I'm looking at getting a NAS for home use. I've read the sticky, looked at charts, and read reviews. Price is the most important factor since drives are cheap. With low pricing, I don't expect top-chart speeds and I don't need those speeds.
I'm looking at storage mainly, remote viewing photos/streaming as a close second, and maybe background downloading as a distant third use.
This is where I need the help.
1) Is there any processor I should avoid? Marvell, Atom, SoC, etc. I don't know what I'm talking about here. Reviews talked about one or another being inadequate, so what do I want or don't want?
2) What is the breakover point in desirability (Ex., Marvell x37 with 1gb ram is ok, but 512m ram too slow)?
3) Hardware, firmware, or feature-wise.....Is there something I should look for or avoid in a unit?
Per the sticky, I think I've figured out what I want it to do. Unit details I like are:
1) 4 bay, but I will only use 2 to start. Mostly for organization ease (video/photo,personal records, projects and random crap. USB drive for backup.
2) multiple volume, with the ability to add drives as a separate volume without re-doing the whole unit(I don't know the term to look for in reviews)
3) streaming apps,extensions,or what have you for movies and music. I am not familiar with them, so I have no preference...twonkey, donkey, monkey...as long as it works.
4) ok performance. Heaviest load I'm looking at is 2 users (1 video stream, 1 photo browsing). Other file access is negligible. Some remote use but it will be minimal as most access will be within the LAN.
5) power consumption. Not really an issue, but I don't want to run a stripped PC.
I don't think I need RAID, but may find it useful later. I'm trying to do something a little cleaner than plugging 3 or 4 Seagate Centrals or WD MyBook Lives into the back of the router.
Thanks for any help you can provide.
I'm looking at storage mainly, remote viewing photos/streaming as a close second, and maybe background downloading as a distant third use.
This is where I need the help.
1) Is there any processor I should avoid? Marvell, Atom, SoC, etc. I don't know what I'm talking about here. Reviews talked about one or another being inadequate, so what do I want or don't want?
2) What is the breakover point in desirability (Ex., Marvell x37 with 1gb ram is ok, but 512m ram too slow)?
3) Hardware, firmware, or feature-wise.....Is there something I should look for or avoid in a unit?
Per the sticky, I think I've figured out what I want it to do. Unit details I like are:
1) 4 bay, but I will only use 2 to start. Mostly for organization ease (video/photo,personal records, projects and random crap. USB drive for backup.
2) multiple volume, with the ability to add drives as a separate volume without re-doing the whole unit(I don't know the term to look for in reviews)
3) streaming apps,extensions,or what have you for movies and music. I am not familiar with them, so I have no preference...twonkey, donkey, monkey...as long as it works.
4) ok performance. Heaviest load I'm looking at is 2 users (1 video stream, 1 photo browsing). Other file access is negligible. Some remote use but it will be minimal as most access will be within the LAN.
5) power consumption. Not really an issue, but I don't want to run a stripped PC.
I don't think I need RAID, but may find it useful later. I'm trying to do something a little cleaner than plugging 3 or 4 Seagate Centrals or WD MyBook Lives into the back of the router.
Thanks for any help you can provide.