Cheap NAS for Time Machine (with lion)

[Paul C]

Hi all,

I'm looking for a NAS enclosure to use for time machine backups and as an iTunes server, so far the only ones which say they're compatible are the QNAP or Synology ones which are expensive even without drives, I've found the ZYXEL NSA310 for £34.99 on eBay but I don't think they are compatible with time machine in lion, any suggestions?

Thanks

Paul

 

[almonde]

The Netgear ReadyNAS range support Lion, all models (SPARC, ARM & x86). Netgear are basically behind the netatalk project so they have access to the code required for AFP access on NAS boxes before anyone else.

No NAS box will run as standalone itunes server in terms of serving video. They can only serve audio (using the firefly plugin)

 

[AZ-GT]

I've used a Netgear Ready NAS for several years. If I was in the market today I'd get rid of it in favor of the Synology (better software)

 

[drduuude!]

Synology's Great, but....

I've got a sinology DS211j - love it, and I did try it with time machine
(like a few NAS's that I've owned before this one).

The good news:

Synology supports it
It works

The bad:

Apple doesn't support it
Occasionally it "Just Doesn't Work"TM

Not often, but just enough to make you think -
do you really want your BACKUP on this?

Time machine is pretty well known to not work well with
network drives. The whole sparse bundle thing is pretty
wonky and just doesn't work reliably enough for something
mission critical like backup.

My recommendation is get an NAS if you want network
storage (and I HIGHLY recommend sinology), but if you
really want backup do direct attached (I do SuperDuper!
to a firewire external drive that I periodically plug into my
laptop).

Hope that helps.

DrDuuude!

 

[hafr]

Hi all,

I'm looking for a NAS enclosure to use for time machine backups and as an iTunes server, so far the only ones which say they're compatible are the QNAP or Synology ones which are expensive even without drives, I've found the ZYXEL NSA310 for £34.99 on eBay but I don't think they are compatible with time machine in lion, any suggestions?

Thanks

Paul

If you're worried about compatibility issues, get the one you like and use Carbon Copy Cloner instead of Time Machine.

 

[Paul C]

Great, thanks for the help guys, really I just want it for a central iTunes library (audio) so I don't have to have two seperate libraries on my mini and MBP, I also wanted to use it for a central place to store backups and data.

I just wanted to use time machine because it's so easy to do a full restore from but I guess I could always use CC if I had to, ideally I should just get a Synology but they start at like £130 for the basic which is a bit expensive considering it doesn't have a drive included

 

[monsieurpaul]

Apple doesn't support it
Occasionally it "Just Doesn't Work"TM

Not often, but just enough to make you think -
do you really want your BACKUP on this?

Time machine is pretty well known to not work well with
network drives. The whole sparse bundle thing is pretty
wonky and just doesn't work reliably enough for something
mission critical like backup.
DrDuuude!

This.

I own a DS212j and I am very happy with it, but for TM I switched back to a local USB drive because I can't trust it on the Synology.

 

[marzer]

Time machine is pretty well known to not work well with network drives.

My experience differs.

I've been using TM with network drives since 10.5 days. For about two years I backed up three machines (2 desktops & 1 laptop) to a Buffalo NAS (employing the simple terminal hack so well documented around the internet) and after that to a Time Capsule that replaced it.

I would recommend Time Machine with a NAS (Apple or other brand) is a very reliable and convenient backup solution for a SOHO environment.