External Drive or NAS Box?

[trainspotting]

I have a network consisting of three desktop PCs (two running 7, another running XP) a laptop running 7, a wireless printer, and a hard-wired printer. All PC's have at least 1 TB of internal storage. One of the desktops have an internal drive for data back-up purposes. I have a Western Digital MyBook on the desktop that I use the most. Instead of buying more external drives for back-up purposes, I was thinking it might be a good idea to get an NAS device. Any advice on this, and any reccomendations of specific products? Thanks much.

 

[nanaki333]

you going to be using this for your business with lots of data you want to keep on a reliable setup? if so, don't get something like an iomega. you'd be better off getting a cheap PC, putting drives in it, and running freeNAS

 

[poofyhairguy]

GREAT NAS:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-066-_-Product

 

[nanaki333]

GREAT NAS:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-066-_-Product

i actually used 1 of those for like 2 years with raid1 with an exchange 2007 server running LCR to it. never had a problem with it once. definitely not bad for home use.

 

[aceO07]

Depends on your budget and time, and maybe also space.

I decided to go with a NAS since I don't have much free time or space or spare desktops with 4+ bays. Also, I didn't want anything noisy or using too much power. Plus, I didn't want to have a growing collection of external drives all over the place.

I went with the Synology DS411+. It's a more recent version of the NAS that poofyhairguy recommended. It's currently running RAID1 with 2tb drives.

 

[modestninja]

Another option would be something like one of these little WHS boxes:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...05777&Tpk=x310

I was set on a Synology NAS, but after seeing the benchmarks on the little atom servers, I purchased that one 6 months ago (it was either $299 or $349) so I got room for two extra disks plus it includes a 1GB drive for about the same price, not mention faster read and write speeds. As far as I can see, the only sacrifice is a little bit of space (not much over the 4bay Synology) and a little bit of power.

 

[noblemo]

Based on your needs and computer configurations there are a few options to consider. Approximate data transfer rates will be as follows:

USB 2.0 external drive: ~25 MB/s
NAS with gigabit LAN: ~50 MB/s
SATA/eSATA: limited by hard drive capability (typically 70-140 GB/s)

So if speed and cost are top priorities, consider using local SATA ports in the existing computers. (If the desktops do not have available HD bays, try empty 3.5" floppy drive bays for fixed storage or a 5.25" optical drive bay for a backup "swap drive" -- http://www.provantage.com/addonics-aesnapmrsa~7ADDO19R.htm).

Otherwise, look for NAS with multiple LAN ports. It might also be appropriate to install a Gigabit LAN switch. Hope this helps.

 

[Emulex]

dude just put 1 drive in each pc, then backup in rotary pc 1->1 , 1->2 , 1->3 nightly. then use a big drive (6tb westerdigital or two 3TB) and copy to that weekly or daily and off-site rotate.