Can anyone recommend a NAS drive?

[admin_exported]

I'm looking to buy a NAS drive for home use (streaming HD video, iTunes music, data back-up) but there doesn't seem to be a product out there that is head and shoulders above the rest.

All the reviews I have read seem to mention performance issues with most.

Can anyone recommend a suitable NAS? I looking to spend a max of £250..... capacity around the 1Tb - 2tb

Many thanks

 

[Anonymous]

I presume your looking for a NAS Server, rather than a drive?

I picked up a Synology 209+II a while back and its been perfect for my needs. Fantastic support, excellent updates and great IOS Apps. You buy the server and install your own drives. I installed a couply of 1.5TB WD drives and the setup couldnt be simpler.

I stream music from my server to my iphone from anywhere in the world. Their photo app is great too.

 

[Anonymous]

A lot of people use Western Digital My Book NAS drives. I have a Netgear ReadyNAS duo. I had next to no issues getting up and running, and I have no knowledge of this sort of stuff. It can be used with Squeezebox if you need. It is a little noisey though but mine is stored out of sight.

 

[Anonymous]

Synology DiskStation DS211J is one of the best 2-bay NAS u can buy - it is around £160 without drives.

It has a fully DLNA/UPnP media server, gigabit ethernet, up to 2x2TB drives which can be mirrored if u want auto-backup, iTunes server.

http://www.synology.com/enu/products/DS211j/spec.php

DLNA/Upnp means other dlna devices (eg TV,AMP, Android Phone etc) can play media direct from it without the need for ur pc to on, if they support the relevant format.

 

[Anonymous]

I would consider these 2:

Buffalo Link Station, 2 TB @ £142.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Buffalo-LinkStation-Certified-MultiMedia-BitTorrent/dp/B002CI8T56/ref=sr_1_3?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1294763347&sr=1-3

Qnap TS-210, @ £162.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/QNAP-TS-210-Turbo-Server-iSCSI/dp/B002SD71FO/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1294764261&sr=1-1

Bear in mind the following: The bufallo is a fixed 2Tb drive, once youve filled it you need to delete files or add a separate device.

The Qnap contains no drives, you will need to buy these separately and add them yourself, adding considerably to the cost, however its a RAID solution so once you fill 1 bay, you can swap the second for a larger capacity, as such it will grow with you.

There are of course bigger qnap models available to suit your needs. Just make sure whatever you buy contains a 10/1000 ethernet port as you'll need the faster speeds for your large file sizes.

 

[Anonymous]

I looked a Qnap as well when I was getting mine. I was going to get some Samsung spinpoint drives. It's just I saw the get a second drive free on the Hot deals page on here so it was a cheaper option. They certainly appear to be good and have had some very good reviews.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the info....How much is a seperate drive (ball park figure)?

 

[Anonymous]

For 3.5'' internal sata2

1TB - £35

1.5TB - £50

2TB - £67

 

[Anonymous]

I second Synology recommendations - got the ds410 and am happy

 

[nads]

I am currently running a net gear duo and a LG N2A2 (IIRC).

the UI on the netgear is not as easy as the LG but the netgear is quieter.

 

[Andrew Everard]

Have used WD NAS drives for ages now: they even come preloaded with TwonkyMedia

 

[pba_target]

I've used a couple. I'd steer clear of buffalo (horrendous software!) and I can add a recommendation for Synology's diskstation line, I've got a 410J and I've yet to see anything that competes with it. All of that range run the same software and have similar functions, and act fine as home media servers, so find one that suits your price range. They also tend to come diskless, so you can buy a single disk now and add a further one later if you want to expand, and aren't too fussed about a local backup (if you backup already to dvd or similar)

 

[Zarn_Smith]

I have solid experience of some older Thecus NASs and newer QNAP ones. Both are excelent, although not an entirely fair comparison (because of the age gap) the QNAP frontend / interface is in another league and makes it a doddle to setup.

If I was going to buy another NAS today and was looking to store about 1-2TB of data I would get one of these: http://www.qnap.com/pro_detail_feature.asp?p_id=120, probably with 4 x Western Digital hard drives.

On the other hand, there is loads of choice out there...

 

[Gozaradio]

I've been very happy with my ReadyNAS Duo with 1.5TB of redundant storage. Has been great from day one with minimal setting up but a lot of flexibility. Netgear forums are a great resource for information and tech support from other users and Netgear themselves.

My only problem now is that I need more storage! I've got another 4TB in USB drives attached to the Netgear for additional storage, plus a separate 1TB firewire drive for Video (and audio) editing.

The rate I'm going, I'll need a scaleable storage server with lots of empty drive bays!

However, I believe Dabs are doing a deal on them at the moment; £126 for a driveless unit with a free 500Gb Hard Disk. Netgear themselves do this sort of deal from time to time, so it's worth checking their site as well.

 

[Anonymous]

Let me add my vote for a Synology solution.

I have had a Synology DS409 for over a year now and it has been superb. I have installed 4 x 1.5Tb disks. I can stream HD video to my xBox (wired) whilst it is also streaming audio to my network receiver (wired), SD video to my laptop (wirelessly), and download files from the internet all at the same time without any of them missing a beat.

The units pretty much all run the same software, so the same applications and management features come with almost all of the Synology units, You buy the chassis then add whichever drives you want from a large list of supported drives. This means you have plenty of flexibilitya nd can start small then grow if you ened to. Mine could take 2Gb drives, but at the time they were so much more expensive than the 1,5Tb versions.

 

[Anonymous]

I've got an LG nas, 2x1Tb disks. The nas itself is fine, but might not fit future requirements. It doesn't support installing twonky, so it might limit your eventual streaming solution. For example, it won't work with the Linn streamers.

 

[Anonymous]

Does anybody know why WHF have never reviewed a WD product?

I'm intrigued given that even Mr Everard has the Bookworld (so do I by the way and the WD TV Live) and they do seem fairly popular