Multi use storage

[renswic]

Well the time has come where my family needs storage. Currently we use 2 external drives. One old ass 500gb my book(3.5 HDD) for backup up our laptops and a 1tb(2.5 HDD) for media storage. This works but isn't ideal as I'd like to be able to access the media drive from any of our devices and would like to be able to backup files from laptop with out digging out the drive, fighting behind the couch to plug it in ect ect.

Here is where my confusion comes in. Research says a NAS will handle media aspects, unknown if it will handle wireless file back up, unknown how to figure out hooking it up to the TV for media access.

Research also says get an older rack mount server, but clueless on any aspect of rack mount servers.

If NAS box is the best option for our needs any recommendations on one. Either one like a WD my cloud pre done one or a box that HDDs can be added to. Right now we max out at about 1.5-2tb of shit and would like to go with 6 or 8tb storage (maybe with an option of adding.more later as well).

Edit. In a perfect world I'd like to stick in the sub $250 price range.

 

[Blue Fox]

Just about any cheap prebuilt NAS should work for you. Synology is fairly popular and I can personally recommend them. Wired/wireless really doesn't matter so long as the device is on the network (you will of course need to use ethernet for the NAS itself). As for media, there's DLNA and I'm sure modern TVs support networked file shares too. Can always stream via a console if you have one too.

A Synology DS218j is all of $170 and should do what you want. Given your needs, I would not go down the rackmount server route. They're going to be power hungry, far more involved in setup, and much more complex. I can't see any real advantage for you.