Easiest NAS

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cj3waker

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Oct 12, 2010
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I currently have a home server running windows home server and I hate it. I have a large drivebender pool that I have had to recover on a few occasions, performance isn't great, and I just want something easy.

I just purchased an 8TB drive that has encapsulated my ~4TB of current storage

I'm looking for a much simpler solution. This is where I need help, here's what I'm looking for:

-stable
-Cheap and simple
-good transfer speeds
-ability to stream files to local pcs, firetvs using kodi, other kodi devices
-host local media for anyone on the network, permissions, security etc are all out the window, I just want a local share drive that is easy for everything on the network to access
-remote management from a pc
-No need for pools or arrays, I just want a drive "d:" etc to contain a bunch of folders that I can access from everywhere. If I fill up the drive, I will either buy a bigger drive and move on to that, or if the device allows I will add another drive "e:"
-torrent plugin/app
-IP camera support
 
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Easiest solution is to get an USB enclosure for your 8Tb drive and connect that to a router that supports usb drive sharing. Regardless of what you have, it may also be the least expensive.

Moving up in options, price and complexity you can get a dual hdd enclosure that supports USB , get an additoonal 8gb drive for redundancy and at least your drive is protected.

Better altogether ... NAS from Synology. I have the DS211j, which has been amazing for our purposes. They have single drive enclosures, dual drive that support RAID 0&1... And larger units that will hold 4 drives for RAID 5. Their newer models (mine is old) even have enough processing power to handle vidoe conversion for streaming over your home network.

Anyway... Cheap and easy - get a usb enclosure and a router with USB file sharing support.

More expensive but easy and managable, Synology DismStation for a single drive. Connects directly to your network, you can setup accounts, or just give everyone acces.
 
Replace the Win install with FreeNAS on the server. With the Web UI it is simple enough.
 
Synology. DSM OS is stupidly simple. I use a DS1513+ at home and it's been great.
 
Easy and FreeNAS don't belong in the same sentence.

Google xpenology. Build your own synology box. Stupid simple to setup and you won't find anything easier to live with day to day.
 
So what do you guys think of the ds214se?

edit: and it looks like it only supports 4tb drives?
 
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I believe the se models are the lower performance variants. I'd skip them and get the standard flavor. Just because you're needs are "simple" now doesn't mean you won't regret it when you decide there is some other function you want as well. Not if, when.

4TB was probably the biggest drive around back in 2014 when that model was introduced. Also be careful of the 8TB drives. Most (possibly all?) of them use SMR which is really meant for archival purposes. Their performance is pitiful no matter how fancy of a box you wrap them in.
 
I went and got a 2TB (you can get bigger) WD NAS. Its as simple as it sounds. Its a network drive that plugs into your router like any other. It comes with a dashboard that can be controlled via browser like any router etc and allows you to modify permissions etc.

Why mess with a separate box to handle all of that nonsense when its all in an external enclosure that only needs a power cord and network cable? There really isn't any good reason besides telling everyone you run a PC solely as a useless dashboard.
 
As a sidenote... you can purchase external NAS enclosures that do this exact thing. Buy an empty one and throw your drive in it.
 
Easiest and cheapest NAS = Share drive. lol

Even with Winblows you can set up a NAS box just simply by sharing the drive. You can get some freeware applications which will do pretty much anything you'll ever want to do if you dont want to share it. Hell, even 10+ years ago there were freeware apps to run on WinXP for folks on your network to have permission based access to folders/drives. The files were view-able via an internet browser. A user would enter an internal IP address instead of a URL, or you could run a internal web & DNS server with a URL mapped, or you could edit the host files of the individual computers to go to the internal server.

Most folks have an old computer laying around to make a storage box/server. And you really don't need much processing or video card power. You can underclock the CPU, which sometimes you can then under-volt it, which will save on power.
 
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usb 3.0 hard drive enclosure connected to a windows PC running plex(for media) and teamviewer(remote management from another PC or on my smartphone)

EDIT: I dont like using a usb3 hard drive on the router because a) usb3 interferes with 2.4GHz and b)the software to manage stuff sucks and doesnt support much
 
re purposing my home server as a diy xpenology box seems to be the best bet so far
 
Have you considered drivepool and using duplication? I used to use FlexRaid and it was a pain so I'm using drivepool.
 
cj3waker said:
I currently have a home server running windows home server and I hate it. I have a large drivebender pool that I have had to recover on a few occasions, performance isn't great, and I just want something easy.

I just purchased an 8TB drive that has encapsulated my ~4TB of current storage

I'm looking for a much simpler solution. This is where I need help, here's what I'm looking for:

-Cheap and simple
-good transfer speeds
-host local media for anyone on the network, permissions, security etc are all out the window, I just want a local share drive that is easy for everything on the network to access
-remote management from a pc
-No need for pools or arrays, I just want a drive "d:" etc to contain a bunch of folders that I can access from everywhere. If I fill up the drive, I will either buy a bigger drive and move on to that, or if the device allows I will add another drive "e:"
Click to expand...

Hi, I've been using the Netgear ReadyNAS 104 for about 3 years now without any issues.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...Z8BunWxLLIay5WAThPVBY2Jo1JgrPhMjUwaAkEP8P8HAQ

Key points:
-New firmware supports larger than 4 TB volume
-Custom RAID, basically RAID 5, but as you add drives it auto-expands volumes, I started with 1x4TB and have successfully added 3x more over the course of a month and have not had issues, albeit the rebuild takes a long time (1 day or so)
-Easy to use web-interface for permissions supporting many different protocols
-Relatively frequent updates
-App store to host different webapps like - BitTorrents, DNS, Plex, etc.
-Haven't had any stability issues
-2x1 Gbit Ethernet ports for teaming or redundancy
-Low cost for a 4x bay solution!!

What I use for:
-BitTorrent and file archiving
-I have about 3-4 computers that connect to it frequently to browse and stream from my media library
 
Another vote for the entry level Synology or QNAP, either its very easy to setup and use.
 
chanchan said:
Hi, I've been using the Netgear ReadyNAS 104 for about 3 years now without any issues.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...Z8BunWxLLIay5WAThPVBY2Jo1JgrPhMjUwaAkEP8P8HAQ

Key points:
-New firmware supports larger than 4 TB volume
-Custom RAID, basically RAID 5, but as you add drives it auto-expands volumes, I started with 1x4TB and have successfully added 3x more over the course of a month and have not had issues, albeit the rebuild takes a long time (1 day or so)
-Easy to use web-interface for permissions supporting many different protocols
-Relatively frequent updates
-App store to host different webapps like - BitTorrents, DNS, Plex, etc.
-Haven't had any stability issues
-2x1 Gbit Ethernet ports for teaming or redundancy
-Low cost for a 4x bay solution!!

What I use for:
-BitTorrent and file archiving
-I have about 3-4 computers that connect to it frequently to browse and stream from my media library
Click to expand...

this is exactly what I am looking to do, the autoexpansion is a very cool feature, does it allow you to remove drives as well? My only hesitancy here is the low processing power for streaming to other pcs, kodi, etc as that will be the main function of this device

Abula said:
Another vote for the entry level Synology or QNAP, either its very easy to setup and use.
Click to expand...

this does seem to be the best bet, Ill have to look into auto expansion and a few other services of these devices, as that is very important to me. The QNAP and synology seem to have better ratings than the netgear or WD offerings, and have models with good processing power. I am updating the OP to better reflect the needs of this device
 
cj3waker said:
I am updating the OP to better reflect the needs of this device
Click to expand...
Qnap and Sylonogy will comply wiht all your requirements, except the red =P

-stable
-Cheap and simple
-good transfer speeds
-ability to stream files to local pcs, firetvs using kodi, other kodi devices
-host local media for anyone on the network, permissions, security etc are all out the window, I just want a local share drive that is easy for everything on the network to access
-remote management from a pc
-No need for pools or arrays, I just want a drive "d:" etc to contain a bunch of folders that I can access from everywhere. If I fill up the drive, I will either buy a bigger drive and move on to that, or if the device allows I will add another drive "e:"
-torrent plugin/app
-IP camera support


cj3waker said:
this does seem to be the best bet, Ill have to look into auto expansion and a few other services of these devices, as that is very important to me. The QNAP and synology seem to have better ratings than the netgear or WD offerings, and have models with good processing power.
Click to expand...
Try to research on the new Qnap TS-XXXA series, they are not the cheapest models, practically its their new offerings, but have a lot going for them, like HDMI and remote (it can be used like a stand alone player), it can transcode 4k, it can run dual OS if you down the road want to try something else, has a small cpu but still capable of handling the day to day serving bases, it should be decent for IP cameras (you will probably will need to tweak the fps and resolution depending on how many, but with ip cameras becomes very expensive past 4 cameras as you need to pay licences).

The are other offerings that will be cheaper, depending on your needs.

Search the web for reviews, although they are new, so its going to be limited what you find, but overall thats what i recommend to my brother in law, and been very happy with it.
 
bigddybn said:
Easy and FreeNAS don't belong in the same sentence.

Google xpenology. Build your own synology box. Stupid simple to setup and you won't find anything easier to live with day to day.
Click to expand...

It took me the good part of a 3 day weekend to get FreeNAS working and once you get it working and figure out all the shares it's pretty sweet, but you're totally right
 
UnRAID for the server. It runs off a USB drive, supports nearly every disk, network card, and mobo that runs 64bit.

You'll be up and running in a few hours vs. few days and you can expand your disks out more as you grow.

The 3 disk 'trial' is free, give it a whirl on an old PC.
 
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