Need suggestions for building a NAS system
 

So I've recently figured that with all of my media on my 2TB drive (Windows 7 on 60GB OCZ Vertex) that I'm walking on a very fine line with no redundancy back ups. I shoot quite a bit of video for work and such and all though thats backed up, I still have a bunch of previous stuff I never really bothered to back up.

I looked up a bunch of NAS set ups (Drobo, Synology, Patriot) and a lot of the time it's hard to compare all of the modes. Some of the models are dated and some don't have X or Y and I'm finding it pretty overwhelming.

What I need:

Preferably a 4 bay but I'm thinking a 2 bay (2x2 TB) will suffice.

I want to be able to access the files over cloud and at home and not just have them files mirrored and backed up at home.

BT client enabled

Are 2TB Greens generally shunned upon or is it in my interest to invest in enterprise drives and call it a day? Last I heard they parking feature in the greens kills the drives.

I was looking up this on RFD: [Comp] NCIX : Patriot Javelin S4 4-bay NAS 194.99 + 4.98 shipping APM, after 75$ MIR - RedFlagDeals.com Forums

PM Newegg to NCIX to get it down to 269, then use NCIX's MIR to get it down to 195. I heard the interface is pretty crummy but it doesn't seem bad for a 4 bay NAS + all the fixings. Worthwhile to put more money into a Drobo or QNAP?

Any other suggestions would be very helpful :)

I have been using Synology for over a year. It pretty much has all the features you mentioned, except mine is 1 bay w/ 2T WD green. Make sure you buy the model with fast CPU, ram and transfer speed, streaming music or video will be much smoother. It will be even better if the NAS comes with USB3.0 or Esata, but for my setup 1000Mbps router + Cat6 is good enough for both LAN and 4G network

I am sure all NAS brands have decent support, Synology has good OS (DSM 4.0) they have oem apps for files, audio, cam, photo, remote NAS setting, web access, BT, 3rd party application etc.

This is what I will look for...
NAS software support > Hardware performance > number of bays* > others.

* mine can attach up to 4 extra HDs (1 esata, 3 USB2.0) on top of the internal one.

You could build one yourself.

It gives you much more flexibility and often better performance.

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/nas/n...erve-you-right

Do not get the Patriot. Support for that is awful.

My NAS setup consists of:

Netgear ReadyNAS Duo V2 (2Bay with all the features you mentioned including BT) (Can be picked up for around $120 at NCIX and beats anything else in this price range. Next step up would be synology or qnap for dual bay)
2x WD Green 3TB in Mirror mode.

It also has 2 USB3.0 and 1 USB2.0 ports.

On the WD Greens I used wdidle3 and changed the timeout to 5min. to prevent unnecessary head parking associated with the WD Green series. This is my 3rd set of Greens I've done this to and have no problems at all.

If you need 4 bays stick with the big boys: Synology, QNAP, Netgear

My data is stored on my 500gb which is then mirrored to my NAS mirror weekly. Then monthly I backup to a portable 2.5" drive. Another option would be to store everything on the NAS and then use offline mode via a windows share so there's a copy on both devices.

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I was actually thinking of making my own but for less than $200 I may as well just buy it myself.

Yay or nay to the NETGEAR ReadyNAS NV+ 4 Bay?

NETGEAR ReadyNAS NV+ 4-Bay (Diskless)

NCIX doesnt have the Duo V2 on sale and theyre all 200+ atm.

Budget before drives at the moment is between 150-200.

Are you using the EARS or EADS drives?

I cant speak for that generation of the ReadyNAS, but I myself have the NV+ V2.

I think the NV+ has more support for apps. From what I understand about the V2 is there was a shift in hardware architecture, so many of the apps available from the V1 is not usable with V2. (I could be wrong about this) Also, with the V1, I believe you can add more RAM (not officially supported) whereas with the V2 you cant because the module is glued to the board.

I have a 2TB EARS in mine and haven't experienced any issues with it, but I simply use it just to store my files. I do on occasion make use of the DLNA features, but no BT or anything.

The downsides of making your own are: size and power usage. The Duo is so small and energy effecient.
Plus side though is you can run anything you want on it.

Don't get the previous generation one. Get the current V2 one. They now use ARM architecture and have faster processors as well it's still receving firmware updates and has a 3 year warranty vs the used one on craiglist which may even need a fan replacement. Apps are getting ported over slowly but surely. All I cared about was support for SABnzbd which has been ported. As well it has USB3.0 if you need to transfer. For roughly $100 more it's probably a better investment.

I'm using the latest drives: 2x WD30EZRX with my Duo V2

Currently on sale at $279.
Netgear ReadyNAS NV+ V2 NAS SATA RAID 0/1/5 4BAY Diskless HOME/SOHO - Netgear - RND4000-200NAS

You could also price beat at ME to make it $274 and save a few more bucks.

Netgear ReadyNAS RND4000-200NAS NV+ V2 NAS SATA RAID 0/1/5 4BAY Diskless HOME/SOHO - Netgear - RND4000-200NAS

Currently down to $269. Ill probably pull the trigger tomorrow and go to ME to PM it.

Whats the concensus on the new 3TB drives? What about the new RED drives? The cost of 4 new drives adds up quick. Do you usually buy all 4 at the same time or can you do guys run 2 x of X drive and 2 x of Y drives?

Cheers

With the ReadyNas NV+ V2, if you use x-raid, its pretty easy to add more drives at a later time as well as mix and match. Ideally, its best to match the sizes, but u can also mis-match. I think the largest disk will run at the capacity of your smallest drive.

My setup is 2 x 500GiG, 1 x 2TB... the 2TB run's as if it is a 500 Gig hd. Waste, yes but at the time I didnt feel like buying any new drives.

The drives are expandable. So add as you go. Recommended to have them all the same size though. Red drives if you're serious about data storage. They're designed to be run in raid and have special firmware for this. I personally didn't bother and used greens with the modified idle timeout. If your photos are your business you might want to consider red drives.