2011-02-05, 03:06
I'm running XBMC on my early 2009 Mac Mini (2.0 Ghz Core 2 Duo, 8GB RAM), and have been storing everything on external USB drives. Currently I have 2 x 1TB and 2 x 2TB drives all hooked up, for 6TB total (using 3 TB for storage, 3 TB for mirrored backup, not RAID, just manually copied after I added all my DVDs, and whenever I add a new one). I'm getting near full (only about 200 free GB left), and just purchased a Blu-ray external to start adding those as well, which even with just main feature rips as mkvs, are gonna be taking up 15-20GB apiece, and obviously I'm quickly gonna run out of space.
I'm looking into adding a second XBMC instance into my bedroom soon on an ATV2 or something else, and I also need to expand my storage options. I really don't want to keep upgrading/adding external USB drives, as 3 TB drives aren't the most reliable yet (at least per reviews on Newegg/Amazon/etc.), have compatability issues with certain BIOS etc., and plus with a potential second XBMC instance, I'd rather be looking for networked storage instead of pulling directly from another client anyways, as it is used for various resource-intensive tasks at times that would likely affect network streaming. Plus, lots of external USB drives is just messy, and uses up lots of USB ports.
Anyways, sorry this is a bit long-winded, but here is my basic question. I need a NAS that is preferably 4 bays (though I could do 2 x 2 bay NAS, if it would have other benefits), one that could hopefully store 3 TB drives at least in the future (but what I've read indicates this isn't a common feature), and isn't too ridiculously expensive. I've been looking at getting a pair of DNS-323s, and taking the 2 TB drives I have out of my externals and putting them into the NAS, then purchasing 2 other 2 TB for the other NAS, but that only gets me 8 TB total (assuming RAID 1, only 4 TB usable storage). I was hoping to find a nice 4-bay NAS that wasn't like $600+ (but if I had to pay more, so be it), so I could fill it with 2 TB drives and have my 4 TB usable / 4 TB RAID1-based backup, and then in a couple months get another one to get up to 8 TB usable / 8 TB backup.
Any recommendations?
I'm looking into adding a second XBMC instance into my bedroom soon on an ATV2 or something else, and I also need to expand my storage options. I really don't want to keep upgrading/adding external USB drives, as 3 TB drives aren't the most reliable yet (at least per reviews on Newegg/Amazon/etc.), have compatability issues with certain BIOS etc., and plus with a potential second XBMC instance, I'd rather be looking for networked storage instead of pulling directly from another client anyways, as it is used for various resource-intensive tasks at times that would likely affect network streaming. Plus, lots of external USB drives is just messy, and uses up lots of USB ports.
Anyways, sorry this is a bit long-winded, but here is my basic question. I need a NAS that is preferably 4 bays (though I could do 2 x 2 bay NAS, if it would have other benefits), one that could hopefully store 3 TB drives at least in the future (but what I've read indicates this isn't a common feature), and isn't too ridiculously expensive. I've been looking at getting a pair of DNS-323s, and taking the 2 TB drives I have out of my externals and putting them into the NAS, then purchasing 2 other 2 TB for the other NAS, but that only gets me 8 TB total (assuming RAID 1, only 4 TB usable storage). I was hoping to find a nice 4-bay NAS that wasn't like $600+ (but if I had to pay more, so be it), so I could fill it with 2 TB drives and have my 4 TB usable / 4 TB RAID1-based backup, and then in a couple months get another one to get up to 8 TB usable / 8 TB backup.
Any recommendations?