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Thread ID: 135186	2013-10-05 10:39:00	Pros and cons of NAS - will it do what I need?	Chikara (5139)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1355133	2013-10-05 10:39:00	Hi all, I'm running out of storage space on my PC. I'm interested in setting up a storage system than can last me until I replace this PC, and still work with my next PC whenever that may be - and hopefully well into the future too. I'm thinking of some type of NAS setup, but to be honest I don't fully understand how they work, so I'm hoping to get some guidance from the forum here. Firstly, my current PC has two physical HD's: C is where OS and all programs are installed D is a separate physical drive, a data drive where I store all my docs, music, videos, data etc Also, E is an external drive connected via USB, where D is backed up to daily automatically. So far this system has worked reasonably well for years, (although I feel there is some data transfer bottleneck to D drive that I never was able to troubleshoot but that's another story) Problem is that D drive is nearing full capacity. I do have a lot of data - I have a lot of home videos that take up a lot of space, and I don't want to reply on DVD's for archival purposes due to the many stories I've heard about the DVD's deteriorating and losing data). I also have many ripped DVD's that I would like to keep the originals in full quality and them stream to the TV or PC when I want to view them. These are all rips of DVD's I own. Also one of my hobbies is collecting live audience recorded concerts so I have many GB of those. Ideally I would like to have all this data stored in one place, where it can do the following: - Easily and cheapish expandable storage in the future when I need more space (preferably without much setup or config) - Easily moved to a new PC in the future - Can be accessed from my laptop as well as PC - Data transfer rate between storage and PC needs to be quite fast - Needs to be capable of streaming video without stuttering to my TV or PC - Ideally, files can also be accessed remotely Will NAS achieve this for me or should I look at some other setup? WHat are some of the things I should be looking for? Alternatively, if anyone knows of any websites that clearly explain how NAS works, for someone with little knowledge of it, please post the links! Thanks in advance...	Chikara (5139)
1355134	2013-10-05 17:31:00	Don't know much about NAS either but I just use Windows Homegroup and sharing for the other pc's in the house.For streaming video etc I use www.conceiva.com the paid version is fantastic,it streams just about anything to my TV,amp and Blueray player. I'm also running low on space too.	sk69ersnz (13476)
1355135	2013-10-05 20:28:00	There are quite a few options available. Any real NAS or server will do all that. It wont matter what PC/ laptop's etc are connected in the future, because they will be accessing a static location, as long as they are on your LAN. Depending on whats used, you may have to setup accounts to allow access, esp if you want remote access form another location. Even something like Windows 7 or 8 can do all that as well, as they can all stream to other locations. What you also have to consider is backups of your data. Having everything on this one device and not backed up anywhere else is dangerous -- in simple terms the HDD's in the server/NAS can fail at any time, just like a HDD in your PC. If those or any one of those drives fail bye bye data. BUT a couple questions first: Whats the budget ? How many drive bays do you want for expansion ? Do you want this visible in a lounge for example or is it going to be tucked away out of site ?	wainuitech (129)
1355136	2013-10-05 22:22:00	Alternatively, if anyone knows of any websites that clearly explain how NAS works, for someone with little knowledge of it, please post the links! The following carton explains how a NAS works, What is a NAS (www.youtube.com) its by Netgear, but most NAS's work the same. The biggest negative about a NAS is the amount of drives you can install, (hence the questions above). Personally one of my storage runs Windows Home Server - that Case can have up to 8 drives installed (again last question asked).	wainuitech (129)
1355137	2013-10-05 23:19:00	I guess you can get a 2 drive NAS and use RAID 1.	ZacDaMan72 (17163)
1355138	2013-10-06 05:33:00	I personally have a Synology DS212j at home with 2x2TB HDD in RAID1 (Mirrored drives). I use it as a DLNA server for my TV, keep all my photos etc and do time machine backups from my mac to it. That one is a couple of years old and a bit underpowered when it comes to indexing media etc. From memory the replacement is the DS213. I'm a fan of the Synology setup, it's easy to use, reliable and works well, can't ask for more than that. Total cost was around the $6-700 mark around a year ago. You could probably build something cheaper or use a second hand PC, which I've done before, but in the end prefer the purpose build out of the box approach. It's quite, small and pretty power efficient.	Alex B (15479)
1355139	2013-10-06 05:58:00	Thanks for the reply, and the link - that was quite helpful. In terms of your questions: - Backups - I think I would look at a RAID (RAID1?) config via the NAS, so I do have automatic, instant backups in that case. I'm only in trouble there if 2 HD's fail at the same time which is very unlikely. Are there any performance implications if I do that via the NAS? I'm happy to take the chance of no offsite backups, but my absolutely critical docs I do have backed up separately in the cloud via SkyDrive and DropBox. Rather than RAID1, could I instead use NAS to run a separate backup say once a day at a predetermined time, from HD1 to HD2 on the NAS? - Budget - I have no fixed budget but I know to do this properly I will have to spend in the high hundreds, maybe even more. That's OK, as protecting my data is important to me, and I also want to get something that will last me many years into the future too. But honestly I really have no idea the costs to setup a NAS - Drive Bays - In terms of future proofing, I think the more the better..I think at least 4 (2 for main storage plus 2 for backups if I go with RAID1). - Visibility/location - it doesn't really matter so much, I'm open to either tucking it away in a cupboard as long as I can can get access to the power/connections I need, or if it needs to be sitting in the open, or even close to the PC and/or router, that's fine too. Aesthetics/location aren't really the main concern, I'll put it wherever it needs to go based on the cabling it needs. I have some additional questions too please: - If I have multiple drives in the NAS, how do I 'see' them on my PC? Do they each appear as separate drives, or do they just appear as one drive only and the NAS itself manages the behind the scenes disc management? For example if I had 2 main HDs in there, would I see two NAS drives or just one? - Can I use any HD's in the NAS? Even older ones? Is any config required or is it usually just simply just hotswapping to add new ones later on? - You mentioned about Windows Home Server - how does that option work with a NAS? If I run NAS, don't I just have software on my PC that can manage it all? Where would Windows Home Server be used in this?? - My current setup as I mentioned has C drive as my main PC drive, and then D is a physical drive used for data. If I got NAS, would you recommend I remove the D drive from my PC and put all data only on the NAS? -Is there any performance benefits in doing so? Or is is better still to keep the D drive on the PC also, as well as having the NAS Sorry for so many questions - I'm on a learning curve here!	Chikara (5139)
1355140	2013-10-06 07:00:00	- Backups - I think I would look at a RAID (RAID1?) config via the NAS, so I do have automatic, instant backups in that case. I'm only in trouble there if 2 HD's fail at the same time which is very unlikely. Are there any performance implications if I do that via the NAS? Rather than RAID1, could I instead use NAS to run a separate backup say once a day at a predetermined time, from HD1 to HD2 on the NAS? RAID is not a backup. Your latter suggestion would more fit a a backup scenario, but you've still got all your data in one device, so you need to take any such risks into account. - If I have multiple drives in the NAS, how do I 'see' them on my PC? Do they each appear as separate drives, or do they just appear as one drive only and the NAS itself manages the behind the scenes disc management? For example if I had 2 main HDs in there, would I see two NAS drives or just one? Typically locations on the NAS will be network shares, and you can map a drive to them as you wish. Same as shared folders between two windows PCs. - Can I use any HD's in the NAS? Even older ones? Is any config required or is it usually just simply just hotswapping to add new ones later on? As long as they're the right interface (i.e. SATA), you'll be OK, but if you're using standard RAID levels, some NAS devices may require matching drives in terms of capacity and speed. Implementations like ZFS or SHR will work with whatever drives you throw at it. - My current setup as I mentioned has C drive as my main PC drive, and then D is a physical drive used for data. If I got NAS, would you recommend I remove the D drive from my PC and put all data only on the NAS? -Is there any performance benefits in doing so? Or is is better still to keep the D drive on the PC also, as well as having the NAS No consumer-grade NAS is going to outperform a directly connected drive of the same type. Even if you have a dual-gigabit aggregated link, you only have 2Gbps maximum throughput, whereas SATAIII is up to 6Gbps. Of course, mechanical drives won't max either out, so it becomes moot. Cheaper NAS devices won't have the CPU or RAM to support maximum drive speeds in some configs though. Better NAS devices will. In terms of what to look for if performance and reliability are your key decision factors, Synology or QNAP are the brands to go with. If Price and reliability are, Seagate or Western Digital. A Synology DS412+ would be a fantastic choice, but they're around $1000 without disks. The DS413j is also a good choice, but not as fast as the 412+, but is around $650 + disks. Both are 4-bay SATA devices.	inphinity (7274)
1355141	2013-10-06 07:19:00	Thanks. So if I had a scheduled backup say once a day, from HD1 to HD2 on the NAS, can the NAS handle this automatically? (which I presume would still occur even if PC is off but NAS is on...) Or does this need to be managed by software on the actual PC? I presume in this case I would not use any RAID set up, but just have each HD on the NAS designated by different purposes by myself? EG - HD1 and HD2 for data, both of which are backup up daily to a larger capacity but slower HD3 for example? Thanks for the recommendations on Synology too. Once I clearly understand what I need and how things work, then I'll start to look at specific brands. Sounds like realistically I'll need to spend in the high hundreds or even low thousand to do it, and do it right, so I'm future proofed (well as future-proofed as technology can ever be!)	Chikara (5139)
1355142	2013-10-06 08:10:00	I personally have Amahi home sever (Linux based, no monitor, keyboard or mouse once set up) With a 1TB HDD as my backup and media storage, then copy to a USB HDD once a week and take to work and keep in my desk	gary67 (56)
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