looking for a NAS


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Another vote for the WD Reds! And DON'T RAID them!!! Use Synology's SHR instead. Here is a link to info about SHR:

 

http://www.synology.com/en-us/support/tutorials/492

 

Buy the NAS from NewEgg.com. It is less expensive and has free shipping! Here's the link:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822108095

 

Here is the link to all WD Red hard drives from NewEgg.com:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=50001306&IsNodeId=1&Description=ppssNAShdd&bop=And&SrchInDesc=red&Page=1&PageSize=100

 

Tim

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No problem. I started out with a home-built Windows Server 2000, which I later upgraded to Windows Server 2003. After a few years I wanted something smaller and more power efficient, so I bought an HP MediaSmart Home Server. That worked great for a few years until MS hosed the Home Server software, so I bought a used QNAP TurboNAS TS-219P II from a friend. I used that one almost 2 years until it died. It wasn't under warranty any more so I was going to buy a new QNAP. The same friend I had purchased it from had moved to Synology, and after telling me about it, he gave me admin and remote access to it. I played around with it for a few days and was immediately impressed by how much nicer the OS was compared to the QNAP, so that sealed the deal for me. I bought a DS212 which I upgraded to a DS212+ about 3 months later. I would have loved to go with a DS712+, but that series remains far out of my budget.

Synology has by far the best of all the NAS/Server OS I have ever used. I continue to periodically log into QNAP.com to try out whatever the latest OS they have released, but they have yet to even match the functionality and ease of use that the Synology OS has had for years now. QNAP still makes nice hardware, but their inferior OS has me ranking Synology as the undisputed NAS champion currently.

I hope this helps.

Tim

 

What about Thecus?

 

Cyber Monday? and +1 for Synology, it's more then just a NAS drive.. It has apps you can use as well to make it a web server, e-mail server, Bittorrent downloader, and so on

 

Most NAS drives allow you to do that.  My 7 year old Qnap has all that stuff on it.

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OK, a slight change of plan. Looking at the HP microsever seems a good deal, ends today?

 

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16859107921

 

Can it do the following?

 

1. Create databases and store them, access, edit them on server (MS SQL server)?

2. Backup my data and access them outside home?

3. Wirelessly stream media?

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Yes you can run vms on it. PC > NAS any day of the week.

Building your own is still a cheaper option though.

Any old pc and a 25$ HP P400 card > Synology and Qnap trashcans.

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Any old pc and a 25$ HP P400 card > Synology and Qnap trashcans.

 

False on so many levels it is ridiculous. Have fun with that build. 

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What about Thecus?

 

Never heard of them. I did look at their site and they seem to be a Synology/QNAP clone. I will say they do have some things I wish Synology would incorporate, like HDMI out on the NAS itself. After trying the live demo of their OS, it is definitely lacking though. Even the QNAP OS is better.

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Yes you can run vms on it. PC > NAS any day of the week.

Building your own is still a cheaper option though.

Any old pc and a 25$ HP P400 card > Synology and Qnap trashcans.

Yes at the end of the day, PC is more flexible. However, NAS are easier to manage and more user friendly. I love my Synology DS213. I don't want another power hungry computer.

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I am using Qnap TS-220 and it is really good NAS. Got two bay storage and it works without any issues. The new interface is comparable to Synology. I will say get either of these two and enjoy hassle free NAS. 

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OK, a slight change of plan. Looking at the HP microsever seems a good deal, ends today?

 

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16859107921

 

Can it do the following?

 

1. Create databases and store them, access, edit them on server (MS SQL server)?

2. Backup my data and access them outside home?

3. Wirelessly stream media?

 

Not a good deal for what you get. You still need to buy hard drives for your RAID (comes with 1x 250GB it looks like), an OS (some flavor of Windows likely), and a wireless card/dongle if you want to stream wirelessly, which I would not recommend. If you put this listed stuff in it, a Synology NAS will still run rings around it, use less energy, be FAR less of a headache setting it up and configuring it to your needs, and do far more than Windows Server can. Take it from me, my first 2 NAS devices used Windows Server as the OS, and after owning some true NAS devices I will NEVER go back to Windows Server. It is WAY overkill and complicated unless you are running a large business and have the time and know-how to properly get it running.

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What about a Drobo 5N?  Has anyone ever had any experience with it?

 

I have had a Drobo, and they are nothing more than an external hard drive hooked to your network. Almost no features, and way too expensive.

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"Can it do the following?

1. Create databases and store them, access, edit them on server (MS SQL server)?

2. Backup my data and access them outside home?

3. Wirelessly stream media?"

Depends - what OS you going to run on, its a Hardware box that you linked too. What OS you put on it is up to you. I have a N40L, older model. The current models are the Gen8 series.

I run esxi on mine, and have my router as a vm, have my nas as vm with raw access to 3 disks. Sure it could stream media over your network. I play video off my nas all the time - be it that wireless or wired would be up to your network connectivity. As to will it allow you to use MS SQL, again - what OS you going to put on it, or are you going to use it for Virtual machines?

You can go to 16GB of ram on those, and I have 4 nics in mine, etc. They are great little boxes, and pretty much the sky is the limit to what you can do with them once you use them a Host for virtual machines.

They use almost nothing for power, and I have 4 disks in mine. But they are not a "nas" -- its a microsever ;) What you do with that hardware is up to you.

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Great input guys. I want to run MS SQL from it, so my only OS option is Windows Server? I couldn't do that with Synology, right?

 

I don't want something hard core, I want something to get me started with the server world. I would like to run databases from it, not only for storage. Running virtual machines is something that I'm not sure that I would do often, but ran a few on my laptop.

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If you want to run MS SQL, you could do that with MS SQL Express I believe, and that will run on XP and up I believe, but there are limitations, the full blown MS SQL and Windows Server is going to cost you +$1000 just in software.

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False on so many levels it is ridiculous. Have fun with that build.

Yeah ill enjoy not trashing it to add new drives and enterprise grade reliability and redundancy, These cards have battery backed cache, With a nas youll be lucky to get hardware raid never mind hardware raid + 512mb cache.

 

If you are worried about power consumption theres atom and mini itx. Price me up a 8 bay raid 6 synology vs any old pc and 25$ for a card lol.

they're trashcans by comparison, I know it requires more research but I just point and laugh at the thought of someone paying 400$ plus for a 4 bay nas.

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And what flavor of MS SQL do you want to run? It sure is not Cheap unless your talking express version which is free, free will run on pretty much any windows OS. If your talking "standard" or developer versions those also run on just windows - does not have to be server version.

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If you want to run MS SQL, you could do that with MS SQL Express I believe, and that will run on XP and up I believe, but there are limitations, the full blown MS SQL and Windows Server is going to cost you +$1000 just in software.

I only need MS SQL Express.

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And what flavor of MS SQL do you want to run? It sure is not Cheap unless your talking express version which is free, free will run on pretty much any windows OS. If your talking "standard" or developer versions those also run on just windows - does not have to be server version.

MS SQL Server. So I can install Windows 7 Pro on the server and use it as a regular pc environment?

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So from the discussion I now understand that the microserver would be more flexible than a synology, in terms of which OS I choose to install, how I want it to function, whether running sql express, backup or a media server. I would also need an extra pci card if I want to access it remotely.

 

I think the complexity of the server + its advantages outweighs the simplicity of synology...

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