Forum Home
Press F1
Thread ID: 103494	2009-09-25 08:47:00	NAS Drive suitable for Home Office	Sergio (928)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
813836	2009-09-25 08:47:00	I have a small home office (4 PC's) and was looking for a suitable NAS drive? Currently there are 3 PC's logged into the 4th PC which contains all about 750 GB of files and runs 24/7. Its been suggested that the 4th PC should be swapped out and a NAS drive put in its place (no monitor, no keyboard, smaller foot print, lower running costs etc). Ideally NAS should be able to run Outlook, hold media (MP3 & Photos * Video as well as normal Office 2007 files. Raid not necessary as NAS would be backed up regularly to off line server. There is Cat 5 around the house back to a hub (7 ports). There are wireless access points ar strategic locations around the house to enable flexibility. Presumably the NAS would also be an ADSL router. Its important to have a good quality NAS capable of at least 1TB and with future proof flexibility? Any suggestions and experiences, do's and donts, general advice would be most helpful as this will be my first experience with NAS.	Sergio (928)
813837	2009-09-25 09:07:00	A decent NAS server would cost at least $600. Any ones that are cheaper are too slow due to the limitations of a CPU. Would running FreeNAS off an old PC be an option? You wouldn't need to worry too much about size either, as you can always upgrade later. www.pcauthority.com.au www.pcauthority.com.au Have a look at those two. What is your approx. price range? Blam	Blam (54)
813838	2009-09-25 09:09:00	I don't know the answer but I sure want one of those for Xmas.	Twelvevolts (5457)
813839	2009-09-25 09:12:00	What about a Windows Home Server option? You can get pre-built ones like Acer's Aspire EasyStore or build your own. Adding storage is easy and can have redundancy built in if you have more than one hard drive. WHS can have up to 10 users and can give you remote access to your data as well. The WHS box will also automatically backup all other PCs on the network.	CYaBro (73)
813840	2009-09-25 22:35:00	Thanks for all the help. Speed is important (Large Photo files and streaming video), - it seems that the NAS option is going to be quite expensive to get speed. Looking at the Windows Home Server suggestion, - one which I have no experience so a couple of questions: 1) Does it have to have a special WHS box? If not then what specs are recommended? 2) Could I use one of the PC's already on the LAN, remove Vista and install WHS in its place? 3) Will WHS also run Office 2007 if its installed on the same drive? (Presumably the box would then need a keyboard & monitor). 4) If I go the Home Server way is WHS the best choice or does it have limitations by comparison to other Home Servers?	Sergio (928)
813841	2009-09-25 23:25:00	x2 for WHS - I have two of them and they work perfectly. To answer your questions. 1.Nope any box will do, if in someplace like a lounge then a nice looking one to suit may be good. You dont need high power, I have one running on a celeron 2.0 + 1GB Ram - works ok, but my main one is P4 3.0 + 1 GB RAM - drives to suit. 2. Yes no problems 3.never tried it, but it should, its basically Server 2003 altered with home features. DOESN"T need a KB/Mouse or Monitor, apart from setting up, or maybe a bit of maintenance some time. Mines been running for over a year with no KB etc You dont need a graphic card as it can run headless, so onboard graphics is fine, in fact I dont even have the sound drivers in mine - not needed, as the device playing music / video supplies it, the server is only storage. 4.Only limitations I know of is $$$ put in as much storage as you want. It runs 24/7 so if it is in a lounge a quiet cooling system will be good, if its out the way in a room- who cares. Some people have the odd problem, but generally they work fine. This article (arstechnica.com) gives quite a good review of the do's and don'ts Hey CYaBro -- that post is sounding like my spiel on WHS :p	wainuitech (129)
813842	2009-09-26 07:42:00	Hey CYaBro -- that post is sounding like my spiel on WHS :p Haha. Cheers for that link for WHS review. I have sold one of the Acer WHS boxes and they look pretty good. They don't even have a monitor output on them, everything is done remotely. They also make it very easy to add extra storage, just open the door and slide in a SATA HDD. THey also run very quite as they are only an Intel Atom 230 CPU.	CYaBro (73)
1