Help setting up / understanding NAS with (mostly) Macs

allanm

allanm

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So, I want to setup a NAS device. I have an iMac, 2 MacBooks ( all running Lion) and two Windows laptops ( Win 7, Win XP) and two printers (HP and samsung laser) all connected wirelessly to a Netgear router.
At the moment I have a couple of external drives connected to the iMac that serve as back ups.( Time Machine, clone, files and Aperture photo library)
I have been looking at whats available and really don't understand what I need now and for the future. Budget isn't that high, so, as cheap as possible.
I have been looking at a QNAP TS-112 that I assume comes without a hard drive.
If I get one of those, can I connect my external drives and have them store photos in my Aperture library, iTunes and files for all the devices to access and update or would I need to buy drives to fit in the QNAP TS-112?

Any help gratefully appreciated but must be non techy and you must assume I know nothing, especially technical terms, about network storage.:shrug:

Allan
 
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Normally a nas will use 3.5" hard drives to fit in it. Some qnap have USB ports for backups but you can if anything like synology also access them over the network. If you're not looking at putting drives in the nas though you might want to look at another method.
 
Thanks Neil, after a bit more reading about them I can see that an internal drive is the way to go.
So, if I did have an internal ( say 2TB) drive, is there any advantage to also using external drives?
Allan
 
Yes, depending how you will be using the nas. If the nas is purely a backup then you may decide that it's enough on it's own. However having an external drive attached to act as a backup to the nas would not be a bad idea, especially if the external drive could be stored offsite at your work or relatives home.
 
PaulF said:
Yes, depending how you will be using the nas. If the nas is purely a backup then you may decide that it's enough on it's own. However having an external drive attached to act as a backup to the nas would not be a bad idea, especially if the external drive could be stored offsite at your work or relatives home.
Click to expand...

Ok, my brains starting to hurt now! How would I use an external drive stored in another location?

I have just been looking at a QNAP TS-119p II with a 1 or 2tb drive.( bigger memory than the 112) Most important is Time Machine backups and file storage. Remote access would be good, especially to my photos so I can share with family around the world and a few files. I quite like the idea of remote surveillance too.

Is this a reasonable device? It seems to be the right price and I haven't seen too many bad reviews of it.....

Allan
 
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allanm said:
Ok, my brains starting to hurt now! How would I use an external drive stored in another location?

I have just been looking at a QNAP TS-119p II with a 1 or 2tb drive.( bigger memory than the 112) Most important is Time Machine backups and file storage. Remote access would be good, especially to my photos so I can share with family around the world and a few files. I quite like the idea of remote surveillance too.

Is this a reasonable device? It seems to be the right price and I haven't seen too many bad reviews of it.....

Allan
Click to expand...

Sorry, should have worded that better, the external drive could be used as a weekly/monthly backup locally then moved offsite for safe keeping.

I have a Qnap and have no complaints, it's not the model you mentioned so can't give any advice to that particular one but others on here who have NAS rate Qnap and Synology highly.

Paul.
 
PaulF said:
Sorry, should have worded that better, the external drive could be used as a weekly/monthly backup locally then moved offsite for safe keeping.

I have a Qnap and have no complaints, it's not the model you mentioned so can't give any advice to that particular one but others on here who have NAS rate Qnap and Synology highly.

Paul.
Click to expand...

Ah, that makes more sense now, thanks.
I think I will go for the 119p II, it seems to do what I want it to.
Allan
 
Just ordered this 119p II and a 2tb drive. I think that will be enough storage for me. I'll see how I get one. I can always swap the drive for a bigger one if I need to. I have a 1tb drive for back ups.
Just got to get my head round what I want it to do now
Allan
 
Well, almost a month of ownership and so long spent with tech support and fiddling about. I am used to Macs that just work.
Seems the unit is faulty so I have just returned it for a refund. It didn't really work as well as I expected or did what I really wanted it to do. I had it working fine for about a week before it all started to go Pete Tong!
I also found that after a bit of research, all of what I wanted to do with the NAS can be done on the setup I already have. I have usb drives connected to my iMac that I can access from all other computers, even remotely, I get Time Machine backups working on all the Macs, even wirelessly to one of my USB drives, I can access my iMac from my Macbook when away from home using Team Viewer (free) and I have my Aperture library on a usb drive that can be accessed by all my computers and best of all, it hasn't cost me a penny more.


Allan
 
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Hi mate, so do you mean you want to attach an external drive and copy the contents over? If so a nas Is ideal, most nas drives do this (the qnap does) but the best thing about them is the redundancy feature. This means if you have 2 drives (say 2 1.5tbs). You will only have 1.5 space not 3, because the nas will use the other as a redundancy, meaning if there's a failure anywhere you have a backup ready to go. A real godsend IMHO.

They do lots of other stuff but for sharing things over a network there's nothing better. I should be able to answer all your questions if you still gave any :)
 
Vettahead said:
Should have read the whole thread :(
Click to expand...

No problem. I might look at them again but was disappointed that I couldn't really get mine to work reliably. I still have the 2 x 2tb drives I bought so will probably just use those in an enclosure for storage for all the macs. It seems to do all I want it to do like that for now.
Allan
 
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