Storage NAS box recommendations please

I'm running out of HDD space - again! Could somebody please tell me if it's possible to buy a box that will take some F3s and just plug it into gigabit and access it as if it were local? If so, how much?

Otherwise, I may have to reconsider a new case and new machine etc.....

 

Build a freenas box & use iscsi if you want them to look like they're local

or map network drives to something like the netgear freenas

 

You know I'm not as brainy as you, Sas! I don't care if they look local, as long as I can use them as such. A mapped network drive would be fine, but that's the limit of my expertise. I just want a box I can bang 2 or more drives in then use them for general data AND backup.

 

Synology Ds410j is the one i've got, not a speed daemon, but relatively cheap for a 4-bay, and software is a delight to use, very flexible.

problem is that most NAS will require you to re-format your drive on plugging in. so you may need to buy a couple drives with the NAS to get you started

 

So realistically is £200+ for something reasonable, plus drives.

For not much more I could just build a new machine and move all my HDDs across. Hmmm......

 

Or build a new machine & use your old one for freenas

 

Buy a second hand netbook, whack the HDs in an external enclosure, share the drives via USB. Bang.

 

mini-ITX mobo with a duel core atom Intel D510MO Fanless Dual Core Atom Mini-ITX Board £69

2 bay NAS case CFI A9849 Mini-ITX NAS/Server Case - 2 Hot Swap Bays £69

1 GB DDR2 800 - found in bits box

1 GB USB pen drive to install FreeNAS embedded

Bring your own disks

Home built NAS - Done.

Mine runs great. Small and quiet enough to sit behind my monitor on the desk. Loads of info on installing and running freenas on the net.

 

All of the above suggestions involve spending a minimum £200 for me though.

My current case will only hold 4HDDs, so really what I need is an R2 or similar where I can plug all 6 of my drives in and add more if I want.

Starting to think along those lines. I didn't realise it had to be so expensive

For just over £200 I could have the case and guts of the affordable all-rounder.....

 

Synology DS210j is an awesome bit of kit otherwise.

 

i think the best way to do it is indeed build your own. that way, there's possibility of not having to buy spare drives by simply mounting existing ones untouched.

of course, you'll need the time and patience to do it. i didn't, so went for a pre-built solution.

 

Yeah, looked at that from the previous poster. Cheapest I can find from somebody I'd buy from is £170 and it only takes two drives.

I think the sheer volume of data I'm dealing with is the problem. Joe Schmo just doesn't have 3 or 4TBs of stuff that's important to him. For most people a couple of 1TBs in RAID would be lovely.

 

Hope I'm not ruining or upcoming bit of content, but the DS210J is very, very good for the money

 

2 x 2TB drives?

 

I have a Synology DS410, not the cheapest of kit, but it is good value for the money

 

You're not Baz. I think most people have seen how well Synology make their kit

 

Does anybody make a reasonably quick, well priced 2TB unit?

My last 5 drives have all been Samsung either F1s or T series....

 

WD Green 2TB?

The WD20EARS with 64MB of cache.

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/2TB-...r-Green-SATA-3Gb-s-5400plusrpm-64MB-Cache-8ms

 

I wouldn't use anything green and 5400 is too slow. Looking on Scan, everything 7200 with a 5yr warranty is well over £100

 

I have the Netgear Readynas duo and am quite happy with it. It has gigabyte connectivity and takes two drives. I use 2x 1tb Western Digital Green drives.

It's currently £140 on ebuyer with a free 500gb drive. Sell the 500gb drive, £25-30 i'd imagine and then bung two larger drives in it.