NAS ideas

[randalf72]

Hi

I was hoping I could get some opinions of the experienced on this board.

Currently I have a 13" MBP dating from around 2012 and have quite an extensive iTunes library on it combined with no reasonable backup solution along with an Apple TV connected to my stereo

I'm hoping to get a next generation RiMac (probably 500gb SSD) later this year should one be released in Sep/Oct time.

This has led me to thinking about back up and iTunes solutions.

What would you guys recommend regards a quiet solution that is expandable, can be used for wireless time machine backups for a MBP and potentially a RiMAC as well as being suitable as an iTunes server.

So far im starting to go down the road of an old HP Proliant micro server combined with FreeNAS.

Does anyone know if this is suitable and will meet my requirements or if there is any other potential solution I've not considered?

best regards

All

 

[ColdCase]

That will work fine but TM can be tricky. If you don't want to spend a lot of time tinkering, either running OSXsever on the retired MBP or a mac mini would work much better and easy to set up.

If I'm not mistaken, when TM backs up to an "approved" network destination it uses a more robust protocol than a locally mounted volume... which is essentially what you have for third party network TM backup solutions.

If you want to backup a Mac to a NAS device, use something like CCC instead of TM.

 

[AFEPPL]

I'd skip anything to do with TM

Go with a full NAS device for backups and use that - something like Synology or a QNAP.
I run my iTunes direct off a DS414

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/test-centre/pc-peripheral/12-best-nas-drives-2015-uk-may-3217608/

 

[randalf72]

Thanks for the ideas.

so are there any particular pro's and cons regards the various options?

 

[Crazy Badger]

I've got a HP N54L running FreeNAS, which is actually just a backup now as I've replaced it with a more powerful machine running FreeNAS, but don't have any problems backing up a houseful of Macs using TM.

The Microserver is a great starting place for getting familiar with FreeNAS, and whilst they aren't all that powerful, it will still run small Virtual Machines without any problems. I've not had any success trying to virtualise OSX using VirtualBox, but it will happily run Win7 and iTunes for serving media.

Max out the RAM though (it will take 16GB, even if the manual says 8GB) as FreeNAS likes RAM

Update - Depending how for down the road you are with it, I've got a N40L sat in the garage with 2x3TB drive already running FreeNAS (this was my backup when I was using the N54L as my main machine) that I'd be willing to sell on?

 

[zettabyte]

That will work fine but TM can be tricky. If you don't want to spend a lot of time tinkering, either running OSXsever on the retired MBP or a mac mini would work much better and easy to set up.

If I'm not mistaken, when TM backs up to an "approved" network destination it uses a more robust protocol than a locally mounted volume... which is essentially what you have for third party network TM backup solutions.

If you want to backup a Mac to a NAS device, use something like CCC instead of TM.

Indeed. For this reason I have TM backing up to my WD My Cloud 24TB 4-Bay DL4100 Series on RAID5 with WD Red Drives. Then I CCC that folder to my designated folder on my External HD which is set to upload off-site. For the sake of simplicity and other friendly functions, I don't mind the DL4100 unit by WD.

OP, I have FreeNAS set up at my office, but depending on the level of backing up, storage capacity needs, and your specific needs (that you've mentioned)....there are other more friendly options that may work for you if you don't want to deal with the manual customization. But hey, if you like that stuff (which I love) go for it!

Either way...you'll have a lot of fun with this stuff...