NAS advice

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Fangs404

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Sep 3, 2004
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I'm looking at buying a NAS, but I don't want to build it myself. I'm kinda limited on space, and I just don't want to deal with the hassle. Ideally, I'd buy an areca RAID card and just throw the hard drives into my tower, but I don't have an extra PCI-E slot, and I don't want to buy a new motherboard just for a RAID card.

As such, I've been looking into pre-built solutions. I want to have a NAS system that has support for at least 4 drives and RAID-5. Here're the 2 I'm considering right now:

Thecus N4100 Pro - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822102026 - $449.99
Synology CS407 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822110043 - $549.99

I'll be using 4 1TB Western Digital Caviar Black drives (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284) in RAID-5.

Right now, I'm primarily considering the Thecus because it's $100 cheaper, supports hot-swapping, and according to SmallNetBuilder's NAS charts, it performs significantly better. Synology, on the other hand, has arguably the nicest interface, the most features, has great customer support from what I've read, and comes out more regularly with firmware updates.

Do you guys have any opinions on these 2 units? Any others I should consider? Just FYI, the Synology is at the upper limit of my price range. I won't be spending any more money than that.
 
I have a Thecus N5200, and am very happy with it. I only have 3 drives in it right now, but I bought the 5 slot device now because I am always aoutgrowing my storage. I wlll prolly be adding the 4th drive in a few months.

When I need the fifth drive, I can easily add it instead of migrating to a new device.

I am stuffing it with WD 1 TB GP desktop drives that I have turned TLER on for RAID 5 usage. The drives are barely above ambient in the Thecus, and it is very quiet.

Don
 
geiger said:
Why do you need raid?
Click to expand...

I've had drives fail on me in the past, and I don't want to lose data. I'm storing pictures and music, among other things, and I can't stand even the thought of losing all that data. RAID-5 is a little peace of mind.

criccio said:
:rolleyes:

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1390750
Click to expand...

OK, I guess I should've been more specific. I want hardware RAID.

DonDon said:
I have a Thecus N5200, and am very happy with it. I only have 3 drives in it right now, but I bought the 5 slot device now because I am always aoutgrowing my storage. I wlll prolly be adding the 4th drive in a few months.

When I need the fifth drive, I can easily add it instead of migrating to a new device.

I am stuffing it with WD 1 TB GP desktop drives that I have turned TLER on for RAID 5 usage. The drives are barely above ambient in the Thecus, and it is very quiet.

Don
Click to expand...

That's great to hear. How do you like the web UI? Any experience with their customer service?
 
Last edited:
Thanks very much for your advice. I wound up buying the Thecus unit. I found it for $399 (http://www.excaliberpc.com/588442/thecus-n4100-pro-diskless-4-bay.html), and I just couldn't refuse. I'd love to build my own NAS. I know it's easy. I just don't have the room for it, and this specialized unit will save on power consumption in the long run, so the extra cost now will be saved on my electricity bill over the following months. Thanks again. :)
 
Fangs404 said:
Thanks very much for your advice. I wound up buying the Thecus unit. I found it for $399 (http://www.excaliberpc.com/588442/thecus-n4100-pro-diskless-4-bay.html), and I just couldn't refuse. I'd love to build my own NAS. I know it's easy. I just don't have the room for it, and this specialized unit will save on power consumption in the long run, so the extra cost now will be saved on my electricity bill over the following months. Thanks again. :)
Click to expand...

My Thecus has run almost flawlessly since the middle of last year. The only issue I have had with it was when I tried to use their media server, it choked. Just turned it off.

The only service issue I have had was updating the firmware. Worked with out problems.

The Web interface works fine.

Don
 
It arrived! The RAID-5 array is building right now. Here're some pictures. I can't believe how small this thing is.

wbuo07.jpg


erl8b5.jpg


2jcty0p.jpg


My cat likes boxes and styrofoam. This box is heaven.

dfx647.jpg


Overall, I'm really happy with it so far. I'll be even happier once the RAID array is built and I can use it. :)
 
I have an N5200. It's loud. Damn power supply fan. :mad:

It works fine, though, and I've no complaints with the web UI. For my next storage system though, I will most definitely build my own, since it's much easier to replace any bad parts (such as the fan).
 
I can't hear this guy at all. Even at full load (it's at full load since it's building the array), the fan is only spinning 1700rpm, and it's hovering around 37C.
 
Fangs404 said:
I can't hear this guy at all. Even at full load (it's at full load since it's building the array), the fan is only spinning 1700rpm, and it's hovering around 37C.
Click to expand...

And that's how it should be. I think the PSU fan on mine just went bad, sort of like my Antec Tricool fans in my case, about a year ago.
 
Cyrilix said:
I have an N5200. It's loud. Damn power supply fan. :mad:

It works fine, though, and I've no complaints with the web UI. For my next storage system though, I will most definitely build my own, since it's much easier to replace any bad parts (such as the fan).
Click to expand...

You must have a defective fan in yours as mine is virtually silent. But then I only have 3 WD GP drives in it right now. I know the fan is adjustable by the temp, so either the fan is bad or the controller aint working and it is stuck on full speed.

Don
 
Just thought I'd bump this. I bought a gigabit switch (a D-Link DGS-2208 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833127082), and it came today. What a difference that made! I went from about 10-11mb/s reads/writes (I was using the 10/100 switch built-in to my WRT54GL) to 45mb/s reads and 30mb/s writes. The performance on this guy is fantastic. Make sure you get a gigabit switch if you buy a NAS.
 
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