Network Attached Storage

[MYstIC G]

I thought I'd find more threads on this, but having only managed to find Xane's one from 2005 it seems a new thread is the best way to go.

Skipping the boring details, in our office we have:

• BT Business Broadband Router
• Most PC boxes connected by wireless
• Most files on 1 core PC (backed up) with special files on other dedicated machines (e.g. cad work on cad workstation)

It's clear to me that we should make use of the fact that we have 3 unused ethernet ports on the router and get an NAS drive because:

1. Files could be centralised
2. Wouldn't need to leave PC kit on
3. Could remove unnecessary windows file sharing
4. Would only need to run one central backup
5. Presumably would be able to access box remotely from our other office if necessary (remote working)

Now, I know fuck all about NAS boxes but would like you guys to point me in the right direction. Reliable is the main criteria here. Size is not so important (if we got one and it had 50GB on it, we'd only take up 25-30 with our current files).

Suggestions please

[Deebs]

Depending on performance etc I would look at a Buffalo Terastation, pretty good for small work environments and they have onboard raid etc.

[inactionman]

Never had any problems with Buffalo NAS's. Have a Dlink at the moment, and that's pretty good.

[Kryten]

I'd side with Deeb's suggestion of the Buffalo, they're been getting very good writeups and the one I used previously was rather easy to get around.

I'm a fan of Synology diskstation/cubestations myself with options for built in RAID1 and the likes, although they don't get too good reviews for reasons I'm not sure of. They're easy to use, built in torrent support, plenty of options for uPNP, Samba and loads of common sharing systems etc.

[Embattle]

Well I took ownership of a Synology DS207 this week, so far all I've managed to do is install the two HDs I intend to use in RAID 1 and that was simple enough. Although not up and running yet I got it because it was feature packed and fairly cheap for what it can do, it'll be used to share a printer and store all the household files etc.

[Yaka]

prolyl a bit of an overkill and over priced, drobo with nas addon, expensive but love how you can replace a hdd in seconds

[Cyradix]

I use the DNS-323 from Dlink. It's pretty good and does everything you want/need. DNS-323

They also have a 4 disk unit now : DNS-343

[Kryten]

You can also go the route of self-builds if you feel up to it which gives you the ultimate control. For instance, a VIA Chrome based microATX motherboard with built in processor, vid controller and ram will set you back a mere 50 quid on average. A case to suit - micro tower, Shuttle type box or what not, hard drives of your choice and you're ready to go.

I specced one up last week for someone wanting to build one themselves without having to pay £300 for a ready to go system - using the above setup in a normal but small PC case, we specced up a 1tb Raid1 system using FreeNAS. It was a similar price to a pre-build, but the options FreeNas provided outweighed all but the best NAS kit on the market - it didn't even need a keyboard, mouse and screen after initial setup, and used a compactflash card on an IDE adapter for the system drive. Entire thing is silent, it can run passive but for the sake of the drives didn't bother.

Entire cost of build, £240 - 180 of which, a pair of Spinpoint 1tb hard drives, 45 was the mainboard/ram/cpu combo and bought a couple of silent 80mm fans and odds and sods - case, psu etc were rescued from another machine.

[inactionman]

Same as I have Cyradix, although I didn't know about the 4 disk one! May have to get that and whack 4x 1Tb drives in it to increase my e-penis!

I like it because I can use any disks in it.

The self-builds are cheap (I did similar myself, but had problems with software RAID-5), but running costs can be higher and they can take up more space.

[soze]

Another option could be a server this HP is just over £100 with 3 Year Next Business Day Warranty add another disk for raid might be an easy option.