Choosing a NAS, what do i need?

john539

More devices, more storage, bigger & bigger drives, more things to lose, more things to backup.

forgotmyname

NAS on a laptop, interesting except for so many flaws, how many SATA ports does it have?

A laptop running 24/7, will it have a long life? Whilst tinkering and testing my watt meter i grabbed my daughters laptop and shocked to see it running in excess of 60 watts.

I think i will be opting for the DLink DNS-340L. Seems a better spec than the 320. 4 bays and USB 3 and possibly 2 Network ports? Bit os misinformation on that with some sites putting 2 and others saying 1 port?

£110 bare A 3 TB NAS (seagate)? drive is £80 or would the WD red be better? extra £5? As long as it can stream a HD movie and let me copy a large file to it at the same time then that probably all i need.

So cheapest option that will just work from the box (almost and should be reliable)?

Car insurance is due and a few bills over the next few months so it needs to be under £200 initially.
So it will be just the 1 x 3TB drive to start with.

pappa_golf

go for the WD red , they are designed for NAS and run cooler , sorry I am missing something , but in an average house setup and probably just hard wired to your router , why do you need 2 x Ethernet ports?


however dlink show it as having 2 http://www.dlink.com/uk/en/home-solutions/share/network-attached-storage/dns-340l-sharecenter-4-bay-cloud-network-storage-enclosure#

forgotmyname

The seagate drives are also listed as proper NAS 24/7 drives.

Not sure on the 2 ethernet ports capabilities, possibly enhance the data
transfer rates by using the 2 lines or maybe to add a 2nd unit?

Reviews seem very biased against it, especially in the US. They price it at $300 and say its not as good as another NAS thats $500? Well DUH!!!

Its slower to write in RAID 5 than a $530 unit, but its reads faster and still gets slagged off?

It seems to have similar features to many of the more expensive units, I think the 320 doesnt have USB 3 but the 340 does which is another thing they is a bad point.
Anotehr reviews says it cannot do auto backups, but the sped says it can and it only takes one button press which i would prefer anyway as it wont be backing up when i decide to delete or move files around.

I hate auto updates on anything, been bitten too many times of an update
starting just as i need to switch off.

Anyone got any good reasons for not choosing the DNS340L?

Anything else close to the price?


very late EDIT: Personal cloud storage type device? much cheaper but less options?

Semple

If you're storing pictures, and don't mind them being compressed, Google photos offer unlimited cloud storage.

Also don't think one has been mentioned yet, but the HP Microserver is a solid bit of kit, very efficient to run, and i think with current cashback comes in around £100.

forgotmyname

Not seen the microserver in my searches, Prices getting close to £400 bare?
150watts? Thats more than my PC.

Fightsback

forgotmyname wrote: »

Not seen the microserver in my searches, Prices getting close to £400 bare?
150watts? Thats more than my PC.

£166.67 from DABS

http://www.dabs.com/products/hp-proliant-gen8-entry-intel-g1610t-celeron-4gb-ram-microserver-819185-421-BM14.html?q=HP%20ProLiant%20Gen8%20Entry%20Intel%20G1610T&src=16

These were on a cashback offer (£144.99) from Ebuyer a while ago but that deal seems to have ended:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5198446

It won't be 150w either, that will just be the power brick rating.

see review here:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1377-page1.html

forgotmyname

Semple wrote: »

If you're storing pictures, and don't mind them being compressed, Google photos offer unlimited cloud storage.

Also don't think one has been mentioned yet, but the HP Microserver is a solid bit of kit, very efficient to run, and i think with current cashback comes in around £100.

Huge quantity of pictures, I have created slideshows of some of the family and its growing quite rapidly. In laws passed away and some of the photo's have not seen the light of day for many years. Now archived for all to see on my server. Although they can be scanned and uploaded again it would entail a lot of work to replace them.

I also have some early video of family and can see newer stuff starting to get added over time so my data storage could be huge in a few years.

Funds are lacking a bit at present, off work and not looking good for returning. yet i do not seem to be able to apply for anything. another story and people much worse off than me... quickly moving on..

forgotmyname

Just as things were almost decided i spot a Buffalo 441D unit with 4 1TB drives for £238. A bit small on the drive size but maybe a start and not bother with RAID 1?

Would you use RAID or not? I have a 3TB Samsung drive to back my important stuff. keep thinking its a Toshiba but thats my parents media player.

Thats about my budget though. Still thinking of the D-Link 340L for £110 and sticking a 3TB drive in for now and add more later, or scour the old towers for some drives to use as a stop gap...

Flaws in my plans? (probably lots but do fire away)

Thanks...

S0litaire

Only downside at the moment with the D-Link is if you want to expand the functions of the NAS.

It's main Store of additional 3rd party plugins for their NAS range is run by one man in their Russian office. (I think)

So updates can be slow for some of the devices.