One Buffalo NAS down, better luck next time.........

Inserting the hard disks is REALLY easy; no need to be afraid of that task.

I'm not up on current recommendations for brands, although I have read that certain "green" - friendly disks, because they spin down to save energy, are not as responsive as you might like for music server applications.

I got Samsung greenies for my QNAP because at the time of purchase they were the only HDDs I could positively identify as being of the exact spec and performance. Although I'm sure the old favorites, first among them being Seagate Barracuda would have done just as well. I used these in the old ReadyNAS Duo without issues and have a couple still knocking about. The Samsungs have been fine. I have noticed the power down when standing next to the NAS but (so far) they have spun up quickly and delivered the files on demand.

I'm also not up on the latest and greatest. I tend to stick to what I know and think I can trust. Let's face it, when it comes to HDDs, and even NAS boxes, it's always going to be a question of when not if. But the hardware is cheap, back ups are easy and reliable, and Trigger's broom evolves seamlessly. I'd rather loose a NAS than an HDX internal HDD. Ideally I'd rather lose nothing!

Seagate Pipeline HD. Accept no substitutes–designed for the task.

another internet trawl and even more questions

prices! 

I see a Readynas netgear ultra 2 x 2 Tb for €430

I see synology and qnap NASes for similar if not slightly dearer with no drives, adding 2 x seagate pipeline adds a further €170

I'd appreciate feedback about which make (and model) NAS being used and which make (and model) disks are spinning therein.

I have to admit to being attracted to a box coming in the post that just has to be plugged in rather than 3 boxes where 2 drives have to be inserted. However my thoughts are on the future and I don't want to need to upgrade next year.

My plan is to get a UnitiServe, which initaially will stream to my UniQute.

in years to come i see the UnitiServe streaming to a NDX (or its replacement)

So the NAS will be a back-up for the serve (as well as a general back-up device) but with hi-res will probably morph into (if I have the terminology correct) a share or store for the serve.

sorry for the rambling and thanks in anticipation.

Well, I can't make objsctive comparative recommendations but for what it's worth I can tell you what I have and what I'm happy with.

QNAP T-410 running 4 1TB Samsung F3 HD103SJ in mirrored pairs. USB. Backup is done onto a Seagate Free Agent external USB HDD.

I had a two bay ReadyNAS Duo which was fit for purpose. It could be slow and noisy at times and the software to run it was IMO clunky and at times difficult to understand and use. I'm probably not intelligent enough but no worries. The QNAP administrative interface is smooth, easy to use and obviously targeted at people at my level.

QNAP are a bit more expensive because they are good.

To insert a drive, you open a little drivebay door and slide the drive in. This is not rocket science.

Another option is to purchase a cheap NAS, then you can replace it when it fails in a years time.

+1 for QNAP

avoid any NAS that the word 'cheap' could be applied to in any way whatsoever.

Tog

already taken that option apparently!

so if i were to go for a qnap NAS

1. should i go for 2 or 4 bay?
2. there are a load of models available on-line with similar names (412, 401, 439, etc). Could someone suggest a good 2 bay and 4 bay QNAP NAS?

Thanks

SJB

I have a TS410, on my (very good) network I get throughput of 60-70MB/s down and 20 up. I think they may have replaced it by now. Check out smallnetbuilder webiste for the latest NASes to market.

It will happily deliver 1080p to one computer, music to another and finder operations on another, whilst backing up to an attached USB drive. for the price it really is very good. I can and frequently do access it from work and it can run Bit torrent, or even multi link downloads from rapishare et all. It has build in UPNP and DAAP.

Get a four bay, because all that happens with a two bay is down the line you swap it out for a four bay. You don't have to fill all the drives to start.

Hello Sloop John,

Here in Belgium, various stores either the Samsung or Western Digital disks where the first ones are slightly cheaper. Just for your informtion: I am in the market for a NAS too and asked a few times if it was better to buy 7200 rpm disks over 5400 rpm disks. Apparantly that doesn't make a difference since the disks appera not to be the bottleneck in NAS performance;

I was surprised that the QNAP nas's don't directly provide wifi connectivity -- you have to buy a usb wifi adaptor.

I am astounded anyone serious about a decent quality of home network/streamer would even consider putting any kind of storage device on WIFI. It is, put simply asking for trouble.

If you cannot get ethernet to a NAS, then don't bother.

Hi Bart -

NAS devices are usually placed near a router and hard-wired.

And most routers being sold these days have wi-fi antennas.

Good luck!

Hook

Bear with me as I learn   Ethernet from the nas to the router is fine for me, but I was hoping to go wifi from the nas to a Uniti product or NDX.  Aesthetically, I'm hoping to keep my living room with as few 'ugly boxes' as possible and was under the impression that wifi from the nas for this use was common.  Am I headed in the "wrong" direction with these thoughts?

I would say you are heading in the wrong direction. Streaming music over WiFi is unlikely to get the job done. In a perfect world everything will sound and perform best if wired. But you can fudge it. 

It's different for each of us. I have a wireless bridge which gives reliable connection to the hub which is at the other end of the house. Because I only need this for low bit rate internet radio and looking up CD data and art when ripping, it works fine. For ripping to NAS and playback from NAS I'm wired into the bridge. This means that although the data is pushed around using network protocols, this part of the chain is wired together. 

I can stream across WiFi from the NAS, via the HDX into the bridge (wired), then wireless to the PC in my office. This works. But I don't require high performance to play music on my PC and if there were occasional drop outs it wouldn't bother me. As it happens there are no drop outs. This means that in theory I could push my music across WiFi but in practice I'm on much more solid ground in the lounge with wires. They are not obtrusive and certainly don't stick out compared to the quite complicated network of wires already sticking out of the back of my system.

I could pull up the floor boards upstairs and run a cable from the hub to the HDX. Or actually, a switch for the HDX and NAS.  It would take about a day and is technically easy to do. When I got the HDX, this was plan B. But it gets a reliable internet connection from the bridge so there is no need.

See I had not thought of that -- put the nas and router upstairs in a closet where I want them out of the way, and run "just" a cable down to the Uniti or NDX, right?  That's probably quite do-able!

Indeed.

You need to consider a couple of things.

Firstly your incoming WAN line (From you internet service provider)

In some way this needs to be attached to your router with ethernet cable. If the router is the modem as well (You are plugging a phone line into it) then that line will obviously need to be available in your new location.

Second thing to consider is, would it be better to run cables from the loft (For me it was as there is no insulation in the walls, perhaps you are as lucky?)

In which case you might consider purchasing a switch. Again this switch plugs into the router, and all you do then is run all the rest of the leads off the switch down to your uniti and to computers in the house.

It sounds complicated but it really is not. I found it a nice project to do. I made up my own wires as well, all the kit is available on ebay, including reels of cable, wall points for a tidy finish for the ethernet cable and the crimping tools. Dirt cheap as well. 

If you do consider doing it you might consider future proofing with CAT6, but CAT5E will do for most home stuff and is what I have. 

One other thing don't run cat cable in parallel with electric cable.

I did a similar thing to Gary - by far the best plan. The only caveat I have; if your eyesight isn't up to scratch wiring those little plugs is a real fiddle! I also made the mistake of buying solid core cabling and on a particularly long and convoluted run I somehow managed to break one of the wires somewhere along it's 30 Meter length - discovered after I'd put all the furniture back, re-fixed carpets etc. How I laughed! Get the flexible stuff, it's the same price. And you might as well use CAT6, it was the same price as the 5E when I bought it..

No-one mentioned Synology??

I prefer them over Qnap. A much more intuitive interface and very good performance.

A good choice for versatility, with ready-rolled apps available, too.

I don't know if the latest Qnaps have it too, but iTunes streaming is available if that's of any interest to anyone here?

About the drives - look for the server grade SATA (II) drives. They share some of the attributes of the earlier SCSI server drives, like clever pre-fetch and queuing algorithms, faster access times, etc. But primarily, they're designed for intensive 24/7 usage and have a much greater MTBF (real world, not just quoted!)

You will pay almost double, compared to the lower priced drives most sites advertise as their "price incentives" but you get what you pay for.......