I am looking for a NAS that can:

use 4 hd in raid 5
goes to sleep and wakes up well
has good throughput

I like the DROBO but it does not have ethernet.
I like the QNAP 209 pro but it has only 2 hd

So, that points me to the infrant ready nas, the thecus 5200 pro, the synology 407

Any suggestions/experiences?

I am looking to stream HD content to (1 stream sometimes) and music (2-3 mp3 streams).

Tnx. but the search button doesnt have much that is recent. even smallnetbuilder has good info that is a little dated and also omits the infrant lineup from its comparison.

I am looking for a NAS that can:

use 4 hd in raid 5
goes to sleep and wakes up well
has good throughput

I like the DROBO but it does not have ethernet.
I like the QNAP 209 pro but it has only 2 hd

So, that points me to the infrant ready nas, the thecus 5200 pro, the synology 407

Any suggestions/experiences?

I am looking to stream HD content to (1 stream sometimes) and music (2-3 mp3 streams).

Tnx. but the search button doesnt have much that is recent. even smallnetbuilder has good info that is a little dated and also omits the infrant lineup from its comparison.

Toms hardware has great reviews of lots of nas's including the infrant and the thecus and terastations...

Owning and using daily a Terastation, a Infrant, and a Thecus to me the winner is the infrant hands down.... The only one I regret buying is the thecus.

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/content/blogcategory/50/75/


Sean

I am looking for a NAS that can:

use 4 hd in raid 5
goes to sleep and wakes up well
has good throughput


I have the Infrant and it does all of the above including having the disks spin down after a user defined period of inactivity. Sleep and wake up works flawlessly. I have it set to boot up at 7AM and shutdown at 11PM every day.

I have the Infrant and it does all of the above including having the disks spin down after a user defined period of inactivity. Sleep and wake up works flawlessly. I have it set to boot up at 7AM and shutdown at 11PM every day.

NOTE: and its not just limited to programmed times but will dynamically power up on demand. For example the Terastation will not do this. you can program it to turn on and off but there is no dynanic spin down of the disks based on inactivity.

Sean

thank you for your replies. i've been doing some research (a little knowledge is ALWAYS a dangerous thing) and it seems I could also build a fast NAS using the 3ware 9650 4 port PCIe raid card, a mATX mobo and a core2duo processor. Since the raid is handled by the card, the OS is irrelevant and the cpu speed is largely irrelevant as well-the only thing i need is at least a pciE slot that is 4x. Question:

will windows wake up from sleep when a client wants a file off the raid?

thank you for your replies. i've been doing some research (a little knowledge is ALWAYS a dangerous thing) and it seems I could also build a fast NAS using the 3ware 9650 4 port PCIe raid card, a mATX mobo and a core2duo processor. Since the raid is handled by the card, the OS is irrelevant and the cpu speed is largely irrelevant as well-the only thing i need is at least a pciE slot that is 4x. Question:

will windows wake up from sleep when a client wants a file off the raid?

No idea. THats more a function of the RAID than winodows. most of windows support has to be handled by the raid and the raid driver.

For exampl accessing SMART info on raid array is not widely supported...

if you are considering build your own you should consider the UNRAID from lime technology. looks to be great and lots of folks here rave about them....

basic package is free. upgrades are comparable to buying a copy of XP and you have the benefit of not having to run virus scan etc and deal with windows...

http://www.lime-technology.com

http://www.lime-technology.com/wordpress/?page_id=40

Sean

Look at the QNAP TS-401T. It has 4 drive bays.
http://www.qnap.com/pro_detail_feature.asp?p_id=68

+1 for the ReadyNas NV+. Mine works great. I've had it for almost a year without issues.

I love my Drobo, and since I have a media PC that's 24/7, networking is not an issue...

Eddie

+1 for Infrant for me too. FWIW, there's a lot of discussions on Infrant forums about the newest 4.0 firmware, so far I'm still working fine. Also price has increased drastically now that Netgear took over. I got a bare Readynas NV last year for $525 + $75 for 1GB ram (wow has ram dropped in a year). Now the lowest price I could find is $800 but includes 5 year warranty instead of 1.

I also debated adding a raid card to an older PC system, but the Readynas' benefits of the low power, low noise and small size were factors that influenced my purchase.

I got a bare Readynas NV last year for $525 + $75 for 1GB ram (wow has ram dropped in a year).

1 vote for Infrant ReadyNAS NV+ also. I bought one with a similar price, just before Netgear took over and it worked consistently.

ctcousineau
By the way, what is exactly the 1GB ram that you've used to replace? I looked at various types on the Infrant forum but I'm still not sure which one to get. Thanks.

ctcousineau
By the way, what is exactly the 1GB ram that you've used to replace? I looked at various types on the Infrant forum but I'm still not sure which one to get. Thanks.

Looks like I paid a little more than that for the memory :o, but I chose the Crucial CT12864X335 from the Hardware Compatibility List.

+1 for Infrant for me too. FWIW, there's a lot of discussions on Infrant forums about the newest 4.0 firmware, so far I'm still working fine. Also price has increased drastically now that Netgear took over. I got a bare Readynas NV last year for $525 + $75 for 1GB ram (wow has ram dropped in a year). Now the lowest price I could find is $800 but includes 5 year warranty instead of 1.

I also debated adding a raid card to an older PC system, but the Readynas' benefits of the low power, low noise and small size were factors that influenced my purchase.

How did you manage a deal like that?

Everything I've read about the ReadyNAS has been good except for three things:
1) price
2) no automatic spin-down when not in use
3) loud

Would you care to comment on any of those?

$800 just seems ludicrous for a naked NAS!

How did you manage a deal like that?

Everything I've read about the ReadyNAS has been good except for three things:
1) price
2) no automatic spin-down when not in use
3) loud

Would you care to comment on any of those?

$800 just seems ludicrous for a naked NAS!


It absolutely spins down when not in use and has for forever. its far quieter than my PC and my thecus N5200 NAS.

to me. its well worth the money... It has great build qulaity and great SW.... if you want something chepaer consider a terastation.

Sean

How did you manage a deal like that?

Everything I've read about the ReadyNAS has been good except for three things:
1) price
2) no automatic spin-down when not in use
3) loud

Would you care to comment on any of those?

$800 just seems ludicrous for a naked NAS!

1) I bought the ReadyNAS NV shortly after the NV+ came out, only difference being the NV+ has a LCD that tells you the IP address. Whop-di-do, LOL. Many retailers cut their price $100+ on the NV to clear out old stock.

2) You can definitely set the drives to spin down after whatever timeframe you want. Also, while it does not have Wake on Lan, you can schedule it to completely turn on and off at specified times (one on/off cycle per day).

3) Original NV had loud fans on the power supply. Infrant redesigned the power supply with no fans and called the NV a revision B, which is what I got. Same power supply was also on the original NV+. Now there are many reported problems with failed power supplies (I'm keeping my fingers crossed). I think this was re-redesigned for current NV+ models.

In a quiet room I can barely hear the case fan on the ReadyNAS. My relatively quiet PC drowns out the NAS. I keep it in my home office and stream to XBMC in the living room.

My only bitch with the Infrant ReadyNAS is their new owners.

Support on the forums is still lively, and the Infrant guys are busy answering questions. Until Netgear shuts that down.

Had a 600, worked pretty much flawlessly until lightning took it out. Now have an NV+ and am equally happy with it as a streamer for XBMC and general NAS for the rest of pcs around the house.

Luckily, I too got my ReadyNAS NV+ before netgear jacked up prices.

Anyone had experience with the Promise Smartstore NS4300N?

Anyone had experience with the Promise Smartstore NS4300N?

I'm currently using a promise PCIe SATA controller with 4 750GB drives and purchased a NS4300N with the idea of using it as a Media Server instead of my PC. Unfortunately, the internal fan is quite noisy and I returned it before even attempting to set it up. If you plan on sticking it in a closet or away from where you sit and listen or view media files it may be a good option but for me the noise level was a deal breaker.

My only bitch with the Infrant ReadyNAS is their new owners.

Support on the forums is still lively, and the Infrant guys are busy answering questions. Until Netgear shuts that down.

Had a 600, worked pretty much flawlessly until lightning took it out. Now have an NV+ and am equally happy with it as a streamer for XBMC and general NAS for the rest of pcs around the house.

Luckily, I too got my ReadyNAS NV+ before netgear jacked up prices.

1. I also got a bare ReadyNAS NV+ on sale at ~$600 (buy.com) just before Netgear took over Infrant.
2. I was planning to upgrade my current 4 x 500GB NV+ (1.3GB usable) to 4 x 1TB, but their FW 4.xxx to accomodate TB HDD is unstable. I then turned to HP Home Media Server EX470 (1 x 500GB) at $550, adding 3 x 1TB (on sale at $250 ea.) and now I think I have an alternate and probably a much better solution to my storage. This HP Home server is also as quiet as NV+, let alone other possibilities.

You'd like a 4-bay Qnap? (http://www.qnap.com/PressRelease_detail.asp?pr_id=68)

I'm currently using a promise PCIe SATA controller with 4 750GB drives and purchased a NS4300N with the idea of using it as a Media Server instead of my PC. Unfortunately, the internal fan is quite noisy and I returned it before even attempting to set it up. If you plan on sticking it in a closet or away from where you sit and listen or view media files it may be a good option but for me the noise level was a deal breaker.

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That's unfortunate, it looked on paper like a good option.