Network Attached Storage (NAS)?

Post by **Merlin** » Wed May 16, 2012 10:16 am

My ten+ year old NAS drive (Maxtor Shared Storage II) died yesterday so im looking for another. Since I havent bought one in 10 years does anyone have any recommendations? I am undecided if I'll buy a single drive pre-installed NAS or twin bay bare chassis and install my own drive. They costs are roughly similar. The only two features I 100% need is Wake on LAN and that it can act as a print server. I assmume Gigabit LAN is the standard for NAS drives.

Any ideas?

Post by **indigolemon** » Wed May 16, 2012 10:35 am

Aria have an amazing deal on atm: http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Storage/ ... ctId=49178

Nothing but good reviews, I've been really tempted myself.

Post by **Merlin** » Wed May 16, 2012 10:42 am

Thanks I have never heard of this before although two things stand out, its a bit on the large size and the fact its so cheap make me suspicious

I'll read up about it though.

Post by **Merlin** » Wed May 16, 2012 11:08 am

Thinking about it, its so cheap that if I dont like it I can bin it any buy somethign else

Edit - I have come across a fairly critical review of it http://www.ziip.co.uk/gamingnetwork/sho ... dia-server I dont want to take the chance

Post by **indigolemon** » Wed May 16, 2012 11:25 am

Merlin wrote:Thinking about it, its so cheap that if I dont like it I can bin it any buy somethign else

Edit - I have come across a fairly critical review of it http://www.ziip.co.uk/gamingnetwork/sho ... dia-server I dont want to take the chance

That's the first time I've read anyone saying stuff like that, the reviews I found were mainly positive

To be honest, for me, I'd dig out an old pc, shove some hdd's in it and install this: http://www.freenas.org/

Post by **Merlin** » Wed May 16, 2012 11:26 am

I have experimented with FreeNAS before. Unfortunatley none of the old MOBO's I own have WOL functionality

If I had to buy new PC bits it would equal the cost of buying a NAS.

Post by **indigolemon** » Wed May 16, 2012 11:35 am

I might have a mobo that has WOL - 1.4Ghz Athlon jobby. I'll dig out the model no tonight.

Post by **Merlin** » Wed May 16, 2012 11:45 am

Dont bother on my account as I'd have to buy it a Gigabit LAN card, IDE drives or a SATA expansion card for it on top of the new drives. One other thing is that FreeNAS is a bit of a faf, it isnt PnP

Post by **indigolemon** » Wed May 16, 2012 11:52 am

Fair play. Let me know what you decide on in the end

Post by **Merlin** » Wed May 16, 2012 11:55 am

TBH im not having much luck. Print server function is lacking in most NAS drives

I dont want to plug my shitty USB printer into my PC and pollute it with crappy drivers