Beginner Nas or not to Nas

Mp4

Mp4

Messages
346
Edit My Images
Yes
I have 4 external drive and am looking at a back solution to cut down on the drives i have on my floor+ plug sockets and was hoping a NAS would be the way forward.

2TB - 1.81
4TB - 3.63
4TB - 3.63
500GB - just files and hardly use.



At the moment using LR(Lightroom) on C: Drive and the catalogue+DNG's are stored on my 2TB drive.

I use Syncback SE (v7) to (Sync) to do a Continuous (Incremental) backup on another 4TB drive.

What I have not done so far is cloned my C: to one of the 4TB's

I am half tempted to get another 1TB just for my C: to save room on one of the drives.

But i do like the Synology (Synology ds414j as it would be the same price as the Gen8 £140 after cashback but then limited with 2 bays) unit just not sure 2 bays isn't enough, but then the drives are getting bigger again
smile.gif


As some people have said before I need an off site backup and was thinking of getting a NAS and leaving it at in-laws or something.
and was looking at Code42? Crashplan but didn't like the idea of moving the data to USA

Looked more and maybe I just need a DAS?? I could use the GEn8 as one??
 
I use Amazon Glacier for my offsite backup, works well and data stays in the EU.
 
Would 2 Bays do the trick?

The more I look at Synology i want one as it just works out of the box, where a micro server will take me a while to setup.
 
Personally I would say the 4-bay is worth the extra investment, in a mirrored config the 2-bay could give you a max of 4tb, whereas you could run 12tb in a 4-bay using RAID-5 as your fault tolerance.

Micro-servers are all well and good but unless you have bespoke requirements the Synology will do everything you want and much more. I run a public facing Asterix VoIP system on mine with Cisco handsets but that's just me lol
 
Nas box are quite expensive, a micro server would be a lot cheaper.

I have a NAS, it's a bit limiting now. Only has USB 2 and sata 2 speeds. And I looked into upgrade to a more fitting 2 bay NAS, you are looking at at least £250+ and some nas have lame hardware meaning transfer speeds are slow in relative terms. I am current going for a micro server.
 
google HP Microserver :)

I picked my last 2 up for £150 each and then installed Windows 7 on it.

You can use it as a NAS or do more with it. The main use of mine is an iTunes server for my apple TVs and airport expresses around the house and of course backup of my main PC
 
Gen8 Microservers i was looking at before but like Synology software and ease of use too much.
 
NAS, it's a bit limiting now. Only has USB 2
Click to expand...
It cannot be a NAS box without a network connection, NAS boxes have either wired or wireless network connections. NAS = Network Attached Storage.
 
The NAS has 1gigabite but the transfer rate is limited by sata 2 thus limiting on transfer speed.

Also my laptop doesn't have 1gigabite port so have to rely on USB for transfer any large files to the NAS which isn't great as it's USB 2.

I am looking at HP micro servers. Expandable and relatively cheap.
 
Last edited:
Dale_tem said:
google HP Microserver :)

I picked my last 2 up for £150 each and then installed Windows 7 on it.

You can use it as a NAS or do more with it. The main use of mine is an iTunes server for my apple TVs and airport expresses around the house and of course backup of my main PC
Click to expand...

I was referring to the statement which said microservers are a lot cheaper. £150 + Windows 7 cost + HDD's is no cheaper than a good NAS.

I'm not disputing that Microservers are good and far more capable in what they can do, but price isn't one of the factors as far as I can see
 
ricky1980 said:
The NAS has 1gigabite but the transfer rate is limited by sata 2 thus limiting on transfer speed.

Also my laptop doesn't have 1gigabite port so have to rely on USB for transfer any large files to the NAS which isn't great as it's USB 2.

I am looking at HP micro servers. Expandable and relatively cheap.
Click to expand...

Unless you're using SSD's, SATA2 won't be your bottleneck.
 
The top speed on my qnap is about 50MBS that's as fast as it goes, still too slow for me over network back up :)
 
Neilc28 said:
I was referring to the statement which said microservers are a lot cheaper. £150 + Windows 7 cost + HDD's is no cheaper than a good NAS.
Click to expand...
Windows 7. On a microserver??? You should be using Linux IMHO. If you don't want to bother learning Linux, buy a NAS. IMHO of course...
 
To OP, there is a HP micro server with 4 bay hot swap for £180 from ebuyer. You should be able to get some cash back on top of that. The micro server comes with synology software. So same as nas, more capable.
 
Are you sure it comes with Synology software (DSM)? I know the source-code is released under a GPL but there's a difference between the simplicity of buying an appliance with DSM catered for and updated automatically against installing a variant of it on different hardware.

Also, what makes a HP MicroServer running DSM more capable than a Synology running DSM? Surely they would be identical in features?

Please correct me if I'm wrong as I'm genuinely interested
 
I believe it is. More capable being the native support for SATA 3 which will probably be better than synology and expandable
 
Still none the wiser on what im going to get! and the Gen8 HP with the cashback is very good.

Ricky1980 i can't find any that come with the DSM software?
 
I still recommend the Synology, running a Microserver with DSM looks like you'll only gain SATA3, and I doubt that would give you any noticeable benefit unless you've got link aggregation capable NIC's and switches.

There are of course other solutions such as Windows Server and Linux variants but there are obviously associated costs and technical know-how involved in setting up either
 
Reasons for buying a NAS:

Simple
Has a number of functions

Reasons for buying a Microserver

You want it to render media for devices
You want it to run full iTunes
You want more than what a NAS can offer.
 
the HP server does come with the HP software, but the DSM software can be installed on these servers easily as per the link I sent you.

have fun

I bought mine now but that little server is probably what i would put my money on if i want to buy again.
 
I use a microserver with a pretty built os (openmediavault), other options out there. Very good, Max flexibility.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top