Anyone using NAS?

[Deward]

I have been looking into setting up some kind of NAS (network area storage) for home use. I have several computers at home that I would like to be a bit better connected as far as file sharing. Obviously I could just turn them all on and do it that way. But a couple of the computers only get turned on and off for brief times. I like the Drobo now that it has the Network capability but it still seems really expensive considering that no drives are included. I would ike something that allows hot swappable drives and raid or other backup capabilities.

Anyone running NAS?

[Winnow]

My original Buffalo Terastation is a NAS device and has been running 24/7 for 3+ years. (just searched VV to see when I bought it)

The only thing I've done extra is assign a static IP on my router to the Terastation and also one for my main PC. I used to screw myself by rebooting, which would mix up my internal IP addresses, resulting in my remote access not working as I have firewall protection set for certain IPs. Not that hard to do and you don't have to do that unless you remote connect.

Gigabit helps with speed so grab a gigabit router and a gigabit enabled NAs device. (Jumbo packets aren't that big of a deal but add more speed if all devices are compatible which usually isn't the case between NAS, Router and PC NIC)

[Neost]

Take a look at the linksys n series wireless routers. Some of them have automatic NAS when attaching a USB drive. While maybe not as fast as a terrastation, could be a decent way to upgrade to wireless n and NAS in one device.

[noel]

Drobo is by far the best from everything I've heard/read. I'm using a 1TB Time Capsule which is just fine for my needs.

Winnow, static DHCP leases are your friend!

[Winnow]

I remember we checked out Drobo on this board awhile back. The first issue was USB connection making them slow. It looks like hat was resolved. The other issue was noise. Peeps said they were nice and small but the fan was loud. I haven't gone back to look at them recently.

I kind of like being able to keep my data on separate HDs that I can use for various things, popping them in an out of my 4 hot swap HD bays. Of course, data security (not as in encryption but as in having a backup) isn't my biggest concern for 90% of my data. I'd think that's the same for most people with just a 100GB or much less of data being actually important. Backing up your OS partition is the big time saver and has rescued me several times from having to reinstall a shiltoad of apps, etc.

[Aabidano]

I've got a D-Link DNS-323 with a pair of 500Gb drives configured for RAID1. What sold me was 10/100/1000 ethernet support and the price.

I'd gotten past the point where the things I needed to back up fit on a single DVD (not that I did it often enough) so this was the easiest option for me.

It puts all our pictures, movies, music etc.. on a central, easily accessible point as well.

[valryte]

I looked into them for a bit. In the end I got tired of researching and finding something I didn't like and just threw a bunch of 500g drives in my old computer with server 2K3 and set them up for raid 5. Now I have Acronis with scheduled tasks imaging all my computers like once a week and performing nightly backups of all my documents and pictures.

[lmnt9]

I built my own w/linux and one of these:

http://www.coolermaster.com/products/pr ... il&id=2908

You can mirror a couple of 250GB (Or whatever size you need) - for stuff that you want to be protected, and then get a couple of 750GB for everything else.

It's not for everyone, but I enjoy it.