NAS for Media streaming and remote access

[Balinus]

Hello!

I need some advice for my 1st NAS at home. I do have some choices that I've already narrowed.

Iomega ix2-200 2TB (~250$)
QNAP TS-110 + 1TB HD (~250$)
Synology DS110j + 1TB HD (~250$)

I do understand that I need to purchase a HDD for the last two choices.

My main objectives :
1- Media streaming (either through SMB config or UPnP, as XBMC support both)
2- Automatic Backup for my PCs (1 Vista + 2 Linux)
3- Remote access of some files (Pictures and home videos for the family for example)
4- Being able to to a backup of the NAS on an external HD connected directly to the NAS
5- Download client for torrents files.

At first I thought that the Iomega would be a good choice with the possibility of putting the HDD in RAID. However, after some reading, this doesn't seem to be a good choice for a backup solution. So I now think it might be more wise to buy either the Qnap or Synology and plug-in an external HD directly to the NAS.

So, after some researchs, I think that the 3 NAS listed above can do all that. They also cost about the same (but with more space on the Iomega).

All things being equal, I'd take the Iomega for the additional space and buy an external HD.

My main concern is reliability. I don't like when things break. Any suggestions /tips/recommendations/etc... for me?

Budget is around 250$.

Thanks a lot!
Balinus

edit - Another question. Could I buy a 2-bay NAS and only put 1 HD in it? And purchase a 2nd HD later on?

edit2- Ok, found the answer of the last question about having only 1 HDD in a 2-bay NAS.

 

[Balinus]

I've also found that the Netgear RND2000 might be a good buy. A little bit over budhet, but it might worth it to have 2 bay finally...

My updated choices :

Iomaga ix2-200 2TB
Synology DS211j + 1TB
Netgear RND2000 + 1TB

Of course, the latter 2 choices are more expensive but it's not a deal breaker as I only need a maximum of 1TB in the next year.

So again, reliability is my main objective here.

 

[Balinus]

Well, I finally bought the Iomega ix2-200 2TB. So far so good.

However, each time I reboot, it seems to take ages to regain access to the device. Like a good 10+ minutes. Is it normal?

 

[Balinus]

I might return the unit.

I've setted the power management for the drives to spin down after 15min and it doesn't seem to work. Unplugged all computers and there is always some little activity on the NAS. Maybe the Remote access? Everything was deactivated (torrents, etc...).

Do you think that having the drives always "on", even without actual read/write, will shorten the lifetime of the HDD?

 

[thiggins]

Well, I finally bought the Iomega ix2-200 2TB. So far so good.

However, each time I reboot, it seems to take ages to regain access to the device. Like a good 10+ minutes. Is it normal?

It should not take that long for a reboot. Can you check the log to see if it is doing a volume repair / rescan?

If it is, contact Iomega support. Also be sure to register your unit if you are going to keep it. That's the only way you get the 3 year warranty.

 

[Balinus]

It should not take that long for a reboot. Can you check the log to see if it is doing a volume repair / rescan?

If it is, contact Iomega support. Also be sure to register your unit if you are going to keep it. That's the only way you get the 3 year warranty.

I don't see any repair or rescan. Strangely, here's some log events (look at the dates!) :

09/04/2013 11:48 Network is available.
09/04/2013 11:48 Network is not available.
09/04/2013 11:48 Iomega StorCenter ix2 Your-200 was shut down improperly, the most recent changes may be lost.

and this strange user that connected not long after I started configuring the NAS :

24/02/2011 19:17 User 'pandea6' logged.

The user pandea6 never existed. Quite confused!

edit - I did a reboot from remote access and it took only 4 minutes now. The journal log insert events just before the entry from 2013, as expected.

 

[bnborg]

It should not take that long for a reboot. Can you check the log to see if it is doing a volume repair / rescan?

If it is, contact Iomega support. Also be sure to register your unit if you are going to keep it. That's the only way you get the 3 year warranty.

My LG-NAS N4B1 takes over an hour to reboot. At least it's that long until it says it is ready. In the mean while it says it's Checking Quotas.

I can telnet to it within minutes. I am thinking these two terabyte drives are too much for the slow ARM processor and limited memory. I have four drives in RAID5 for a net total of 5.36 TB.

 

[Balinus]

Well, I ended up buying a Synology DS21j with two WD 1.5TB disks.

Reasons why I changed :

- The Iomega seemed unstable to me (after reboot, all active torrents dissapeared).
- Sometimes the disk goes to stop as expected, sometimes it doesn't (withtout torrents of course).

For a few dollars more (Thank you S. Leone for the quote), the DS211j appear more robust.

Will keep you up to date concerning the performance of the DS211j.