disaster strikes...
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Joined: Apr 2009
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So my backup external hard drive kicked the bucket last night (or this morning, hard to tell when). Had it for almost 2 years, so I am not terribly surprised, just ticked that I now have to reprioritize the electronics budget accordingly.
I have been interested in picking up a NAS drive, and thought you all might have some suggestions. In all honesty, I would prefer to spend as little as possible, while still getting at least a reliable terrabyte. It doesn't have to be wireless itself, an ethernet connection is absolutely fine. Remote access would be a huge plus, but if it bumps the price up a lot then it's not tantamount.
Any suggestions? You all have yet to fail me with your technical prowess!
- Sam
M60x2, VP150, M22x2 Sennheiser HD-595 Onkyo TX-SR507, PS3 (40gb)
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Re: disaster strikes...
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Joined: May 2003
Posts: 18,044
shareholder in the making
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shareholder in the making
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I've been very interested in the NetGear/Infrant ReadyNAS units, but they certainly are on the high end of things. Drobo's also fascinating, but that's on the extreme high end, especially when you buy the bit to make it a NAS. The reviews on Amazon on the other brands tend to give me pause, though.
I am the Doctor, and THIS... is my SPOON!
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Re: disaster strikes...
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Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 11,458
shareholder in the making
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shareholder in the making
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I've been interested in the Drobo for quite awhile as well. I can't figure out why the Amazon reviews are all over the place as well, but it's also caused me to hold off on purchasing....
::::::: No disrespect to Axiom, but my favorite woofer is my yellow lab :::::::
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Re: disaster strikes...
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Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 1,349
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connoisseur
Joined: Oct 2003
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Hey, at least it was just your backup and not your 'work' drive! Easy enough to replace (relatively). I recently decided that I wanted a NAS for my home network too. After shopping around a bit, I found a Buffalo Linkstation LS-L500GL on clearance for about $65 from eCost. 500GB, 7200RPM SATA drive, Gigabit NIC. Couldn't beat that price. Yes, they're a couple of years old and discontinued. But they're cheap. And there's a firmware update that improved the performance and apparently gives it the ability to do remote access over the WAN connection (over the internet), though I have not tried it to confirm that it works. http://www.ecost.com/detail.aspx?edp=425...ci_sku=42543767It's working quite well and I'm very pleased with it, especially for the price. It's very stable - I've just rebooted it once, after the firmware update. It's been running for months. It has worked perfectly for my Vista, XP, Windows7, OSX, and Ubuntu machines. I bought it for backup purposes, but have quickly discovered how nice it is to have one centralized spot to share files. Very handy - especially if you're like me and like to build/rebuild machines all the time. The only problem with it is that it doesn't allow you very much in the way of customization. It basically just shows up on your network as part of the 'WORKGROUP' workgroup, with a 'Share' folder. That's about it. You can, of course, make whatever subfolders under the 'Share' that you want. But the workgroup is fixed, which can cause some headaches for certain situations. I've also seen complaints on forums that its version of whatever Linux filesystem that it uses can't handle some non-standard characters that Vista/OSX can, which has resulted in a few folks complaining of problems with their MP3 collections. I have had no such problems. Its fan is also pretty loud. Loud enough that you probably wouldn't want to keep it somewhere where silence is valued - like in a bedroom or a HT room. It's also NOT compatible with Time Machine on OSX, if that's of any concern to you. From my positive experience with it, I'd say to take a peek at all of the Buffalo LinkStation offerings. Their LinkStation Mini is the successor to the one I have, and it's available in both 500GB and 1TB versions, and seems to have a lot more features. Good luck!
M80v2 | VP150v2 | QS8v2 SVS Pci+ 20-39 Emotiva UMC-1 & LPA-1 M22ti + T-Amp, in the Office
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Re: disaster strikes...
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Joined: May 2003
Posts: 18,044
shareholder in the making
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shareholder in the making
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 18,044 |
The Buffalo only uses SMB, right? Or does it have full AFP and NFS servers?
I am the Doctor, and THIS... is my SPOON!
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Re: disaster strikes...
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Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 138
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Peter, thank you very much for that link, it's pretty much exactly the level of sophistication I am looking for in my NAS. I'll put in an order.
Just so other people can benefit, for those of you looking for more advanced features and capacity, I read great things about the Synology DS209+ NAS server. Minus the harddrives, you can find them online new for around $315 US. If it was in my budget, I think that's where my money would go.
I also liked the Drobo setup, but I really am looking for extended capacity rather than true backup capability. The files I'm backing up are really more of a convenience thing rather than a work necessity. That said, the Drobo system seems like it would put my mind at ease if data backup was my main concern.
Thanks for the help everyone.
M60x2, VP150, M22x2 Sennheiser HD-595 Onkyo TX-SR507, PS3 (40gb)
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Re: disaster strikes...
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Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 1,181 Likes: 1
connoisseur
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connoisseur
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 1,181 Likes: 1 |
Golden, If it's not too late here's another option for you. D-Link DNS-323. I have been running one for a year or so now and have had few issues - all of which have been fixed in the latest firmware update. It's not on the same level as the Synology, but it's pretty good for the money and works well with the PS3. I also use it as an FTP server to access my personal files as I travel more than 50% of my time for work - that also works well.
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Re: disaster strikes...
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Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 138
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Joined: Apr 2009
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Dan, that's pretty similar to the Synology, for nearly $100 less. Still, I actually went with the Buffalo - at $67US + shipping it was too inexpensive a fit to pass up. My plans for a future SACD player are now still intact!
EDIT: man, I leave a lot of very important words out of sentances...
Last edited by Golden; 06/15/09 10:03 PM.
M60x2, VP150, M22x2 Sennheiser HD-595 Onkyo TX-SR507, PS3 (40gb)
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Re: disaster strikes...
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Joined: May 2003
Posts: 2,185
connoisseur
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connoisseur
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 2,185 |
Time Capsule is nice but it's pricey and adds a router which you may not need.
I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to have a Drobo but you have to pay extra for the sled (for LAN connection). It's also expensive.
The next one I would look at is the HP Media Vault line. There's the cheaper MediaSmart Server which is a 2 bay version. I've lots of positive reviews on that one.
After that, Buffalo might be nice. I know some of them are hackable, making them a bit more valuable.
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Re: disaster strikes...
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Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 165
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I built my own NAS. after a ebay purchase of buffalo NAS, ended in an empty box showing up, i configured an old desktop into the NAS. It has been working good and works good with PS3 and HTPC. It has remote access, FTP, DLNA. http://www.freenas.orgRegs, Avi
--- Samsung 65" 8500, xbox 360 Sunfire AV7702 Marantz AV7704 Sony UBP-X1000ES M80s, VP180, QS8s, EP350
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