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Brian18

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Brian
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Hello all
I looking into getting a NAS set up which NAS would your recommend please and also i looking at maybe a 4 bay NAS can you put into it say 2x2 TD drives and 2 x4 TD drives please?

I looking forward to hearing from you!
Thanks3
Brian
 
Synology has a good reputation. This is what I`m looking into for my DVD library. I did speak to the guys at the photography show, and they`re very helpful.

https://www.synology.com/en-uk/
 
Synology are who I'd go for.

If you're technologically competent you could make one yourself using a HP Microserver and XPEnology. Built one probably over a year ago now and it's been rock solid.
 
This sort of question always gets the knee-jerk reaction of 'Synology' but they're no better than Asustor or QNAP. I certainly wouldn't go outside those three brands and Asustor seems to be the most responsive on its user forum.
You can use an HP Microserver as Matthew suggests or even use a small server case to completely build your own. There are several suitable free operating systems such as FreeNAS, NAS4free, unraid and Xpenology.
You can certainly mix drives as you describe; my Asustor AS-5104T currently contains 2 x 3TB & 2 x 6TB HDDS, arranged as two RAID1 pairs.
 
I'd recommend a HP Microserver and putting xpenology on it. It's not that difficult and there are many guides that you can follow.

Basically like having a synology and the benefits of its software but at a much cheaper price.
 
I have an older qnap 4 Bay and it suits my needs. I'm sure there is loads more it can do, and more advanced units, but I have it accessible via my phone with the app, it stores my photos, movies and music. It streams to my smart TV. I guess it all depends on what you need it for.....
 
Just to offer a different option - do you actually need a full-on NAS or is it just for network storage? I only ask as most (all?) modern routers will let you plug in a USB hard-drive giving you shared network storage, which works out a lot cheaper than a NAS.
 
What is the aim of using 2x2Tb and 2x4Tb?

The reason for the question is that typically a 4 bay unit will be set up to use RAID 5 so that you can have 1 drive fail without loosing data - and a RAID array will only use the capacity of the smallest drive in the set (So if you build a RAID 5 with 2x2 & 2x4, it would be the same as using 4x2, for 6Tb - you'd be better using 3x4 to get 8TB, and then adding a 4th later to push to 12Tb).

If you're wanting two separate arrays, then arguably getting 2 2-drive bays would be better.
 
Faldrax said:
If you're wanting two separate arrays, then arguably getting 2 2-drive bays would be better.
Click to expand...
A very expensive route if what Brian wants is two RAID 1s. It also needs two mains sockets and two network points.
 
I've got an 8tb western digital ex2100 coming next week so I'll let you guys know my first impressions
 
I'm happy with my Microserver running FreeNAS with 2x2Tb in a mirrored set-up, with room left over for another pair of mirrored drives in the future.

But I also have the set-up @Durbs suggests, with a USB plugged into the HH5 providing a simpler storage solution for shared music files.
 
Snapsh0t said:
A very expensive route if what Brian wants is two RAID 1s. It also needs two mains sockets and two network points.
Click to expand...

You can get a 2 bay NAS very cheaply, as they often have a much smaller feature set (and have less need of the higher processing power that RAID 5 requires)
EG;

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/2-b...m_medium=cpc&gclid=COGC1uic9cwCFQuNGwodfN4NAw

So sub £100 for a pair.

A bare 4 bay NAS will (certainly from the suggested manufacturers) be over the £200 mark, leaving plenty to pay fro a gigabit switch and extension lead if you don't have points and sockets handy.
 
I have several hard drives of various decent capacities knocking around, all working. Is there a reliable, simple NAS base I could slot them into to give it all a go? I would use it for music streaming so I don't need the computer turned on all the time.
 
Faldrax said:
You can get a 2 bay NAS very cheaply, as they often have a much smaller feature set (and have less need of the higher processing power that RAID 5 requires)
EG;

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/2-b...m_medium=cpc&gclid=COGC1uic9cwCFQuNGwodfN4NAw

So sub £100 for a pair.

A bare 4 bay NAS will (certainly from the suggested manufacturers) be over the £200 mark, leaving plenty to pay fro a gigabit switch and extension lead if you don't have points and sockets handy.
Click to expand...
I have to admit I wouldn't recommend DLink to my worst enemy and it doesn't meet the OP's requirements anyway as it only supports up to 3TB HDDs.
 
I have HP Microservers running FreeNAS. You can usually pick one up for around £110 (without storage) with their frequent £55 cashback offer which, I think, is on now.
 
condyk said:
I have several hard drives of various decent capacities knocking around, all working. Is there a reliable, simple NAS base I could slot them into to give it all a go? I would use it for music streaming so I don't need the computer turned on all the time.
Click to expand...
This Asustor unit is very good value. It's not the fastest - I have the 2-bay unit so I know - but it runs the same OS as every other Asustor NAS. An HP Microserver as suggested by digital, etc. would be cheaper and more powerful but you'd have to sort out your own OS for it.
 
Cheer's Jon. Have bookmarked that but at the mo' the price looks out of range, but will think about it.

I was thinking ... I have a great PC I built maybe 6-7 years ago from top quality parts. It is sat in my spare room doing nothing. I'm wondering if I add a couple of drives can I add the free NAS people are mentioning and use that? Be good to have the router, printer and music/file storage out of my lounge on so always on. It's wired and wireless.
 
Yes, that would probably work well. FreeNAS or NAS4Free (a simpler option if you don't need FreeNAS's bells & whistles) don't need a huge amount of CPU power for most uses and prefer their own software RAID if required.
 
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