Stream Music/Videos around the Home - Do I need a NAS?

wackojackouk

Afternoon everyone.

Have been thinking about wanting to share my music on a network so I can access it via my TV, maybe iphone, other devices etc.

Currently have the following items:

• Desktop PC (with Wireless Adaptor)
• o2 Wireless Router
• 500gb External HDD (primarily for back up of Desktop - both contain same music/photos/docs etc)
• Laptop
• Panasonic Plasma
• Sky+ HD
• XBox 360

The o2 router is in our bedroom but away from the Desktop PC due to the Telephone socket so it operates wirelessly anyway

I would like to share Music / Photos etc from the External HDD (or Desktop) to the TV. I guess I can set this up via the XBox 360 already but only if the Desktop is on (which it usually isn't) so my thoughts were that I could either buy a NAS Unit (put my hdd from the external one in it) or buy a new all in 1 NAS (WD Live is an example I think) but I'm guessing this isn't going to come cheap.

The second option I came up with was a NAS Adapter - which seem to be about £25 on ebay. They looked like it might do the same thing with my existing External HDD.

Am I right in thinking that if I connect a NAS Adapter to the External HDD and plug this into the router I will be able to share my files around the house and to the TV via the Xbox 360? (and also access from outside if I ever need to?)

Any suggestions would be most helpful. I am reasonably decent with PC's but never got into the networking side of things.

Thanks

WJUK

ps - I don't actually use my XBox 360 much so need to delve into the Media Centre side of things on that as well - again any tips most welcome.

spongmonkey

a NAS is a good idea, you need to get one that is DNLA compatible to give you the best chance at getting content to work on a large range of devices.

This is a good option

http://www.ebuyer.com/189995-buffalo-linkstation-duo-2tb-2x-1tb-nas-drive-ls-wx2-0tl-r1-eu

There are some limitations however. I have 63GB of music and my PS3 cannot comprehend or cope with it. If I test with a smaller sample (5GB) it's fine.

wackojackouk

As I'm trying to keep costs down (MSE style).

Could I use something like this and utilise my existing External HDD?

Yorksboy

Hi

The adapter is worth a try!
One thing to consider when storing music/movies/photo etc is that hard disks do fail. so you should have copies in many locations or set up some sort of RAID storage. before getting too technical with levels of RAID, IMO the easiest for a home user is to have a mirrored set - this means if one disk fails you can just read the other without having to do rebuilds etc.
Mind you, I have the belt and braces approach and have music and images on a laptop and a mini NAS and on a small home Server. Both NAS and Server have disks RAIDED up.

buglawton

I was thinking of moving the massive family photo (with a few videos) library to a NAS drive. It is currently catalogued by Adobe Photoalbum, maybe to be ported to Photoshop Elements.

Reluctant to do it without have a feel for the performance - will it allow loading up of the 'thumbnail' catalogue in the album viewer anywhere near as fast as a real hard disk? I assume the very first step is to 'map' this NAS drive so it appears as the same drive letter at all times. Will watch this thread a bit!