a premium for features that you're probably not going to use.

Although NASes do provide power and space savings, there is nothing wrong with using a networked computer as your "NAS" or "server", too.

 

[mygiantcircle]

my input

i am a novice such as yourself, and I have been shopping for a NAS. I think I have settled on my choice and want to share with you my thoughts (need to contribute something since SNB has been a valuable tool for my research)

I am getting the Acer Easystore AH340 server. It is reasonably priced, has 3 spaces for drives, uses Windows Home Server, has gigabit LAN, esata, and will do everything you need (backup, stream). Tim's review of other Atom based NAS seems to show decent performance

I do wish it is on the chart though...

Let us know what you decide.

dh

 

[rjupiter]

RAID is just a way of making a larger storage space out of multiple disk drives. It was essential before the days of 2 TB drives. But today, for many people, it's just not necessary.

Right now, you use multiple disk drives in your desktop. How's that workin' for you? You're probably getting along just fine without a single 1 TB+ folder,right? If you need a single volume that is larger than 2 TB (today's largest drive), then you'd need RAID. But you are accustomed to dealing with multiple volumes (hard drives) now, so RAID isn't essential.

I don't have a single 1TB drive I have several 500mb drives that are partitioned off or used solely for something such as video or music.

The downside of RAID is that it can be fragile. Google for "Broken RAID" or "RAID failed" or similar and you'll see plenty of tales of woe. RAID is designed to handle single (or sometimes multiple) drive failures. But if a power supply or main board fails or there is a power glitch while drives are being accessed, then bye-bye to your data...unless you have a backup.


Speaking of backup, as long as you have data someplace besides this NAS that you intend to build, then you have backup. You don't need to also back up the NAS storage unless you want another level of backup. NAS backup is essential for people whose primary storage is their NAS. Not so much for people who are using the NAS mainly as a backup for other systems.

QNAP and Synology are very appealing to people who like their toys with lots of knobs to twiddle. But they are overkill (and overpriced) if you just need basic network data storage. Both companies build fine products, but you'll pay a premium for features that you're probably not going to use.

Although NASes do provide power and space savings, there is nothing wrong with using a networked computer as your "NAS" or "server", too.

I was looking to use the NAS as my main backup/server. you say a networked computer, i.e. my desktop , is ok to use as my server but the problem I have is limiting access. my desktop is xp, my personal laptop is win 7 , then there is two xboxs and two other computer one with vista the other with xp. now I can restrict, somewhat, the files I share to the xbox but not the computers, which is a problem.

I have personal stuff that I need to share between my desktop and my personal laptop but the only way to do that now is to blanketed allow file sharing and modifying in XP, I can't find a way to only allow specific computers access to these drives/folders. I was hoping that a separate sys, a NAS would allow me this control.

 

[thiggins]

XP Pro allows you to set access permissions by folder, but it's a pain to use.

With few exceptions, all NASes allow you to set folder access permissions.

 

[rjupiter]

XP Pro allows you to set access permissions by folder, but it's a pain to use.

With few exceptions, all NASes allow you to set folder access permissions.

yes, so I found out. That is was what I thought. now it just a matter of finding the right one to get. I have looked at a lot on this site and then on Newegg and Amazon and a lot have low ratings. contemplating building my own at this point.

 

[thiggins]

I have looked at a lot on this site and then on Newegg and Amazon and a lot have low ratings.

User reviews/ratings are good and bad. Good because you get a lot of points of view. Bad in that you don't know the background / knowledge level of the reviewer.

And keep in mind that unhappy people usually complain and happy people don't say that they are happy.