Network Attached Storage

[barrypriddis]

My present external hard drive is almost full, so am looking to have a system that automatically backs up all my images onto two separate and independant hard drives. I have been advised that what I need is Network Attached Storage with RAID.
Anybody got any experience of this? Is this the right way to go? Any comments/advice would be most welcome.Thanks

 

[webbEvents]

I'm looking for a similar solution Barry. I've subscribed to this thread and hope to get some informed info on the subject.
Webby

 

[neil_g]

please dont rely on RAID as a single point of storage. it is not infalible.

you need 2 separate physical devices and RAID mirroring does not count.

 

[martint]

I am sure a lot of others will post here to help you, my vote is for a Qnap NAS. It was my first NAS, I have found it very easy to use and it comes with a lot of software already installed.

Link to the one I use:

http://www.qnap.com/pro_detail_feature.asp?p_id=82

I have it set to Raid Mirrored as part of my back up plan, as posted above please do not use this as the only form of back up

 

[awp]

Have a look at www.drobo.com - ideal system which I've recently started using. I have a 5TB system.

 

[blue max]

I've got a Netgear Readynas NV+ which has four drives and allows for any one to fail.

You are going to have to dig deep though. You can buy the readynas duo with (if you haven't guessed already) uses just two drives. Pretty cheap now.

Great community forum too and very large installed user base.

If you are buying one, you can save some money by buying it empty and populating it with your own sourced drives.

You really have to spend some time researching it all though as getting to grips with it all makes it easier to make an informed buying decision.

Graham

 

[barrypriddis]

Thanks for all the comments so far.Obviously a lot of reading and research is required, which I will do. Further advice/comments always welcome. Thanks.

 

[barrypriddis]

Thanks for all the advice. Have now had opportunity to do some more research and have come to the conclusion that the best choice for me it to purchase two external hard drives and then programme my pc to back up one to the other every week. The only decision now is which hard drive?

 

[Tulipone]

Thanks for all the advice. Have now had opportunity to do some more research and have come to the conclusion that the best choice for me it to purchase two external hard drives and then programme my pc to back up one to the other every week. The only decision now is which hard drive?

This is not quite the same as the function of a NAS - the whole point for me is that data is held centrally and is accessible over a wireless network, possibly also acting as Bit torrent access and network print port acess. It also acts as a backup if required. You appear to be talking of USB drives.

Chris

 

[neil_g]

You appear to be talking of USB drives.

not necessarily, the OP may be talking about 2 single disk network attached drives.. either way it doesnt really matter to be honest..

 

[Tulipone]

not necessarily, the OP may be talking about 2 single disk network attached drives.. either way it doesnt really matter to be honest..

What would the advantage in that be? Most NAS devices have a USB port that you could add a USB drive to. Cheaper.

Chris

 

[neil_g]

never said there would be any advantage (other than being 2 separate physical devices), just the OP never mentioned what interface they opted for

 

[Kaouthia]

I tried one of those 1TB Western Digital worldbook edition jobbies. I've not used it now in about a year due to the ridiculously slow transfer speeds. I ended up just adding a basic PC to my network with half a bunch of hard drives inside it.