Nas

Check each prospective solution to see how it's working with Mac users. Some folks, for example, had trouble accessing SMB shares (I think the Sharecenter uses that) after upgrading to Lion. I think it's sorted now, but check.

And you wouldn't be able to use Time Machine with it, but I assume that you don't care. And beware products that require you to use Windows software to configure it; that's a pain (although I could say the same about Airport Utility for PC users).

I settled on just using an old Mac instead.

Rob

 

When I was looking for a NAS, I quickly found out that there are two top brands: QNAP and Synology. Both are expensive but offer a wealth on features and run great in combination with Apple hardware. I settled for a QNAP and am very satisfied with it.

 

Do a serach for "NAS" in the Mac Peripherals forum....there's several threads there on NAS selection.

 

This thread is not posted in the right section

That being said

You can't go wrong with synology. Their ui, and setup is best in the buisness.

 

I own a low priced synology it has worked for 2 years no problems.


http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002U42XD6...e=asn&creative=395093&creativeASIN=B002U42XD6

 

Almost the same as i have, got the 212j myself, and its great!

 

If you want something cheap that'll work just great try the WD MyBook Live on for size. I paid $169 at best buy for the 2tb model a few weeks ago mostly to store movies and tv shows on and access with my apple tv's. Its been a wonderful experience so far even before i upgraded the firmware. I know many NAS setups cost that just for the drive itself and as much or more for the enclosure. If you are going to just store media on it, i'd suggest taking the cheaper route for a week and if you don't like it, you can take it back and go for a more expensive option.

 

I use it for all my mini's I have 2 2.4 2010 minis a 2.3 2011 mini and a quad 2011 mini. it acts as the clearing house for all my tv recordings. I record on the 2 newer minis but I can watch all recording on all minis.

 

Synology, I got a DS411 a couple months ago.

 

DO NOT get the DNS-320.

I have it right now and it doesn't play well with Macs. The read/write speeds over a 1Gbps network are slower than USB 2.0 (running RAID1). The cooling fan is very loud, I constantly loose my Time Machine back up location requiring me to restart the NAS, and it takes a long time to wake up.

D-Link is a joke when it comes to NAS drives; they are slow to put out firmware updates and when they do other issues arise.

Go with Synology, everything I read about them is great!

 

Synology; any recent model.

I'm currently upgrading from a DS110j to a DS212j. I wanted the extra drive but nothing was wrong with the DS110j.

 

I've got the WD MyBook World edition 2TB version, which is nice and works well on my network. I also have the WD MyBook Mac Edition (Not a NAS, just an external drive) plugged into my AEBS and it too works well.

If you are looking for something cheap, getting something plugged into a router is probably your best bet.

 

I'm running a Synology 1511+ here with (4) 2TB HDD's. No issues, it's been rock solid. SMB/AFP/TimeMachine works great too!

 

Synology or QNAP. I own a Syno DS212j and I am very satisfied with it.

But these are only the tools. The most important question IMHO is what is your need ?

 

I use the WD MyBook Live 2TB as mentioned above and it is definitely meeting (not exceeding) my current expectations. I do really want the Synology 212 but am going to wait till HD prices come back down before pulling the trigger on that guy.