Help: Home NAS strategy

[Xenon54]

I've read the article "Smart SOHOs don't do RAID" and it's brilliant, I couldn't agree more, there's too many things that can go wrong with RAID and (as a home user) I can live with my data being unavailable for a short time if a drive fails.

This leaves me with a couple of solutions for my new (and first) NAS setup and I'd appreciate some advice from people who have far more experience than I do.

Option 1: NAS + NAS. Use one as main NAS and rsync regular backups to the other which is located in the opposite end of the house. Thinking of Synology DS210j and Qnap TS210 (@ £155 + £165 = £320). I get the best of both features / OSes and can use either as my main NAS, so it's very flexible and my eggs aren't all in one basket.

Option 2: NAS + Ext HDD. Buy a better NAS and schedule regular backups to attached (but far away) ext HDD. Thinking of Synology DS210+ and any ext. enclosure (@ £310 + ~£30 = £340). I get (much?) better performance + features from main NAS, but lose flexibility and any advantages of second OS over first OS.

So, any advice on the best option, particularly practical advice, eg how simple and reliable is rsync to different NAS brand? Will an ext hdd wake up automatically in the middle of the night to be backed up to? Is the extra performance of the 210+ needed to stream HD video and HD audio across a wired network? What would you do?

Thanks in advance.

Notes: (a) main NAS on 24/7 on gigabit network, (b) I will arrange off site backup as well, (c) my usage is mainly backing up and serving up the many large photographs / HD movies I have.

 

[claykin]

The idea of dealing with 2 NAS brands, their feature sets, quirks, etc. is daunting to me. Your mileage may vary.

What type of external disk are you thinking of? USB attached to a PC or an external disk with LAN capability? If USB to PC, then you should be OK. You'll set proper permissions, mapping, etc and all should work fine for backup. You may need to disable the sleep mode in some USB disks. If you are thinking of a simple, inexpensive enclosure with LAN, most are junk, slow and unreliable. Good luck with that.

Any NAS that can do 25-30Mb/s can stream HD video. Thats most modern NAS products. Now, if you plan to stream HD video and do other things simultaneously, then you may need a more powerful model.

Maybe look at the new Readynas Ultra series which will begin shipping later this month.

 

[thiggins]

Either backup method can work. If you're buying new, I'd just buy two of the same NAS.

I don't understand the backup to "far away" external hard drive. If the drive isn't attached to the NAS, then whatever you're backing up to must support rsync if you're using a Synology or QNAP NAS.

For rsync between different flavor NASes, see the How To Back up NAS to NAS series, starting here:
How To Back Up NAS to NAS - Part 1

Like most wake/sleep issues, getting them to work reliably can be frustrating. All depends on the product and what it's attached to.