Best cheap home NAS option (RAID1), Dlink or Buffalo?

[Obsoleet]

Looking at two options, the D-Link DNS-321 or the LinkStation Duo LS-WXL/1D. It doesn't mean much but I use the Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 with Tomato and I love it. Scared to go to gigabit and N because that thing is so good. So I'm leaning towards the Linkstation 1GB then putting my existing 1GB drive in it for RAID. I'm going to be hooking what I get up to my TV's USB for streaming, and using it over my 100mb switch for backups / mp3s / movies. My TV tends to stream best when using USB.. it doesn't like to FF/RWD over the network, even though having it connected to my PC through USB would be ideal.

 

[ViviTheMage]

prices seem to vary, but you have a lot more capabilities with this little guy :

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2021752

then you do with any old NAS.

 

[JackMDS]

Maybe this can Help, http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2040351



😎

 

[Obsoleet]

I don't want a full PC for a NAS. I want something low power, at minimal as possible, with as few PARTS as possible to eliminate points of failure.
I'm not sure what the workingbrain.net link is for.

I've looked really hard at the 2.5" drive based NAS units from Buffalo, and I forget the figures for power draw, but it's VERY low under load and idle. That's what I'm looking for, but 1TB and up drives in 2.5" format are very expensive. I already have a 1TB drive available.

The Intel NAS unit has a 250watt PSU, does more than I'd need by far. Building an old PC into a NAS unit is another bad idea, for me, due to the thoughts I detailed above.

It's like turning a PC into a router. I'm not into that. I'll keep my low-power Buffalo router on all the time instead. Other people feel differently but I pay my bills (including power). 🙂

 

[coolVariable]

I don't want a full PC for a NAS. I want something low power, at minimal as possible, with as few PARTS as possible to eliminate points of failure.
I'm not sure what the workingbrain.net link is for.

I've looked really hard at the 2.5" drive based NAS units from Buffalo, and I forget the figures for power draw, but it's VERY low under load and idle. That's what I'm looking for, but 1TB and up drives in 2.5" format are very expensive. I already have a 1TB drive available.

The Intel NAS unit has a 250watt PSU, does more than I'd need by far. Building an old PC into a NAS unit is another bad idea, for me, due to the thoughts I detailed above.

It's like turning a PC into a router. I'm not into that. I'll keep my low-power Buffalo router on all the time instead. Other people feel differently but I pay my bills (including power). 🙂

What you are saying doesn't make much sense.
The cheapest solution for a NAS is a used desktop. No low power system can make up for the upfront price difference.
A "low power" NAS will save you maybe $10 in electricity PER YEAR.

 

[JackMDS]

I'm not sure what the workingbrain.net link is for.
🙂

Sorry copy and paste mistake.

The main issue is that.

1. The Stand alone NAS', even when they are rated Giga speed are significantly slower in the Network transfer than a computer with Giga NIC (same about 100Mb/sec. rating).

2. The Stand alone NAS' are using propriety OS (firmware) and at times can be none compatible with some aspects of Windows File formats.



😎

 

[Obsoleet]

Thanks for the info. I'm going to keep looking. I understand the power differences, but I know a 250watt power supply vs a 2.5" NAS in RAID1 is about 15watts (max).
That's a large difference.

If I were to have a small PC that did everything (router + NAS) I would go for that. But I really like the router I have now and don't want to mess with that.

I guess my main thing is having something small, quiet, low failure point count, and something I can place next to my TV with those features. I want to connect the USB port from one to my TV for streaming.

Interesting on the network transfer speeds on the stand-alone NAS boxes. Doesn't surprise me.
I'm going to keep looking around.

 

[Obsoleet]

Would a rational option, being as most gigabit NICs in standalone NAS units sucking, be to buy a USB3 RAID1 external, hooking it to my main PC and just sharing that over the network? Obviously I'd need the PC on to access it, but when I did, I'm guessing I'd get better speeds out of it (using gigabit that is, which I don't have right now). I might just do that, and manually hook it up thru USB3 to backup laptops.