Decided to spring for a NAS, help me decide which one??

[JKColo22]

Hey guys!

I have decided to spring for a NAS but cannot decide what to buy... I am new to RAID but have always wanted one. I believe RAID 5 is what I want to go with as it seems to offer redundancy with better performance over Raid 0. Am I correct? I am looking for time machine compatibility and media storage, if I could access or at LEAST store my AppleTV downloads that would be great...

Here is what I am between:

Iomega's IX4-100. Offers raid 5 support, found a site where I can purchase for 679.00. Comes with 2TBs, 4 bays. Cons: No built in time machine support. Details here

Promise's SmartStor NS4600. Raid 5 support, time machine compatibility built-in, 4 bays. Cons: Drives not included (bummer for the price).
Engadget review here

I know the HP media center is another option. Any personal reviews? I would lose the Raid option though which I was kind of leaning towards. Getting a little paranoid with the amount of valuable data I have aquired and having my external hard drive with all my iTunes content crash as of late.

The Iomega ix2-200 is a 2 bay NAS with 1TB or 2TB options but obviously no Raid 5 support. However it does have time machine support built in and is much cheaper than than the IX4. How much of a performance decrease would I see? Engadget review here


Thanks in advance for the help guys, my head has been spinning. As soon as I think I have found the solution I get turned on to something else!

 

[JKColo22]

Ok 40 views and no replys... If I asked my question incorrectly or in too much detail, please let me know? I'm sure someone out there has played with network storage and has an opinion as to the best Mac compatible option?

 

[BeerdedOne]

Time machine support built-in, AFP/SMB/FTP, iTunes Server, RAID 5 / X-raid, Gigabit Ethernet, automated backups to USB external, great warranty... Expensive but you get what you pay for

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d.html/ref=redir_mdp_mobile/182-2348157-0909653?a=B0021AFYV2

raid 0 is not for redundancy, it is for striping and performance.. Go with a raid 5 setup AND get a backup external USB drive (extra $100 for 1.5 TB seagate) and you'll be all set.