RAID / NAS / Backup

Author
Discussion

Type R Tom

Original Poster:

3,859 posts

148 months

Tuesday 23rd September 2014
quotequote all
I’m after a bit of guidance, I’m looking to build a media server to feed my smart TV’s / phones & tablets (both on and off local Wi-Fi) / Xbox & PlayStation / PC’s & Laptop with films (ripped from Blu-ray), music, documents etc. The options I’ve come down to is either build a NAS from my old PC or buy a prebuilt NAS or build a new PC that can do it all.

I’m getting confused about NAS vs Backup, now I’m aware that NAS isn’t backup but for a media server would a NAS with RAID 1 be affectively be the same as a 1 HD “backed up” on another HD elsewhere in a caddie, for example.

Also I’m thinking of a new PC, would a dedicated NAS be better than a PC with 6+ SATA ports be better if you ignore power use? I would be looking to rip my Blu-rays on a PC then stream them around the network.

probedb

824 posts

218 months

Tuesday 23rd September 2014
quotequote all
RAID is never a backup, it's redundancy. With RAID-1 if you accidentally delete a load of files and can't get them back, they're gone from the other drive, it's just a mirror.

Personally I have an older PC running Win 7 and a Highpoint RocketRAID card for my file/everything server. Obviously not as compact as a NAS but so much more expandable/flexible etc.

Type R Tom

Original Poster:

3,859 posts

148 months

Tuesday 23rd September 2014
quotequote all
probedb said:
RAID is never a backup, it's redundancy. With RAID-1 if you accidentally delete a load of files and can't get them back, they're gone from the other drive, it's just a mirror.

Personally I have an older PC running Win 7 and a Highpoint RocketRAID card for my file/everything server. Obviously not as compact as a NAS but so much more expandable/flexible etc.
I'm aware about the delete thing, I'm more concerned about HD's going bang and losing all my films / music that I've spent hours ripping.

8bit

4,846 posts

154 months

Tuesday 23rd September 2014
quotequote all
RAID 1 means that both disks have exactly the same data all the time. In the event that one fails, the other is still there and allows things to carry on until you replace the failed disk. It won't let you go back and recover a file you deleted though. ETA - just seen someone else answered this while I was typing, sorry.

My advice would be get a home NAS, I got a Synology DS214play earlier this year and I love it. It's already geared up for NAS functions plus media streaming over DLNA, has a Bittorrent (and other download service) client, has built in software for backing up to another NAS or a USB disk (I use this), can run web apps, home mail server, you name it. Far easier than building your own NAS, everything is integrated nicely out of the box.

If you want absolute control over everything that is installed and exactly how it is set up then a home-grown NAS would be the better choice I guess but if, like me, you just want something that works well and doesn't require fiddling with then a NAS is the way to go.

Type R Tom

Original Poster:

3,859 posts

148 months

Tuesday 23rd September 2014
quotequote all
8bit said:
RAID 1 means that both disks have exactly the same data all the time. In the event that one fails, the other is still there and allows things to carry on until you replace the failed disk. It won't let you go back and recover a file you deleted though. ETA - just seen someone else answered this while I was typing, sorry.

My advice would be get a home NAS, I got a Synology DS214play earlier this year and I love it. It's already geared up for NAS functions plus media streaming over DLNA, has a Bittorrent (and other download service) client, has built in software for backing up to another NAS or a USB disk (I use this), can run web apps, home mail server, you name it. Far easier than building your own NAS, everything is integrated nicely out of the box.

If you want absolute control over everything that is installed and exactly how it is set up then a home-grown NAS would be the better choice I guess but if, like me, you just want something that works well and doesn't require fiddling with then a NAS is the way to go.
What configuration do you run?

8bit

4,846 posts

154 months

Tuesday 23rd September 2014
quotequote all
Type R Tom said:
What configuration do you run?
If you mean RAID configuration, RAID1. It's actually called Synology Hybrid Raid (SHR) but that will pick the optimum RAID configuration for fault tolerance as the first priority and performance as secondary, and allows you to change RAID level later on if need be.

Type R Tom

Original Poster:

3,859 posts

148 months

RizzoTheRat

25,085 posts

191 months

Tuesday 23rd September 2014
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Backup to me means off site in case the house burns down or gets burgled. I have a 2TB MyBook Live NAS (built in Twonky media server is useful too) that synchronises with my PC, and then a USB drive that I do a backup on every so often and keep at work rather than at home.

LRJP

56 posts

269 months

Tuesday 23rd September 2014
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Another vote here for the Synology NAS.

I have a DS213j which is a 2 bay running RAID1. Great bit of kit and you can also download apps so that you can manage and use your data whilst out and about via a smart phone.

Oh...and it's good value!


8bit

4,846 posts

154 months

Tuesday 23rd September 2014
quotequote all
Type R Tom said:
I have no experience of the Lenovo NAS so can't really comment but I'd say if you need to transcode your video on-the-fly then that will struggle for CPU power. The Synology DS*play devices work well for this because their CPUs (Intel Atom) have hardware transcoding support.

Good choice of disks though, I've got 2x 3TB Caviar Reds in mine.

marctwo

3,666 posts

259 months

Tuesday 23rd September 2014
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HP Microserver + UnRAID.

8bit

4,846 posts

154 months

Tuesday 23rd September 2014
quotequote all
marctwo said:
HP Microserver + UnRAID.
+ DLNA server + web server + uTorrent or similar + time + effort etc. etc.?

Or does that all come as part of the download?

legzr1

3,843 posts

138 months

Tuesday 23rd September 2014
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LRJP said:
Another vote here for the Synology NAS.

I have a DS213j which is a 2 bay running RAID1. Great bit of kit and you can also download apps so that you can manage and use your data whilst out and about via a smart phone.

Oh...and it's good value!
Snap!

As close to 'fit and forget' as you'll get in the NAS market.

I've got a 3tb USB drive ready for real backup - once synced, that will stay at a relatives house.

NewNameNeeded

2,560 posts

224 months

Tuesday 23rd September 2014
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Another vote here for a Synology NAS. Have a DS214Play and use it to stream tv/movies to my Xbox 360/one, PS3, smart TVs and a couple of Roku streaming sticks for the dumb TVs. Works flawlessly. The synology apps are really nice too.

Crafty_

13,248 posts

199 months

Tuesday 23rd September 2014
quotequote all
I have some questions as I've been reading up a little on NAS drives recently, but first something I came across that might be important to some readers of the thread:

http://www.guru3d.com/news-story/synology-nas-serv...

Remember cryptolocker ? some bright spark has created a version that does the same thing to Synology NAS boxes, encrypts the files and requests a payment via bitcoin to unlock them.
Initially caused by people running old versions of the OS, but there have also been updates in the past few weeks to fix remote access vulnerabilities, latest update appears to be 4th September.

Long thread here: http://forum.synology.com/enu/viewtopic.php?f=108&...

In short turn off remote access,keep the software updated.


So, as I said I've been reading up on NAS boxes recently and am struggling a bit - the problem I have is the phone master socket (and therefore my router) are in an unsuitable place to put a NAS box. I know using wifi is possible but most regard it as a bad idea. What about using homeplugs ?
Would either give me the ability to stream video/music from the NAS to devices (maybe using plex).

I might be able to move the phone socket by adding an extension but a bit concerned what that will do to my connection speeds.


Type R Tom

Original Poster:

3,859 posts

148 months

Tuesday 23rd September 2014
quotequote all
Crafty_ said:
So, as I said I've been reading up on NAS boxes recently and am struggling a bit - the problem I have is the phone master socket (and therefore my router) are in an unsuitable place to put a NAS box. I know using wifi is possible but most regard it as a bad idea. What about using homeplugs ?
Would either give me the ability to stream video/music from the NAS to devices (maybe using plex).

I might be able to move the phone socket by adding an extension but a bit concerned what that will do to my connection speeds.
Can't you run a CAT5e cable under the carpet or something like this

http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/white-skirting-board-cab...


Type R Tom

Original Poster:

3,859 posts

148 months

Tuesday 23rd September 2014
quotequote all
As I'm thinking about a new PC, what are people opinions on a machine with an SSD for windows etc then several 3TB drivers as a NAS

Crafty_

13,248 posts

199 months

Tuesday 23rd September 2014
quotequote all
That looks quite neat, unfortunately it won't really help solve my problem - if I extend one way I have to pass one doorway, the run would be in excess of 60 feet. If I go the other way I have to cross two thresholds, the run would be 20-25 feet.

Maybe the best bet will be to use a phone extension on the short run as the cable is smaller and put it under the carpet/underlay at the thresholds with some protection to avoid trashing the cable. I'll have to pull up carpets and have a look.


alock

4,224 posts

210 months

Tuesday 23rd September 2014
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Crafty_ said:
Remember cryptolocker ?
This is where most people go wrong when using a NAS for backup. They have a mapped network drive to their NAS with saved credentials. This means something like cryptolocker has full access to their NAS over the network to encrypt everything.

At least one of you backups must be offline and ideally off site.

NewNameNeeded

2,560 posts

224 months

Tuesday 23rd September 2014
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Crafty_ said:
I know using wifi is possible but most regard it as a bad idea
Can only go on my personal experience but we stream 1080p movies to our TVs over wifi and have never had an issue with it pausing /buffering. I'm not sure whether the issues others experience are a result of their wifi or a low spec NAS that's struggling with media?