Standalone NAS

[The_Burg]

Anybody got any suggestions for a network connected hard disk?
Essential it can be connected without any drivers as will be used for re-imaging PC's.
Don't need a large capacity, 80Gb more than sufficient.
Oh and preferably cheap!

[stevieb]

Netgear SC-101 but it is not that reliable as it gets very hot and looks like a toaster!

There are other Caddies on Ebay for around £35 that only supports one drive

[Don]

www.misco.co.uk/SSinfo/~122779~/Buffalo+Linkstation+Pro+250GB+Network+Attached+Storage.htm

We got one of these. Its basically a tiny Linux computer. You manage it through its own web-app. It can be part of a Active Directory domain or a Workgroup or whatever.

Seems to be working well and is cheap enough.

[stevieb]

Don said:

www.misco.co.uk/SSinfo/~122779~/Buffalo+Linkstation+Pro+250GB+Network+Attached+Storage.htm

We got one of these. Its basically a tiny Linux computer. You manage it through its own web-app. It can be part of a Active Directory domain or a Workgroup or whatever.

Seems to be working well and is cheap enough.

bugger i should read the post properly! will agree with Don on this one.

[ThePassenger]

Cheap? Search ebay for "Quantum Snap" they're often found floating around on their. Web interface for configuration, does SMB, NFS and WTF Netware uses for remote storage, so your imaging software shouldn't have any worries talking to the thing once it's on the network.

[Wyvern971]

How reliable does it need to be? - You may want to consider a device with raid 1 and 2 HDDs
How small does it have to be? - If space is a concern then a purpose built unit may be the way to go
How quiet? - Smaller fans usually means more noise 120mm fans are virtually inaudible at low RPM
Do you have an old PC somewhere that isn't needed for anything? - Build your own

I run a 1Tb Raid 5 P3 500 as a server using Ubuntu Dapper (6)
5 250Gb Samsung Spinpoint HDDs using a REVO 5 port RAID card

it works fine and is a doddle to set up & is reasonably quiet

Edited by Wyvern971 on Wednesday 6th December 14:39

[rich1231]

stevieb said:

Netgear SC-101 but it is not that reliable as it gets very hot and looks like a toaster!

There are other Caddies on Ebay for around £35 that only supports one drive

Netgear SC101 requires drivers, which the OP doesnt want

[Graham@Reading]

rich1231 said:

stevieb said:

Netgear SC-101 but it is not that reliable as it gets very hot and looks like a toaster!

There are other Caddies on Ebay for around £35 that only supports one drive

Netgear SC101 requires drivers, which the OP doesnt want

And they're utterly, UTTERLY shit. It's not just drivers, it's a proprietary application which is incredibly flakey.

Avoid.

If Buffalo do something in the capacity you require, I'd recommend them. I've had a couple of their Terastations for a year or so now and can't fault them. Brilliant machines.

[stevieb]

Graham@Reading said:

rich1231 said:

stevieb said:

Netgear SC-101 but it is not that reliable as it gets very hot and looks like a toaster!

There are other Caddies on Ebay for around £35 that only supports one drive

Netgear SC101 requires drivers, which the OP doesnt want

And they're utterly, UTTERLY shit. It's not just drivers, it's a proprietary application which is incredibly flakey.

Avoid.

If Buffalo do something in the capacity you require, I'd recommend them. I've had a couple of their Terastations for a year or so now and can't fault them. Brilliant machines.

I corrected myself in the post below Don! and agreed with Don because i did not read the original post correctly

[arfur]

Look at www.thecus.com . I have a N2100 with 2x500gb drives on a raid 1 mirror over gigabit. There are loads of mods that can be made to the unit to give it new featues, including SlimServer for Squeezeboxes ... Brilliant bit of kit !!!

[rich1231]

just been using a linux server with Samba installed recently... but I will probably get a Lacie 1TB rackmount jobbie as it can hide away soon.

I have an 80GB XIMETA drive and a SC101, and they are awful clunky pieces of crapola, Netgear use the same tech as Ximeta it seems and I dont use them anymore.