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alexk403

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 24, 2012
59
1
Hi I currently have a wd tv live and apple tv (jailbroken) and stream to them both using an external hard drive connected to my imac with samba installed via macports. I want to get a nas of some kind to just stream by itself without a computer. I have seen a lot of them and am wondering which is the best for my scenario? They all say they stream in like DLNA or something but few have said anything about smb. Does this matter? Or will it the apple tv and wd tv live still be able to view the files? I am in the roughly $350 or less price range. I would like 2tb, really dont want raid unless it is raid 0, as I believe that means it just turns both hard drives into essentially one big one. I have seen the synology ones and the iomega storcenter ix2-00. Wondering which one will work for me. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks in advance.
 

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,478
43,405
I'd go with either Qnap or Synology.

Many members here swear by synology, I myself have a Qnap and I'm very happy with it.
 

alexk403

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 24, 2012
59
1
I'd go with either Qnap or Synology.

Many members here swear by synology, I myself have a Qnap and I'm very happy with it.

Ok thanks, I will look into qnap. But nevertheless which one I go with will a nas connected to my airport extreme stream my files so they are accessible from a jailbroken apple tv (via xbmc) and a wd tv live? How exactly does a nas share the data on it?
 

evilpaddy

macrumors regular
Aug 2, 2012
119
0
I have a synology DS1512+ with 5x3TB drives, expandable upto 15x3TB drives. I run Plex media server on it and stream it to my TV via DNLA. It's an awesome bit of kit and there are loads of third party packages out there that will download TV etc via usenet and import it into the media server as it is released. All works automagically with no input past the initial setup.

Not the cheapest solution, but IMO the best there is without building your own array with the likes of FreeNAS. Even then I doubt there would be much in the price!

Checkout SynoCommunity.com or forums.synology.com if you are interested.

I paid ~$600 AUD for the box and then a further $800 AUD for the drives.

I'm at work right now and all my shares are mounted via DDNS. It's great for sharing photos etc with the family - assuming your upload connection is robust.
 

alexk403

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 24, 2012
59
1
Right, I do not have much money to spend so I was thinking the DS112j, the lowest one, with one bay, and then put a 2TB drive in it. So what protocol does the nas share with? Currently I know smb works with both of my devices so was wondering if the synology supported that protocol
 

s1lv3r

macrumors regular
Oct 25, 2010
100
3
Germany
I was considering worried about it recently.

I ended up deciding to buy the DS212J with 2x 3TB drives. 3Tb its enough space for me and will last long enough, and the good thing will be that all stuff will be backed up.

200USD fort the DS212j
150USD aprox for each drive.
 

alexk403

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 24, 2012
59
1
Ok I found that. would anyone happen to know if one of those protocols would work with both the wd tv live and the apple tv (via xbmc)? And I was also looking at the 212j, but that is too much out of my price range, plus I am only storing movies on there so I am not worried about hard drives failing.
 

evilpaddy

macrumors regular
Aug 2, 2012
119
0
I was considering worried about it recently.

I ended up deciding to buy the DS212J with 2x 3TB drives. 3Tb its enough space for me and will last long enough, and the good thing will be that all stuff will be backed up.

200USD fort the DS212j
150USD aprox for each drive.

Yeah 5x3Tb was overkill for me asI have only used 2.57TB/10.73TB but you can never have too much... I'm toying with expanding with another 5 drives for a RAID1 backup of my RAID5 array but that is probably silly. I suspect I'll expand the RAID 5 to include two spare drives (utilising 8/10) and then externally backup. Adding further redundancy doesn't help with backup - it simply means that if your data is corrupted it's mirrored everywhere!

----------

Ok I found that. would anyone happen to know if one of those protocols would work with both the wd tv live and the apple tv (via xbmc)? And I was also looking at the 212j, but that is too much out of my price range, plus I am only storing movies on there so I am not worried about hard drives failing.

WD Live supports DNLA so yes it should work. Not used it though
 

ChrisA

macrumors G5
Jan 5, 2006
12,578
1,695
Redondo Beach, California
I'd go with either Qnap or Synology.

Synology is based on Linux (it runs kernel version 2.6.32)
One could buy a small Atom powered main board (about $90) and add a chassis, power supply and RAM and have a fast and expendable server that is cheaper then what Synology sells. But maybe you don't mind having it setup for you ut of the box.
 

evilpaddy

macrumors regular
Aug 2, 2012
119
0
Synology is based on Linux (it runs kernel version 2.6.32)
One could buy a small Atom powered main board (about $90) and add a chassis, power supply and RAM and have a fast and expendable server that is cheaper then what Synology sells. But maybe you don't mind having it setup for you ut of the box.

Indeed FreeNAS would be cheaper, but buy the time I added a RAID card to the above there is not a huge difference in cost and like Mac's 'it just works'. You also get the software and community support - like you do here...

If I had a spare tower lying about I'd likely build my own (and have done before) however as this was going to be in my living room I chose to pay a bit extra for aesthetics :D
 

Ifti

macrumors 68040
Dec 14, 2010
3,928
2,437
UK
Another vote for Synology here! Been great since the past year or two Ive been using it. No issues whatsoever. Ive created many videos on both the hardware and software side of things in my Youtube channel if you want a further insight.

Was sent an expansion unit by Synology to review a little while ago, which I have connected to my NAS to use for backups, although it can be used to expand the current volume/array if need be.

All works seamlessly. Highly recommended.
 

monsieurpaul

macrumors regular
Oct 8, 2009
230
0
I own a Synology DS212j and a wdtv live. The synology interface is very easy to use: you create shared folders, the folders are seen by the wdtv as "windows share" and this is it.
 

alexk403

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 24, 2012
59
1
Alright so the real question is, does the synology share its folders using multiple protocols at the same time, or do you have to pick one? Like could I watch a movie on my wd tv live via nfs and my apple tv via airplay at the same time? Thanks.
 

monsieurpaul

macrumors regular
Oct 8, 2009
230
0
Alright so the real question is, does the synology share its folders using multiple protocols at the same time, or do you have to pick one? Like could I watch a movie on my wd tv live via nfs and my apple tv via airplay at the same time? Thanks.

Right now, my Syno has 3 protocols activated: Windows (smb), Mac and NFS. In addition I could activate the media server, but I have never used it and I don't know if it is airplay compatible. There is also an iTunes server on the syno, but I think it is exclusively for music.
 

alexk403

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 24, 2012
59
1
Alright so then could you theoretically have all protocols I mentioned earlier activated?
 

codermanuk

macrumors newbie
Oct 30, 2012
1
0
Nas mac help

Hi,

iam looking to buy a 2 bay NAS Synology for use with my iMac and MBP:

My idea is to:
Buy a 2 bay DS213 NAS, and 2x 512 SSD Samsung 803 hard drives. i would use about 700gb for my itunes library (with i currently have on my iMac), and the remaining 300gb for general file storage. Can this be done ? Ie: can i split the 2 HD easily and can anyone on my network access the 300gb of data ?

ALso, i plan to attach a 4TB SATA drive with usb 3 to the NAS. this will be used for backing up all the data on the 2 SSDs every night ? and also backing up my MBP and iMac hard drives (each night ?), probably using supadupa software.

Is this something that can be done, or does any one have any other suggestions ?

Also, say i have 2 windows computers (im not too bothered about them), but could they be backed up to the 4TB ? How is that done and with what software ?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks
 
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