NAS questions

[OVerLoRDI]

The last four years I haven't had to pay for electricity (thanks college!) So my big gaming machine has been my media server for years. Soon, I'll be moving into a place that doesn't have free electricity, so my rig drawing 200 watts 24/7 to serve media is out of the question.

I'm looking into purchasing a NAS, but it seems to me that they are shockingly expensive, most have bad or no newegg reviews, and it isn't immediately apparent what sharing protocols they support.

Requirements:
1. At least two drives (I originally wanted 4, but $$$)
2. gigabit
3. Windows SMB sharing
4. quiet
5. Low power draw (spins down drives when not in use, etc)

The best I could find at a price that didn't make me mad was this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822336015

Never heard of that brand though, so I know nothing of their reputation.

 

[stahlhart]

FreeNAS?

 

[OVerLoRDI]

FreeNAS?

If I had an already quiet and low power PC lying around, sure. Sadly I don't. I'm looking for purpose built NAS hardware.

Space is also a consideration. Moving around has made me quite space conscious.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

I have a d link dns-321 box similar to the one you linked. Works alright. The newer models have faster network speeds, but it works fine for backup and media storage.

You could probably find an old slim pc for not much money to run freenas, but it would eat more power.

Mine uses 20w with the drives spinning and 5 or so at idle. And it's been solid for four years.

 

[billyb0b]

I have a QNAP TS-212 that I will be taking apart shortly. It's a nice 2-bay NAS. Want to buy it?

 

[OVerLoRDI]

I have a d link dns-321 box similar to the one you linked. Works alright. The newer models have faster network speeds, but it works fine for backup and media storage.

You could probably find an old slim pc for not much money to run freenas, but it would eat more power.

Mine uses 20w with the drives spinning and 5 or so at idle. And it's been solid for four years.

That is the kind of power usage I'm looking for. Generally I try to avoid D-link, but I'll look into that NAS/newer versions.

Your D-link recommendation landed me here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822155019
That looks like a great price and features seem awesome. I might be swooping on this.

 

[OVerLoRDI]

I snagged the ZyXEL NSA320 in the OP. Turns out this is a great little NAS. The number of features this little box has is incredible. So far it has been very reliable (~3tb of data dumped on to over the network without issues) Took me all of 10 minutes to figure out how to do pretty much everything (great administration page). Transfer speeds seem to be maxing out at about 40 MB/s, which is completely useable.

For those who end up buying in the future:
1. Seems to still be shipping for 4.0 firmware with the latest being 4.4. You cannot go from 4.0 to 4.4, you must update to 4.23 first. 4.23 can be found on ZyXEL's public ftp. Just do a bit of URL "hacking" to get to the root folder and you'll find it in there.
2. It will not take NTFS formatted drives, any drive you insert in it will be reformatted when you create a new volume. Thankfully I was cynical and chose to prepare for this.
3. It creates some share folders you cannot disable, but you can make them invisible to public users.
4. Blue power LED is SUPER BRIGHT. I cut it off.

In Conclusion, for 120 bucks on newegg right now, it is hard to beat.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

40 MB/Sec? Nice. The D-link boxes won't touch that.

 

[stahlhart]

I snagged the ZyXEL NSA320 in the OP. Turns out this is a great little NAS. The number of features this little box has is incredible. So far it has been very reliable (~3tb of data dumped on to over the network without issues) Took me all of 10 minutes to figure out how to do pretty much everything (great administration page). Transfer speeds seem to be maxing out at about 40 MB/s, which is completely useable.

For those who end up buying in the future:
1. Seems to still be shipping for 4.0 firmware with the latest being 4.4. You cannot go from 4.0 to 4.4, you must update to 4.23 first. 4.23 can be found on ZyXEL's public ftp. Just do a bit of URL "hacking" to get to the root folder and you'll find it in there.
2. It will not take NTFS formatted drives, any drive you insert in it will be reformatted when you create a new volume. Thankfully I was cynical and chose to prepare for this.
3. It creates some share folders you cannot disable, but you can make them invisible to public users.
4. Blue power LED is SUPER BRIGHT. I cut it off.

In Conclusion, for 120 bucks on newegg right now, it is hard to beat.

Bookmarked for future reference -- thanks for keeping us updated...