Your thoughts on various approaches to networked hard drive vs other stuff

[KingFatty]

Hi all,

I am starting to look into options for networked storage, that are somewhat less expensive. Currently I have a computer dedicated to serving my movies, but plan to try something different and avoid needing to turn on that computer.

One option is getting a new network router, that includes a USB port, and then having an external drive enclosure connected to that USB port.

Another would be to get a dedicated enclosure that has a network port, and perhaps the ability to sleep the drives.

But I was hoping to get your input on whether one approach was just not worth it? Is there another approach that is similar in terms of providing files from a NAS that is always available when needed, but can go to sleep to save power and wear and tear? I already have an existing solution using a computer to serve files that works great, sleeps, etc. so that's why I'm a bit price sensitive as this would just be a convenience thing and a fun project, and I think these two approaches are the cheapest?

 

[milee]

http://wd.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=280

It has Gigabit Ethernet and WDxxEZRX inside (WD Green) which automatically goes to sleep when idling for some (relatively short, don't remember how much) amount of time.

Last time I bought one of these it was even cheaper than the bare drive.

 

[smitbret]

Forget about an external enclosure connected to a router via USB. Slow and unreliable despite what any router manufacturer claims. Connect via ethernet is the only way to go.

 

[fuzzymath10]

I'm leery of having any external drive serving as full-time network storage. Things such as temperature/cooling and power delivery are big question marks, as would be the potential binning of the bundled drive vs bare drives off the shelf.

I have had the most luck with a 24/7 computer which happens to double as a media PC. I once had a bunch of USB enclosures hooked up to a netbook but felt it was clunky. It is also more flexible if you ever need to expand your storage needs or want to introduce redundancy (I run a FlexRaid system to accommodate losing one of my 3TB drives).

 

[jumpncrash]

I also use a 24/7 computer and am not comfortale with the cooling and quality of the drives in USB devices.

It's hard to beat the reliability and flexibility of a dedicated PC, if you're just bored with it you could try adding some VMs on it or somethign like that, maybe tossing the hardware into a new case.

 

[Soulkeeper]

low power system running linux with 1 or more hard drives is the ideal solution imo
some of the bobcat platforms easily idle at lower than 15W depending on PSU and number of HD's