Please help. I have information overload!

[Gonz]

Hello and thanks in advance for any decision making help that you may be able to offer!

I have done my apprenticeship on the website and read all of the supporting posts so I hope these are informed intelligent questions.

Mr. Higgins said to know what I want my NAS to do. I have a list but first my situation. I run a SOHO for my wife and I. We are both in real estate. We spend copious time on the web and email. We view and create large video files for virtual tours of houses. We have a website that we pay to maintain and host which we keep updated. My business files are growing rapidly. I have a hard time sending big files over my Verizon high speed access which is frustrating. I am computer literate but do not have enough time to relearn every new system function from a low level programming position. Five years ago when I had only Windows based computers in the house I installed an Cisco NSLU2 Network Storage device with two 250 gigabyte USB drives attached to it and set up a home network using a Linksys router and software. I was able to connect to my database in a rudimentary way from the internet outside of my home and download files. I taught myself to set it up although it seems archaic in comparison to the new software available. Subsequently I purchase an IMAC computer, I-phone, and a new Windows 7 Dell computer. I need the Windows computer to communicate with the real estate brokerage that I work through as they only support Microsoft solutions. I am all Apple otherwise although I am running Parallels VM on the MAC so that I can run one program, Quicken! The NSLU2 has become way to overloaded, hard to work with, doesn’t like Snow Leopard OS, and generally antiquated. In the meantime the NAS solutions seem to be much more sophisticated. With this in mind, six months ago I decided to start the thought process that led me to this point and you. I feel like I know a ton more than ever but I am still not clear on my decision and uncomfortable pulling the trigger on a new unit without your advise.

Here’s my main list in order of importance:

1. Fully functional but easy to understand and use software to setup and maintain NAS
2. Dependable reliable performance
3. Expandability!
4. File serving transfer of big files
5. Web Hosting to reduce my costs
6. Storage of all of my business and personal photos, I-tunes Directory, video
7. Backup (I read the SOHO not a backup article)

I have looked at the charts. One of the main things that I thought the NAS should do besides being a server is be a backup but after reading your article I can see how that could be flawed thinking. It seems that QNAP has the best products performance wise and the most expensive. Synology seems to be an up and coming second with a better price to value relationship but I’m not sure that from what I see the software is as good as QNAP’s. If I run into trouble I’m concerned by some of the lack of support concerns I see posted. I am inclined to wait if these companies are going to get better and more mature but my data belly is going to bust soon. What unit would you recommend, would you wait to buy, and what form of backup does one use to backup and already massive device? Would you recommend RAID5? Can I use my existing 250 gigabyte drives in this system for anything? Lots of questions but I hope you can bring me some clarity. Thanks!!!!

 

[thiggins]

Here’s my main list in order of importance:

1. Fully functional but easy to understand and use software to setup and maintain NAS
2. Dependable reliable performance
3. Expandability!
4. File serving transfer of big files
5. Web Hosting to reduce my costs
6. Storage of all of my business and personal photos, I-tunes Directory, video
7. Backup (I read the SOHO not a backup article)

Do yourself a huge favor and take Web hosting off the list. DIY web hosting is false economy and can put all of the files on the NAS at risk if you are hacked. Don't do this. There are plenty of inexpensive webhosts out there.

I have looked at the charts. One of the main things that I thought the NAS should do besides being a server is be a backup but after reading your article I can see how that could be flawed thinking.

If the NAS is going to be the primary store for your files, then you want it backed up. RAID is NOT backup. If the NAS serves as backup for files that are on your clients, then backing up the NAS isn't essential.
Be sure you put any NAS on a UPS, BTW.

It seems that QNAP has the best products performance wise and the most expensive. Synology seems to be an up and coming second with a better price to value relationship but I’m not sure that from what I see the software is as good as QNAP’s.

No vendor is perfect when it comes to support. QNAP and Synology both make fine NASes. Their primary tech teams are in Taiwan, but both have U.S. support people. Both have very active Forums. I'd advise you to check around the forums of any vendor you are considering to see if people's problems get solved.

If you're considering products priced in the QNAP/Synology range, you should also look at NETGEAR ReadyNAS. I'd also look at Iomega's new ix2 and ix4.

What unit would you recommend, would you wait to buy, and what form of backup does one use to backup and already massive device? Would you recommend RAID5? Can I use my existing 250 gigabyte drives in this system for anything?

There is no need to wait to buy. There are plenty of products out there that can do what you want.

My recommendation is single drive NAS automatically backed up daily to either another NAS or an attached drive, if that meets your storage space requirements (up to 2 TB). RAID doesn't really buy you security. It's just a way of making a larger single storage pool out of smaller drives.

 

[Gonz]

Thanks Tim

Tim,

Thanks very much for your response and your input! I appreciate it and understand your point of view. The RAID concept is clear to me now. I just view it as one big logical disk that can partially physically fail and survive if the RAID value is 5 and I have 4 disks. I understand that any component in the box could also take my data down. It is always good to have mutilple backup scenarios. I'll work on that.
I will also take your advise on the webhosting as I didn't think of the ramifications to security. Thanks.
What I was hoping for but you didn't comment on it was your opinion of the software front ends to these machines and if there was a clearly superior one that you liked? Thanks again for your input! You are the Man!

Yours Truly,
Gonz

 

[thiggins]

Pretty much all NASes I've seen have usable admin interfaces. Thecus was the last one to bring their admin GUI up to current design standards and they're still probably the weakest in this area.

 

[Gonz]

Tim,

Thank you for your response! I was hoping that you'd make this easy for me by suggesting one over the other but if that's not the case then I accept they are fairly equal. I was able to demo the software online at the Synology website but couldn't seem to find the same facility on the QNAP site? It makes it easier if you can try it before you buy it. Thanks again!

Gonz

 

[thiggins]

but couldn't seem to find the same facility on the QNAP site? It makes it easier if you can try it before you buy it. Thanks again!

http://www.qnap.com/liveDemo.asp