Need Help Choosing NAS/Network Hard Drive…Any Suggestions?

O

Ozzz

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Hello!

I love this forum and I was hoping someone out there could offer some suggestions. I’ve been surfing the web ‘til I felt like I was going crazy looking for answers! :eek:

I want to get best Network/NAS external hard drive out there for home use that fits these requirements…

- Will go on my network to be shared between my Mac Pro and HP
- 500 Gb
- Capable of remote access
- USB and Ethernet
- Budget is capped Around $250
- Doesn’t need to run any programs off it (like backup programs), just using it for storage of Photos and Music to share between my two computers.

I know the Western Digital has gotten bad reviews owing to the fact that you can’t share songs over its Ethernet connections because of copy right reasons. The Lacies seem strong but other than that, I’m lost.


Thanks Guy!!! I totally appreciate your help!!!
 
LaCie has 3 year warranty, Seagate comes in with a 5. Buffalo has a 1 year warranty, but they really make solid products. The Buffalo Linkstations hook up to the LAN and are capable of FTP.
 
What kind of files are you looking to access remotely?

I ask this because if it is any kind of media other than photos then things become kind of tricky.

If you have a spare computer around I recommend FreeNAS. www.FreeNAS.org

It has its quirks but if you've got the parts all you need is this program.

If you want to stick to a more traditional NAS then I recommend Buffalo.

http://www.superwarehouse.com/p.cfm?p=1488836&CMP=KAC-GoogleShopping
 
WOW!! You guys are the best!!

I would be primarily Remotely Accessing Photos and Words Documents and even then only in the rare situation that I need something. It's mostly for accessing when I'm at home so I can have a common HD that's accessable from any computer on my home network.

The Buffalo Looks Impressive. If I may ask, what's the difference between a Server and a NAS Hard Drive?

Thank You So Much!!
 
a "NAS hard drive" has a little server built into it, especially for serving files in a limited number of protocols...

the question to ask is.... "what is a server?" and the answer is.... "anything that serves" and it literally is that vague...

even your computer is a server whenever you're sending a file to another computer
 
i hear alot of raves over that 2 drive unit by either netgear or dlink, model name i think is ns-320 or something. has a very configurable firmware and is diskless but would be above your budget.

if its not not anything important probably just get any 1 drive unit. buffalo makes good stuff linkstations are good.
 
freenas or custom bsd/linux build.

its really that easy. any old hardware will do.

personally use freebsd

photos host with apache and Gallery (google it)

for your music, look into Ampache (using apache to host it)

build up apache2, mysql, php, do the deeds, then add in gallery and ampache. set them up. remote access with ssh, and webmin too

if you want some guides and links and stuff ive saved just reply, ill drop in all i can.
 
That info would be fantastic! I would love to check it out if it's not too much trouble.

Many Thanks!
 
I would go for Synology.

Unless you don't care about speed. Then you can get those slow buffalo's
 
Qnap is a little bit beyond your price range, but, they're very decent units as well.

Intel has a decent NAS box as well but again, it's about 450.00 or so.

erfffff.....nothing beats a Celerra. :)

dave
 
AMD_RULES said:
I would suggest this unit. PC Mag and CPU mag gave it good reviews.
I'm considering getting one myself. It can be configured for either two 500GB SATA in RAID 0 for 1TB or in RAID 1 for 500GB. It also has remote access, web support, and FTP support.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822165075
Click to expand...

it seems to me for these sort of prices, you may as well get a refurbed desktop from geeks for sub200 and run your own NAS distro... it would def be faster and more flexible...

those things are EXPENSIVE



EDIT... this right here would be cool:
http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=SAMBA845V-24-1&cat=SYS

+

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0256061

+ 4 of these

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=ST9120821AS-R&cat=HDD

+

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=CL-SL3114&cat=CCD

and some software raid on a NAS


would be sweet... unless of course you wan't oodles of space... then just use a bigger case with 3.5" drives...

i'm thinking about putting one of these together and selling it to a smallbusiness who wants to buy a server to keep 8 gigs worth of data centralized.... i'd probably just put 2 120GB drives in it with full warranty... i don't care for "recertified" hard drives... then later they can put 2 300 gig drives or whatever in it... and migrate the data....
 
If anything you can always just setup an old machine and throw in a larger HDD.

I run an old dual P3 server box as my file server and it works out great for sharing Video, Photos, Files, and since it is a full OS, I can still easily run my backup software on it :)


The only positives to the dedicated NAS solutions is that they are small and use less power.
 
software raid =/

no buisness should get software raid.

if you are going to all that effort and building a server, use a good raid card and not laptop drives.

alot of NAS devices alow you to either FTP in or have some kind of sharing software, for osmething as simple as he is decribing, that would be a good choice
 
Is there a way to connect a NAS hard drive directly to a computer? It would be far preferable to me to connect it to the computer’s USB port with an Ethernet-USB adapter for the times when I’m on the road and there isn’t a network to put it on. However, maybe they can connect naturally to each other with the Ethernet cable alone.

I know there are USB-Ethernet adapters out there but the ones I've seen say they are for connecting a computer to a network.

The problem is, I really like the Buffalo 500GB LinkStation Live Multimedia Storage Server - HS-DH500GL but its 2 USB ports only seem to be for extra hard drives or printers. I know there are NAS-USB hard drives out there but after looking at dozens of 500 Gb ones for weeks, I don’t know which ones are any good.

Is there a way to connect a NAS directly to a computer’s USB port or can it only be accessed through a network?

THANKS GUYS!
 
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