your recommendation for a good NAS - ??

ASDCR

ASDCR

New Member
Reaction score
0
Location
San Diego
hello everybody

my client wants to put in a NAS - they need someplace to store all their files and they don't want (don't feel they "need") a full server

[they don't want the initial expense or the ongoing maint they believe a server would require]

they're just a small outfit - ~10 employees and only two ppl on computers, there's a third computer that we're using for a file server at the moment but... the other employees like to come in and surf the internet on it so... yeah, better to get their business-critical files off of that!

i would prefer to put in a WHS but that could be a little more $ than they're willing to spend

i don't have any experience putting in NASs, so i'm asking the community here - what kind of direction can you give me??
 
i like synology's stuff. have a ds210j at home running a charm.
Allows for auto backup of documents with revisioning, and is pretty nippy.
Also has user access so you can specify what use can access what folder if needed.

Have recommended them to a few people and no problems reported back yet.
 
so they already have the 3rd computer as server but rather stop people from using it for internet browsing? Then another possible solution is to load FreeNAS on that box to dedicate it for NAS purposes, strip the GUI so no one can use it for surfing XD. Then put the HDD on RAID 1. The downside is that you must be familiar with FreeNAS and linux in general.
 
Take a cheap box and install FreeNAS (openbsd distro) and a couple hard drives in raid and call it a day.
 
The special-built NAS boxes have some some advantages over home-made FreeNas ones including low power consumption, quietness, hot-swapping and so on, although you COULD design a NAS like that if you wanted.

I just installed a QNAP TS-419P and it seems like a good machine with plenty of features. It does a simple NAS-to-NAS backup too for getting data off site or synced between sites. Made out of metal with 4 hot swappable drive bays which I've done in a RAID config.
 
specially built NAS cost as much as a PC, so I think both solutions are worth consideration. especially because they already have a PC that is used as such.
Another question to ask from the client is of course, their budget.

I went back and looked at your question. If WHS is too expensive, then I think a dedicated NAS would also be very hard to fit budget-wise.
 
Last edited:
About 6 months ago I put together a dual-core atom based NAS with 2x1TB drives and FreeNAS for under $200.

Low power consumption and very quiet, but still more versatile than a pre-built NAS.
 
can't be new, the TB drives are around $150.

As for the OP, WHS would be a great solution I think. It will do everything they need and it doesn't sound like they will expand past its capabilities anytime soon. It is also easy to manage.
 
I can give you some ideas.
If you are willing to listen...
I have tried all sorts of little nas gadgets.
They are awful.
These little brick box things... The one that lived the longest lasted a year.
It was a galaxy nas.
Little 'cool' boxes that connect with ethernet and have their own electronics, and have a small partition for some proprietary chip linux - those are junk.
Tons of companies make them.
I bought 3 Western Digital World Books - junk to the max, each one was bad.
One was bad coming out of the box.
I had a huge file server It was very reliable, but used tons of power, and had 15 scsi drives. Big six inch fans and hot swappable power supplies that you trip a lever to replace and the computer keeps running...
Anyway...
I wrecked the mother board on that...
Be sure to ask people how long they had theirs...
I made the mistake of telling people how great the galaxy was after having only 6 months... See what i mean?
Also I tried a small pc.
I ran:

1.) freenas (no dice for me... multiple file errors all the time...)
2.) openfiler (another freeby... if it ran for more than an hour i was amazed...)
3.) naslite ( $29.95 micro server os from server elements...)

All that screwed up somehow, someway, it happened.

So... I finally looked at other aspects... I found and still use - slitaz linux. It runs in 32 meg of ram. You can run it on old machines, it mounts huge drives, it uses the latest linux kernels, it's currently maintained, and it works.

On these same small computers - I run slitaz, with samba configured for file sharing, and it is just wonderful. Never a problem.
Added bonuses include, using ssh, vnc, etc to administer the system. Being able to run an antivirus in the background scanning all incoming/outgoing files to prevent the entire file server from being invaded and all the data destroyed, administer from console or gui. i.e. remote admin was never easier...

* One last tip, put a hard drive fan on the drives to keep them cool. ;) That helps so much too. (I personally see the temps drop 45 degrees farenheit...) Check it yourself by monitoring the drives, then get a good drive cooler (they are like 6.95) It's an aluminum thing the drive sits on, while two fans blow right on the drive. Buy one for every critical drive, it's worth it on fileservers. The 6.95 you spend on the stupid seeming hard disk aluminum fan cooling thing will save you hundreds in aggrivation down the road.

** sure, some of these could have changed, b/c the last 3 years i have avoided them like the plague, b/c that's what they are. Maybe they got better, maybe not, but I found something very reliable and I'm sticking with my configurations.
 
Last edited:
I've had good luck with Netgear ReadyNAS devices. I've installed dozens of them over the years without a single failure (outside of a drive here and there). I have one here in my office that's been running for 4 years straight without so much as a hiccup.

Like most anything, I think you typically get what you pay for... you want to get by on the cheap.. OK, that's all good and fine, but then you can't be surprised when it fails 6 months later.

-Randy
 
great feedback guys - thx

really gave me some direction on how/where to look



i like the WHS idea because i've done it before - and i like how you can tell it to keep only so many backups

but since the client *wants* a NAS, i've gotta kinda lean that way
 
Good timing! I've been messing with my PIII freeNAS box ALL DAY. Its cool but I'm not crazy about it. Its too labor intensive and time consuming to get it the way I want. I feel like I could tweak it forever at not be happy. Im also spoiled on Windows File Shares in place of CIFS/SMB many people make the mistake of thinking these are the same (including myself) but they are compatible but not fluent.

Learned a lot about permissions with CIFS/SMB as my method for sharing for freeNAS. I think I want to stick with my lame XP pro with NTFS permissions for sharing instead. :) Likewise if the freeNAS drive dies I dont know crap about UFS or ZFS file systems.

But I keep coming across something called a Drobo. It seems like high end tech and some of the videos on youtube make a strong case for the price. I love the BeyondRAID they seem to be ahead of the curve.

http://www.drobo.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCFvEYNwbXw

Warning he is obviously a fan of the device, but I have to agree with him! Watch this youtube video and if you didn't know about it before now you know!

@PCteK: Some of the forums had a few techs basically stating that freeNAS just wasnt up to par Check out http://www.nexentastor.org/ a quick view of the screen shots makes it seem promising. Have you tried it???

@OP regarding the original post. FreeNas is time consuming if you don't know anything about it. How about an old Windows XP Pro machine (seems like every tech has one in the garage) with a shared folder LOL. Static IP with NO default gateway. Headless unit, controllable via Remote Desktop from a client computer somewhere else on the network. You get ten concurrent connections with XP Pro. Also you can use external USB drives so using XP pro does give it modularity and End User usability. Sure beats buying a WHS license, a new Box, Or worse learning how to get freeNAS going from scratch.
 
Last edited:
For sale: One Thecus NAS box.
Cheap
Comes with a Netgear toaster IDE NAS circa 2004 no extra charge, compatible with about 2 brands of 40gb drives, the PSU might be usefull.
Mutter mutter NAS mutter crappy proprietry junk mutter mutter coulda built a server with less hassle.
Try recovering data from a failed array on any of the consumer level NAS, good luck with that.
NAS is a good idea but I'd be doing it my way.
 
I am also a fan of the ReadyNAS line. I am still running a pair of Infrant branded NV (not NV+) units I purchased over 4 years ago. I have added a couple Pros to my collection and an NVX.

I haven't put in any for clients yet but I have my largest client pretty much convinced on getting a 3100.

I have recommended them to friends and colleagues and they are all happy with them.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

HCHTech
Permission Hell
Replies
12
Views
864
Sky-Knight
Sky-Knight
thecomputerguy
How do I break into a computer that is Azure joined as a non-admin account?
Replies
8
Views
339
Sky-Knight
Sky-Knight
thecomputerguy
Members of a team are unable to add/edit files unless they are an Owner.
Replies
3
Views
123
callthatgirl
callthatgirl
thecomputerguy
Employee productivity monitoring software ...
Replies
7
Views
387
Diggs
Diggs
HCHTech
Slow opening times for files on a network drive
Replies
10
Views
846
trevm999
trevm999
Back
Top