Nas

[dazzul]

Well untill now i have been storing my work files on google drive, and its great i can access it from any pc or android as and when needed.

I use it to store work so we can all access at any time but im nearing my limit BOOO!

I was having a ponder online and have came across NAS that allow you to connect from a external ip too! Brilliant if feel the need to work while eating a Big Mac!

Have any of you ever used a NAS, just looking for some feedback in general :)

Daz

[Paul]

dropbox? or mediafire for me :)

[dazzul]

Yeah i have a drop box too mainly for linking photos from our phones.

I do like the online options, but the monthly fees are not attractive :(

[Paul]

not attractive??
mediafire- 9.99$ for 200GB
dropbox - 9.99$ for 100GB

I think mediafire is VERY attractive. I use it for years and dont feel $9.99 from my wallet :)

[Justin]

I use Dropbox but also have a Just Cloud unlimited account, just a few quid a month and I can back everything up, using about 350Gb right now. Dropbox is by far and away the best though.Never tried the NAS/IP option, would like to see costs.

[dazzul]

This is one i was looking at
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/data-storage/hard-drives/network-hard-drives/wd-my-book-live-network-hard-drive-2tb-black-09520191-pdt.html

2tb £120 and can access from external ips even from a mobile device.

[Justin]

Uhm, does look interesting. So the theory is you create your own cloud file sharing service?

Looking at a 1Tb unit on eBuyer for £100......

£100 may well be worth a punt :-)

[smo]

I have a NAS at home, they've all had web access for years, just make sure the you either have a fixed IP, or the one you buy supports a dynamic DNS program to track your IP as it changes.

NAS boxes are much better than they used to be, ours at home is just for backups but its very slow these days, forget anything designed for the home market as it will drive you potty with speed and also ensure you get one that has RAID 0 as a minimum, preferrably RAID 10, 5 or 6 for proper protection. Synology and Qnap both make excellent NAS boxes which support multiple drives with RAID and will also transfer files over the network at a reasonable speed.

[Justin]

So the £80 one on eBuyer would be very slow then? lol.

I was just reading about the software that you can get to turn your PC into a personal cloud, again, maybe worth a shot.

[dazzul]

Yeah thats why i wanted one, a cloud for me on the go, without the fees, do let me know what you go for justin :)

[Justin]

You started this one, so go buy one and let us know how well it works! lol

[smo]

Generally yes, slow! Also I doubt at that price I doubt it has any sort of drive redundancy to protect your data.

The best solution is a 3+ drive NAS with RAID 5 implemented and a nightly backup to a cloud system like SpiderOak (100% secure encrypted). Fullbackup only needs to be done once and then its just an incremental/changed file backup over night to keep it all safe.

[dazzul]

@SMO, You think with SSD's a cloud system would still be needed.

The thing is, i was trying not to pay a monthly fee. If i had to buy a NAS and then a monthly fee, i would stick with cloud alone.

Im currently using a 1tb and 2 500gb's which i all share the same folder i do suppose im leaving my self vunerable to fire and theft.
OH MY!! havnt the prices of ssd's come down flip me!!

Daz

[smo]

I wouldnt use SSD's in a NAS, they are not designed for it. The only ones worth using in that environment are the enterprise ones which havent come down in price and cost a fortune.

You dont need to use a cloud backup with a NAS, its simply my take on a very good belt and braces solution. Bear in mind that most cloud solutions are US based and are esentially under the control of the US government and they have full access to any data you put on it. (This shouldnt be an issue but do you really want them having access to everything?)

[dazzul]

That was my main reason for it, with all the light on the us. Its highly unlikey they would look through my files theres loads of us, but its the fact they can. And as im with google at the moment im like ahhh.

I shall look deeper into the RAID 5 which you have mentioned. As at uni we kinda "brushed" on this, and i do understand its benifits. I guess years worth of work is priceless, exspecially now as im moving into sublimation, designs could take me 10 mins to a hour to make, and if it was lost i wouldnt know what to do with myself.

Are you currently using a RAID 5 smo, would you recommend it?
With the prices of normal hd's being so low i could swap them out when "dead".



My Father runs a local private hire firm, where we record all of the cusomters data and all jobs just under 3 million job records. Those HD's are on 24/7 in constant use using RAID and i do admit its brilliant when one dies, the systems are not effected. I think everyone should be aware that they do actually die aswell bloody things.
Mind you he does pay a £10k annual "support" package which covers replacements, SOD THAT!

OH GOOGLE WHERE ARE YOU!
Daz

[smo]

We use RAID 5 in our server and have done for years. I had a drive go down in the array 2/3 years back and you do notice it, it slows right down as its in a degraded state and has to build the data from what is left, however you wack in a replacement drive (must be the same capacity as the others) and it will rebuild - 24 hours later and all is back to normal and no data loss.

Here is a very basic explaination of RAID levels http://www.thegeekstuff.com/2010/08/raid-levels-tutorial/

[Johnny]

I don't know what situation your in, but we've got nas for all our artwork, and if we need to access it from outside the we just use logmein.com to dial in and do some work. all the software is there etc. if I need something off it, I just ftp that particular file. :)
works for me.

[dazzul]

What spec nas are you using Johnny?

[s31teg]

I have a windows sever with remote access and I would outsource it for sure unless you really want to

We have raid along with dailybackup and its always my no1 priority making sure I have backups of backups just in case the worst was to happen.

Along with i have a 100mb t1 up/down connection so speed is not an issue

[Johnny]

I think it's a raided 2tb nas. Western Digital maybe?

Looks like this one... but it's not this one! :)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Personal-Cloud-Storage-Drive-Mirroring/dp/B006TADRD2/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1373994011&sr=8-4&keywords=western+digital+nas

[mgibbs]

I use a Synology NAS at home and have installed mutli-office setups for customers using them.

They are very easy to use and very flexible.

You can access your files from anywhere you have internet (or mobile phone access if using their app) from pcs or macs.

I'd put these in wherever a customer just wants straightforward access to their files over a network or internet.
Much siimpler and cheaper than a server - no software license.

Mark

[dazzul]

Which perticular model?

[Justin]

rather than start this thread again I'd like to resurrect :-) Anyone else take a plunge into NAS?

Just looking at it again. Dropbox works great for customers to upload files, job sheets etc. but I would like to centralise all the families data, at the moment it's on Just Cloud and I'm not really happy with this, poor interface, single file download etc. So, rather than pay for that I was thinking get 2x4Gb SATA possibly in a raid but we did discuss a raid 5 earlier. I guess Raid 10 is the ultimate answer for speed and redundancy.

Anyone want to update?

[Johnny]

I've still not got a NAS drive yet, as much as I want one I'm still really only working from one PC, so I'm using internal or external RAIDs. I use Team Viewer to access my PC at a distance.
What about NAS for internal and FTP for external? I think there are some NAS devices out the that do it. I suppose you would need a static IP though.
Would a raid linux server do the job? With a VPN?
John.

[Frostee]

i use a nas drive, got 2 3tb drives setup
have just started upgrading my internal network to wired gigabit. makes one heck of a difference!

you dont even need anything special really. even without a static ip you can use systems like no-ip.com or dyndns.com. just make sure ports are forwarded right and setup a ftpd or httpd

if you've got a spare pc kicking around you can install freenas on a hdd then plug all the bigger hdd's into it

[spongerobinson]

Freenas is great...I've used it for a number of years now. Windows Home Server is probably better though, especially if running Windows computers.

A number of years ago HP had some great cashback deals on their Proliant servers...absolutely fantastic pieces of kit, and think mine worked out about 100 quid at the time. Be worth looking to see if they are still offering those cashback deals.

[Justin]

Freenas does look very good :-) Undecided whether to go down the pre built route or just buy the chassis and add drives, probably prebuilt.

Looking at these......

http://www.ebuyer.com/507129-synology-ds213j-6tb-wd-red-2-bay-nas-ds213j-6tb-red (Not much more than the 4Gb model)

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing-accessories/data-storage/network-hard-drives/wd-my-cloud-mirror-wireless-external-network-hard-drive-4-tb-white-22090256-pdt.html?gclid=CN-JyP651r4CFdMftAodiBMAjA&srcid=198&cmpid=ppc~gg~~~Exact&mctag=gg_goog_7904&s_kwcid=AL!3391!3!50244939564!!!g!70506394340!&ef_id=Uh0TWQAAAZFj7PTe:20140531151454:s (Seems very good value for 4Gb and software looks good)

https://www.google.co.uk/shopping/product/139762817181622925?rlz=1C5CHFA_enGB551GB551&sclient=psy-ab&q=windows+home+server+4tb&oq=windows+home+server+4tb&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_qf.&ion=1&espv=2&biw=1508&bih=870&bvm=pv.xjs.s.en_US.u4s5c7_Kv3Q.O&tch=1&ech=1&psi=lvGJU7XiOPOV7AaDuoH4CQ.1401549255173.5&sa=X&ei=4_GJU4HRCsiTPeXGgdAJ&ved=0CJEBEPMCMAU

All seem to be 2 bay...would like a 4 bay in Raid 10 though :-)

[NikGrey]

I have a WD MyBook 3TB.

When I first got it I set it up as a Personal Cloud and it worked great BUT I started having problems - it would go offline for no reason at odd times of the day ! WD sent a replacement which has been fine but I am only using it for Time Machine backups, and for storing business stuff - all of it.

I have mine attached via ethernet, They say these particular machines are supposed to be fast but it takes me about 4 hours to transfer the 278GB i currently have stored on there onto my Mac ! I have had to do this a few times when testing for WD.

Also I had it set up for remote access, which was great until my IP address changed and I couldnt find someone who would provide free DNS these days so gave up on that too.

This machine has saved my Bacon a few times though, for that reason it is well worth the £120 I spent on it around Christmas time.

I recommend getting your own external storage rather than paying someone else for space - at least its in your hands if things go wrong, and you get to learn about a new tool :)

Also I have been down the RAID route, too much heat and things to go wrong - BUT that was Ten years ago and things must have improved.

This WD runs cold, with passive cooling - and I can only hear it running when its reading/writing (but it is next to me).

[Justin]

I'm having a slight change of direction and scaling back down to a 2 bay rather than a 4 bay, I think a RAID 10 is over complicating things tbh for what I need and could end up causing more issues in the long run. I'm favouring 2 x 3GB drives in a RAID 1 for mirroring and a 3GB External for additional backup.

The WD MyBook is my front runner right now as well, does look like it will do everything I need. I wonder how easy it would be to set up backups from other PC's?

[spongerobinson]

I had one of the very early incarnations of a WD Nas, and to be honest it was terrible. Speeds were so so slow, but this was years ago now so I'd imagine they've improved. That one had software to install on each PC that backups needed to be done from, so it's probably still the same.

Personally, I've heard better things about Synology then the WD stuff.

Oh and just one thing - remember if it's alot of data your going to be backing up, you'll probably need a wired network connection to each machine to be backed up. Wireless data transfer is incredibly slow, unless you've got the latest wireless networking standards set up.


I'm having a slight change of direction and scaling back down to a 2 bay rather than a 4 bay, I think a RAID 10 is over complicating things tbh for what I need and could end up causing more issues in the long run. I'm favouring 2 x 3GB drives in a RAID 1 for mirroring and a 3GB External for additional backup.

The WD MyBook is my front runner right now as well, does look like it will do everything I need. I wonder how easy it would be to set up backups from other PC's?

Also, if you do decide to populate one with your own drives, I can highly recommend the WD Red drives...built specifically for NAS.

[Justin]

Been looking at the Synology units which do look good but I'm getting the feeling the software won't be as user friendly, they seem to concentrate on the hardware in write ups but not found much about the software. Deffo using Red drives and will probably just get pre-built as this seems a better option. The WD software looks really good but I'm a little concerned over previous comments, all be it on older units :-)

Will be used to backup several PC's off site, I appreciate speed issues with this but not masses of data once initial backups are complete and hopefully it will be incremental thereafter.

edit: I was looking at an add on Synology unit hence no software discussion doh :-(

[spongerobinson]

Will be used to backup several PC's off site

Off site as in on a different network altogether, and accessed through the internet?

[Justin]

Yes, currently using Crashplan for this but would like to use the nas to replace this function, just need a backup from each pc.

[spongerobinson]

I would be interested to know how you get on with this if you do go ahead with it. It might not be too bad if you've got a decent upload speed on both internet connections, and your only backing up relatively small files?

I know for the file sizes I'd be looking to backup, offsite would not be feasible with our upload speed.