Photo Library and Backup Begginer NAS

[Reccio]

Hello to all from Dominican Republic and congrats for such a good site, i came acrross to this site by searching the net for a backup solution after a tragically 900 gb "incident", after a few days reading guides and charts i decide my self to ask for help.

I would appreciate very much some expert advice

I own a 3D Visualization Studio here in the DR, i work most of the time with heavy 3ds Max, Photoshop and Autocad Sizes 50mb+, i have 4 Computers that work with a rudimentary network (isp thomson dsl modem wireless and 4 port switch) with, wired access of 100mb and sharing a 280gb Libray (textures, photos, videos, fonts, background pictures etc...)in a primary computer that i and others working with me constantly use in a primary computer.

All computers are quadcore 2.4 intel, Raid 0 WD 160gb, and the primary one with an adicional 320gb drive and gigabit nics.

Heres what i think that i need:

A Budget (cheap and fast) NAS Solution for sharing library files and make constantly backups of important projects mabe every x hours.

I was thinking in a Msi Wind with Ubuntu Server and Two 7200.12 Seagates In RAID 1

Dealing with linux, custom firwares etc.. is not a deal for me, im familiar with networks protocols etc.. just not familiar with specialized hardware.

My first idea was some kind of very fast raid in terms that everybody can write all the info in the server and not in the computers but i think it will cost a lot im really not sure..

I know that is mabe off topic but a suggested gigabit switch and a wireless solution just for visitors and laptops.

Thanks in Advance to all!!!!

PD: Im not very fluent at english so if you see some errors now you know why.

 

[thiggins]

How cheap and how fast? And what are typical file sizes?

Did you see any systems in the NAS Charts that interested you? Why not just buy a commercial NAS?

 

[Reccio]

Thanks for the quickly response, well i think i am in the BYOD US$ 300-400 MAX, since the fact that i already have a 7200.12 1tb disk that i can use (Commercial or Homemade), and for the speed i think that fast enough that 4 machines (not all the time) can make a constant (background and silent) backup and able to browse over the 280gb library.

I like the Synology 409 for the price performance, since writing speed is very important for me, but mabe de 209 for the price.... im not sure.

I,m not really sure there is a 4 drive solution that i can make in that price range, to initally get 2 drives and later (when my wallet can hehehe) buy another pair.

If there a commercial solution i dont have problems, some times easier with a littler extra money is better, than cheap and complicated.

 

[thiggins]

If you use the NAS Charts, put in a price limit of $400 and use the Price/Performance view, you'll see a lot of options. The Synology DS209+ is right at $400 and has good performance, but is disappearing fast, replaced by the DS209+II, which I think is more $.

I would not rule out the HP LX195, which uses Windows Home server. It comes with a 640 GB drive (which you can replace), backup clients (for Windows) and is easily expandable, without having to rebuild a RAID array since it doesn't use RAID.