looking for a NAS

[95blackz26]

ok i'm looking for a NAS box..whether it's a unit like a Qnap box or something homemade..i would like it to be as quiet as possible. i have been looking at the 4 bay setups. i'm not entirely against building something but i don't want to spend my life setting up the OS.

 

[funsoul]

Hiya 95blackz26!

What's your planned/hoped for usage? Do you have any old hardware you could re-purpose (case, psu, cpu, etc)? Go with a build-it-yourself setup. Running a server has many advantages over a NAS. Don't need anything special (my e7400 setup is still running strong). I use WHS2011 (am sure you can find a copy around) with stablebit drivepool. Easy setup, set it and forget it kinda thing....mine's been running literally years without a re-boot (excluding those needed for updates).

Search around...there's some decent threads. Here's a pretty recent one.

 

[Mighty_Miro_WD]

Hey mate!

Basically you can choose between two options in this case - to build your own NAS, or to get a prebuild one from a manufacturer. Building one on your own can be a bit cheaper in some cases but you don't get support for it and it could be harder to set up and manage later on. Self-built NASs have the advantage of upgrade-ability, though.

As for a regular NAS, I have and could recommend you WD My Cloud Mirror as it is very easy to set up and manage and should do the job perfectly fine.

http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=st4fxS

Also another thing that I saw people doing is using an external drive, WD My Book for instance, with a router or anything else that can connect it to the network, you would essentially get a NAS and should work just fine. By doing that you should get the same end result - file sharing across the network. I'd pick the option that makes more sense in terms of performance and budget (just keep in mind performance of the My Book would depends on the router's abilities).

Hope this helps and feel free to ask any questions you may have.

Cheers!

 

[Mpegger]

As has already been said, you can go 2 routes; a ready made NAS devices, or make one your own. Both have their good and bad, but personally, I feel that making one of your own out weighs the bad in such a setup.

What you really need to think about first though is:

a) What do you intend to primarily use the NAS for? Shared storage for all your home devices? Media server? Extra file backup?

b) What is your budget to reach that goal?

 

[95blackz26]

As has already been said, you can go 2 routes; a ready made NAS devices, or make one your own. Both have their good and bad, but personally, I feel that making one of your own out weighs the bad in such a setup.

What you really need to think about first though is:

a) What do you intend to primarily use the NAS for? Shared storage for all your home devices? Media server? Extra file backup?

b) What is your budget to reach that goal?

nailed my potential use in A..

i'd like to keep it under 1,000..

for prebuilts i was looking at this one..probably start off with a couple of 3TB red's and see where i'm at for usage.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00RBGZ0LU/ref=psdc_13436301_t1_B00RBGYR3M

haven't spec'd out a custom rig yet.. with that i'd like to start out with the same 2 drives and then see where i'm at. probably like to keep the case small.it also has to be quiet like barely audible quiet.

i have a wrt1900acs router and currently have a flash drive plugged into that. it's doing ok for a holding place of files but i'd like something centralized and larger storage space.

 

[95blackz26]

Hiya 95blackz26!

What's your planned/hoped for usage? Do you have any old hardware you could re-purpose (case, psu, cpu, etc)? Go with a build-it-yourself setup. Running a server has many advantages over a NAS. Don't need anything special (my e7400 setup is still running strong). I use WHS2011 (am sure you can find a copy around) with stablebit drivepool. Easy setup, set it and forget it kinda thing....mine's been running literally years without a re-boot (excluding those needed for updates).

Search around...there's some decent threads. Here's a pretty recent one.

WHS 2011 is discontinued and the next newer version is expensive like you could buy a nas box like i posted for about the same price. i'd like something with a gui..not really into spending a ton of time typing code to make it work.

 

[funsoul]

Look around, you can find it for $50 or less. Here's one atm: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Microsoft-W...480524?hash=item41a78672cc:g:dTcAAOSwq7JT-2-g

If you're resourceful, am sure you could find it for the same price or less.

 

[95blackz26]

completely forgot about this thing but i have a dell optiplex 790 that just needs a cpu and ram..got an ssd i could use for the os drive.. maybe add a dell perc h700 since the 790 is lacking sata ports

going that route it looks like
60 for a i3 2100
40 for some ram
125ish for the raid card
then the drives.

 

[95blackz26]

well i went the route of using stuff i already had..

picked up the following to make use of the optiplex 790
i3 2130
8gb ram
4tb red drive

i also have a legitimate server heading my way too. found a poweredge t410 for a decent price and with that i plan on adding a PowerVault unit to it for storage..