2010-05-22, 18:14
The use of a PC based NAS (flexnas or unraid) is (usually) less expensive and more flexible that a ready made NAS. They do require more work to set up, though it is minimal.
You can keep power consumption quite low, IE I have 5 - 2TB drives in a Unraid box. I'm using a Celeron 430 CPU (45w) and a 300w PSU. Unraid powers down drives if they're not in use. Basically most of the time the system is in near sleep state. I keep mine on 24*7 but I could reduce power usage more via suspend and WOL. I've seen reports of some using an Atom based MB to keep power usage even lower.
Another downside to ready made NAS's is that you options for adding additional functions is limited. PC based NAS gives you more possibilities, though with that comes more complexity.
You can keep power consumption quite low, IE I have 5 - 2TB drives in a Unraid box. I'm using a Celeron 430 CPU (45w) and a 300w PSU. Unraid powers down drives if they're not in use. Basically most of the time the system is in near sleep state. I keep mine on 24*7 but I could reduce power usage more via suspend and WOL. I've seen reports of some using an Atom based MB to keep power usage even lower.
Another downside to ready made NAS's is that you options for adding additional functions is limited. PC based NAS gives you more possibilities, though with that comes more complexity.
