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Damien 25-08-2010 17:25
NAS Advice
 
Greeting fellow cable forumaties.

I am looking at setting up a NAS. I need advice but I am such a newbie that I don't even know what advice to ask!!

So if you could furnish me with information that is vital to know and consider when buying and setting up NAS equipment I would be grateful.

This is the one I am considering: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/149510

Then a 2tb drive...

Paul K 25-08-2010 17:50
Re: NAS Advice
 
Using the Readynas duo here, RAID enabled and piece of P to set up and use.
Questions to answer are how are you looking to use it, how many people need access to it, do you need USB and print server options?

Damien 25-08-2010 17:54
Re: NAS Advice
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul (Post 35079430)
Using the Readynas duo here, RAID enabled and piece of P to set up and use.
Questions to answer are how are you looking to use it, how many people need access to it, do you need USB and print server options?
Media server. Will store digitalised video collection and music. Will probably only be accessed by one person at a time but via different sources.

Paul K 25-08-2010 18:22
Re: NAS Advice
 
Readynas should be a good choice then, we can access ours internally and from external connections. Have all our photos etc on it and use it as our central location for all data.
Also doubles up as our print server so we can access the printer from any PC without worrying about having a certain computer turned on.

zing_deleted 25-08-2010 18:24
Re: NAS Advice
 
ive been toying with the idea of building my own for some time now. Using a Mini ITX board based round the Atom using Freenas as the OS just aint got round to it yet lol

Damien 25-08-2010 18:48
Re: NAS Advice
 
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digital-Caviar-3-5-inch-Internal/dp/B002ZCXK0I/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1282758554&sr =1-2

This is the hard drive I was considering...

ZrByte 25-08-2010 19:26
Re: NAS Advice
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by zing (Post 35079455)
ive been toying with the idea of building my own for some time now. Using a Mini ITX board based round the Atom using Freenas as the OS just aint got round to it yet lol
Have done that myself but with a HP D530 USDT instead of an Atom. Attached a dual USB hard drive bay to it for my 2 1TB SATA drives because I only had the IDE version of the D530 and it could only house one drive at a time even if I did have one that accepted SATA. Worked a treat until I had the bright idea of letting a mate of mine borrow my D530 as a media centre, Haven't seen it or him since lol.

Damien 25-08-2010 20:02
Re: NAS Advice
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul (Post 35079452)
Readynas should be a good choice then, we can access ours internally and from external connections. Have all our photos etc on it and use it as our central location for all data.
Also doubles up as our print server so we can access the printer from any PC without worrying about having a certain computer turned on.
How does it work for streaming and what about remote access to your files? Does RAID work automatically and basically mirrors the first drive?

Paul K 25-08-2010 20:56
Re: NAS Advice
 
Streaming is simple, we have our Nas mapped to drives on our PCs and the streaming is excellent on it, (mate of mine streams films to a remote desktop at work but we shall over look that .. lol).
Remote access is via ftp, forward the necessary port on your router and then setup access controls on the NAS for FTP via it's interface (point and click on the right things basically).
RAID is automatic, plug the second drive in and it asks if you want to RAID it, you say yes and it trots off and does it for you.

Damien 26-08-2010 08:54
Re: NAS Advice
 
Do I need a SATA cable to plug in hard drives into it?

Paul K 26-08-2010 09:01
Re: NAS Advice
 
Ours came with all that was needed, the drives fit into a slot in caddy as they are swappable and the caddy goes into the drive housing. All I had to do was find the fitting screws that I lost when I opened up the packaging for the drives lol

Damien 26-08-2010 09:05
Re: NAS Advice
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul (Post 35079727)
Ours came with all that was needed, the drives fit into a slot in caddy as they are swappable and the caddy goes into the drive housing. All I had to do was find the fitting screws that I lost when I opened up the packaging for the drives lol
Cool!

Can they take any SATA Hard Drive then? 2tb is sweet.

Paul K 26-08-2010 09:07
Re: NAS Advice
 
There is a compatible drive list on the Readynas forum,
http://www.readynas.com/?page_id=82

Jonnymeg 26-08-2010 09:52
Re: NAS Advice
 
I have a Synology system with 4 1TB drives in. It is excellent.
There are more expensive than the ReadyNAS but in my opinion so worth it.

Look into them before making a decision, you can just buy two drives for them and upgrade as you need them.

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Synol...us-iPhone-Apps

The iphone apps are sweet too.

Damien 26-08-2010 19:06
Re: NAS Advice
 
Ordered them from amazon. ReadyNas Duo and the 2TB HD.

Any tips on what to do when I get it?

Graham M 26-08-2010 19:10
Re: NAS Advice
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Damien (Post 35080147)
Ordered them from amazon. ReadyNas Duo and the 2TB HD.

Any tips on what to do when I get it?
You mean apart from plugging it in, that always helps xD

Paul K 26-08-2010 19:15
Re: NAS Advice
 
Read the manual lol Have a look through the readynas forum on the netgear site while you wait for it to arrive. It's simple to install and setup.

Damien 26-08-2010 19:19
Re: NAS Advice
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul (Post 35080157)
Read the manual lol Have a look through the readynas forum on the netgear site while you wait for it to arrive. It's simple to install and setup.
How about installing latest firmwire, I think I need to do that to ensure maximum comparability with the drive I got? I have a 1tb drive as well, how simple would it be too plug that in, transfer it's contents to the 2tb drive, then add another 2tb drive with RAID? I don't want RAID to kick in when I entered the 1tb drive..

Thanks for the help btw!

Damien 28-08-2010 12:09
Re: NAS Advice
 
Well it's arrived :D

Any tips on how to boost performance? It's quite slow transferring over the network..

ZrByte 28-08-2010 15:19
Re: NAS Advice
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Damien (Post 35081007)
Well it's arrived :D

Any tips on how to boost performance? It's quite slow transferring over the network..
They generally are slower. The only sure way to get a fast one is to go the freeNAS route or get a server instead. Out of interest how fast is it going? a good one should really give about +8MB/s write and +12MB/s read though the average is probably about half of that.

Damien 28-08-2010 17:13
Re: NAS Advice
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by ZrByte (Post 35081062)
They generally are slower. The only sure way to get a fast one is to go the freeNAS route or get a server instead. Out of interest how fast is it going? a good one should really give about +8MB/s write and +12MB/s read though the average is probably about half of that.
I haven't tested but less than that.

My router does 54mps. Do you think I would benefit from getting a faster one?

Paul K 29-08-2010 09:11
Re: NAS Advice
 
Everything is going through the router so it will take time anyway, we have a 1Gb router sat between our PCs but obviously you will only see a difference if your network cards can push the data out at that speed too. One thing to remember though is that once it's on there then the job is done and won't have to happen again. We had to shift a lot of data onto ours so left it over night running.

Damien 29-08-2010 09:14
Re: NAS Advice
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul (Post 35081488)
Everything is going through the router so it will take time anyway, we have a 1Gb router sat between our PCs but obviously you will only see a difference if your network cards can push the data out at that speed too. One thing to remember though is that once it's on there then the job is done and won't have to happen again. We had to shift a lot of data onto ours so left it over night running.
Yeah, I am using the backup feature to copy content from my external HD (800gig!) over usb. So that's better. However for basic streaming of HD content across the house I am wondering if I should go to a Wireless N router which is capable of pushing more data around, or is the bottleneck at the ReadyNAS itself?

Also, would I benefit from a Gigabit router or not? :dunce:

Paul K 29-08-2010 09:36
Re: NAS Advice
 
If your PCs can match the network speed then throwing the data around the network would always benefit. The difference between a 10/100 and a 1gb network card can be staggering. Our 1Gb router sits between the PC network and our ADSL router so we can maximise the speed of the internal network since we don't need an amazing speed on the ADSL router since we can't get 1Gb download speeds from it ;)

Damien 29-08-2010 09:45
Re: NAS Advice
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul (Post 35081496)
If your PCs can match the network speed then throwing the data around the network would always benefit. The difference between a 10/100 and a 1gb network card can be staggering. Our 1Gb router sits between the PC network and our ADSL router so we can maximise the speed of the internal network since we don't need an amazing speed on the ADSL router since we can't get 1Gb download speeds from it ;)
If everything but the NAS is connected via wireless then the bottleneck won't be the speed the nas can talk with the router is it? So gigabit would be useless because the wireless speed is much slower?

ZrByte 29-08-2010 10:56
Re: NAS Advice
 
Maximum speed of 54G is about 3MB/s. Maximum I have got over wireless N is 7MB/s. 100mb LAN should be about 12MB/s, Best I have ever got from 1000mb LAN is 45MB/s though normally closer to 25MB/s.
Can your NAS be hard-wired over Ethernet or is it one of those wireless only units? If you can hard-wire it I would try it over 100mb or 1000mb and try to find the units limit, If its 6MB/s then you know wireless N should be fine, if the max speed is about 4MB/s or slower then you may find its not worth the investment in N for 1MB/s increase.
Most HD videos I have watched can stream comfortably over 54G for one stream though you wont be able to do much more with the wireless than browsing the internet (No fast downloads) or the video will start to stutter. If you find your NAS is fast enough and you have the need for multiple video streams or more intense use of the wireless for other uses (Or users) at the same time then N may be an option.

---------- Post added at 10:56 ---------- Previous post was at 10:54 ----------

Quote:
Originally Posted by Damien (Post 35081499)
If everything but the NAS is connected via wireless then the bottleneck won't be the speed the nas can talk with the router is it? So gigabit would be useless because the wireless speed is much slower?
Thats right because if the router is 54G then the maximum total bandwidth is 3MB/s so the wired connection to the router between the NAS is redundant.

TheNorm 29-08-2010 11:28
Re: NAS Advice
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Damien (Post 35079416)
...This is the one I am considering: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/149510
...
Have you claimed your free 500GB hard drive?

http://www.netgear.co.uk/freedrive.php

Damien 29-08-2010 13:58
Re: NAS Advice
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheNorm (Post 35081559)
Have you claimed your free 500GB hard drive?

http://www.netgear.co.uk/freedrive.php
Woah Cheers!

---------- Post added at 13:58 ---------- Previous post was at 13:56 ----------

Quote:
Originally Posted by ZrByte (Post 35081542)
Maximum speed of 54G is about 3MB/s. Maximum I have got over wireless N is 7MB/s. 100mb LAN should be about 12MB/s, Best I have ever got from 1000mb LAN is 45MB/s though normally closer to 25MB/s.
Can your NAS be hard-wired over Ethernet or is it one of those wireless only units? If you can hard-wire it I would try it over 100mb or 1000mb and try to find the units limit, If its 6MB/s then you know wireless N should be fine, if the max speed is about 4MB/s or slower then you may find its not worth the investment in N for 1MB/s increase.
Most HD videos I have watched can stream comfortably over 54G for one stream though you wont be able to do much more with the wireless than browsing the internet (No fast downloads) or the video will start to stutter. If you find your NAS is fast enough and you have the need for multiple video streams or more intense use of the wireless for other uses (Or users) at the same time then N may be an option.

---------- Post added at 10:56 ---------- Previous post was at 10:54 ----------



Thats right because if the router is 54G then the maximum total bandwidth is 3MB/s so the wired connection to the router between the NAS is redundant.
Thanks! I am upgrading to N to help with the many devices connected to it now!

Paul K 29-08-2010 14:52
Re: NAS Advice
 
You didn't know about the free drive? Deary me lol They have been doing that offer for a while now. 3 of us in work have the Readynas and so far only one person had an issue setting it up and that was PEBCAK and we made him very aware of it ;)

Damien 29-08-2010 17:39
Re: NAS Advice
 
What happens with a N Wireless network if someone with a computer that can only do G connects?

Paul K 29-08-2010 19:53
Re: NAS Advice
 
They connect at the speed relevant to their equipment as long as the router is backwards compatible with the slower standards

Damien 29-08-2010 20:04
Re: NAS Advice
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul (Post 35081871)
They connect at the speed relevant to their equipment as long as the router is backwards compatible with the slower standards
cool so it won't diminish the performance for those devices that do support N.

ZrByte 29-08-2010 20:14
Re: NAS Advice
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Damien (Post 35081874)
cool so it won't diminish the performance for those devices that do support N.
That depends on the router but most offer a protected n mode which gives a slightly lower performance on the n band by sacrificing one antenna soley for g.

pipes 09-11-2010 18:55
nas box 8132
 
Hi there can anyone help?
I am trying to find the software so that I will be able to use my Pluscom 8132 nas drive as my supplier did not supply one and pluscom's site is down


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