Laptop's getting full, and desktop was retired a few years ago now as simply easier to surf and watch TV.

So, again looking (now urgently) at some storage for all my music and pics before Vista decides it doesnt have enough space to do anything and refuses to boot (again).

I've settled on the idea on NAS solution, so I can connect to the router and access from other computers and my mobile on the fly.

Does anyone have any experience of My Book World Edition II WDH2NC20000 - 2gb NAS server? I quite like the idea of the drive having it's own backup drive so I should be able to dump stuff on it relatively worry free???

I know that Buffalo used to do a raid 1 home NAS for a reasonable price. Don't know anything about the drive listed but as long as it is a hardware mirror you should be OK

I had an Icybox NAS storage which could take 2 3.5" HDDs and have them in RAID 1. One of the benefits was that is used standard ext3 file system and a RAID 1 mirror was just that, no fancy data on the drives meaning you could take the HDD out and stick it in a normal PC and read it (with an ext3 driver). However, it was a bit tempremental with larger HDDs.

My concern with the "cheaper" so-called NAS devices is that they don't always provide standard protocol support - CIFS, FTP, etc, and you used to have to install a specific driver as it wasn't a standard protocol. Of course, that's not the case with this WD box, and despite it saying it does DLNA, how reliant are you on its OS and should it have a problem, can you get the data off it?

What I use now is an old PC with a streamlined version of XP running on it. Yes, it's "overkill", but I can have just about any protocol, application, whatever running on it and accessible over the network, so it's flexible without limits

Probably a bit overkill if you just want a basic NAS sharing files over CIFS, but just make sure you get proper industry standard protocol support and the data is written in a common file system that doesn't tie you into using that WD box forever

No direct experience of the NAS you mention, but the blurb is a little misleading when it states total storage capacity is 2TB as with a RAID 1 setup it will only be half of that. Xav makes an interesting point about protocol support, but if it's just being used as some network storage (rather than media server, etc) then I think this is less of an issue and it should do the job fine. The only concern I'd have is the make/type of the discs in it and whether they can be easily replaced should they fail, and how the recovery process works.

I went down the NAS route a year and a bit ago and was looking at slightly more feature-rich NASs and ended up with a Synology DS209J with a pair of 1.5TB Samsung discs in. Been very pleased with it and with built in P2P clients it saves me a fair bit in electricity too as I don't need to leave the PC running 24/7 I've had one of the discs fail and the NAS made replacing it and rebuilding the volume very easy - in fact, all I had to do was plug in the new disc and it did the rest.

Chris

I've had one of the discs fail and the NAS made replacing it and rebuilding the volume very easy - in fact, all I had to do was plug in the new disc and it did the rest.

I've always wondered about the redundancy on NASs with dual drives. You're (usually) getting two drives of equal capacity, same make, bought at the same time and with almost identical usage patterns and environment. If one goes then surely the second isn't far behind?

I've always wondered about the redundancy on NASs with dual drives. You're (usually) getting two drives of equal capacity, same make, bought at the same time and with almost identical usage patterns and environment. If one goes then surely the second isn't far behind?

Yep it's certainly a concern, although I've never encountered it either at work or home so maybe it's less of a problem and the drives have bigger tolerances. Still, you can never trust anything, so any of my data that can't be easily recreated is backed up elsewhere too just to increase my chances

Edit: Just checked my NAS and the two discs are actually operating at different temperatures which may be a factor...

Chris

Edited 4 September, 201015 yr by ScoobyChris

I was looking into this a while back but decided to go for Windows Home Server running on an old laptop. I can just add hard disks in USB caddies as and when needed. Probably going to change it to an old desktop so I don't need caddies anymore when adding drives.

It's got a nice feature called duplicate. You can select which folder(s) you want duplicating onto a second drive (like raid mirror). I like it because you don't have to RAID the lot.

One thing I do know is not to install the wd software.

So would this still not be a drag and drop solution? Does this use a proprietory raid system that'll cause issues if one of the disks died?

Not keen ona pc solution, as too expensive just to back stuff up.

Not keen ona pc solution, as too expensive just to back stuff up.

What makes you think that? Any old PC can do the job. With several SATA ports and usb ports, you can expand it as much as you'd like. You have software RAID within windows, software/hardware raid on the chipset.

A low power PC is pretty economical on the power consumption - my NAS PC only takes up about 25 watts idling. And I put it in hibernate when not using it, using WoL to bring it back to life as soon as I need

What makes you think that? Any old PC can do the job. With several SATA ports and usb ports, you can expand it as much as you'd like. You have software RAID within windows, software/hardware raid on the chipset.

A low power PC is pretty economical on the power consumption - my NAS PC only takes up about 25 watts idling. And I put it in hibernate when not using it, using WoL to bring it back to life as soon as I need

What software do you run on your PC? I saw something about "FreeNAS" (which is an open-source, Unix or Linux system) - although I suspect it's one for people who have a better understanding of such things more than I do...

I use a windows home server solution for data storage, has builtin redundancy should a drive fail and it can do a lot more besides with the use of plugins.

I run a website, run a virtual server, and a lot more. All from a single core AMD cpu and 2GB of ram, it does have 2TB of usable storage in it. Redundancy is taken care of by the OS which automatically saves 2 copies of the data on 2 different HDDs.

Another vote for the old PC option. I have an old desktop machine from work with a P4 3ghz and 2Gb of RAM running windows server 2008. I have 1.5TB of usable storage backed up to a USB drive, i'll upgrade this to 1TB of mirrored storage in the future.

Its works as a file server, UPnP media server, development web server and print server. It also downloads my torrents while i'm tucked up in bed (all legit of course) and snipes ebay auctions for me when i am out. Not to mention the countless possibilities to add more services in the future. No doubt it uses more power than an out of the box NAS system, but i think the advantages of being able to upgrade the hardware as and when i like and the flexibility of a full blown OS is worth it.

What makes you think that? Any old PC can do the job. With several SATA ports and usb ports, you can expand it as much as you'd like. You have software RAID within windows, software/hardware raid on the chipset.

A low power PC is pretty economical on the power consumption - my NAS PC only takes up about 25 watts idling. And I put it in hibernate when not using it, using WoL to bring it back to life as soon as I need

Don't have need, want or space for a pc solution.

All I want is storage. I don't need a web server, eBay sniper, media centre or anything else. Just storage for my pics, videos and documents.

A fanless min- ITX system, in a small case that will take 4 drives and OpenFiler would be my choice*

- Standard drive format so you can recover it if things die.

- Exports in Samba, NFS or whatever else you want.

- no DRM or "clever things" to prevent sharing of certain media types.

- Easily upgradable to do anything in the future such as streaming to a console.

*Unless you've got a spare £10k+ to spend, as I can recommend some good stuff for that, but I think that's a bit excessive.

Edited 5 September, 201015 yr by cheezemonkhai

But even the itx solution will be a few £100. I really dont want to be spending more than I have to.

I have heard some really good stuff about this drobo kit! http://www.drobo.com/products/drobo-fs.php

I have been tempted myself.

I have heard some really good stuff about this drobo kit! http://www.drobo.com...ts/drobo-fs.php

I have been tempted myself.

Drobo stuff is good, but expensive! A mini ITX standard PC is a lot cheaper

As long as the initial solution is a standard filing system (ext3 or other), then I have no issues with it. My only concern would be if WD do something clever meaning it only works in their enclosures.

There lies the problems, some RAID hardware can write stuff to bits of the disk you don't have access to, so say where it is in the array.

So may people do clever stuff even when using a standard FS etc etc.

I know what you're saying about a few hundred quid, but if you lose your data you will lose so much more than that trying to get it back.

At least with a DIY solution you have proper control.

If you just want cheap, then wat about a USB hard drive plugged into one of the broadband routers that offer sharing of a HDD?

Was toying with USB drive, but having had enough corrupted mem cards/sticks at work due to poor dismounting & windows (mostly vista), this put me off.

Was toying with USB drive, but having had enough corrupted mem cards/sticks at work due to poor dismounting & windows (mostly vista), this put me off.

OK, so speaking purely hypothetically, imagine just for a second that the WD storage does write some "strange" data to identify files as Mark suggested. And just suppose that for freak act of god, the WD box were to melt, you're data could be lost.

The hard drives themselves are fine, but the data is written in a gobbledeegook way meaning no other standard OS or FS can read them.

Trust me, that extra £50 spent in getting a standalone PC runnign FreeNAS or whatever will be long forgotten before your cursing of lost data.

Of course, this shouldn't happen, but...

I hear what you're saying, but the WD solution can be had for £150. I'd be looking at £250-£300+ for an ITX solution. I wont be using it daily, if even a few times a month hence cant justify such an outlay.

Unless someone can point me in the right direction of a mini-itx system ready to go with 2x 1TB drives that's pretty much ready to go for £200. I have Win XP I can use from the decommissioned system upstairs, and could probably use the memory as well so just need the bits.

Fair enough mate, but do check that the system doesn't have any oddities.

All I can find on the WD is dont install the software as not needed.

So I assume this means its the software that does all the strange DRM & propriety (as in WD specific) rubbish? I cant find a straight answer on this for any drive manufacturer.

Well, how about:

Intel D410PT fanless Atom-based mini ITX board - £60

1GB RAM - £25

2x 1TB SATA HDDs £95

You'd need a case and PSU for that, and anything geared towards a NAS solution is expensive / blows your budget. But if you have an old PC case lying around

Only case is a fricking huge tower!