NAS Advice

[hussain]

Hi,

I am complete novice so would need extended help from my good friends here. I want the following features in NAS and would welcome a cheap but novice friendly solution. My requirements are:


1. Atleast 4 Bay support.

2. I should be able to setup 2 HD's in Raid 1, then add another HD to go to Raid 5 (without loosing any data).

3. NAS should have plex support with transcoding.I should be able to access all my media while I am travelling.

4. Torrent Client should run on NAS and I should have remote access to torrent client on my laptop.

5. Provide VPN support as youtube is banned in my country of origin and would like to provide access to my parents to youtube.

6. Should hook up to my hp printer and act as printserve.


Thanks

 

[thiggins]

Most NASes do not transcode video. They don't have the processing power. I think, however, that QNAP has added it in the latest OS.

NASes don't act as VPN servers. That would be a router function.

QNAP or Synology will be your best bets. Ask for help in their forums.

 

[hussain]

I am completely ignorant on all the six requirements that i have listed, I mean the way of doing it. So somebody needs to tell me what equipment i need and how to fulfill the listed requirements

How about HP Proliant n54l and WHS2011?Would this be able to do this for me?

 

[thiggins]

I am completely ignorant on all the six requirements that i have listed, I mean the way of doing it. So somebody needs to tell me what equipment i need and how to fulfill the listed requirements

How about HP Proliant n54l and WHS2011?Would this be able to do this for me?

Not out of the box. You would have to hunt down and install additional apps. Not all Windows apps run on WHS.

 

[stevech]

Hi,

I am complete novice so would need extended help from my good friends here. I want the following features in NAS and would welcome a cheap but novice friendly solution. My requirements are:


1. Atleast 4 Bay support.

2. I should be able to setup 2 HD's in Raid 1, then add another HD to go to Raid 5 (without loosing any data).

3. NAS should have plex support with transcoding.I should be able to access all my media while I am travelling.

4. Torrent Client should run on NAS and I should have remote access to torrent client on my laptop.

5. Provide VPN support as youtube is banned in my country of origin and would like to provide access to my parents to youtube.

6. Should hook up to my hp printer and act as printserve.


Thanks

I suggest you get/use a fast windows 7 computer to do transcoding. Do it in batches. Then put the output file on a NAS to share.

Other than transcoding, the good NASes can do your list:Synology or QNAP are my recommendations. If you start with a 2 drive NAS (beware: RAID IS NOT A BACKUP), you'll not be able to go to 5 drives. If you start with a 4 or 5 bay NAS, and leave some slots blank, you'll pay a LOT more.

 

[hussain]

How about using HP Proliant n54l to do everything that i posted above. Is it possible, can it be done. What are the disadvantages of not using a dedicated NAS.

 

[stevech]

Look at the feature sets, and try on-line demo, for Synology and QNAP. Then compare to a mere file server.

 

[hussain]

Raid 5 and ure

Guys,

I have been doing a lot of reading and have decided to go with HP Proliant Microserver N54L and Windows Home Server 2011. I have a couple of questions and would appreciate a response on these:

1. If one out of four drive fails in RAid 5, and then during rebuild if I encounter a URE (Unrecoverable Read Error), does that mean all of my data is gone or can i still recover my data?

2. Which Cheap 2 tb drives are recommended for Raid 5, are WD Green any good?

 

[thiggins]

1. If one out of four drive fails in RAid 5, and then during rebuild if I encounter a URE (Unrecoverable Read Error), does that mean all of my data is gone or can i still recover my data?

RAID 5 can withstand one bad drive only. If a DIFFERENT, i.e. second, drive fails during rebuild (or any other time) the volume will be gone.

2. Which Cheap 2 tb drives are recommended for Raid 5, are WD Green any good?

WD Reds

 

[stevech]

Guys,

I have been doing a lot of reading and have decided to go with HP Proliant Microserver N54L and Windows Home Server 2011. I have a couple of questions and would appreciate a response on these:

Opinion: that's a poor choice - WHS is at end of life and lacks features comparable to the best NASes you find recommended here.