Reliable network storage recommendation.

[stevenbee]

I thought the world of my Buffalo Linkstation NAS, used with iTunes on a laptop, Sonus and PlugPlayer. Its ITB was enough space for my needs, it acted as a wireless connection for my printer and it copied from other USB drives quickly.

Then it died, admittedly after 18 months of continuous use, and admittedly I ignored a warning about "emergency levels".

I need a replacement in the same price category. Should I stick with the Buffalo?

Thanks.

 

[John Duncan]

If it served you well (notwithstanding the fact that failing might not be regarded as 'serving you well'), I'd get another - they're only about 99 quid for a terabyte and anything else is going to cost about the same.

 

[Andrew Everard]

Surely the cloud is the answer, JD...

 

[John Duncan]

Andrew Everard:Surely the cloud is the answer, JD...

JohnDuncan:If it served you well (notwithstanding the fact that failing might not be regarded as 'serving you well')

 

[Andrew Everard]

Something about that presentation reminded me of

(Sorry to the rest of the Forumites - in-joke...)

 

[SnowyJohn]

stevenbee:

Then it died, admittedly after 18 months of continuous use, and admittedly I ignored a warning about "emergency levels".

Personally, I'd put the money toward a storage setup that has numerous drives offering RAID5 security(or something along those lines)- where if one drive fails, it can be replaced without any data loss.

In a world where backing up data is increasingly important for home users, what with all the photo albums and purchased music/movies on HDD's, 18 months life cycle seems wasteful and potentially disastrous... the two options I recommend are subscribing to XGB cloud storage or purchasing a decent NAS with multiple HDDs, the latter being the more expensive option.

 

[stevenbee]

Thank you. I have seen this as a possibility; may I have your thoughts?

A Seagate BLACKARMOR NAS220. Approx. twice as much as I wanted to spend, but it is twice...

 

[Anonymous]

You don't mention budget or requirements anywhere (unless I've scan read too fast).

Cloud is not a serious proposition yet.

My current NAS is an HP X510 Data Vault, I also have an HP mv2020 (1TB). Previously used QNAP, Synology, Thecus and Netgear. The HP X510 is living room friendly noise wise, very fast access reading and writing to the drives. Easy to configure (you need a PC although once setup it will happily talk to a Mac including Time Machine).

Might seem expensive compared to a standard NAS but is superior in many ways. Comes with 4 drive bays and plenty of expansion (via eSata or USB). Mine was less than £500 (for 3TB) when I purchased, the price has gone up since, 1TB model will cost aprox £460. Cheaper option would be HP EX490.

 

[Anonymous]

Ok, sorry, just seen the message about the Seagate Blackarmour (one I'd considered) so the budget won't quite fit the HP / WHS route. Appologies.

 

[Zarn_Smith]

I can recommend the Thecus 5200 Pro. (Probably replaced by a newer model, but no failures yet).

Edit: Oh and you can choose what hard disks you want to put in it.

 

[kena]

Netgear NAS Duo reliable and you can choose some disks (Check approved list) , ability to upgrade to bigger disks i.e. you could replace 2 x 500gb with 2 x 1tb - Replace 500 with a 1TB wait till formatted and reslience restored the swap out other 500GB

 

[bigboss]

I'm using Western Digital. No problems whatsoever so far.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digital-World-Network-Storage/dp/B001RNNTVQ/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1278172600&sr=8-2

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digital-World-Network-Storage/dp/B001RNNTW0/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1278172600&sr=8-5

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digital-Drive-Network-Storage/dp/B0020MLQ3Q/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1278172600&sr=8-6