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Full Version: Upgrading from USB external to NAS
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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?
Put simply? Build your own NAS.

The DNS-323 will make you re-format any drives you put in there. Also, its controllers suck: ~12-18MB/s transfer speeds.

Try to round up cheap/used parts to put together an ultra budget PC. Pick out a RAID card if you wish to do that, or just keep backing up manually like you're doing.
You know, I don't know why I didn't think of that, that would give me a lot more options. I'm sure for $300-$400 I could easy do what I need, plus it would be fun to build. I can poke around Newegg and such to find the mobo/raid controller/nic/etc., but a couple areas I don't know a lot about: cases and server OS. Any recommendations for a case? Say I have a small SSD for the OS plus 4 HDD for storage, so I'd need 5 internal bays to make it worth it. Would much prefer a horizontal case for my setup, as my vertical space is semi-limited (7-8 inches height I believe, without measuring it). Also, I am not super familiar with FreeNAS, should I look into it, or just use Ubuntu server, or invest in a copy of Windows/Mac server edition?

I'll poke around hardware sites and see what kind of config I could come up with for it, though, and I'm sure if I search here I can find other configs people have used.
sysnology ds 411 with 4x2tb isnt that expensive. got 2 of those and im happy, write speed about 50mb/s in raid 5 read about 60mb/s

1x ds411j

4x 2tb

thats my setup and it workes really good with multiple clients!
I used the DNS-323 in the past on the same mini and found the files corrupted. Now I use a USB dock and bare HDs formatted to Mac. Easy expansion and works on all my other Macs.
Quote:Now I use a USB dock

If noise is not an issue a disk cabinet is not a bad alternative to a NAS.
They are not expensive compared to NAS and you can get a 4bay RAID with eSATA.