mcC4 Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 So I am very new to the home automation scene and would like to purchase a NAS storage drive to store all of my music, movies, etc. I am not your typical home automation client, however, and do not have very much money to spend on this... school is expensive ha. So I was hoping someone with experience could be help me understand what necessities to look for in a NAS drive in order to get the biggest bang for the smallest buck. I already have a 2 TB Western Digital external hard drive that I *believe* can be used as a NAS device if I get a modem with a usb port - is this correct? If so that may be the least expensive option. Anyway, thanks for helping a noob. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wappinghigh Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 I STILL don't use a NAS But I do use several of those WD Green external drives you have and they have NEVER failed. Outstanding product (and quiet too)....So why don't you get one of those with an ethernet connection....I'm pretty sure WD make NAS drives with the same green discs in them... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PixelPerfect Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 They do sell wireless modems that have usb plugs on them that let you access your harddrive. I have not really played with this system yet, so not much insight. But you can also make a NAS box out of an old pc. Then you could just convert your external drive to a internal drive, which is very easy, just take it apart. As a student you can go online and download windows server 2011 for free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwarchut Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 Synology.. they have the best NAS for the money. It's amazing what it can do out of the box and the huge variety of the units they make is great because they have one for every-bodies price range.. I have 3 of them myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
well_armed Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 Synology Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PixelPerfect Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 Those look pretty slick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwarchut Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 they are quite GREEN too. You can schedule on/off and even do encrypted disks and encrypted backups to the Amazon cloud, if its up.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcC4 Posted June 15, 2011 Author Share Posted June 15, 2011 Synology looks very nice...but still a bit pricey for my budget believe it or not. Unless I am missing something it looks like you will start around $300. Maybe if I can't be spending that much I shouldn't be doing this at all, ha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PixelPerfect Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 Newegg.com has them for $174 + Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcC4 Posted June 15, 2011 Author Share Posted June 15, 2011 Excuse my ignorance, but it appears you still need to purchase something additional in order to get this running? For instance in Amazon.com it shows this line:- Max HDD Support (Internal HDD): 1x 3TB. Compatible drives are: Seagate ST33000651AS, Western Digital WD30EZRS-11J99B0and with the included price of that you're in over $300. I could be and hope I am incorrect, however. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PixelPerfect Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 Sorry I missed that, you are correct. But you have that external, which i am willing to bet is a sata drive. So if you take and strip the cover off, you will have your drive for the nas box. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwarchut Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 It's well worth the money.. Its so much more than just a NAS. So if its not in your budget now save up for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffrey Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 Netgear ReadyNAS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcC4 Posted June 15, 2011 Author Share Posted June 15, 2011 Thanks guys. Now any recommendations on how to convince the wife this is a necessity? Nah I'm just kidding. You don't need to answer that...I think that's one of those journeys each man needs to make alone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thecodeman Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 Thanks guys. Now any recommendations on how to convince the wife this is a necessity? Nah I'm just kidding. You don't need to answer that...I think that's one of those journeys each man needs to make alone.If you dont already have a backup for your computers, then it's almost critical. I got to thinking the other day about how every picture for the last decade is stored on some electronic gizmo. Then think if that died, was stolen, destroyed in disaster, etc.Back up to the NAS, back the NAS up somewhere else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
well_armed Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 Thanks guys. Now any recommendations on how to convince the wife this is a necessity? Nah I'm just kidding. You don't need to answer that...I think that's one of those journeys each man needs to make alone.If you dont already have a backup for your computers' date=' then it's almost critical. I got to thinking the other day about how every picture for the last decade is stored on some electronic gizmo. Then think if that died, was stolen, destroyed in disaster, etc.[b']Back up to the NAS, back the NAS up somewhere else.This. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcC4 Posted June 15, 2011 Author Share Posted June 15, 2011 Good point. I do keep things backed up on the WD external hard drive, but what if that fails? My wife does love the photos of our little boy. Thanks for the leverage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jayace Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 Cody is so right. What happens if the years of digital photos or home videos of the kids/ family are lost when the HD in your computer(s) crashes? That was enough for my wife. $400 was a pretty small investment to protect that. I had one of my desktops crash on me last month and couldn't recover anything off the HD. Thankfully it was backed up on the server. Plus now my wife can stream movies for the kids all over the house, that's a benefit for her that's priceless! I have an Acer H340 with a a pair of 2TB WD Caviar Green's and its been awesome and solid for several months. Dual drives is the key to backup your backup. Thinking of maybe upgrading the OS to WHS 2011 but its been working so well I don't know why I would bother. Oh yeah, because I can. Damn this technology stuff! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PixelPerfect Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 Just remember that WHS 2011 does not offer drive extender any more. So you would need to find your own way of doing this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jayace Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 Just remember that WHS 2011 does not offer drive extender any more. So you would need to find your own way of doing this.Good to know, thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avittech Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 +1 Synology Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CSquared Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 I have a Western Digital NAS and will not be buying any more of their products. It worked initally, but won't talk to my Mac anymore. Support was useless....and they went on to say that Mac isn't supported....funny how the box it came in said otherwise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcC4 Posted June 15, 2011 Author Share Posted June 15, 2011 Yeah that seems to be fairly consistent from what I've read in the reviews on the WD. Synology seems like the way to go, although, I may look a little bit further into the option of turning an old computer in a NAS since I have an abundance of those already. That could also be a fun little project and learning experience for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanchow Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 We utilise QNAP for all of our installations. Mainly use it for DVR functionality (recording IP cameras) and media storage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thecodeman Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 We utilise QNAP for all of our installations. Mainly use it for DVR functionality (recording IP cameras) and media storage.+1 nice kit. Would be using it if I didn't have a "freebie" NAS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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