Best NAS for nontechnical, with internet?

Zangmonkey

Zangmonkey

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I'm looking to get a NAS setup for my dad.

The trick is he needs to sometimes get files over the Internet.

FTP servers are a non starter.

Are there any simple devices you guys have used with internet accessibility?
 
A few quick questions.

  • How much storage space?
  • How much redundancy? (Mirror, RAID, more than one drive failure)
  • Only for file storage? Would he like video's downloading etc?
  • How many users?
  • What kind of performance?
  • Apple/Windows or Both?
I know that you said your dad isn't technical but I am a huge believer in running ZFS on Solaris or FreeBSD. DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT RUNNING IT IN LINUX.

Something simple that seems to work very well is FreeNAS, it may be a little more to setup than just using a Synology box but in the end it is so much better! You can share to just about anything and at a price point that is very affordable. You can easily build a 3 or 4 disk setup running RAIDZ-1 in a nice mITX case that looks nice. You can manage everything through a web browser. What I would do is set it up and run the ownCloud plug in, and do port forwarding to it using DDNS when remote.
 
Requires less than 10GB storage but larger is fine.

RAID1 mirror would be nice but not required.

Only for file storage.

2 users.

Windows.

Keep in mind that I'm looking for easy internet accessibility. Maybe some synology devices offer that but probably not all?
Reading seems to indicate that the WD mycloud devices are pretty user friendly.
 
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Dropbox? Or Seafile, which I roll myself. Doesn't get easier than that, but I suppose it depends on what kind of access you want. To me, "This drive letter is your NAS" is pretty easy. Setup on the other hand, may require some skill (Seafile).
 
Valnar said:
Dropbox? Or Seafile, which I roll myself. Doesn't get easier than that, but I suppose it depends on what kind of access you want. To me, "This drive letter is your NAS" is pretty easy. Setup on the other hand, may require some skill (Seafile).
Click to expand...

The problem I've had with Google drive, for example, is that it tries to sync always and immediately and this causes file lock contention with QuickBooks.
 
VRT said:
A few quick questions.


Something simple that seems to work very well is FreeNAS, it may be a little more to setup than just using a Synology box but in the end it is so much better! You can share to just about anything and at a price point that is very affordable. You can easily build a 3 or 4 disk setup running RAIDZ-1 in a nice mITX case that looks nice. You can manage everything through a web browser. What I would do is set it up and run the ownCloud plug in, and do port forwarding to it using DDNS when remote.
Click to expand...

Non technical throws out freenas. Best bet is a Synology or Qnap, probably just a 2 bay model to start.
 
If you don't need RAID1 there are some 1 bay Synology models you can get on the cheap.

AFAIK ALL of them have the 'get files over the internet' feature and provide an easy DDNS-like URL to access your NAS quickly.
 
mda said:
If you don't need RAID1 there are some 1 bay Synology models you can get on the cheap.

AFAIK ALL of them have the 'get files over the internet' feature and provide an easy DDNS-like URL to access your NAS quickly.
Click to expand...


Really? From what I've read most devices need you to open up ports on your router to get WAN access.
Can you link me a device you liked?
 
Ranulfo said:
Non technical throws out freenas. Best bet is a Synology or Qnap, probably just a 2 bay model to start.
Click to expand...

This is a late reply, but installing FreeNAS is very non-technical and you can also just buy a complete unit.
 
VRT said:
This is a late reply, but installing FreeNAS is very non-technical and you can also just buy a complete unit.
Click to expand...

We'll have to agree to disagree unless you want to give me a very specific definition of non technical. If someone has no problems learning or knows how to setup bootable drives for linux type installs and basic networking info and is willing to take the time to read up on zfs, yes it is "non-technical". Given the OP's statements, I'd only recommend buing a complete unit, mostly for the customer support help.
 
Synology or Qnap.

I have a Synology DS212j. Kinda an older model but still works great for me.
 
Uhmm..if it's just 10GB you need, why go through the trouble and expenses of buying a NAS unit and HDDs ?

Google Drive comes with 15GB, or for 2-3 dollars a month you get 100GB.

..or is 10GB a typo ?
 
Just set up my first synology unit (ds216play) and so far I highly recommend it. Took me longer to physically install the hard drives than it did to complete the rest of the setup. Works perfectly for my needs - secured and shared storage across my home network, sync with google drive, occasional remote access. I was tempted to build my own freenas box, but decided it was worth the added expense to get a commercial unit and skip the learning curve. In hindsight it was money well spent.
 
Phrik said:
Uhmm..if it's just 10GB you need, why go through the trouble and expenses of buying a NAS unit and HDDs ?

Google Drive comes with 15GB, or for 2-3 dollars a month you get 100GB.

..or is 10GB a typo ?
Click to expand...

Phrik is right.

Pay for Dropbox, Box or Google Drive. No need for hardware with a 10GB requirement.

VRT said:
This is a late reply, but installing FreeNAS is very non-technical and you can also just buy a complete unit.
Click to expand...

Freenas is a terrible suggestion if it's actually 10GB of data, and there's a non-technical requirement. Heck, Google Drive comes with 15GB free!

Figure out which interface you like supporting the best, and recommend that for your father.
 
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