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[pahunt]

So I have a dilemma and I'm hoping someone wiser than me can help me make the right decision.

I have an old Netgear RND4000 NAS which appears to be dying, at least it's giving me errors when booting and the disks in it (4 x 3TB) test OK. Now I'm kind of resigned to the fact that I've lost the data on it as I'm guessing the data is stored in some kind of propriety format that means if I buy another NAS box and stick the same disks in it won't read the data.

So my question is what kind of NAS box do I buy now? I'm fairly clueless on this sort of stuff but I'm looking to avoid this same kind of situation in the future. Are there NAS boxes out there that conform to some kind of open standard that would allow me to swap the disks into another one at some point or is that just not how this stuff works?

Any advice gratefully received!

[jtwrace]

IMO the Synology are the best.  Remember though, a NAS is NOT a backup solution regardless of the type of Raid you use.  You must keep at least one backup of it. 

[pahunt]

IMO the Synology are the best.  Remember though, a NAS is NOT a backup solution regardless of the type of Raid you use.  You must keep at least one backup of it.  

Yes I've heard good things about Synology. As for the backup, point taken but all I store on mine are Blu Ray and DVD rips where I own the disk so nothing lost that can't be restored.

Having done some searching, I've come across http://www.freenas.org which looks attractive as I can cobble the hardware required together pretty easily but I wonder if anyone has real world experience with it?

[jtwrace]

Yes I've heard good things about Synology. As for the backup, point taken but all I store on mine are Blu Ray and DVD rips where I own the disk so nothing lost that can't be restored.

Having done some searching, I've come across http://www.freenas.org which looks attractive as I can cobble the hardware required together pretty easily but I wonder if anyone has real world experience with it?

Right, but ripping all the discs again really defeats the purpose if you have a backup drive connected and it back ups every night (like mine does) so to restore is literally a few clicks and it's done.  

I've heard of freenas but wanted something I didn't have to tinker with and everything else I wanted was there.  

[Krazykanuck]

I am using unraid  http://lime-technology.com/ and speed wise it works fine for what I use it for which is media storage.
I like the fact that I can use different size drives as I expand the array.(Parity must be same size as your largest data drive).
I am currently expanding from 2T to 4T drives by just adding the 4T drives.
The data is not striped so individual drives can be shared/read normally outside of the array.
If you lose a drive the worst case is you only lose the data on that drive.

It really comes down to what NAS features are important to you.

[jmone]

You could also not use a NAS at all if you have enough free drive bays / ports in a "real" pc that you leave on.  The benefits are:
- 1 less device to buy and maintain
- Std Drive formats
- Much more powerful HW (normally)

[mwillems]

You could also not use a NAS at all if you have enough free drive bays / ports in a "real" pc that you leave on.  The benefits are:
- 1 less device to buy and maintain
- Std Drive formats
- Much more powerful HW (normally)

+1.  I built a home "NAS/fileserver" that's just a low power PC running off an embedded x86 processor.  It draws very little power, only cost me about $150 (excluding hard drives), and can actually run JRiver for use as a library server (although it doesn't have enough grunt to do any serious transcoding). I wrote a little about it here: http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=92889.msg642970#msg642970

[jmone]

Good Point - I run on a pretty beefy system and can transcode/serve around 3 Gizmo clients simultaneously watching Video.  Also with 8TB drives shipping this month it is pretty easy to get large pool sizes in even small cases.

[pahunt]

+1.  I built a home "NAS/fileserver" that's just a low power PC running off an embedded x86 processor.  It draws very little power, only cost me about $150 (excluding hard drives), and can actually run JRiver for use as a library server (although it doesn't have enough grunt to do any serious transcoding). I wrote a little about it here: http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=92889.msg642970#msg642970

Thanks! That kind of setup would work for me perfectly.

[jmone]

Another low cost (low performance) option is to plug one of the newer 8TB usb hdd into the USB port of your router

[newsposter]

I like my QNAP NAS boxes.

QNAP looks like they make a huge confusing mass of product but they have pretty much four variants.

Intel or ARM cpu & internals
Tower or rack mount

The same OS loads up and runs on the variants.

Beyond that, you just add drive slots as you need them.

QNAP *says* that if you want to do multi-streams of real-time HD video encoding, you should spend a few extra $$ and get the Intel powered units.  But they don't prevent you from trying to run video encoding on an ARM-powered system and the few times I've tried it it worked just fine.

I have a set of 4 drive, ARM powered desktop/tower units.  They run very cool and quiet.

I also like that QNAP uses a standard filesystem, one that just about any other NAS or computer is able to read (ZFS).  Some of the other NAS makers use a closed source in-house only filesystems that would get in the way of being able to do disk/file recovery in case your NAS boxes fail.

QNAP has a load of add-on apps for just about anythinng you'd want or need to do.

[Sparks67]

Yes I've heard good things about Synology. As for the backup, point taken but all I store on mine are Blu Ray and DVD rips where I own the disk so nothing lost that can't be restored.

Optical is better than hard drive for backup, but just get a Nimbie to re-rip the discs again.  Eventually, there will be larger optical storage backup in 2017, but size is still to be determined at this time.

How much space are you going to require?  I never found a NAS to fit my needs, so I use a SAS expander.  This is more costly, but it is the best option.   http://www.sasexpanders.com/

[skifastbadly]

I  can't tell you what to buy but I can can tell you what NOT to buy.  Stay far away from the WD 4T MyCloud.  I have had nothing but problems with this thing including slow load times, aborted file transfers, and massive degradation of my wireless network.

[DeepPurple23]

In looking about whether to build a NAS or something else, I found this site: http://blog.brianmoses.net/2015/01/diy-nas-2015-edition.html and he uses FreeNAS to run his box.  I'm a big fan of building your own versus buying.  I know its more work, but when something goes wrong with the unit, you're in a better position to save the data. I've used Raids in the past, but they're just not my favorite storage method.

Good luck.

[Sparks67]

In looking about whether to build a NAS or something else, I found this site: http://blog.brianmoses.net/2015/01/diy-nas-2015-edition.html and he uses FreeNAS to run his box.  I'm a big fan of building your own versus buying.  I know its more work, but when something goes wrong with the unit, you're in a better position to save the data. I've used Raids in the past, but they're just not my favorite storage method.

Good luck.

I have built several different setups, but the best is a sasexpander.  The problem with bluray is that as your collection grows you are always needing more space.  The sas expander gives the ability to daisy chain the enclosures. This company sells a 15 bay tower enclosure http://www.pc-pitstop.com/sas_expanders/   The cost is higher, but it is more about expandability in the  future.   The rackmount servers are noisy, so I buy the tower enclosure.  You can use desktop drives with that case, but just chose the drives that company recommends.  Those enclosures can be used with a SAS expander in the HTPC sever or you can get a Thunderbolt 2 box from [http://www.areca.us/products/4320T2.htm/

I have a basement, but I bought this nice low cost rack from my audio store.  The rack was only $900, but it is this fully assembled rack with shelves and integrated cooling.  http://www.snapav.com/p-1909-sr-fs-system-27u.aspx.  That company sells deeper racks as well.  The depth of the rack is stero size components, but the 15 Bay tower fits perfectly in the rack on its side.  I already filled one 15 bay tower, so I have ordered a new one. 

[felix2]

I have tried 2 NAS boxes over the past 3 years and this year abandoned and sold them off. Too unreliable and too expensive. But the biggest problem is their proprietary HD format.
Instead I put together a mid-end Windows PC on the cheap to work as NAS. The case can take 8 HDs and that's more than enough. The biggest benefits:
1) Even a cheap PC using old Core 2 Dual or Core i3 has more power than most consumer NAS up to $1000.
2) Network with other PCs is seamless, reliable and excellent performance. That include backup and recovery.
3) Windows based NAS use Windows file system on the HD. Well, Windows file system is the absolutely most reliable, most secure and recoverable. Anytime I feel like it I can take out a NAD HD, stuff it into any other Windows PC and use.