NAS - Need advise

is14fun:
I am looking at setting up a NAS as well although primarily for audio. I am looking at Synology DS models and the Drobo N5 using Western Digital Red 3.5" drives - 2 or 3 TB size ($115 - 170 per drive). There is a lot to figure out and I don't have any concrete answers yet. One of my main quandaries is how big to go with drives... If 3 TB is good today, how much money do I want to invest when 10 TB is probably just around the corner. No definitive answers. Wish I could be more helpful but I'm still searching. Good luck.
Mike

welll if you want to use the RND2000-200 you need to make sure that it supports 3TB drives......

Are you looking for a RAID setup? where all you see is 1 big disk or just 5TB total?
There are other devices out there that would give you the ability to do JBOD and offer future expaansoin, but they are not true NAS just HDD enclosures....

We need to know your price range (if you choose not to keep the RND2000-200)
How do you want to connect\manage\use the NAS
What types of files and how will you be streaming

What I am thinking of doing is getting an HDD enclosure and connecting that to my router which has a USB port....this will allow me to sahre my data across my network and easily manage files without having to move the HDD every time I want to add a large file......The cost is lower than a dedicated NAS as well.....

I would do some reasearch via google on the RND2000-200 to see its capabilities to determine if 3TB would work with that unit...

IMHO, run, don't walk away from the Duo and look at the Synology units. I had the earlier ReadyNAS Duo (v1) and it was fine for the time but then I "upgraded" to a newer ReadyNAS Ultra. It was a total disaster getting the thing setup--even an an experienced ReadyNAS user.

Then I tried the Synology DS212j and never looked back. Even though the DS212j is Synology's lowest price unit, it streams full bit rate Blu Ray backups without a hitch (as did the Duo) via its included DLNA server on my wired ethernet home network. If you must stick with the ReadyNAS try the Twonky Media Server (free to try) instead of Ready DLNA for best performance. The entry level ReadyNAS and Synology units use very similar, if not identical CPUs, and the difference is in the software. The desktop UI is like comparing a modern Mac to Windows 95, both in design and performance.

As a FYI: unless you consider a more powerful NAS, transcoding will not be an option for the RND2000-200, DS212j, or other entry-level NAS units so you'll want to insure that your media is encoded in a format compatible with the Boxee.

My $0.02.
Edited by bluechunks - 2/15/13 at 5:07pm