Buying a NAS

[kolax]

I'm looking to buy a NAS. Original plan was to build my own using a mini itx board, but considering all it'll be doing is retrieving data, I can't justify splashing out.

The Buffalo LinkStation 421E is what I'm currently looking at.

I have tomato firmware running my Asus router, and I'd quite like to use custom more open firmware on the NAS too.

Anyone have any suggestions?

 

[DaveN]

I went with a Western Digital My Book. Originally it was intended to be my time machine backup drive but it is just too slow for that on my network. I don't know if it is some issue with the way I set it up or something inherent with NAS. Now I use it as a media server for movies and photos and works just fine for that.

 

[glenthompson]

I have a Synology DS211 that I bought used. Does a great job for what I need it for, backups and media storage. Just recently upgraded it to 2 4TB drives. I like the software and the fact that they still support an older unit.

 

[kolax]

I have a Synology DS211 that I bought used. Does a great job for what I need it for, backups and media storage. Just recently upgraded it to 2 4TB drives. I like the software and the fact that they still support an older unit.

What sort of performance do you get with gigabit ethernet?

 

[maflynn]

I have a qnap and that works well, though synology is recommended here most of the time by members.

When I get to my MBP later today, I'll run blackmagic disk test to see the performance of my MBP->ethernet->NAS and post the results.

Edit: here's the results of my qnap


for giggles, I've attached the results from my Drobo Mini DAS which I now use for most of my external disk needs. I think if you have a single computer and don't need some of the other feature a NAS has to offer a DAS is a good choice as well

 

[glenthompson]

What sort of performance do you get with gigabit ethernet?

IIRC I got about 80 meg on reads with BlackMagic. Writes were slower but I don't remember how much.

 

[kolax]

Thanks for the help responses.

The purpose of the NAS would be to serve media content to my laptop, but I'm now considering buying a mini itx board, putting Plex Server (and possibly some samba shares) on it and it'll do what I'm after.