NAS for a Home Network

[Deshin]

I'm looking for some advice on the best type of NAS (Network Attached Storage) to add to a Home Network.

I'm moving apartments soon and the Television and the Desktop PC won't be neighbours anymore so a simple HDMI cable won't cut it. I'm planning on setting up a nice little home network for a desktop/laptop/mediabox/xbox360/NAS combo but am not too sure what would be the best. I'm thinking of getting one with multiple bays (4-5 max) for hot-swappable Hard Drive Disks and USB connectivity to add a Printer to it to also function as a Print Server. I'd also have it always switched on (as opposed to the more power hungry desktop pc) to allow remote file access when I travel with my laptop.

I'm still pretty green on the networking front and have never set up an external file server before; what sort of requirements would people recommend on the above scenario? And if the above requirements are indeed correct (yay me) what specific devices would you recommend? With regards to cash, I am on a budget but am not above spending that extra bit if it guarantees stability and quality.

This is one part requirements analysis and one part personal practice as I'd like to hear some other home setups and get a good feel for the networking behind it all. Thanks in advance.

 

[Hashime]

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/storage/2011/01/23/synology-diskstation-ds211j-review/1
Apparently this one is great.

I just use a low power linux box (because I already had one), but this is much better.

 

[Deshin]

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/storage/2011/01/23/synology-diskstation-ds211j-review/1
Apparently this one is great.

I just use a low power linux box (because I already had one), but this is much better.

I like the look of that one A LOT, but the only downside I can see to it is only 2 HDD bays. I suppose I can buy 4 x 2TB HDDs and have 2 running in JBOD mode and have the other 2 operating as pure backup drives and stored in a drawer somewhere. Even a packrat like me would be hard pressed to fill up 4 TB of data I suppose.

 

[Hashime]

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/storage/2011/01/23/synology-diskstation-ds211j-review/1
Apparently this one is great.

I just use a low power linux box (because I already had one), but this is much better.

I like the look of that one A LOT, but the only downside I can see to it is only 2 HDD bays. I suppose I can buy 4 x 2TB HDDs and have 2 running in JBOD mode and have the other 2 operating as pure backup drives and stored in a drawer somewhere. Even a packrat like me would be hard pressed to fill up 4 TB of data I suppose.

4TB is alot, but remember that you can also stick external drives in. If you want advanced raid features and storage for many drives your only real option is a full computer with a massive disk rack and a raid card. I know some people who have 8TB file servers, I could PM you a way to contact them.

 

[Deshin]

4TB is alot, but remember that you can also stick external drives in. If you want advanced raid features and storage for many drives your only real option is a full computer with a massive disk rack and a raid card. I know some people who have 8TB file servers, I could PM you a way to contact them.

By the time I cross the line from NAS to an actual computer I'd have doubled back on myself for the reasons of wanting the NAS in the first place. But I do suppose you're right, 4 TB is a lot and if push really came to shove I can just pop the lid open and swap around some HDs. I doubt I'd ever be in a situation where I needed access to more than 4 TB of data at any given time.

I'd still like to hear some other opinions/systems though, just for the sake of learning about typical home network setups!

 

[Aurgelmir]

I have a two disk Netgear NAS at home, which i do NOT recommend. The NAS itself is awesome (you can even raid it if you want) but the fan is so god damn noisy that I stopped using it.
At work we have a 4 disk Netgear which is insanely good (but probably overkill for you )