Shopping for NAS
 

I'm wanting to get some skookum network storage, and really thinking of this:

http://a-power.com/product-21943

It's the best price I've found for it - even Newegg costs more... BEFORE shipping.

I've been using higher-grade QNAP arrays in work installations, so I'm pretty familiar with them and liking them for a home setup as well... Question is, does anyone have anything similar to suggest?

I'm particularly liking the media server, iSCSI, web//MySQL support, and RAID5/6, among other. Synology and Drobo both cost a LOT more for something that has these features...

I have the Synology DS411+II. Very stable and a lot of possibilities with the dual core CPU and memory. Very fast as well.

And comes with whole bunch of apps to use on mobile devices.

Got it for 500 in Seattle CL. It's usually around 650 or less in US. IMO the hardware difference is worth the price difference.

The only advantage that I can see on the QNAP is dual GigE. But unless you have the network setup to take advantage of dual GigE, I don't see it being very critical.

Yeah, glanced at that one... it's $643 at A-Power, vs. $573 for the QNAP. Looks pretty nice, though, I'll have to keep that one in mind. I like that it also has a mailserver - that's about the only thing my current PC server does that the QNAP won't.


Wish I could afford the extra for a 5 or even 8-bay unit!

^

Mind if I ask what are you storing and how do you plan setting them up? And what do you plan to do with the nas?

I usually only see people who needs tons of raw storage wishing for 5-8bay units (HD video footage)

If you are looking for 5-8bay solution, it probably makes more sense building one on your own in the long run.

Slap some 2 or 3TB HDDs onto a good PCI-E raid controller in i3/H55 combo. Not only you have the most flexible setup in term of functionality and the most expandable solution too.

I built one not long ago for my friends company and it rocks as NAS, intraweb server, mail server... you name it.

For that price I'd rather invest in an atom or and fusion board and slap it on one of those 4-6 drive mini itx cases. Then just install freenas or something similar.

Atom is a good option if you don't need much processing power.

But if you are running the NAS to serve on multiple PCs while still running services on the NAS, I'd recommend to spend a little more and go for i3. The $ difference isn't much but the i3 is so much more capable than even dual core atoms.

Yeah that's why I stuck in AMD Fusion as well. But it all depends on what's needed from the NAS

Basically just replacing the existing server I have taking up 4U in my rack, sucking a ton of power and generating a lot of noise. I have iTunes running on it to share music throughout the house, a bunch of downloaded, ripped, and recorded-from-TV video, and a webserver and mailserver that I use for various light-duty personal stuff. The automated-backup function on the QNAP looks nice, too (didn't notice if the Synology had it). Really, nothing too heavy-duty.

Maybe I just want to plan for the future :) Thing is, I want to run RAID6, and I have a bunch of 1TB drives (came out of other arrays that got upgraded), so the more drives, the better - RAID6 on 4x1TB is only 2TB total.

Hmmm, the problem becomes finding a case that will fit that many drives, plus needing to add drive sleds of some sort if you want them hot-swappable (or going to some really spendy case). We have 8-bay rack-mount QNAPs in a few sites and they're only 2U tall and work very well. All the drives are swappable from the front - no need to open the box up like you'd have to do with most DIY PC setups. Dual redundant power supplies, too.

Yeah, ya know, my current setup is a DIY server. Been there, done that. Don't feel like having something I have to fuck with anymore. Same reason I'm ready to ditch my old WinMo6 phone and get an iPhone - I don't care if it's not hackable, I just want something that will work and not give me any hassle.

So no, I'm not looking to roll my own anymore. Been there, done that, got a closet full of T-shirts. I'm well aware of the joys and benefits of building something from scratch. I'm also well aware of the joys and benefits of a plug-it-in-and-go setup, and right now, it's time for the latter.

The four-bay will do... but one can always wish for 8! :fullofwin:

I'm not familiar with the QNAP unit, but for the Synology, you can plug an esata and expand another 5bay units.

If that's the sort of painless expansion you want, you probably want to look it up if QNAP could do that.

I'm using the QNAP TS410 right now. RAID5 with 4x2TB drives.

The one thing I've noticed (and probably regret now) is that the CPU on it isn't the greatest, and apparently based on responses on QNAP's forum this has a fairly large effect on transfer speeds. I manage about 25-30MB/s when transferring to my NAS (they're located on the same gigabit switch). However, I can't complain since I got it for the bargain basement price off $250 off someone on Craigslist.

The one you linked appears to be faster than the one on the TS410 so you might not see the same issues.

I do however like their 3rd party "plugin" support for the NAS. They have things like torrent clients, newsgroup clients, Asterix VoIP server, surveillance recording and apps for your iPhone that allow playback of your content from your phone.

if you feel like driving out to the ncix warehouse on viking way i can have our sales rep make one available for you to pick up & pay, CC only.

Reg. Price: $597.99 CAD
PP Price: $522.84 ** CAD
(You SAVE an additional 12.57%!)

edit: actually ncix has a flat rate $5 shipping promo on atm, if you want to work something out i can order it online and have it direct shipped. I think the shipping promo ends today though.