How to Build Your Own NAS Device

[Hooch Tan]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/build-file-server,2358.html' target='_blank'>http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews...erver,2358.html</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"Perhaps you've decided to take the plunge and build your own personal file server. But why bother with dedicated storage hardware when the desktop hard drives in your PC already offer up to 2 TB of capacity? Personally, I built my own file server so that I would have a backup of my data separate from my working PC."</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com//dht/auto/1248538062.usr20447.png" style="border: 1px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p>There are many reasons why having a dedicated network storage device is a good idea.&nbsp; It can provide a central backup or shared device for all your computers, and most of us do have more than one computer these days.&nbsp; There are a wide variety of prebuilt NAS devices available on the market, from Drobo to Synology to D-Link to HP.&nbsp; All these devices have their benefits, though often they can get quite expensive, especially if you want one with a lot of features.&nbsp; Tom's Hardware offers up the suggestion that you can build your own and save some money at the same time.&nbsp; The difference here is that they only really cover the hardware aspect of Network Attached Storage building, with careful attention to each component you need.&nbsp; Rolling your own NAS definitely has benefits as you have direct control over every aspect of things and you typically will save money, especially if you're building a really high capacity device.&nbsp; However, do keep in mind that prebuilt NAS devices have their benefits too from easier administration to simpicity.&nbsp; I using a home built server right now, but my next upgrade is likely to be a move to a prebuilt NAS.&nbsp; Does anyone have any experience with them?&nbsp; Are there any brands that should be avoided?</p>

[NeilE]

Personally I think a NAS is useless unless it comes with no brainer backup capabilities. I bought a 1TB Acer Windows Home Server off Amazon for $373. That's a complete computer with 1TB of storage and all the pre-installed software necessary for effortless backup of anything in my house.

That, to me, is a total steal.

Neil

[mrozema]

My D-Link DNS-323 has treated me pretty well. It cost under $200 for the enclosure and houses two 320GB drives that, at the time a bought them, cost $75 a piece.
The print server function hasn't worked for me yet, but the built-in bit torrent client could be handy.
It also has built-in backup functionality for those who want it.

[The Yaz]

While I would love to invest in a better NAS setup, I'm still getting by with my current arraingement:

One Seagate 500GB internal drive in my main desktop. Backups are run through the Windows provided app.

Another Seagate 500GB housed in an external USB case connected to my DLink ethernet switch. I copy the backups from the desktop weekly.

The family's music collection resides collectively on a 200GB external USB drive also connected to the DLink. All new music is loaded onto the drive and them the individual compters and the files to their iTunes directories.

With myself, my wife, and three kids, our data grows exponentially. My next upgrade will need to be in TB!

Steve :cool:

[Jason Dunn]

Personally I think a NAS is useless unless it comes with no brainer backup capabilities.

Ditto. I've used a bunch of different NAS devices over the years, and Windows Home Server is the best by a long shot. It's not perfect when it comes to the media streaming part of things, but from a backup perspective? Simply awesome.

[Yukster]

The one I am using right now is the Qnap TS-109 II. Its a single drive, so there is no redundancy unless you connect an external HDD, but it does have the benefit of being fanless. It has regular firmware upgrades, and is very energy efficient. Unlike some other brands (PCI comes to mind) the BitTorrent client actually works.

Although you may have some concerns about the Qnap being fanless, it has survived 2 Tokyo summers in a non air conditioned, enclosed room.

[ryanmorris]

I love my Drobo. I have 4x1TB drives in it for 3TB Storage and 1TB for redundancy in case of failed drives, all of which the box monitors for me. Idiot lights tell me when the drives are OK (green) or failing (red), at which point it migrates data automatically to the 4th drive. Additional idiot lights in the form of progressive blue LED's along the bottom give a general expression of how much capacity is in use.

I have 2 Hitachi drives in it because they were super cheap ($70), plus two WD Green drives (power consumption isn't really my concern, but I refer their price to the fast Black drives and also like the lower heat/noise for mass file storage). I plan to upgrade them over time to 4x2TB when those drive prices begin to drop. $250 is way too high when the Seagate 1.5TB drive can be had for $115.

I've got a massive DVD (300+) and music library (300+ CDs) backed up on that now, plus all of the family photos and videos. Still a fair amount of room left (until I start backing up the blu-rays...).

[ryanmorris]

Forgot to mention - I have tested the drive failure feature on the Drobo. It detected a bad drive, flashed angry red at me, and allowed me to remove and replace it painlessly.

[Jason Dunn]

I've got a massive DVD (300+) and music library (300+ CDs) backed up on that now...

Hey Ryan, how did you back up your DVDs? Or more importantly, how are you playing them off the NAS? This is a project I keep thinking about but I've never found the solution that feels "just right" to me.

[ryanmorris]

Hey Ryan, how did you back up your DVDs? Or more importantly, how are you playing them off the NAS? This is a project I keep thinking about but I've never found the solution that feels "just right" to me.

Backup:
Slysoft AnyDVD rips DVDs fast. Occassionally I find a disc that it cannot work around, but it is rare. It is not free, but it was reasonable and is the most efficient tool I've found. (I fortunately purchase before the converted to the Euro, and when they were still giving free lifetime upgrades. I even bought the AnyDVDHD before I had a blu-ray player to lock in the free upgrades).

I was then selecting all the kid's movies and converting them to a compressed menu-less 1GB file using Nero Recode. I'd set it to recode four at a time before going to bed, and another four before I left for work in the morning. Yes, recoding is slow, but by doing it while I wasn't sitting and watching the process it didn't seem so bad. I tried Badaboom, which claimed to be much faster since it used your GPU instead of CPU to recode. I guess my GTX260 wasn't much faster than my CPU (2.6Ghz quad core), because I saw no speed gains and a degradation in quality.

I was keeping all the action movies in DVD folders to retain the full resolution.

My DVDs are roughly half mine and half for the kids (and I think two are my wife's ;-), so 150 or so ended up compressed to Nero's version of Divx.

Play:

I have a Popcorn Hour A-110 Network Media Tank. It was wired into my network (I had to get an 8-port router for PS3, Popcorn Hour, LG Blu-Ray/Netflix Instant player, Wii, etc.)

I was working on streaming from the NAS, but didn't have much time to work on the project. As much as I like the Popcorn Hour, the online help wasn't enough to get me up and running with streaming without a week with no family/work to spend reading wikis. Instead, I copied the kids library over to the installed HDD (WD Scorpio Black 320GB 2.5" - I should have used the WD Blue to reduce heat). Popcorn is recognized as an external HDD when plugged in via USB.

Unfortunately, I think the heat in my cabinet may have fried my Popcorn. It won't turn on. I had a WD HDTV media player sitting around unboxed, so I plugged it in and now play everything from it. The bad news it that it isn't networked, so the opportunity to have slick streaming menus with DVD covers has gone away. The good news it that I no longer have to fret over the project.

[bpetch]

I've been using a Netgear ReadyNAS NV+ for about a year and have recently upgraded it from 4x500GB to 4x1.5TB. The upgrade process was flawless. It took about 48 hours to complete the upgrade, but the expanded capacity is great.

I then got talking with a friend at work and was reintroduced to MediaPortal (http://www.team-mediaportal.com/) (Windows based HTPC). Super slick interface! Have all my downloaded TV episodes in one folder (broken out by series then season) and ripped movies in another on the NAS. Pointed MediaPortal to them and away we go! Couldn't be happier. Was using Windows XP Media Centre.

I've been using MakeMKV (http://www.makemkv.com/) to rip my standard DVDs. Works for BluRays too, but I don't have a BluRay drive in my PC yet. Very pleased with this tiny piece of software as well.

Hope this helps!
Bruce