NAS or external hard drive enclosure?

[Ritte]

Hi, I need more storage for my media server and I'm thinking of either buying a NAS (Synergi ds213j) or a hard drive enclosure.
As I understand the benefits of the NAS is network connection and it can operate by itself without a computer.
This particular nas only have two slots for hard drive, that's a disadvantage.

The other option is to buy a hard drive enclosure and connect to my APE. Main advantage is 5 hdd slots and disadvantage is usb-speeds.

As I said I'm looking for a storage to store music and movies. Will do some backups to.
I'm using superduper (smart update) when backing up and it's fairly quick now, on usb-speeds.

The NAS costs about 90 USD more.
What's your advice?

 

[priitv8]

I really don't see how a APX USB connection could give you a 5-drive benefit. NAS at least can give you some hardware redundancy (RAID), whereas APX+USB drive gives you none.
Also, as a file server, the APX with USB 2.0 drive(s) is not a performer to write home about.

 

[takeshi74]

The other option is to buy a hard drive enclosure and connect to my APE. Main advantage is 5 hdd slots and disadvantage is usb-speeds.

Which enclosure are you considering for this?

What's your advice?

Sort out your priorities. What's most important? What's least important?

There's cost, performance, storage space/number of drives. Any other considerations? Does RAID not matter? Does any of the other functionality of the NAS not matter? Is there only one client machine?