This range of cases are good and the 2 drive cold swap starts at a reasonable price:

http://www.chenbro.com/corporatesite/products_cat.php?pos=33

http://www.mini-itx.com/store/?c=57#p3810

(Not sure that retailer is cheap, but you can see a ballpark)

Pushes the budget a bit, but you have a home server on almost no power, which has to be a good thing.

If you do go that route, take time to chose the right hard drives as they can make a big difference to things.

Edited 7 September, 201015 yr by cheezemonkhai

I took a different approach when I was in the same situation and bought an LG NAS box -I wanted something small, solid and quiet.

Not the cheapest, but it offers loads of protocols, including a Torrent client, and it just works.

Phil

I took a different approach when I was in the same situation and bought an LG NAS box -I wanted something small, solid and quiet.

Not the cheapest, but it offers loads of protocols, including a Torrent client, and it just works.

Phil

Funny you should mention LG, as found some of their boxes the other day and wondered if they were straight raid, or another that might have oddities with storage as raised in this thread.

Which box do you have?

I think for me the biggest issue with any supplied unit, is the can I take it out of a dead box and read the data back test.

Funny you should mention LG, as found some of their boxes the other day and wondered if they were straight raid, or another that might have oddities with storage as raised in this thread.

Which box do you have?

They're straight RAID. I have the nb-something (2X1Tb disk and Blu-ray for backup)

The kit is very high quality, the manual is rubbish. It it just sits there and works 24X7, and is very quiet (one of my major requirements)

Phil

They're straight RAID. I have the nb-something (2X1Tb disk and Blu-ray for backup)

The kit is very high quality, the manual is rubbish. It it just sits there and works 24X7, and is very quiet (one of my major requirements)

Phil

What file system are they using and what raid solution, because if you move a pair or Raid drives from one controller it does not stand that they will work and get your data back on another.

This goes for everything even homebrew systems.

Edited 9 September, 201015 yr by cheezemonkhai

Is it this one Phil? http://www.dabs.com/products/lg-electronics-n2b1d-nas-enclosure-with-bluray-6B77.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=product+search&utm_campaign=product+search

Have found the DVD version, with 1TB for around the same price as the WD mybook 2.

Does DNLA complaint certified mean the data can be recovered using another system easily?

Is it this one Phil? http://www.dabs.com/products/lg-electronics-n2b1d-nas-enclosure-with-bluray-6B77.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=product+search&utm_campaign=product+search

Have found the DVD version, with 1TB for around the same price as the WD mybook 2.

Does DNLA complaint certified mean the data can be recovered using another system easily?

No, DLNA means that it can run a media server.

I believe the file system is a fairly standard Unix file system -the box runs a version of Linux under the bonnet

I've (because I'm like that) pulled a disk, connected it to a SATA to USB converter, and been able to mount and read the contents on a Ubuntu box. So, you can recover it, but you may need some Unix skills.

Or the box can back up to Blu-ray/DVD (depending on which version you buy) or it has USB connectivity, so you could plug in an external disk and do backups of backups of backups.

I do both, as it holds my photo and music collection. I keep a USB disk in my desk drawer at work as an offisite backup.

I should add that I work in storage and backup

Phil

Phil

Edited 10 September, 201015 yr by philc

I believe the file system is a fairly standard Unix file system -the box runs a version of Linux under the bonnet

I've (because I'm like that) pulled a disk, connected it to a SATA to USB converter, and been able to mount and read the contents on a Ubuntu box. So, you can recover it, but you may need some Unix skills.

Theres a pretty good open source EXT2/3 driver for windows as well, which allows the drives from most NAS devices to be plugged into a windows PC, and data to be dragged/dropped onto the drive.

I use http://www.fs-driver.org/ all the time for copying to my Linksys NAS (far quicker than network copying).

I've (because I'm like that) pulled a disk, connected it to a SATA to USB converter, and been able to mount and read the contents on a Ubuntu box. So, you can recover it, but you may need some Unix skills.

If you've had the data off it's probably running ext3 or something.

Can you telnet/ssh in to a command line?

Also is the source code available under the terms of the GPL?

Thanks

Theres a pretty good open source EXT2/3 driver for windows as well, which allows the drives from most NAS devices to be plugged into a windows PC, and data to be dragged/dropped onto the drive.

I use http://www.fs-driver.org/ all the time for copying to my Linksys NAS (far quicker than network copying).

Ooh, I like that.

Bookmarked for later playing

Thanks, Phil

No, DLNA means that it can run a media server.

I believe the file system is a fairly standard Unix file system -the box runs a version of Linux under the bonnet

I've (because I'm like that) pulled a disk, connected it to a SATA to USB converter, and been able to mount and read the contents on a Ubuntu box. So, you can recover it, but you may need some Unix skills.

Or the box can back up to Blu-ray/DVD (depending on which version you buy) or it has USB connectivity, so you could plug in an external disk and do backups of backups of backups.

I do both, as it holds my photo and music collection. I keep a USB disk in my desk drawer at work as an offisite backup.

I should add that I work in storage and backup

Phil

Phil

Thats excellent news.

Looks like I'll get the LG DVD version instead.

One quick question. If I do get the 2x500gb version, and mirror them, is upgrading the disks as easy as popping one disk and putting in a bigger one, let it mirror, then do the 2nd?

Thats excellent news.

Looks like I'll get the LG DVD version instead.

One quick question. If I do get the 2x500gb version, and mirror them, is upgrading the disks as easy as popping one disk and putting in a bigger one, let it mirror, then do the 2nd?

If you do go for it, can you let me know the price of the cheapest one out there and also if you get the GPL source code in the box.

If if is actually Linux and you do get the source, then it could be very interesting to have a play with.

Edited 12 September, 201015 yr by cheezemonkhai

If you do go for it, can you let me know the price of the cheapest one out there and also if you get the GPL source code in the box.

If if is actually Linux and you do get the source, then it could be very interesting to have a play with.

You don't get the source code, but there are a few odds and sods on the web that give you access to a shell.

Can't give more info at the moment as mine's offline due to my router going ping! in a big way. :(

Phil

You don't get the source code, but there are a few odds and sods on the web that give you access to a shell.

Can't give more info at the moment as mine's offline due to my router going ping! in a big way. :(

Phil

When you're next on it can you try the command uname -a and also which \bin\sh

Be very interested to see if either of them work.

If it is actually Linux and you don't get the source, I might just have to buy one to make the point under the GPL and then have a play to see what features I can add.

Edited 13 September, 201015 yr by cheezemonkhai

When you're next on it can you try the command uname -a and also which \bin\sh

Be very interested to see if either of them work.

If it is actually Linux and you don't get the source, I might just have to buy one to make the point under the GPL and then have a play to see what features I can add.

Now I've got the whole thing back together (thanks, Ebuyer!) It appears that there's no telnet or ssh daemon running, so you can't get command line access by default. There are hacked versions of the firmware on the web which add ssh, but I don't really want to play with my precious data!

According to the manual, the source is available from LG for the cost of the media.

Loads of GPL licenses listed in the back of the manual, but no specific Linux platform mentioned. Manual is available from here if you want to read through it.

Phil.

Now I've got the whole thing back together (thanks, Ebuyer!) It appears that there's no telnet or ssh daemon running, so you can't get command line access by default. There are hacked versions of the firmware on the web which add ssh, but I don't really want to play with my precious data!

According to the manual, the source is available from LG for the cost of the media.

Loads of GPL licenses listed in the back of the manual, but no specific Linux platform mentioned. Manual is available from here if you want to read through it.

Phil.

No that's perfect, if I can get hold of the GPL code from them for media costs only, then I might be tempted to buy one and start hacking at it to see what I could add to it.

Only thing I don't like is the fact that they think they can make the offer of source code only valid for 3 years, but hey as long as I could get it and the price is fair.

It's certainly Linux running busybox, so plenty of hacking can be done there to add features

Very nice

Edited 14 September, 201015 yr by cheezemonkhai

No that's perfect, if I can get hold of the GPL code from them for media costs only, then I might be tempted to buy one and start hacking at it to see what I could add to it.

Only thing I don't like is the fact that they think they can make the offer of source code only valid for 3 years, but hey as long as I could get it and the price is fair.

It's certainly Linux running busybox, so plenty of hacking can be done there to add features

Very nice

Had I the time and skills these days, I'd probably have a dabble myself. If you do, and you add anything useful, let me know! This guy has done some work already, by the looks of it.

Phil

Mah, Place I saw them for at £150 has sold out, and wont be getting anymore that size.

So, either I can get a 2x1TB for £200 delivered, or if I can, get the enclosure for £112 then spec some 1TB drives myself - but cant do it this way and match the £200 ready built cost.

Looks like I'll have to wait until payday now :(

When you're next on it can you try the command uname -a and also which \bin\sh

Be very interested to see if either of them work.

If it is actually Linux and you don't get the source, I might just have to buy one to make the point under the GPL and then have a play to see what features I can add.

Similarly, the Synology I have runs a Synology flavour of Linux (kernel 2.6.24) that is available on SourceForge for tinkering. Out of the box, it comes configured with the usual suspect commands in the /bin and /sbin directories (aliased as Busybox), ssh, telnet, ftp, http, etc, daemons as well as some useful applications such as eMule and bitTorrent clients and a media server. Data is stored on an ext3 filesystem.

Chris

Similarly, the Synology I have runs a Synology flavour of Linux (kernel 2.6.24) that is available on SourceForge for tinkering. Out of the box, it comes configured with the usual suspect commands in the /bin and /sbin directories (aliased as Busybox), ssh, telnet, ftp, http, etc, daemons as well as some useful applications such as eMule and bitTorrent clients and a media server. Data is stored on an ext3 filesystem.

Chris

That's an interesting alternative.

As for the ext3... soon fix that if the code is out there

So, intrigued by the hacked software that I found for the LG unit, I made sure everything on there was backed up and installed it.

It works a treat, giving ssh and Telnet access, Mediatomb and Twonky servers and probably loads of other stuff I haven't found yet.

Anyway, here's the OS info:

LG-NAS:~$ uname -a

Linux LG-NAS 2.6.22.18 #175 Tue Jan 26 09:39:00 KST 2010 armv5tejl unknown

LG-NAS:~$ which /bin/sh

/bin/sh

Phil