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is NAS worth it? if accessing mostly via wifi?

D

drummerboy03

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 14, 2009
33
0
I have two 3TB 7200rpm hitachi drives I want to use for media storage (setup as RaID1)

I was looking at this dual enclosure NAS option:
http://m.tigerdirect.com/products/8194549?SRCCODE=LINKSHARE&cm_mmc_o=-ddCjC1bELltzywCjC-d2CjCdwwp&utm_source=Linkshare&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=9HJhGeuz86k&AffiliateID=9HJhGeuz86k-WbaZQO4JxtigxJnU41S0XA

My main question:
I'd plug this unit directly into my time capsule router, but have no way to directly connect my router to my iMac clear on the other side of the house. So I have to use wifi on iMac to access the drives(802.11n)...

Is it even worth getting a NAS if I can't plug directly into router via ethernet? Or should I just look for a USB 3.0 or FW800 dual enclosure to hook directly up to my iMac?

Thanks in advance for any advice!
 
You could always run a cable from your Mac to the router. I've seen few houses where it couldn't be done with a little work and creativity.

If you only have one mac accessing it, then directly connected is usually the best way to go. A reason to keep it separate is reducing chance of loss due to fire, theft, or other disaster since they are physically separate.

I keep my Synology NAS in a different part of the house from our computers. They are hard wired at home so we get gig Ethernet speeds.
 
Not worth it?? Depends on what your needs are??

Are you only accessing from the iMac? Do you need remote access over the net?? Do you require gigabit transfer rate or is wifi Mbit rate fast enough??

If no why not hook it up as a DAS??
 
Your call to make as worth is always highly subjective regardless of topic. Wifi isn't make or break for everyone out there. My NAS is definitely worth it to me and I mostly access ift via WiFi. You need to clarify why you think it might not be worth it via WiFi if you want feedback.
 
Depends on what you're doing with it.

keeping your music and video library on it for playback -- wifi is probably fine.

working on 1080 video files that you're editing -- wifi probably not fine.

granted you won't see the full speed of the drives on wifi, but a lot of the time, you might not notice.
 
NukeIT said:
Not worth it?? Depends on what your needs are??

Are you only accessing from the iMac? Do you need remote access over the net?? Do you require gigabit transfer rate or is wifi Mbit rate fast enough??

If no why not hook it up as a DAS??
Click to expand...

Thanks everyone for your input. I think I decided to get a 4 bay DAS instead for following reasons:

-I don't need to access the data remotely
-iMac will always be running
-Will mostly access data from iMac so makes more sense to have it hooked up directly (faster transfers via fw800 than over wifi to a nas)
-the 4 bays will allow me grow room in case I want to add an additional two drives!
-I can still share the DAS via system preferences>sharing on iMac so that my laptop can read/write files over wifi (though it will be SLOW)
-I can use plex media center running on iMac to stream video files from the DAS to all my devices on local wifi network!

Thanks for the thought provoking input guys! I went with a refurb mediasonic proraid 4bay unit for $90 shipped via amazon!:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004323D96
 
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