NAS or RAID in windows workstation with remote access?

[Sinnamon]

Hi guys&gals!

 

I've come to the realisation I need more storage and also want to move away from a bunch of external hard drives I have a flying around. I've been looking a bit into what a NAS can offer and with Ugreen new NAS series about to launch I was planning on getting one of those. But now I have doubts. Is it worth spending 600$ (6 bay) on a NAS if I already have a good PC with a meshify case that supports more than enough drives? I was thinking of saving the money spent on the NAS and rather spend it on the disks. Since I can also remotely power on my PC (WoL) and access it (this addresses the difference in power draw), is a NAS really worth it?

 

Appreciate your answers!

[Zando_]

20 minutes ago, Sinnamon said:

is a NAS really worth it?

Doesn't sound like you need multiple machines to connect to the same drives (this is the main point of a Network Attached Storage device), so the main benefit would be in the separation of the machines. It's often more convenient to have one computer do one thing (your work for example) and another do different things (hold all your stuff). Adding a bunch more devices to your main PC will make it boot slower for example (as it has to initialize more devices, and if you use an HBA then the HBA itself takes a bit to come on as well). Also if for some reason you need to take the RAID array offline, you don't have to shut down your main PC to do so. The main cons would be a whole 2nd computer to administrate (though this can be very easy, once set up they require very little attention) and you'll be throttled to whatever your home LAN is. Most folks have gigabit ethernet around the house, so you'll be limited to ~125MB/s, even standard HDDs on their own are often a bit faster than that, and depending on RAID/ZFS configuration they can get much faster still. 

[Bersella AI]

19 hours ago, Sinnamon said:

Is it worth spending 600$ (6 bay) on a NAS if I already have a good PC with a meshify case that supports more than enough drives?

This might, if I interpret correctly, refer to the Ugreen DX4600 series, which has been marketed in China for over a year, and cited like "friendly to use", "looks pretty", "supports Docker", etc. Since Ugreen did not introduce any NAS products before 2022, it is doubted whether its services could remain robust outside of China, and more information like reviews should be grabbed before purchasing.

As for custom builds, a replacement of chassis would be recommended; that is, take the Meshify case from your rig, and build a new rig with that.

[Sinnamon]

On 3/21/2024 at 2:39 PM, Bersella AI said:

This might, if I interpret correctly, refer to the Ugreen DX4600 series, which has been marketed in China for over a year, and cited like "friendly to use", "looks pretty", "supports Docker", etc. Since Ugreen did not introduce any NAS products before 2022, it is doubted whether its services could remain robust outside of China, and more information like reviews should be grabbed before purchasing.

As for custom builds, a replacement of chassis would be recommended; that is, take the Meshify case from your rig, and build a new rig with that.

Actually referring to the kickstarter project. LTT even had an ad in one of their recent videos

 

[Electronics Wizardy]

4 hours ago, Sinnamon said:

Actually referring to the kickstarter project. LTT even had an ad in one of their recent videos

 

Ive been using that Ugreen NAS in the US for like a month now, and the software is OK. No Docker/VM support yet. Hardware is pretty good, but no point in having powerful hardware if there aren't apps to use it.

 

 

But if you already have a PC, it will work just fine for NAS duties. It will us a bit more power if you want it on 24/7, but other than that its pretty simmilar.

[Sinnamon]

Thanks for the input! I'm still debating topics like security (not having all your data on your daily driver; risk of malware etc.), easier remote access and datamanagement , but I guess this is something I have to figure out myself.

Even considered buying this as a double duty office PC and slapping windows on it (saw that it works on yt). hardware is good enough for what I do and electricity would be free