danielbriggs
New Around Here
Hi all,
like others I have been doing a lot of research this last week on a new NAS box, as my 1TB FW800 drive has been full for too long now...
I started looking what was available, compared it to what I thought I needed, decided on a model, then found something else which did I thought was a better solution; now I'm back where I started - so need a bit of advice.
Usage: 1 Mac Laptop + out and about remote "guest" PC's.
Primary use: Media file store, lots of 720p/1080p content + general file store for things I want to keep, but not necessarily take round with me at all times on the laptop.
Not worried at all about backing the laptop up to it. Have a TimeCapsule to take care of that; also do a bootable USB backup on occasion.
Probably best if I outline my exact requirements:
Critical:
Would be very nice to have:
Not too fussed about: if included - great - no problem if not:
If it's not on the list; then I don't want it!
I've been looking at (in no particular order):
I seem to be flitting back and to between 2 and 4 drive setups.
Budget?
No exact figure. "As cheap as possible to cover as many required features as possible" If I can justify the expense of a more expensive unit from the benefit it offers then I will get that one...
You may ask: "Why the need for NAS with only 1 laptop using it - go for DAS" I want the NAS to do download files and access files remotely when out; so my laptop doesn't have to be on 24/7.
Open to ideas if anyone can point me in the right direction with respect to models, or suggest new ones?
I'm interested to hear real world experience with any of the named models...
Many thanks in advance,
Dan
like others I have been doing a lot of research this last week on a new NAS box, as my 1TB FW800 drive has been full for too long now...
I started looking what was available, compared it to what I thought I needed, decided on a model, then found something else which did I thought was a better solution; now I'm back where I started - so need a bit of advice.
Usage: 1 Mac Laptop + out and about remote "guest" PC's.
Primary use: Media file store, lots of 720p/1080p content + general file store for things I want to keep, but not necessarily take round with me at all times on the laptop.
Not worried at all about backing the laptop up to it. Have a TimeCapsule to take care of that; also do a bootable USB backup on occasion.
Probably best if I outline my exact requirements:
Critical:
- >1TB storage
- Rapidshare download support (either native or wget + scripts...)
- FTP server
- Decent Mac Support
- No slouch in the speed department i.e. => moderate speeds. Must be able to stream 1080p content + collection of DTS audio CD's.
Would be very nice to have:
- RAID 1/5 redundancy
- Ability to extract RAR files on the box automatically after downloads - (I appreciate I'll have to get my hands dirty with scripts)
- Jumbo frames
- One button USB backup for <4GB USB sticks.
- Expandable RAID - i.e. drop in/replace drives in future to upgrade capacity without rebuilding the whole thing.
- iTunes server
- Stream music and video to Xbox 360
- Email alerts... seems to be standard on all units I've found?
- Mobile device (iPhone) access of some sort; status, streaming, management etc...
- Photo stream on the web. Would be nice to plug camera in directly have it auto copy files off
- Wake on Lan other computers
- Cron+Rsync to off site hosting for critical folders.
Not too fussed about: if included - great - no problem if not:
- Print server - 99% use a networked colour laser, but have a USB canon printer for printing directly onto CD's.
- USB webcam server
- LCD info display
- Hot-swap drives
- Quietness
If it's not on the list; then I don't want it!
I've been looking at (in no particular order):
- Netgear ReadyNAS Duo
- QNAP TS-210
- QNAP TS-410
- Drobo FS
- Synology DS209
- Synology DS410J
- Synology DS410
I seem to be flitting back and to between 2 and 4 drive setups.
Budget?
No exact figure. "As cheap as possible to cover as many required features as possible" If I can justify the expense of a more expensive unit from the benefit it offers then I will get that one...
You may ask: "Why the need for NAS with only 1 laptop using it - go for DAS" I want the NAS to do download files and access files remotely when out; so my laptop doesn't have to be on 24/7.
Open to ideas if anyone can point me in the right direction with respect to models, or suggest new ones?
I'm interested to hear real world experience with any of the named models...
Many thanks in advance,
Dan
