NAS Recommendations ?

Professor · July 10, 2014

Hi

I’m in need help choosing a NAS for my family to use. As of current we have several laptop/desktops/tablets in use and I’ve been looking for a way to centrally store all of our data/movie/pics/music so all family members can have easy access to it.

I’ve been doing some research on NAS but it seems like a bit if a minefield. And I’m unsure of what I would be suitable. I’m pretty computer illiterate but have never done networked storage before so have some questions.

Is it easier to buy an empty storage unit and add my own drives ? or Just buy one that already has drives? (I have already got 4x1TB drives spare and was thinking it might save some money?)

How easy is it to add/remove drives as my storage needs change?

Is it easier to reuse some old pc components to build my own NAS?

Anyone got and recommendation?

My main priorities are Keeping cost down/making sure its expandable/Easyish to set up and easy enough for my family to use.

Thanks in advance

WhatTheQuack · July 10, 2014

1. If you already have some drives, then just buy an empty unit, it will usually be cheaper.

2. Really it depends on the NAS. I have a Synology Diskstation DS214 Play (Stupid long product name) and it is super easy to change the hard drives. It basically uses the same tool-free mounting sleds that you would find in a PC case.

3. I don't have any experience doing this... (But I'm sure someone else can help you)

I can recommend the DS214 play (Because Its the only NAS that I have owned), Its great for streaming media to multiple devices because it has a built in hardware H.264 encoder. However it is only a 2-bay unit, so it won't fit all four of your hard drives.

The Synology DSM (Its operating system) is fantastic. I features a full desktop style interface which is very responsive and easy to use. It has loads of great features too. There is also a variety of applications for the DSM platform (Although some of these really should be built in to DSM anyway)

Hope this helps

Sauron · July 10, 2014

I advise you build your own it's cheaper and much more fun to do. First of all you need to choose a low power cpu with integrated graphics (to keep the price down since it's not a cpu hevy task), then get a cheap but reliable motherboard, a not very powerful but reliable psu, a pci-e raid controller and a good network card. Then download freenas for free and configure your nas as you want. Then you can add as many drives as fit in the case.

see if this build satisfies you:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/XVCzhM

The case I chose has 8 internal hdd bays, but if you need more the sky's the limit (remember you'll need a motherboard that supports more though). You might also want to install a fan in front of the hdds to cool them better, but that's up to you.

All of the above is pointless if you already have an old pc in your house. If you do, install freenas and you're golden, add the raid controller to it if you need to.

Professor · July 10, 2014

Thanks for the help so far, its been great.

How would a AMD Athlon 5350 stack up against a Intel Celeron G1820.? Amd seems to use less power but has more cores. Would it make a difference what the CPU was ?

More concerned about power consumption. AMD's 25w as appose to intels 53w.