Network Storage?
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I'm after some advice here and I'm sure a CPian can help. Basically, I need some network storage so the wife and I can use a central drive to store our pictures and music. Until now I have been sharing a USB drive attached to my laptop, but that's no use when I am in the office (unless the wife plugs the drive into her computer). So I want some NAS type solution I guess - a drive attached to our WLAN. Now, I don't need anything fancy - this is just browsing pictures and playing MP3s - and I know nothing about NAS. What I want is to be able to plug a drive into one of the network cable sockets in the back of my wireless router (a decent SpeedTouch) and access it from both PCs over the WLAN but I guess it won't be that simple... So, any ideas or suggestions would be welcome. I don't want CAT cables everywhere, so wireless is essential... Thanks in advance.
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I'm after some advice here and I'm sure a CPian can help. Basically, I need some network storage so the wife and I can use a central drive to store our pictures and music. Until now I have been sharing a USB drive attached to my laptop, but that's no use when I am in the office (unless the wife plugs the drive into her computer). So I want some NAS type solution I guess - a drive attached to our WLAN. Now, I don't need anything fancy - this is just browsing pictures and playing MP3s - and I know nothing about NAS. What I want is to be able to plug a drive into one of the network cable sockets in the back of my wireless router (a decent SpeedTouch) and access it from both PCs over the WLAN but I guess it won't be that simple... So, any ideas or suggestions would be welcome. I don't want CAT cables everywhere, so wireless is essential... Thanks in advance.
For different clients I have used the Intel Entry Storage System SS4000-E and I have used the Buffalo Terastations in varying capacities. The Intel was okay... would I buy one for myself? !*NO*! Do I like the Terastation? !*YES*! The Terastation has a better interface and using it on Networks it's just *ROCK* solid. It has one gigabit port and 2 USB ports. The Intel has 2 gigabit ports and 2 USB ports. I have found no way to make the USB ports on the Intel work. Haven't tried the USB on the buffalo but I will now that I'm thinking of it.
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For different clients I have used the Intel Entry Storage System SS4000-E and I have used the Buffalo Terastations in varying capacities. The Intel was okay... would I buy one for myself? !*NO*! Do I like the Terastation? !*YES*! The Terastation has a better interface and using it on Networks it's just *ROCK* solid. It has one gigabit port and 2 USB ports. The Intel has 2 gigabit ports and 2 USB ports. I have found no way to make the USB ports on the Intel work. Haven't tried the USB on the buffalo but I will now that I'm thinking of it.
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I'm after some advice here and I'm sure a CPian can help. Basically, I need some network storage so the wife and I can use a central drive to store our pictures and music. Until now I have been sharing a USB drive attached to my laptop, but that's no use when I am in the office (unless the wife plugs the drive into her computer). So I want some NAS type solution I guess - a drive attached to our WLAN. Now, I don't need anything fancy - this is just browsing pictures and playing MP3s - and I know nothing about NAS. What I want is to be able to plug a drive into one of the network cable sockets in the back of my wireless router (a decent SpeedTouch) and access it from both PCs over the WLAN but I guess it won't be that simple... So, any ideas or suggestions would be welcome. I don't want CAT cables everywhere, so wireless is essential... Thanks in advance.
my Infrant ReadyNAS does all that (and more). and it really is that simple. plug it in, let the config stuff do its job, and then it shows up on the network as a mappable drive. you don't to know anything about RAID or ports or networking. you administer it via http and it sends you emails when it wants your attention.
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my Infrant ReadyNAS does all that (and more). and it really is that simple. plug it in, let the config stuff do its job, and then it shows up on the network as a mappable drive. you don't to know anything about RAID or ports or networking. you administer it via http and it sends you emails when it wants your attention.
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Sweet. Looks like it might be sold with a NetGear badge here in the UK. What is the model number you have?
yeah, i think they just got bought by NetGear. mine's just a "ReadyNAS", but it's a couple of years old, so they've moved on to the ReadyNAS NV+ (which looks pretty cool, too).
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Thank you. So, I could connect a cable from the Buffalo to my router and access the drive over the WLAN? How is the drive administered? I know zip about NAS so please bear with me! :)
Both the Buffalo and the Intel provide web based management that is *EXTREMELY* easy to use. You cannot get it wrong (in the management tool) with either of them. It's a snap.
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I'm after some advice here and I'm sure a CPian can help. Basically, I need some network storage so the wife and I can use a central drive to store our pictures and music. Until now I have been sharing a USB drive attached to my laptop, but that's no use when I am in the office (unless the wife plugs the drive into her computer). So I want some NAS type solution I guess - a drive attached to our WLAN. Now, I don't need anything fancy - this is just browsing pictures and playing MP3s - and I know nothing about NAS. What I want is to be able to plug a drive into one of the network cable sockets in the back of my wireless router (a decent SpeedTouch) and access it from both PCs over the WLAN but I guess it won't be that simple... So, any ideas or suggestions would be welcome. I don't want CAT cables everywhere, so wireless is essential... Thanks in advance.
I am using an Iomega Storcenter 320GB. Nice product if you can put it away from your desk, since the fan is very noisy. I am using it with a wired 100Mbps client (my router does not handle 1000Mbps) and with a wireless (54Mbps) client, and although the wireless use is slow it can be used for MP3 streaming - it just needs a reliable connection. However even 100Mbps is slow if you need to transfer large files: the average throughput I get is about ~7MBytes/sec.
Luca The Price of Freedom is Eternal Vigilance. -- Wing Commander IV En Það Besta Sem Guð Hefur Skapað, Er Nýr Dagur. (But the best thing God has created, is a New Day.) -- Sigur Ròs - Viðrar vel til loftárása
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Thank you. So, I could connect a cable from the Buffalo to my router and access the drive over the WLAN? How is the drive administered? I know zip about NAS so please bear with me! :)
Yeah, I have them both squirrelled away in very obscure places. I just plug them into wall jacks and let em' sit. The really nice thing is that each of them has 4 drive bays. You can fill them all or whatever number you wish. Then just access them by IP or if you have some type of directory service list them there and share/script them out. It's a nice setup no matter how you approach it. Pricing is a bit stiff if you ask me (The Intel was $550 and then the cost of drives and the Buffalo was $1400 drives included.) but in the end it is so worthy every single penny. Also the Intel doesn't seem to have as much processor/speed overall as the Buffalo. The Buffalo seems way faster. I can run 80 Gig VMWare Server Images off the Buffalo and not notice any performance degradation at all. If it were me I'd go Buffalo and they seem to be the "go to" in the market.
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I'm after some advice here and I'm sure a CPian can help. Basically, I need some network storage so the wife and I can use a central drive to store our pictures and music. Until now I have been sharing a USB drive attached to my laptop, but that's no use when I am in the office (unless the wife plugs the drive into her computer). So I want some NAS type solution I guess - a drive attached to our WLAN. Now, I don't need anything fancy - this is just browsing pictures and playing MP3s - and I know nothing about NAS. What I want is to be able to plug a drive into one of the network cable sockets in the back of my wireless router (a decent SpeedTouch) and access it from both PCs over the WLAN but I guess it won't be that simple... So, any ideas or suggestions would be welcome. I don't want CAT cables everywhere, so wireless is essential... Thanks in advance.
Buffalo also makes a less expensive LinkStation / DriveStation series - I have the 500GB LinkStation Pro [^]- Gigabit ethernet interface & 2 USB ports. The only thing it doesn't have is RAID capibilities (since it is a single drive). I have one set up for my MP3s & photos along with 2 500GB DriveStation [^] units (plugged into the LinkStation USB ports). Fry's has the LinkStation for ~$270 and the DriveStation units for ~$150. I picked up my units when they were weekly specials, so I saved around $50. A 1TB TeraStation runs ~$500 [^]. We have one on our network at work for an enginering drawing repository. Just plug either into a spare port on your wireless router and after a very easy setup, your good to go.
Steve
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I'm after some advice here and I'm sure a CPian can help. Basically, I need some network storage so the wife and I can use a central drive to store our pictures and music. Until now I have been sharing a USB drive attached to my laptop, but that's no use when I am in the office (unless the wife plugs the drive into her computer). So I want some NAS type solution I guess - a drive attached to our WLAN. Now, I don't need anything fancy - this is just browsing pictures and playing MP3s - and I know nothing about NAS. What I want is to be able to plug a drive into one of the network cable sockets in the back of my wireless router (a decent SpeedTouch) and access it from both PCs over the WLAN but I guess it won't be that simple... So, any ideas or suggestions would be welcome. I don't want CAT cables everywhere, so wireless is essential... Thanks in advance.
For a simple solution - Not quite a NAS, but for Home/ Small office use is perfect : Use ISCSI. All vista boxes have an initiator already and you can use an old pc to run the ISCSI Drive.
All things are possible
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I'm after some advice here and I'm sure a CPian can help. Basically, I need some network storage so the wife and I can use a central drive to store our pictures and music. Until now I have been sharing a USB drive attached to my laptop, but that's no use when I am in the office (unless the wife plugs the drive into her computer). So I want some NAS type solution I guess - a drive attached to our WLAN. Now, I don't need anything fancy - this is just browsing pictures and playing MP3s - and I know nothing about NAS. What I want is to be able to plug a drive into one of the network cable sockets in the back of my wireless router (a decent SpeedTouch) and access it from both PCs over the WLAN but I guess it won't be that simple... So, any ideas or suggestions would be welcome. I don't want CAT cables everywhere, so wireless is essential... Thanks in advance.
Something you might want to consider is a Windows Home Server. In addition to network shares, it also works as automated remote backup, remote access gateway, and remote web access to your files (so you can pull up stuff from work, or whatever). See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Home_Server[^] There is currently a bug in WHS that's getting a lot of press. Apparently, if you edit a file on one of the shares using certain programs that use NTFS alternate data streams, it can cause "corruption", but there's no real word on what that means or how. A fix is expected soon. You can either buy WHS and do it yourself on an old computer (or buy a cheapo one) or you can get commercial units like these: http://shop2.outpost.com/product/5452799[^]
-- Where are we going? And why am I in this handbasket?
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I'm after some advice here and I'm sure a CPian can help. Basically, I need some network storage so the wife and I can use a central drive to store our pictures and music. Until now I have been sharing a USB drive attached to my laptop, but that's no use when I am in the office (unless the wife plugs the drive into her computer). So I want some NAS type solution I guess - a drive attached to our WLAN. Now, I don't need anything fancy - this is just browsing pictures and playing MP3s - and I know nothing about NAS. What I want is to be able to plug a drive into one of the network cable sockets in the back of my wireless router (a decent SpeedTouch) and access it from both PCs over the WLAN but I guess it won't be that simple... So, any ideas or suggestions would be welcome. I don't want CAT cables everywhere, so wireless is essential... Thanks in advance.
IOMega has a nice product, but don't buy it because their product support SUCKS. Mine died 3 days out-of-the-box. They would replace it, but not recover the data. I had migrated data off of boxes and was about to (literally) back that up so that everything was backed up in a shot. I wasn't allowed to open the case and try to load the drive into a computer to recover. Then the biggie, they would send me a refurbished NAS to replace my Brand new one. They sent one, only after I repackaged and sent mine, with no power cable. I was supposed to mind read that only the drive and case come back. Then they sent the power cable. Wrong one. Then I got a hold of someone real who just shipped a shrink wrapped new unit. It has worked since, but it took me TWO MONTHS to get the final drive running. I propose the LinkSys NSLU2 which allows you to plug in your USB drive (I'm assuming you have one already) into this thing and it automagically networks it. Its $78 [^] A friend has that one and it works great for him. Here's a link to tigerdirect for enclosures (put any drive in there you want) [^] This should be a breeze, you just need cold hard cash because initially you're going to spend $50+ for an enclosure to do this with.
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Something you might want to consider is a Windows Home Server. In addition to network shares, it also works as automated remote backup, remote access gateway, and remote web access to your files (so you can pull up stuff from work, or whatever). See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Home_Server[^] There is currently a bug in WHS that's getting a lot of press. Apparently, if you edit a file on one of the shares using certain programs that use NTFS alternate data streams, it can cause "corruption", but there's no real word on what that means or how. A fix is expected soon. You can either buy WHS and do it yourself on an old computer (or buy a cheapo one) or you can get commercial units like these: http://shop2.outpost.com/product/5452799[^]
-- Where are we going? And why am I in this handbasket?
Wrong day to promote the Home Server. It will corrupt files. The article and MS itself will tell you ALL of the products including MS products. Microsoft's response? Umm Don't use these products with the Home server when you are sharing folders. Ummm we missed testing those products: OneNote, PhotoGallery, Outlook, Quicken, MS Money, Quickbooks. . . Read for yourself, and no this is not in an attack MS magazine either. Also MS has recreated the problem. The article posts the MS notifications. [^]
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Wrong day to promote the Home Server. It will corrupt files. The article and MS itself will tell you ALL of the products including MS products. Microsoft's response? Umm Don't use these products with the Home server when you are sharing folders. Ummm we missed testing those products: OneNote, PhotoGallery, Outlook, Quicken, MS Money, Quickbooks. . . Read for yourself, and no this is not in an attack MS magazine either. Also MS has recreated the problem. The article posts the MS notifications. [^]
You need to pay closer attention to what you're responding to. I mentioned that in my post. The issue, while bad, isn't as bad as is made out. You just need to make sure you don't edit files that are on a file share. That's pretty easy to do.
-- Where are we going? And why am I in this handbasket?
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You need to pay closer attention to what you're responding to. I mentioned that in my post. The issue, while bad, isn't as bad as is made out. You just need to make sure you don't edit files that are on a file share. That's pretty easy to do.
-- Where are we going? And why am I in this handbasket?
Yes you're right. Sorry. I was scanning (at work no less) and didn't go further. Thanks.
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I'm after some advice here and I'm sure a CPian can help. Basically, I need some network storage so the wife and I can use a central drive to store our pictures and music. Until now I have been sharing a USB drive attached to my laptop, but that's no use when I am in the office (unless the wife plugs the drive into her computer). So I want some NAS type solution I guess - a drive attached to our WLAN. Now, I don't need anything fancy - this is just browsing pictures and playing MP3s - and I know nothing about NAS. What I want is to be able to plug a drive into one of the network cable sockets in the back of my wireless router (a decent SpeedTouch) and access it from both PCs over the WLAN but I guess it won't be that simple... So, any ideas or suggestions would be welcome. I don't want CAT cables everywhere, so wireless is essential... Thanks in advance.
I can thoroughly recommend the Dlink DNS323[^]. Maxes out wireless or 100Mb wired network connections with no problem whatsoever. It'll take two SATA drives of your choice in RAID 0, RAID 1 or as a single drive.