NAS type device recommendations.

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bigboy529

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Hi all
I want to buy a NAS type device. Firstly for backups, I'm tired of plugging several external HDD's in and out of my machines from time to time to make backups, secondly for storage space of my music collection, archiving past projects I worked on etc.

My understanding of this is that you need at least 2 drive bays for RAID redundancy and then there's the mass storage as well. I've looked at pricing and this type thing seams to be quite expensive, most I've seen with 4 or so SATA drive bays and Gigabit Ethernet, USB-3 or Thunderbolt connectivity is around R10K, the sub R5K ones seams to be mostly single bay or have heavy limitations on max HDD size.

I'm looking for a straight forward solution, it must be easy to use, I'm a non IT person so don't want something complicated, don't want to have to hastle with complex software, networking setups etc. I know someone will probably say I must take a old PC, slap in a couple of HDD's and install some RAID software on it, but I don't want to do this, from what I read from time to time on those type setups is that it's a constant struggle with software issues, network issues etc.

I'm looking to spend around R5K excluding hard drives since I already have a couple which I can start off with. One device I came across so far which seams to meet all my needs and which is very straight forward to use, it also has a lot of good reviews is the Drobo, but it's double my budget. Though I'll probably stretch my budget if needed for something good, I doubt I'll be able to double it.

Please teach me, please recommend something and apologies up front if I got any of the terminology wrong.
 
bigboy529 said:
Hi all
I want to buy a NAS type device. Firstly for backups, I'm tired of plugging several external HDD's in and out of my machines from time to time to make backups, secondly for storage space of my music collection, archiving past projects I worked on etc.

My understanding of this is that you need at least 2 drive bays for RAID redundancy and then there's the mass storage as well. I've looked at pricing and this type thing seams to be quite expensive, most I've seen with 4 or so SATA drive bays and Gigabit Ethernet, USB-3 or Thunderbolt connectivity is around R10K, the sub R5K ones seams to be mostly single bay or have heavy limitations on max HDD size.

I'm looking for a straight forward solution, it must be easy to use, I'm a non IT person so don't want something complicated, don't want to have to hastle with complex software, networking setups etc. I know someone will probably say I must take a old PC, slap in a couple of HDD's and install some RAID software on it, but I don't want to do this, from what I read from time to time on those type setups is that it's a constant struggle with software issues, network issues etc.

I'm looking to spend around R5K excluding hard drives since I already have a couple which I can start off with. One device I came across so far which seams to meet all my needs and which is very straight forward to use, it also has a lot of good reviews is the Drobo, but it's double my budget. Though I'll probably stretch my budget if needed for something good, I doubt I'll be able to double it.

Please teach me, please recommend something and apologies up front if I got any of the terminology wrong.
Click to expand...

You can look into the opensource freenas software. It will turn a old pc into a nas and it runs of a flashdrive. The only downside is power consumption.
 
WD Mycloud devices work well, fast gigabit as well so copying files is fast.

I have the WD and a PC running Win7 I use for backups and as HTPC (plex, samba) source for my Apple TV 4.
Only downside is the PC uses much more power than the WD.
 
Hemps said:
WD Mycloud devices work well, fast gigabit as well so copying files is fast.

I have the WD and a PC running Win7 I use for backups and as HTPC (plex, samba) source for my Apple TV 4.
Only downside is the PC uses much more power than the WD.
Click to expand...

On that note. I see WD will be releasing a new versions of the MyCloud. So either get one on special or get the new one. The Price for the new 8TB (RAID1) /16TB RAID0 is $700.
 
Hp microserver?
I've have an older n40l bnib if you are interested
 
bigboy529 said:
Hi all
I want to buy a NAS type device. Firstly for backups, I'm tired of plugging several external HDD's in and out of my machines from time to time to make backups, secondly for storage space of my music collection, archiving past projects I worked on etc.

My understanding of this is that you need at least 2 drive bays for RAID redundancy and then there's the mass storage as well. I've looked at pricing and this type thing seams to be quite expensive, most I've seen with 4 or so SATA drive bays and Gigabit Ethernet, USB-3 or Thunderbolt connectivity is around R10K, the sub R5K ones seams to be mostly single bay or have heavy limitations on max HDD size.

I'm looking for a straight forward solution, it must be easy to use, I'm a non IT person so don't want something complicated, don't want to have to hastle with complex software, networking setups etc. I know someone will probably say I must take a old PC, slap in a couple of HDD's and install some RAID software on it, but I don't want to do this, from what I read from time to time on those type setups is that it's a constant struggle with software issues, network issues etc.

I'm looking to spend around R5K excluding hard drives since I already have a couple which I can start off with. One device I came across so far which seams to meet all my needs and which is very straight forward to use, it also has a lot of good reviews is the Drobo, but it's double my budget. Though I'll probably stretch my budget if needed for something good, I doubt I'll be able to double it.

Please teach me, please recommend something and apologies up front if I got any of the terminology wrong.
Click to expand...

Looking at your budgetary and tech constraints, I would consider the following "cheapy" solution:

The HP Proliant Gen8 Microtower @R3199 (including VAT) at Esquire. That leaves you with some space for the HDDs.
2x (or 4x) WD Blue 4TB Hard Drive (currently R 1799 including VAT, per piece) at Evetech.

That gives you 4TB of independent, mirrored (RAID1) network storage at R6797.00, or if you prefer to "upgrade", 8TB of independent, mirrored (RAID10) network storage at R10395.00. Add R30-00 for a CAT-5 network cable and you're good to go.
There may be more cost-effective setups using RAID5 (because it would allow more storage space and room to upgrade), but the hardware to run them may cost way more. And you may get some better deals on storage devices, I'm sure that others forumites will chip in.
 
infscrtyrisk said:
Looking at your budgetary and tech constraints, I would consider the following "cheapy" solution:

The HP Proliant Gen8 Microtower @R3199 (including VAT) at Esquire. That leaves you with some space for the HDDs.
2x (or 4x) WD Blue 4TB Hard Drive (currently R 1799 including VAT, per piece) at Evetech.

That gives you 4TB of independent, mirrored (RAID1) network storage at R6797.00, or if you prefer to "upgrade", 8TB of independent, mirrored (RAID10) network storage at R10395.00. Add R30-00 for a CAT-5 network cable and you're good to go.
There may be more cost-effective setups using RAID5 (because it would allow more storage space and room to upgrade), but the hardware to run them may cost way more. And you may get some better deals on storage devices, I'm sure that others forumites will chip in.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's basically been my approach. I've been pretty happy with OpenMediaVault as the OS on my microserver.
 
HP Microserver + UNRAID.

One of the few solutions where you can start with a single drive (no redundancy) and scale up over time.

Which saves you some money and effort.

Most other solutions need at least two drives from the word go.

And UNRAID can do absolutely anything you want it to do.
 
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