Until recently, I've been able to store all the crap I wanted to backup on a couple of USB sticks. With the arrival of Felix, the number of precious photos landing on the HDD means that I need an alternative backup. So, I think a NAS is the next step forward. I know there is some expertise here about NASeseseseses, so I thought I'd plunder it.
The NAS is going to need to fit into my future plan for the house network:
In black is what is there already.
In red is what I hope to put in eventually.
In blue represents a powerline network, which I am tempted to use.
I can't lay any network cable.
There might be a Mac on the network in the future (father in law).
NASI will prolly go RAID 1 with 2 1TB drives at first. That should fit my storage needs until June (or until we get the WDTV), when I will double it. What's the best NAS for this? The HDs I can choose myself.
Powerline NetworkWhen we get the WDTV Live in, we will be using it for watching films off the NAS (and playing music), so I imagine it's best to keep a good data rate. As I can't run any cable, I imagine that a powerline network is best. Anyone got any experience with this?
All comments and thoughts well received!
I use powerline networking
I use powerline networking to stream my video into the living room. Works a treat, even with 1080p content.
I have a pair of Belkin 200Mbps adaptors, but I notice they have a 1Gbps variant now for not much more money.
If you're planning on non-HD content, you might find that wireless will do the job, but I never really had any success with my attempts.
4 slot NAS boxes aren't as common as you might hope, and they're not super cheap either. I've heard good things about the Netgear readyNAS boxes, but in the end I went with a Thecus one because of slightly better benchmarks (write speed is still quite a long way short of a PC though,) and because they expose their linux innards which means I can install software on it if I want and it uses a file-permission system I understand.
For the price, I could easily have put together a little linux machine that did the same thing faster, but it wouldn't have had hot-swap drive bays, a nice web interface, or had all the complex things like auto-rebuild configured for me. I decided it was worth being a consumer in this case.
I'd guess Matt will have a more expert opinion on NAS. :)
I use the netgear ones at
I use the netgear ones at home, we have 3 of them and they have 4 port switches built in. I only use them for internet sharing 85 Mbps is the limit of them though.
Thanks for the thoughts,
Thanks for the thoughts, chaps! Looks like NetGear ReadyNAS NV+ might be the way to go. I am a little upset that the 4 drive ones are 350 fucking quid without storage. I really don't see where the extra cash is going! But that's just me, natch.
As for HDD, I'll go with whatever Bit Tech are raving about - not SSD though. ;-)
Thanks also for the comments on powerline. Last time I looked at them, they were dodgy but the tech seems to have come a long way. It's likely to be 1GB. It's a pity that Belkin is getting slammed on Amazon. They will be later.
My TV is not HD and we're unlikely to get an HD for some time to come. I'll prolly get the NAS in - see what the data rate is like across wireless (bound to be flakey, I agree) and then get whatever the best powerline is at the time. :)
I won't be buying right this second, so I'm still open to thoughts and opinions.
I got here a little
I got here a little late.
Looks like a good plan mate. I have successfully streamed SD over wireless, but its worth bearing in mind it was the only device using it and the router is pretty much in the centre of the flat...
For NAS purposes I'd go with the best cost per gig, drivewise. The difference in performance is unlikely to be noticable IMO...
I was going to say the same
I was going to say the same re drives as Byrn; by the times you've muddied the water with software raid, slow CPU, network latency, etc, the performance of the individual drives will be lost in the noise. I'd probably go for WD green drives. They're cheap, reliable and fast enough.
Wrt powerline networking, it's worth bearing in mind that if you have two ring mains you might not be able to network between them. In modern houses, that usually means it doesn't work well with devices on two different floors. Be worth checking before you drop any cash on it.
Chaps, thanks
Chaps, thanks again.
@Byrn/Aggro, I will be going with the WD green drives. As Bit Tech recommended! I'll work out how much I want to spend (once Christmas is over properly) and get the biggest I can afford.
@Aggro - A good point well made about ring mains. I had a look at the home owners(squatters) manual and there are three in the house. Why three, I can't say but it's a new build. If there is no signal then I can move the internet downstairs to behind the telly (where the main cable input is). Then the only external devices will be my gaming computer (on the same ring) and whatever player ends up in the kitchen (on a separate ring). I might not need the powerline network after all. :)
Oh btw Rob I have an old
Oh btw Rob I have an old pair of Netgear plugy things if you want to test it out. Had to change to the newer type as I couldn't get anymore of the old ones.
Dwain - thanks mate, when it
Dwain - thanks mate, when it comes to it, I'll give you a shout. A test sounds like a fucking good idea.
I've bought the ReadyNAS NV+
I've bought the ReadyNAS NV+ with two Samsung F1 1TB drives (RAID 1). When will it get here, who knows! Thanks for the help all!
I realised I can repurpose an old laptop to act as my downloading machine.
NAS NV+ is in. It was very
NAS NV+ is in. It was very simple to install. I had some problems copying large numbers of files across with my WN121T wireless adapter but I have a feeling it's because Netgear don't support old hardware with x64 systems. I have the NV+ plugged straight into the Win 7 LAN port and am copying in the background. Once it's there, I'll move it back upstairs onto the router.
The install stuff takes a while to get sorted because of the mirroring of drives but I left it on overnight and it was ready to rock in the morning.
Thanks to everyone for the advice!