Does it makes sense to buy a NAS

[Ripcord]

I have a WD Streaming live player. I have HDD connected to it,

I am wondering if it makes sense to get a NAS and put all the data in that and share it with all devices at home..I manily have music, movies and pictures.I am also tired of buying new hard disk and having data spread across all.

Some days back I asked a question about setting up a streaming server..I am wondering if NAS could sovle that probelm

In any case, which NAS should I get and what should I look for in buying one

thanks a lot in advance

[GrayW]

I'm only a light user at the minute and got myself a 2TB D-Link DNS-320 and stream my movies and music from that.

The software on it isn't top notch but it serves a purpose, performance wise it happily streams full 1080 content to multiple devices without a stutter.

http://www.ebuyer.com/248760-d-link-dns-320-sharecenter-pulse-2-bay-no-disks-nas-enclosure-dns-320

There is another one on ebuyer with hdd but I couldn't find it using the crapPad.

[TPreston]

It depends on your storage needs, How many drives do you need because If you need more you have to bin the NAS and get another and as soon as you go over 4 (RAID) the price increases massively and it would be cheaper then to get a RPC-4020 or other case and build a home server.

Whatever you get put in an un-insulated place like a garage, the colder the better and you wont have to worry about cooling as much, oh and make sure to pick a large cluster size if its for storing movies.

[spikey_richie]

I'm only a light user at the minute and got myself a 2TB D-Link DNS-320 and stream my movies and music from that.

The software on it isn't top notch but it serves a purpose, performance wise it happily streams full 1080 content to multiple devices without a stutter.

http://www.ebuyer.co...closure-dns-320

There is another one on ebuyer with hdd but I couldn't find it using the crapPad.

I have a DNS-320. Good NAS, if a bit noisy. My whole driver for getting a NAS was to share files around the desktop, laptop, iPhone, Galaxy S II and Nexus 7. Also use it to keep a backup of the desktop PC.

[Yazoo]

If you have an old PC laying around and it can run Linux you can build one for less than pre-build NAS.

I used an old PC added a wireless card and installed Ubuntu server and now its my main NAS also streams my media across the network too.

Tutorial to the link I used for installing the NAS server http://www.howtoforge.com/ubuntu-home-fileserver.

Worth considering.

[+InsaneNutter MVC]

I would personally get a HP Micro Server after cashback it works out at ?100ish, it has 4x 3.5" hard drive bays and you can easily get another in the optical drive bay.

Even after that it has eSATA and many USB 2.0 ports, so your well future proofed for adding storage at a later date.

You could run something like Free NAS on it, or Windows Home Server 2011 which is around ?30 to purchase. The advantage of the HP server is you can use it for more than just a nas. Mine backs-up all the PC's on the Network, has various network shares and runs a UT 2004 server.

The HP is great device, plus uses so little power. Many people use these as a home nas i've found from reading on-line forums.

[GrayW]

^^ my next step :)

[Jason S. Global Moderator]

i think building your own server would be a lot more work and maintenance than just buying a NAS. Sure, they arent cheap, but i feel it's a worthy investment.

I have a Synology NAS; they make really nice ones. Easy to manage, quiet, low power.

[Mindovermaster Moderator]

I have a DNS-320 also. I use it for household storage and backups. I have 2 x 640GB in RAID1 in there.

[+Fahim S. MVC]

I would personally get a HP Micro Server after cashback it works out at ?100ish, it has 4x 3.5" hard drive bays and you can easily get another in the optical drive bay.

Even after that it has eSATA and many USB 2.0 ports, so your well future proofed for adding storage at a later date.

You could run something like Free NAS on it, or Windows Home Server 2011 which is around ?30 to purchase. The advantage of the HP server is you can use it for more than just a nas. Mine backs-up all the PC's on the Network, has various network shares and runs a UT 2004 server.

The HP is great device, plus uses so little power. Many people use these as a home nas i've found from reading on-line forums.

Yep - a MicroServer is the way to go - lots more fun than a NAS. And you can fit 4-6 2.5" drives into the Optical bay giving you 8 drives in total... good fun!

[Ripcord]

Thanks guys..lots of options now.I live in Germany and I see the price of HP is almost 200 Euros..Also saw a Buffalo linkstation live 3TB for 170 Euros..need to check that

Many thanks once again