Which NAS best provides for my simple needs

[theLuggage]

Hi,
I'm a complete newb when it comes to NAS, so I'm hoping you smart people can help me out.

I'd like to get a NAS to hold my ripped DVD and Blu-ray movie collection, my mp3s and to be a destination for my backups.

I have a separate Windows Media Center HTPC box (Win 7) with a Ceton card for recording cable TV. And I use MyMovies along with Virtual CloneDrive (to mount my Blu-ray iso files) to play my movies. (I rip my blu-rays to iso because I actually like the disc menus and all the extras that come on the disc. I want the viewing experience to be as if I put the physical disc into a Blu-ray player.)

I've run out of disc space in my HTPC and am looking for something that I can easily add storage to. I imagine I need about 9TB of storage, but would like the flexibility to add more as my needs change.

I've looked at a Synology DS1513+, but I'm wondering if it's overkill for my needs. And I'm not sure if it would let me map a drive from my HTPC to where I store my iso files on the NAS and use Virtual CloneDrive to mount the iso. Basically, I want to do the same thing I do with my internal drive, but with a mapped drive instead. Will that work on a NAS? I am using a wired connection, not WiFi.

I want something simple to use, since I don't know a whole lot about networking and RAID, etc.

Any advice is most appreciated.

 

[PliotronX]

Yup, you can mount ISO's from mounted shares. I'm all about building, my favorite chassis at the moment is this LianLi. Full x86 possibilities with a BluRay burner 😀

 

[smitbret]

Did you build your HTPC? If so, just build a NAS box. Put WHS 2011 on it for $50 and pat yourself on the back for saving some cash. You don't need a high powered system, the cheapest Richland core or Atom processor will do fine with 4GB of memory.

Otherwise, the least expensive NAS from a reliable name will do what you want, Synology's, Qnap, etc.

 

[scoob8000]

My vote goes to anything Synology. I've been running a DS109 for years with 1tb internal, and two usb drives hanging off it. I've been tempted to get a 2 bay model when they're on sale, but it's not that big of an issue.

 

[theLuggage]

Thanks, everyone, for your suggestions. I appreciate it. I think I'll go for the Synology. How often do they go on sale?

 

[Doomer]

Never

 

[Olivas]

Amazon had the DS1513+ for $750 during black friday week, down from the regular $800. Picked one up myself, love it.

 

[wjgollatz]

I have a simple need too.

I have never done networking before, and I like the idea of a NAS, because I hope I could set something easy up for my parents to use on a computer I plan to put together for them.

Can a NAS serve as an offsite backup? Is it complicated for someone to backup onto an offsite NAS? And could a family member, with his Apple Mac, backup onto a Synology at my location, with my Win operating system on my PC, and possibly share space with any backups I might do?

How does the backup software in the Synology fare? I am getting ready to move from Acronis to Shadow Protect. And the initial cost of even a one bay Synology reduces the overall cost if one does not need to buy 3rd party back-up software. Can the Synology backup images, and do incremental and differential backups and possibly do hardware independent restoration like the Shadow Protect does? Can the Synology backup software automate redundant backups? I need to be able to quickly restore an OS. I had a failure, and thank god it wasn't when I needed to upload monthly tax info to the IRS and state. (I am also looking at a RAID setup for a small business I run, I can not risk loosing data anymore, and the RAID would automate a redundant backup).

I am getting ready to embark on a massive (for me) media scanning project. Has the Synology thumbnail creation improved (from what I am reading, it is excruciatingly slow). Can other applications replace it?