Upgrading Storage/Router

[s1lv3r]

So, i just got my rMBP and i'm more than happy with it. Its screen is amazing and its much faster than my previous 2010 13" MBA.

Now i need to upgrade my storage since all i've got is a 1TB USB 3.0 drive.

I was considering buying a TC and using it as a media center for my rMBP and my (future) jailbroken ATV3, but it seems to be a bad decision as the TC isn't a fast media center.

After that I considered buying a Synology DS212J with 2x 2TB drives. It would be good to use Raid 1 and have everything backed up, but the price is high. Around 200USD for the DS212J and more 250-300USD for 2x 2TB drives.

Then I started looking for cheaper alternatives. WD has the WD My Book Live 3TB for 200USD and for 180USD I can get the Seagate GoFlex Home 3TB. Both doesn't offer any kind of Raid, but can do the Job as a Media Server. Also, there's the WD My Book Duo thats almost the same as the My Book Live, except by the fact that it comes with 2 HDD, allowing me to backup my stuff. All the three have Ethernet ports and would be connected directly to my router (an old Linksys WRT320N).

Another option I have is to upgrade my Router. I've been researching and the ASUS Black Diamond line seems to have extreme fast transfer speeds, while providing USB ports (in some models, even 2 USB ports). If getting one of these, I could just buy a bigger USB drive and share it using the router. The main problem is that they don't come with USB 3.0 ports, and it might be a problem for me to stream 1080p video, or not?

Automatic backup is cool, but not necessary since I can keep my most important files manually backed up to my current USB drive.

What would you do? Buy a Time Capsule? Buy a true NAS like Synology or QNAP? Buy a cheap Ethernet drive? Buy a new Router and a bigger USB Drive? Buy a new router and a Ethernet drive? Why?

Thanks to all!

 

[RedCroissant]

So, i just got my rMBP and i'm more than happy with it. Its screen is amazing and its much faster than my previous 2010 13" MBA.

Now i need to upgrade my storage since all i've got is a 1TB USB 3.0 drive.

I was considering buying a TC and using it as a media center for my rMBP and my (future) jailbroken ATV3, but it seems to be a bad decision as the TC isn't a fast media center.

After that I considered buying a Synology DS212J with 2x 2TB drives. It would be good to use Raid 1 and have everything backed up, but the price is high. Around 200USD for the DS212J and more 250-300USD for 2x 2TB drives.

Then I started looking for cheaper alternatives. WD has the WD My Book Live 3TB for 200USD and for 180USD I can get the Seagate GoFlex Home 3TB. Both doesn't offer any kind of Raid, but can do the Job as a Media Server. Also, there's the WD My Book Duo thats almost the same as the My Book Live, except by the fact that it comes with 2 HDD, allowing me to backup my stuff. All the three have Ethernet ports and would be connected directly to my router (an old Linksys WRT320N).

Another option I have is to upgrade my Router. I've been researching and the ASUS Black Diamond line seems to have extreme fast transfer speeds, while providing USB ports (in some models, even 2 USB ports). If getting one of these, I could just buy a bigger USB drive and share it using the router. The main problem is that they don't come with USB 3.0 ports, and it might be a problem for me to stream 1080p video, or not?

Automatic backup is cool, but not necessary since I can keep my most important files manually backed up to my current USB drive.

What would you do? Buy a Time Capsule? Buy a true NAS like Synology or QNAP? Buy a cheap Ethernet drive? Buy a new Router and a bigger USB Drive? Buy a new router and a Ethernet drive? Why?

Thanks to all!

I would get an Apple Wireless Extreme Base Station and a 5TB WD MyBook Duo.

 

[hafr]

What would you do?

I would ask myself what I want to do, then choose the option that ticks the most of my boxes.

But I have to ask you, why do you think the TC is slow as a "media centre"? The transfer speeds are less than impressive, that's true, but unless you live with loads of friends or have a large family just streaming media won't push the TC to its limit.

 

[s1lv3r]

377 views and only 2 replies/votes?

Anyway, thanks for the guys who replied.

As far as I've read (here and in other forums), the TC isn't fast enough to be used as a media center. It is for sure a very good backup tool, but just that. It will be probably just me streaming media from it, but there are more 4 wifi users in my house.

Also, i've considered buying a Airport Extreme, but for the same price i could buy something better like the ASUS ones. Its possible to get one 802.11ac for around 200USD, what is pretty tempting, even considering that i don't have any 802.11ac device yet.

I appreciate any other comment on the subject.

Thanks!

 

[Bauer24]

What is your long term media situation going to be? Are you going to continually stock pile media on the drives and then share them on your home network for years to come?

If so, I would not advise a single disk solution.

I would advise grabbing a synology or qnap 4 bay, with single disk redundancy.

In fact, if you can, I'd go with the Synology because of their implementation of RAID-5 described here:
http://forum.synology.com/wiki/index.php/What_is_Synology_Hybrid_RAID?

Basically it allows much more efficient use of space with variable sized drives and makes upgrading the array much more cost efficient over time.

I'd recommend their DS411 with 4X2TB drives, or 4X1TB drives. You could even start with 4x1TB and slowly swap 1 TB for 2 TB's over time while still preserving disk redundancy and still being able to use part of the additional space.

http://www.synology.com/products/product.php?product_name=DS411&lang=us

Good luck!

 

[hafr]

As far as I've read (here and in other forums), the TC isn't fast enough to be used as a media center. It is for sure a very good backup tool, but just that. It will be probably just me streaming media from it, but there are more 4 wifi users in my house.

If all other users are backing up their hard drives at the same time as you're trying to watch a movie, there might be a problem, but I've used a USB-drive connected to an Airport Extreme 4th and have no problems streaming movies even when two computers are backing up to it at the same time.

Especially not if you're using an ATV3. They can't be jailbroken (yet), so the only alternative is to use its native video player, which basically downloads the movie to the ATV and plays it from there, instead of a constant streaming as you have with XBMC or Plex, making transfer speeds less of an issue.

The claim that the TC is too slow to be used as a media centre is something I've never heard before, nor have I experienced it myself (AEBS+USB have about the same transfer speeds as the TC's internal drive).

Also, i've considered buying a Airport Extreme, but for the same price i could buy something better like the ASUS ones. Its possible to get one 802.11ac for around 200USD, what is pretty tempting, even considering that i don't have any 802.11ac device yet.

Buying the first ac router without even having any ac devices? Sounds like a bad idea. You might not get an ac device for years, and by then there are probably better and cheaper ac routers.

Also, a TC or AEBS is able to wake your Apple computer when you access your iTunes library from the ATV...

 

[smellalot]

I voted for TC because a while ago I read this review:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4577/airport-extreme-5th-gen-and-time-capsule-4th-gen-review-faster-wifi-/7

And I was very impressed. I think for the usual home user this thing is fast.
For someone who doesn't plan to upgrade his drives, the TC is the cheaper option over a NAS.