BAckup/ NAS advice

Tractor Boy

Tractor Boy

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Nick
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Ok good peeps I am in need of some advice :help:

I have been looking into getting a NAS of some description and have looked extensivley on here and google for ideas. I have excluded elcheapo units as the reliability, speeds and build quality seem to leave a lot to be desired. I have been looking at a 2 bay synology DS212 and a 2tb drive to get me started. however I have just also seen the 3tb Buffalo linkstation live which I think will do what I need :thinking:

Not looking to run RAID (might in the future but not for a long time) but to be a NAS that can be accessed by my main PC, netbook, iPad and to stream content to PS3 and XBOX and remotely over t'internet. I currently have two 1tb drives in the pc purely for storage, one of which will be taken out and put in an enclosure for off site backup.

So I guess waht I would like a bit of advice on is the following points;

1: Is a set up of NAS as main storage area for photos, iTunes, and data, back up drive in the pc of photos and iTunes, and backup off site sensible

2: Does anyone use the buffalo linkstation live and is it any good

3: Are there any other / better options for the same kind of money (max £200)

Many thanks in advance :thumbs:

Nick
 
1. yes. but for iTunes and photo post processing, you will still need your data to be local, otherwise things will be very slow.

2. Synology is excellent. you should go for it. currently there is nothing on the market that offers the ease of use as Synology.
here's a demo of their user interface: www.synology.com/us/products/demo/index.php

3. you can also look at HP Microserver, requires more setting up than Synology, but it's very cheap at £150 after cashback yet offers boat loads of feature.
 
1. Yes, IF you are connecting to it via Gigabit Ethernet. 100Mbit or wifi will be too slow for general storage.

2. Don't know. I know Neil rates Synology.

3. HP Microserver?
 
no NAS units current do homesharing as far as im aware. with HP Microserver, you can install Windows server on there then just run a standard iTunes for Homeshareing.

iTunes won't sync shared iTunes library (the feature known as iTunes server on NAS spec sheets). map iTunes library music on NAS makes syncing really slow for me.

for photo post processing, you'd need a high end unit. Ds212 should be fine. my Ds410j (j for cheap) certainly can't handle anything as intensive :(
 
wuyanxu said:
no NAS units current do homesharing as far as im aware. with HP Microserver, you can install Windows server on there then just run a standard iTunes for Homeshareing.
Click to expand...

no youre right, i meant connecting to a home share that had the data on the NAS.

iTunes won't sync shared iTunes library (the feature known as iTunes server on NAS spec sheets). map iTunes library music on NAS makes syncing really slow for me.
Click to expand...

odd, all of my music and itunes lib files are on my NAS and dont find it slow.. but then...

for photo post processing, you'd need a high end unit. Ds212 should be fine. my Ds410j (j for cheap) certainly can't handle anything as intensive :(
Click to expand...

...im using a DS1010+ so that might be it...
 
Thanks for all the comments folks - very usefull info.

I am limited for space so I don't think the HP microserver is going to be viable but I will look into that.

iTunes is not a real problem - was just somthing that would have been nice to have. If I can make it work then great if not then thats life.

Whatever I have will be hard connected to the router so that should keep things stable. The synology I was looking at was the j version - about £160 bare at the moment.

So does anyone have any experience of the Buffalo linkstation live?

Nick
 
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