Picking a Network Storage Drive

[chunkyblamm]

I have recently had my hd fail and had not backed up anything or used time machine. I am now looking at network storage devises such as the WD MyBook World Edition 1tb or the Maxtor Shared Storage II 1tb. I want to be able to acces it through my modded orginal xbox runnin xbmc and also back up my macbook and my pc. I am running two linksys wrt54g routers and would like it to be in the same spot as the routers and to be able to plug into the network via cat5 cable. I have heard the MyBook have software on them that block some media from being played. Also are both of these compatable with my macbook. Are there better options?

 

[chunkyblamm]

Anyone? Someone has to know more about network storage than me.

 

[Les Kern]

I have three NAS units set up. One is rack-mount thing called a Snap Server. Pricey. Don't go there.
I prefer Buffalo's Linkstation. VERY Macintosh friendly and priced right.
http://www.buffalotech.com/products/network-storage/linkstation/linkstation-live
The MyBook World is SLOW. I just got one and I am a bit disappointed. But remember that a lot of small files is WAY worse than lots of big files. Works better for PC-only application.
Try a Google of "NAS Macintosh". There are a host of offerings out there, but BEWARE. Some are way too slow, some are overpriced, some have trouble with Macs, some are laughable.
But here's a thought... and I have had this one myself... there is free NAS software out there.
http://www.freenas.org/
If you have a spare PC you can make your own NAS for a lot less money, and it has AFP support.

Looking for reliability? Hard to say. I steer clear anymore from LaCie anything. MyBooks have yet to fail on me. Maxtor I know nothing of their NAS servers. Bottom line? No matter the solution you pick, make it incrememental and to two different locations.

 

[chunkyblamm]

Thanks for the info. The linkstation looks pretty good. I would do the freenas thing if i ahd an open pc but unfortunately i do not. I have been looking up some more stuff and came across the readynas. This thing seems to be awesome however there is a pretty considerable jump in price range. Not sure I absolutely need something like this but the embedded bittorrent client almost has me sold. To be able to shut down the computer and have the nas do the work is incredible. Or just let the nas shoulder the load while I do other things. Seems like the way to go I'm just battling the justification of the price tag.

 

[GordonShumway]

Synology has a good reputation. You can get a Disk Station DS207+ (http://www.synology.com/enu/products/DS207+/index.php) NAS case, put in 2 harddisks with each 1 TB, configure it as Raid1 and you have a network space with 1 TB space and 1:1 mirrorring for extended safety. And it supports a large range of protocols, should be possible to access it from all your devices and computers. I'll get the same for my home network in a few weeks. If you google for it you'll find several reviews for the 207 and 207+.