Need Advice for Buying a new NAS

[TylerD004]

Hi All,


I'm looking to buy a new NAS.

Here are some requirements:

Must be able to install WHS assuming I buy it (as in, it does not need to ship with it).
Must be able to stream at least 30Mb/s video.
Must be room for 4 to 5 3.5" HDDs.
Must be able to do at least RAID 1.

Here are some hopes:

Would like it to be as low watts per [unit of time] as possible.
Would like it to be as quiet as possible.
Would like it to be as inexpensive as possible (but this one is least important).


Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Also, I have a side-question: If I setup a RAID 1 configuration and the NAS motherboard breaks, can I simply place one of the HDDs in a PC to retrieve the data?


Thank you!

 

[thiggins]

You are more likely to get advice if you do your homework first and ask for feedback on specific products. See
How To Buy a NAS - The Short(er) Version - Updated 2011


http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/nas/nas-popular

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/finders/nas/view

NAS drives are formatted in non-Windows formats. You would need a machine that can read the disk format, which may be EXT2/3/4, HFS+, XFS or others.

 

[stevech]

Also, I have a side-question: If I setup a RAID 1 configuration and the NAS motherboard breaks, can I simply place one of the HDDs in a PC to retrieve the data?

Thank you!

A common reminder on this forum: "RAID is not a backup". An external or network drive copy of the data is needed, via USB, eSATA, iSCSI, rSync or something. Preferably kept off-site.

But, best to have an independent backup in case the NASes file system gets corrupted.

 

[TylerD004]

I did my homework

You are more likely to get advice if you do your homework first and ask for feedback on specific products. See
How To Buy a NAS - The Short(er) Version - Updated 2011


http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/nas/nas-popular

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/finders/nas/view

NAS drives are formatted in non-Windows formats. You would need a machine that can read the disk format, which may be EXT2/3/4, HFS+, XFS or others.

Thank you for the reply.

I actually read all of those articles before posting and not one lists every NAS that supports a WHS install. I have done a lot of reading (nearly every article from 2011). I have only found one NAS (the Acer Aspire easyStore) that seems to allow for a WHS install, but my gut feeling is that there must be more.

Can anyone at the very least just point me to a few that can do what I'm looking for?

 

[TylerD004]

A common reminder on this forum: "RAID is not a backup". An external or network drive copy of the data is needed, via USB, eSATA, iSCSI, rSync or something. Preferably kept off-site.

But, best to have an independent backup in case the NASes file system gets corrupted.

Thank you for the reply.

I'm so sorry, but I don't understand your response. Is that a yes or a no?

 

[Generic George]

Thank you for the reply.

I'm so sorry, but I don't understand your response. Is that a yes or a no?

No you can not simply place a drive from most NAS in a PC to get data off of it. Most use a non-windows format for the drives, as Thiggens said "EXT2/3/4, HFS+, XFS". With the EXT being the most common. Also it is also difficult if not impossible to read a single drive from a > 2 disk RAID set, since bits and pieces of the files might be spread across multiple disks or formatted in such a fashion that a single drive is not a complete entity without the rest of the disks.

As far as WHS goes, I think basically if you want it. You will need to buy one that comes with it. I have seen some NAS where they sell the same model with different options as to the OS. Like the WD or Buffalo units that have been reviewed here recently, but those are also fairly expensive units in the $1000+ range and given that the OS for most NAS is resident on a some sort of flash memory module I don't think switching OS is an option even if the other hardware is the same.

 

[ntm1275]

Are you looking for an all in one consumer ready built NAS that comply to your specs?

If you are, then the choice is very small

Almost all ready built NAS's come with a flavour of Linux and come with all the pre-installed software that the particular vendor supports at that time, and are ready to run with a few configuration settings

Very few come with WHS, and those that do, will be based on x86 architecture, so will probably be running an Intel CPU of Core 2 or above, so not very power efficient

With what you are asking, it sounds like you would be better off building one yourself, based on x86, or buying a blank x86 PC and installing WHS on it

May I ask, why you specify WHS?

The reason I ask is because the Linus based NAS's can do virtually everything and sometimes more that WHS can

Many Linux based NAS's from vendors like Synology or Qnap will do everything you ask apart from WHS, and are specifically designed for low power consumption

 

[TylerD004]

No you can not simply place a drive from most NAS in a PC to get data off of it. Most use a non-windows format for the drives, as Thiggens said "EXT2/3/4, HFS+, XFS". With the EXT being the most common. Also it is also difficult if not impossible to read a single drive from a > 2 disk RAID set, since bits and pieces of the files might be spread across multiple disks or formatted in such a fashion that a single drive is not a complete entity without the rest of the disks.

I'm so sorry. My English is not terribly good and I have a hard time articulating what I mean.

Assuming I have a computer that can read any file-system, can I pull a hard drive out of a RAID 1 configuration and read the data?

My understanding is that in RAID 1, there is no spreading of data; just duplication.

 

[TylerD004]

Are you looking for an all in one consumer ready built NAS that comply to your specs?

Yes, I am. I would prefer not to build one because I fear it will not be as power efficient as one of those small ones that big companies make.

May I ask, why you specify WHS?

Of course you may and thank you for asking. I was informed that the only way to get uTorrent running on a NAS is to install WHS and then install uTorrent as a service. I am not interested AT ALL in any other torrenting program, just uTorrent.

Is there an alternate way for me to run uTorrent (and only uTorrent) on a NAS without WHS? I don't particularly look forward to having WHS.

 

[stevech]

this uTorrent discussion came up before... I think it came out that uTorrent is Windows-only. But full Bittorrent would be equivalent AND compatible - and more. And that is supported on many NAS products.

 

[TylerD004]

But full Bittorrent would be equivalent AND compatible - and more. And that is supported on many NAS products.

stevech, I appreciate your help on the matter, but like I've stated before, I'm not interested in any other Bittorrent client. I currently have a NAS with Linux debian and Transmission (a Bittorrent client) installed and it is under performing.

I tested 10 different Bittorrent clients on a powerful desktop PC and clocked how long they took to download the same torrent one-by-one tested at the same time of day. The test took 10 days.

uTorrent not only came in first, but beat out the 2nd place winner, rTorrent, by over 4x the speed.

I am trying so hard to be clear about what I'm looking for, but I believe the fact that English is my second language is getting in the way here. If anyone can help correct my English, I would appreciate that greatly.

I am not looking for a NAS that can "do" Bitorrenting. I am looking for a NAS that can run the program called uTorrent.

I think it came out that uTorrent is Windows-only.

That is not the case. uTorrent Client Edition is availible for Windows, OSX, and the Server Edition is availible for Linux. Additionally, people have created Qnap packages of uTorrent that run on Qnap NASes.

At the moment it seems the easiest path is to build a NAS that runs WHS and then install uTorrent as a service.

Other people are running uTorrent on their NASes and I would like to join the party. Does anyone have any advice about how I can get there with respect to my other requirements?

 

[stevech]

I stand corrected. I don't know what I don't know about why certain variant torrents with super capacity and speed are important.

 

[TylerD004]

I stand corrected. I don't know what I don't know about why certain variant torrents with super capacity and speed are important.

Speed is important. This is the reason this wonderful site has performance charts of various Routers, NAS units, etc. I think most people will want that 8GB torrent to download in a few hours instead of a week for the same reason they want to be able to copy over their 8GB file from their NAS using a 1000Mb/s connection rather than a 100Mb/s connection.

This is important for the people that torrent. It's important to those in tune with their network situation. It's important to me and that's why I've been spending time trying to research the issue.

Again, if anyone can point me in the right direction, I would appreciate it greatly.

 

[Ken_z71]

I chose the build my own with freenas as I wanted the ability to upgrade parts as they wear out and / or fill up.

With a synlogy or the like I was not sure I could easily be up an running if something wore out down the road.