Anyone know of a decent NAS box that isn't too expensive?

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FilmCamera

Senior member
Nov 12, 2006
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I have 2 300GB HD's that I want to hook up in RAID 1 in an external box and then just network it in for backing up my stuff. No need for high performance data transfer or anything.

They are currently just sitting in my computer as I was going to hook up a PCI RAID card but I have not found a card that works yet. I have tried promise, highpoint, siig (ugh) and they just all conflict with what is in my system.

So if anyone knows a decent one and a place to order, let me know. Thanks!
 
mugs

mugs

Lifer
Apr 29, 2003
48,924
45
91
I've found single-drive NAS enclosures pretty cheap (I own one - ~$50 range), but I haven't had luck finding inexpensive multi-drive NAS enclosures.
 
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LeadMagnet

Platinum Member
Mar 26, 2003
2,348
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I think that a cheap Via Epia system running FreeNAS would be the best bang for the buck - and the electricity saving over a regular PC would pay for itself in a year's time the the flexability of options and power of performance would exceed a specialized NAS box.

Tom's NAS charts
 
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LeadMagnet

Platinum Member
Mar 26, 2003
2,348
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I have been researching getting the best NAS solution for myself for a couple months - weighing all the posibilities. Keep in mind I am a enterprise SAN & NAS professional.

Gigabit for the speed obviously - and it also makes your choice a little bit more relevant for a couple extra years vs 10/100.

Jumbo frames (specificaly frames bigger than 9k) Will be important if you ever decide to move large contigous files (streaming to a media player).

 
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FilmCamera

Senior member
Nov 12, 2006
959
1
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Originally posted by: LeadMagnet
I have been researching getting the best NAS solution for myself for a couple months - weighing all the posibilities. Keep in mind I am a enterprise SAN & NAS professional.

Gigabit for the speed obviously - and it also makes your choice a little bit more relevant for a couple extra years vs 10/100.

Jumbo frames (specificaly frames bigger than 9k) Will be important if you ever decide to move large contigous files (streaming to a media player).
Click to expand...

The box that I found is USB 2.0 so... 480Mbit

That should be plenty.

The initial backup will take some time, but then after that it is only storing a few GB's of data at a time. It's mainly for backing up my photos to a central location so I don't have them split on 2 different internal RAID arrays as I do now. That and some MP3 backup/centralizing.
 
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five40

Golden Member
Oct 4, 2004
1,875
0
0
Originally posted by: LeadMagnet
I have been researching getting the best NAS solution for myself for a couple months - weighing all the posibilities. Keep in mind I am a enterprise SAN & NAS professional.

Gigabit for the speed obviously - and it also makes your choice a little bit more relevant for a couple extra years vs 10/100.

Jumbo frames (specificaly frames bigger than 9k) Will be important if you ever decide to move large contigous files (streaming to a media player).
Click to expand...

Would you mind if I bounced some simple SAN questions off of you sometime? We are looking to go SAN in the near future and I have a pretty good understanding but an expert can't hurt.
 
A

aceO07

Diamond Member
Nov 6, 2000
4,491
0
76
On the topic of NAS, do all the products allow for 'unlimited' users/connection? Or do I need to pay for more licenses?
 
fuzzybabybunny

fuzzybabybunny

Moderator<br>Digital & Video Cameras
Moderator
Jan 2, 2006
10,455
35
91
I just got done setting up my first Linux file server + router.

Cheap. This stuff can run on very very basic hardware. Think 400MHz computers that people will throw away. Maybe you even have an old computer already in the basement or something. Add a nice gigabit network card for $30, a gigabit switch for $50, and you're golden. You don't even need a permanent monitor, keyboard, mouse, or monitor. The OS ( Clark Connect ) is free and solid.

So... cheap box for like $50. $50 gigabit switch. $30 Intel gigabit NIC. You get a nice fast file server (~30MB/s) with the ability to serve even more HDDs than just your two, and a really beefy and stable router. If you have a wireless router right now, you can attach this to the network and make it a wireless access point.
 
V

Viper GTS

Lifer
Oct 13, 1999
38,107
433
136
Originally posted by: FilmCamera
Originally posted by: aircooled
Why not just pop them in a cheap econo box? build a file server.
Click to expand...

.... that > $130
Click to expand...

You found your way to AT but don't have enough spare parts to toss together a NAS box?

You can find PC's that would be MORE than sufficient for well under $130 any day on Craigslist or similar.

As fuzzybabybunny mentioned people literally give this level of stuff away. I have a 400 (maybe 450...) MHz Kayak doing nothing but routing traffic. I didn't pay a dime for it.

Anything in that range would be fine for a NAS box.

Viper GTS
 
Kaervak

Kaervak

Diamond Member
Jul 18, 2001
8,460
2
81
Yet another vote for rolling your own. I put together a 160GB NAS/VPN/Print Server for $80. Bought all but the HDD used from eBay. The pre-built ones are nice, but (unless I'm mistaken) they're a one trick pony.
 
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FilmCamera

Senior member
Nov 12, 2006
959
1
0
Yeah but I don't want a big huge box when all it needs to do is house 2 HD's. I could get some MiniITX stuff but that would again be more expensive.
 
L

LeadMagnet

Platinum Member
Mar 26, 2003
2,348
0
0
Originally posted by: aceO07
On the topic of NAS, do all the products allow for 'unlimited' users/connection? Or do I need to pay for more licenses?
Click to expand...




NAS clients are unlicensed by itheir very nature
 
L

LeadMagnet

Platinum Member
Mar 26, 2003
2,348
0
0
Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
I just got done setting up my first Linux file server + router.

Cheap. This stuff can run on very very basic hardware. Think 400MHz computers that people will throw away. Maybe you even have an old computer already in the basement or something. Add a nice gigabit network card for $30, a gigabit switch for $50, and you're golden. You don't even need a permanent monitor, keyboard, mouse, or monitor. The OS ( Clark Connect ) is free and solid.

So... cheap box for like $50. $50 gigabit switch. $30 Intel gigabit NIC. You get a nice fast file server (~30MB/s) with the ability to serve even more HDDs than just your two, and a really beefy and stable router. If you have a wireless router right now, you can attach this to the network and make it a wireless access point.
Click to expand...


I agree but - a Via Epia may save you over $100/yr in electricity alone
 
L

LeadMagnet

Platinum Member
Mar 26, 2003
2,348
0
0
Originally posted by: five40
Originally posted by: LeadMagnet
I have been researching getting the best NAS solution for myself for a couple months - weighing all the posibilities. Keep in mind I am a enterprise SAN & NAS professional.

Gigabit for the speed obviously - and it also makes your choice a little bit more relevant for a couple extra years vs 10/100.

Jumbo frames (specificaly frames bigger than 9k) Will be important if you ever decide to move large contigous files (streaming to a media player).
Click to expand...

Would you mind if I bounced some simple SAN questions off of you sometime? We are looking to go SAN in the near future and I have a pretty good understanding but an expert can't hurt.
Click to expand...



Originally posted by: LeadMagnet
sure email me at valeadmagnet@yahoo.com
Click to expand...

 
I

idea

Golden Member
Apr 15, 2001
1,100
0
0
Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
I just got done setting up my first Linux file server + router.

Cheap. This stuff can run on very very basic hardware. Think 400MHz computers that people will throw away. Maybe you even have an old computer already in the basement or something. Add a nice gigabit network card for $30, a gigabit switch for $50, and you're golden. You don't even need a permanent monitor, keyboard, mouse, or monitor. The OS ( Clark Connect ) is free and solid.

So... cheap box for like $50. $50 gigabit switch. $30 Intel gigabit NIC. You get a nice fast file server (~30MB/s) with the ability to serve even more HDDs than just your two, and a really beefy and stable router. If you have a wireless router right now, you can attach this to the network and make it a wireless access point.
Click to expand...

Great. Where's the RAID card?
 
D

d3n

Golden Member
Mar 13, 2004
1,597
0
0
You might look at getting an inexpensive Dell server to stuff with HD's. Load an open source NAS/SAN OS like Openfiler onto it. It'll have a better NIC and raid controller than you could ever afford stand alone. Might have a deal going on a free 5i card.

Just to drool,take a look at the 1950nx setup Dell just put out.
 
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