Hi
I have spent the last week reading this site (which is very good thank you) and looking at reviews and specs for NAS and associated hardware and to be honest i am very confused. I keep thinking - yep that's it - then the clarity vanishes! Please can someone offer advice.
I want to set up a NAS at home to hold music files, pictures and some shared documents. Proabably around 200GB at present expanding fairly rapidly. I have a top of the range laptop running vista 64, a run of the mill Dell laptop running XP and a desk top running XP. I am using a belkin G+ MIMO wireless router.
I want to be able to access files from any of the computers and I want to be able to back up my NAS data weekly to monthly- from what i can see that is the easy bit of the NAS and all will do this (although i have got confused over vista 64 compatibility issues). The difficult bit is i want to move into the digital age for music and video content and am looking for a system which will allow me to listen to music in the house without the need to have a pc running(main room only at the moment) and in the future watch Video content on my tv. But at the moment I have a 15 year old stereo and a CRT TV! Looking around it seems rather complicated and the myriad of reviews seem to contradict or at least confuse me.
I thought a buffalo linkstation pro - then i read it didnt do vista. Then i looked at the Qnap or Synology, they looked great but then i got confused about whether i was paying for something i wouldnt need. I have looked at squeezebox and sony media players but i get completely confused at compatability issues.
I also considered using an old laptop to run freenas, but it looked too complex and also not sure my old laptop would manage 24/7 use!
My ideal system would provide me with data security, the ability to share music and files between my computers. The ability to listen to music in my living room and in the future allow me to watch my DVD collection easily on our main tv and laptop at the same ime. It should be small, quiet and low power - but almsot all the NAS i have looked at meet this.
I hope that makes sense and apologies if am being "hard of understanding", but i want to make sure i get the right architecture for me, rather than buy what looks to get the best reviews and find i cant do what i want later. Appreciate any help.
Regards
Jim
I have spent the last week reading this site (which is very good thank you) and looking at reviews and specs for NAS and associated hardware and to be honest i am very confused. I keep thinking - yep that's it - then the clarity vanishes! Please can someone offer advice.
I want to set up a NAS at home to hold music files, pictures and some shared documents. Proabably around 200GB at present expanding fairly rapidly. I have a top of the range laptop running vista 64, a run of the mill Dell laptop running XP and a desk top running XP. I am using a belkin G+ MIMO wireless router.
I want to be able to access files from any of the computers and I want to be able to back up my NAS data weekly to monthly- from what i can see that is the easy bit of the NAS and all will do this (although i have got confused over vista 64 compatibility issues). The difficult bit is i want to move into the digital age for music and video content and am looking for a system which will allow me to listen to music in the house without the need to have a pc running(main room only at the moment) and in the future watch Video content on my tv. But at the moment I have a 15 year old stereo and a CRT TV! Looking around it seems rather complicated and the myriad of reviews seem to contradict or at least confuse me.
I thought a buffalo linkstation pro - then i read it didnt do vista. Then i looked at the Qnap or Synology, they looked great but then i got confused about whether i was paying for something i wouldnt need. I have looked at squeezebox and sony media players but i get completely confused at compatability issues.
I also considered using an old laptop to run freenas, but it looked too complex and also not sure my old laptop would manage 24/7 use!
My ideal system would provide me with data security, the ability to share music and files between my computers. The ability to listen to music in my living room and in the future allow me to watch my DVD collection easily on our main tv and laptop at the same ime. It should be small, quiet and low power - but almsot all the NAS i have looked at meet this.
I hope that makes sense and apologies if am being "hard of understanding", but i want to make sure i get the right architecture for me, rather than buy what looks to get the best reviews and find i cant do what i want later. Appreciate any help.
Regards
Jim
