Researching into NAS

[Brownguy]

aside from the LinusTechTips videos, I've been looking into backing up my laptop(s)(including OS) to a NAS server/device. I would like to see other people's opinion between....

 

Windows Home Server (computer tower)

 

vs

 

NAS device (ex. Synology Disk Station)

 

note: I am aiming for RAID-5

 

also I got a few other questions...

 

1. Do you personally use WHS and/or NAS device, also what RAID do you recommend?

2. Is it possible to put in a NEW empty(no OS) hard drive(s) into a laptop and manage to get a backed-up Windows OS image from the server? If not, would you use other methods, like using a flash drive between the backup server/device and that "empty" laptop?

3. If I am using Windows Home Server, what happens when I go out with the laptop that is supposed to be backed up incrementally with the server? and is it possible for automatic remote backup?

 

*subjected to editing*

 

 

 

[failblox]

I'd say get a Windows Home Server and install that on a computer you built yourself cause it provides more flexibility and upgrability in the future. Perhaps for some reason you'll find you don't like Windows Home Server, so you could just install FreeNAS or whatever you want on it.

 

1. Personally I just have a hard drive hooked up to my router via a HDD enclosure and USB 3.0, so technically it's a NAS, but it's not that great. For a home server, I recommend RAID 5, as it provides redundancy for one drive failure. RAID 6 may provide more redundancy (2 drives failing), but I believe this option will reduce the amount of usable space on your NAS/homeserver, and for a home server, redundancy for one drive failure should be good enough unless the data you're gonna be storing on it is critical.

2. Sorry, but I have no idea. However, I think there are probably ways to do this.

3. I know it's possible for you to access your files remotely using Windows Home Server, but I'm not so sure about remote backups. Just mentioning though - if you can do remote backups, you better have a good upload speed at the place you're backing it up from, and a good download speed at your house.

[Captain_WD]

aside from the LinusTechTips videos, I've been looking into backing up my laptop(s)(including OS) to a NAS server/device. I would like to see other people's opinion between....

 

Windows Home Server (computer tower)

 

vs

 

NAS device (ex. Synology Disk Station)

 

note: I am aiming for RAID-5

 

also I got a few other questions...

 

1. Do you personally use WHS and/or NAS device, also what RAID do you recommend?

2. Is it possible to put in a NEW empty(no OS) hard drive(s) into a laptop and manage to get a backed-up Windows OS image from the server? If not, would you use other methods, like using a flash drive between the backup server/device and that "empty" laptop?

3. If I am using Windows Home Server, what happens when I go out with the laptop that is supposed to be backed up incrementally with the server? and is it possible for automatic remote backup?

 

*subjected to editing*

 

 

Hey Brownguy,

 

1. You could use different type of RAID to get one, two or more disk failure tolerance. RAID5 is good as it gives you redundancy and well as speed. I personally like RAID6 and RAID10, but they are pretty disk-hungry as they use more drives for redundancy. 

 

2. It depends on your motherboard if it supports booting from a wireless source. Also, if you install your OS and want to recover your image, you simply need to see it. You can do that with pretty much any NAS.

 

3. You should be able to do that as long as you have internet connection. 

 

I would suggest thinking of a NAS as they are optimized for that. I could suggest checking out the 4-bay WD My Cloud EX4. It offers RAID0, 1, 5 and 10 and has many features including remote backup and restore as well as various options for file access and sharing. Here's a link: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=Y7IBSe.

 

Feel free to ask if you have any questions

 

Captain_WD.

[Brownguy]

Hey Brownguy,

1. You could use different type of RAID to get one, two or more disk failure tolerance. RAID5 is good as it gives you redundancy and well as speed. I personally like RAID6 and RAID10, but they are pretty disk-hungry as they use more drives for redundancy.

2. It depends on your motherboard if it supports booting from a wireless source. Also, if you install your OS and want to recover your image, you simply need to see it. You can do that with pretty much any NAS.

3. You should be able to do that as long as you have internet connection.

I would suggest thinking of a NAS as they are optimized for that. I could suggest checking out the 4-bay WD My Cloud EX4. It offers RAID0, 1, 5 and 10 and has many features including remote backup and restore as well as various options for file access and sharing. Here's a link: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=Y7IBSe.

Feel free to ask if you have any questions

Captain_WD.

If I went with a NAS (with your example, the WD My Cloud) does it have the same functionality for backing up computers (including OS) as a WIndows Home Server? Since backing up my laptop encase of an emergency is the main priority. Automatic backup over network and remote network.

[Captain_WD]

If I went with a NAS (with your example, the WD My Cloud) does it have the same functionality for backing up computers (including OS) as a WIndows Home Server? Since backing up my laptop encase of an emergency is the main priority. Automatic backup over network and remote network.

 

For basic functionality such as scheduled or continues backup, you can say that almost all NAS devices are similar (including these two). It's the different features that give you freedom to do different settings, security and other extras that differ the different products, as well as the hardware inside. But, for basic backup, you could go with pretty much anything.

 

Captain_WD.