That's why I think I'm just going to stick with RAID 1. It's is not as efficient with space, but but the most you could ever lose is one drive's worth of data, and the chances of that are extremely low. You really don 't need an external backup with RAID 1. I'm using a WHS system built with spare parts, using Windows built-in RAID. The windows built-in RAID is very flexible, I have 2 x 2TB hard drives in RAID 1, and then I have a 1 TB laptop drive in RAID 1 paired with a 500 GB laptop drive (got both of those free). The 1 TB hard drive has 500 GB left over, which I've formatted and use as a scratch disk. The performance is "good enough", with the system being a media server, Minecraft server, and automatically backing up 8 computers. I have a 1.5 GB external backup drive, which isused to automativally backup the most important files on the server.
That's why I think I'm just going to stick with RAID 1. It's is not as efficient with space, but but the most you could ever lose is one drive's worth of data, and the chances of that are extremely low. You really don 't need an external backup with RAID 1. I'm using a WHS system built with spare parts, using Windows built-in RAID. The windows built-in RAID is very flexible, I have 2 x 2TB hard drives in RAID 1, and then I have a 1 TB laptop drive in RAID 1 paired with a 500 GB laptop drive (got both of those free). The 1 TB hard drive has 500 GB left over, which I've formatted and use as a scratch disk. The performance is "good enough", with the system being a media server, Minecraft server, and automatically backing up 8 computers. I have a 1.5 GB external backup drive, which isused to automativally backup the most important files on the server.
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You shouldn't.
RAID is never backup. All it needs is you to spill a a beer over it and everything is gone. Not sure about lightning but those certainly can fry electronics if it hits your homes main line and so forth.
RAID is for up-time and hence IMHO it's completely irrelevant for home-use. So IMHO just stay with JBOD and proper backups. Will be much less hassle and you can add and replace drives without "rebuilding pains".
Same goes for performance. Even crappiest "green drives" are fast enough for media playback for a whole family.
And about DIY. As you said there aren't any cases available that are so small and compact as prebuilt NAS and offer easy access to drives. There was one 4-bay Chenbro case ES34169 that is pretty cool but not really available were I life and expensive so the cost savings are mitigated.
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Hmmm... I can get a Synology DS413 for about $530, and a QNAP TS-469L for about $560 (on sale).
The QNAP has way better hardware: 2.13 GHz dual-core Atom, dual GigE, eSATA, USB 3, HDMI, and 1 GB RAM (upgradable to 3 GB with a DDR3-1333 SoDIMM).
This is compared to the Synology's 1.07 GHz dual-core PowerPC, single GigE, USB 3, 1 GB (non-upgradable), and no eSATA or HDMI.
However, Synology's OS just seems so much more user friendly. Also, for Mac surveillance software, the QNAP seems to be relatively new with their Surveillance Station Pro. Their previous Surveillance Station software only supported Active X. Anyone here use Surveillance Station Pro on a Mac?
EDIT:
QNAS has just released the TS-421 and TS-420 with QNAP QTS 4.0 software, as a direct competitor to Synology's OS.
http://www.qnap.com/useng/index.php?lang=en-us&sn=885&c=2701&sc=&n=18582
The units are both under $500 (as yet unavailable), with relatively decent hardware.
I wonder if the Surveillance Station Pro software works well on Macs.
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Decision (probably) made:
I've ruled out the QNAP TS-421. Lots of ports, but it's likely not going to be out for weeks, and it has a Marvell ARM 2.0 GHz SoC. This is the same SoC as in the Synology entry-level 4-bay DS413j, albeit faster clocked than the Synology's 1.6 GHz.
I've also ruled out the QNAP TS-469L. Nice machine with dual-core Atom, but somewhat higher power, and it does not run QNAP's 4.0 OS (yet). QTS 4.0 looks sweet, but it's not really a version 4 product. It's more an early version 1 GUI on a version 4 product. Furthermore, it seems QNAP has released 4.0 only on a few models (TS-x20 and TS-x21 series) and all those models are ARM-based. Who knows when QNAP will release it on x86?
That leaves the Synology DS413. It utilizes the Freescale 1.067 GHz dual-e500 PowerPC SoC, which I'm guessing is around 4900 MIPS. I don't know if MIPS is a relevant gauge here, and I don't know what the Marvell 2.0 GHz benches in MIPS either, but I do know that Marvell 2.0 based NASes are significantly slower than the Freescale 1.067 dual-e500 based NASes, even just for single-disk (non-RAID) writes.
All these models are in the same ballpark price range, with the QNAP TS-469L at the high end ($560), the as yet unavailable QNAP TS-421 at the low end ($500), and the DS413 right in the middle ($530).
I've ruled out the QNAP TS-421. Lots of ports, but it's likely not going to be out for weeks, and it has a Marvell ARM 2.0 GHz SoC. This is the same SoC as in the Synology entry-level 4-bay DS413j, albeit faster clocked than the Synology's 1.6 GHz.
I've also ruled out the QNAP TS-469L. Nice machine with dual-core Atom, but somewhat higher power, and it does not run QNAP's 4.0 OS (yet). QTS 4.0 looks sweet, but it's not really a version 4 product. It's more an early version 1 GUI on a version 4 product. Furthermore, it seems QNAP has released 4.0 only on a few models (TS-x20 and TS-x21 series) and all those models are ARM-based. Who knows when QNAP will release it on x86?
That leaves the Synology DS413. It utilizes the Freescale 1.067 GHz dual-e500 PowerPC SoC, which I'm guessing is around 4900 MIPS. I don't know if MIPS is a relevant gauge here, and I don't know what the Marvell 2.0 GHz benches in MIPS either, but I do know that Marvell 2.0 based NASes are significantly slower than the Freescale 1.067 dual-e500 based NASes, even just for single-disk (non-RAID) writes.
All these models are in the same ballpark price range, with the QNAP TS-469L at the high end ($560), the as yet unavailable QNAP TS-421 at the low end ($500), and the DS413 right in the middle ($530).
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Got the Synology DS413.
Way, way, way faster than my Synology 211j. Not only are the file transfers significantly faster, OS navigation is much, much more responsive. Not surprising, since the CPU is much faster, and the RAM is 8X the size. For my usage, the 1 GB RAM in the new unit is overkill though. In contrast, the 128 MB RAM in the old unit is of course inadequate. However, he CPU speed seems very important. I'm using over half the CPU power just doing a backup file transfer onto a single disk.
The eSATA and USB 3 are very welcome as well, and in fact, if I had this to do over again, I wouldn't buy any unit without both. Right now I'm copying data back to the NAS via eSATA, and currently it's hovering at around 90 MB/s (copying from a single 7200 rpm 3 TB backup drive to a 5400 rpm 4 TB NAS volume). This is in stark contrast to the 211j doing backups over USB 2.0... at a painful 20 MB/s or less.
However, I would much prefer 2 eSATA ports like the QNAP units come with in this price range. This one also does not come with dual Gigabit ports for link aggregation, but the QNAPs in this price range do, although at this point it's moot since I don't have any switches capable of handling this.
The other think I don't like about the DS413 is that although it looks nice, there is too much plastic in the contruction. One nice touch though is all the drive screws are a special design are mated to a rubberized screw hole, minimizing vibrations. Even the front face cover which hides the drives is attached via soft rubber, again minimizing noise. The rear has two 92 mm fans which are pretty quiet. The bottom feet are also rubber. Overall, this unit is quiet, and quieter than some of my fanless disc enclosures (since those vibrate on my desk).
Way, way, way faster than my Synology 211j. Not only are the file transfers significantly faster, OS navigation is much, much more responsive. Not surprising, since the CPU is much faster, and the RAM is 8X the size. For my usage, the 1 GB RAM in the new unit is overkill though. In contrast, the 128 MB RAM in the old unit is of course inadequate. However, he CPU speed seems very important. I'm using over half the CPU power just doing a backup file transfer onto a single disk.
The eSATA and USB 3 are very welcome as well, and in fact, if I had this to do over again, I wouldn't buy any unit without both. Right now I'm copying data back to the NAS via eSATA, and currently it's hovering at around 90 MB/s (copying from a single 7200 rpm 3 TB backup drive to a 5400 rpm 4 TB NAS volume). This is in stark contrast to the 211j doing backups over USB 2.0... at a painful 20 MB/s or less.
However, I would much prefer 2 eSATA ports like the QNAP units come with in this price range. This one also does not come with dual Gigabit ports for link aggregation, but the QNAPs in this price range do, although at this point it's moot since I don't have any switches capable of handling this.
The other think I don't like about the DS413 is that although it looks nice, there is too much plastic in the contruction. One nice touch though is all the drive screws are a special design are mated to a rubberized screw hole, minimizing vibrations. Even the front face cover which hides the drives is attached via soft rubber, again minimizing noise. The rear has two 92 mm fans which are pretty quiet. The bottom feet are also rubber. Overall, this unit is quiet, and quieter than some of my fanless disc enclosures (since those vibrate on my desk).
http://www.techbargains.com/news_displayItem.cfm/347479
Since you already bought one, heres people converting the hp microserver into synology with great success
http://www.avsforum.com/t/1460222/how-to-roll-your-own-synology-diskstation-for-nas
http://forums.hexus.net/networking-...nology-hp-proliant-microserver-own-build.html
for future if you ever need another built
Since you already bought one, heres people converting the hp microserver into synology with great success
http://www.avsforum.com/t/1460222/how-to-roll-your-own-synology-diskstation-for-nas
http://forums.hexus.net/networking-...nology-hp-proliant-microserver-own-build.html
for future if you ever need another built
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