My needs - NAS or UnRAID server?

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post #1 of 4

2/25/11 at 4:50pm

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68 Posts. Joined 8/2004
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Hello all---i'll tell you the situation. Ive been using a 1 TB External HDD connected through a Desktop PC to back up files, store Movies, Music, TV, Photos...and stream to laptops, Xbox 360, etc.

Well, the 1 TB is understandably getting very tight...and the Desktop is on the fritz. So, I have a few problems - i need more storage, and a better way to get it where I need.

Now, this coupled with my desire to trim my cable bill, I will be purchasing a Streamer too - either a WD, Boxee, etc to replace one of the DVRs we have from Time Warner (those damn thieves). Ok, to my point...

I have a Gigabit router with wireless-n through the house. Im looking for a nice combo of storage and ease of use...Ive read a bunch of people on here building UnRAID servers from old machines, old cases, etc...and while I am above-adequate tech-wise, is this overkill?

Or would a 2 or 4-bay NAS be a better option? Something like this? Or this?

Thanks---any advice would be greatly appreciated. Im sure there are questions I didnt answer, but any assistance would be great.

post #2 of 4

2/26/11 at 7:37am

1,720 Posts. Joined 7/2006
Location: some small blue-green planet thingy...
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unRAID (or FlexRAID, or Linux running something, or ...) = more flexible in the long run, more future proof... maybe cheaper in short run, probably cheaper in long run... some assembly required...
NAS = works right out of the box... no assembly required...

as to whats better? [shrug] I have both... they both do their thing... [/shrug]

if you are looking to dump cable, but still want DVR's at each location, look into SageTV server & Sage HD300's streamers...

post #3 of 4

2/27/11 at 1:19pm

aaronwt
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16,786 Posts. Joined 8/2001
Location: Northern VA(Woodbridge)
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I just set up an unRAID box to complement my WHS. The setup of the unRAID was amazingly simple. And it also scales up easily as well. Up to 21 drives I believe with the pro version.

post #4 of 4

2/27/11 at 7:27pm

142 Posts. Joined 3/2008
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I was here 6 months ago. Started with a Netgear RNDU4000 NAS with four 2TB disks in RAID5. Figured out I needed more space, and less performance (well determined it isn't needed except for ebragging). The Netgear is a great machine out of the box, but 5.4 TB usable wasn't enough. The only commercial NAS I know of that scales well is the big Synology, and that gets expensive quick.

Around Christmas I built an unRAID, and last weekend moved the guts to a case with more 5.25" bays, and it now has 14 external disk bays (8 disks), and next week will have an internal SSD to cache jpg's and xml for the streamers.

In short, I would suggest unRAID. If you aren't technical enough to build it, there are a couple folks on the Lime Tech website that build boxes for a reasonable charge.

BTW my Netgear is for sale.

$450 shipped lower 48