Time for my first NAS.

[bez.59]

Hi guys,

I am ready to buy my first NAS and have this in mind:

D-Link ShareCenter Pulse 2-bay Network Storage Enclosure: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

And:

Samsung F4 EcoGreen 2TB 32MB 5400RPM 3.5 Inch SATA-II Internal Hard Drive - 3 Year Warranty - OEM: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

I will be using it to backup 1 pc and to stream media to an LG BX580 and a xbox 360.

Would this be a good setup as i don't really want to spend anymore on it and will i need to buy any cables for the drive or will it come with some?

Any advise would be great thanks.

 

[next010]

Should be okay just be aware that UPnP/DLNA media compatibility can be sketchy between the server and the client and such a device cannot transcode video and make it work so you will be limited to whatever formats those two devices support.

 

[Deleted member 480461]

Im also about to purchase 5 of those HDDs for my new NAS.

Once you receive the HDD, if the manufacture date is BEFORE 1st Jan 2011, you will need to upgrade the firmware so it works best in a NAS. Its very easy to do though.
First you'll need to create a bootable USB - Instructions here...

Then download the firmware and place it onto the USB drive above. It can be found here.....

Once updated, you can use as normal.

They are great drives from what I have read though

Before you buy the drive, check the prices at Scan.co.uk (free delivery for AVF members!), and also at eBuyer.co.uk. Pretty sure I saw the same drive cheaper from one of these a few days back.

Will be placing my order for 5 of these in the next few days!


EDIT: Keep an eye on eBuyer prices. They were £55 each yesterday, and are £62 today!! Seems to fluctuate a fair bit!

 

[bez.59]

Should be okay just be aware that UPnP/DLNA media compatibility can be sketchy between the server and the client and such a device cannot transcode video and make it work so you will be limited to whatever formats those two devices support.

At the moment i put videos on my phone and plug that into the xbox and they play fine so does that mean they will play on the xbox from the nas if they are the same format?

 

[bez.59]

Im also about to purchase 5 of those HDDs for my new NAS.

Once you receive the HDD, if the manufacture date is BEFORE 1st Jan 2011, you will need to upgrade the firmware so it works best in a NAS. Its very easy to do though.
First you'll need to create a bootable USB - Instructions here...

Then download the firmware and place it onto the USB drive above. It can be found here.....

Once updated, you can use as normal.

They are great drives from what I have read though

Before you buy the drive, check the prices at Scan.co.uk (free delivery for AVF members!), and also at eBuyer.co.uk. Pretty sure I saw the same drive cheaper from one of these a few days back.

Will be placing my order for 5 of these in the next few days!


EDIT: Keep an eye on eBuyer prices. They were £55 each yesterday, and are £62 today!! Seems to fluctuate a fair bit!

Thanks for the advise.

They have gone up on amazon today aswell.

 

[Deleted member 480461]

Try Scan.co.uk

 

[next010]

At the moment i put videos on my phone and plug that into the xbox and they play fine so does that mean they will play on the xbox from the nas if they are the same format?

Yes they should continue to work.

 

[STdrez625]

RE Prices on Websites ... what I have noticed (IMBW?) is that if you visit a site on more than about three occasions looking at the same thing, it will jack the price up by a couple of percent (maybe even 10 -15%)... I think the tracking cookies come in to play. I don't know the psychology behind this .. but its there .. seems very prevalent on Ebuyer. SO go down the libarry and check the prices again, just in case! LOL ..

 

[bez.59]

I decided to get the d-link but i'm having problems setting it up.

When i run the setup wizard i get to a bit that says please select a device but i doesn't find any.

I have installed the drive and formatted it the light on the d-link is on to say the drive is there and working so i don't no what to do any ideas?

 

[next010]

Try turning off the NAS, change the ethernet port it is plugged into on the router then and make sure any third party firewall is disabled if present. Power on the NAS again and see if the wizard can locate the NAS.

Your router should be set to act as a DHCP server too.

 

[bez.59]

Try turning off the NAS, change the ethernet port it is plugged into on the router then and make sure any third party firewall is disabled if present. Power on the NAS again and see if the wizard can locate the NAS.

Your router should be set to act as a DHCP server too.

Thanks its working fine now.
I can't believe i didn't think to turn the firewall off.

 

[ThisIsCostingMe]

I have the same setup. Can't fault it *touch wood*

Just bought a switch for homeplug>switch>pc/xbox/NAS. Can now streams Bluray rips from the NAS without buffer. No lag on Xbox Live etc.

 

[monkey butler]

Looking at etting one of these. anyone any experience of how well they stream MKVs over a network?

 

[bez.59]

Looking at etting one of these. anyone any experience of how well they stream MKVs over a network?

Just tested streaming a 720p mkv to my blu-ray player and it worked fine.

 

[monkey butler]

Just tested streaming a 720p mkv to my blu-ray player and it worked fine.

Cheers - 1 ordered and on it's way.

 

[monkey butler]

Out of interest, i'm copying my data from my USB via my Media PC to my Dlink as we speak. However, it's copying at around 8mbps, which is going to take 3 hours to copy 80GB of data over. I'm doing it in "chunks" just in case i get a problem.

I have 1.75TB of data to copy, which is going to take 67 hours!

Is this correct, or am i missing a trick into getting this to copy faster?

Also - I'm looking to upgrade at least one of the drives in the near future (i currently have a 1TB and a 750GB installed). I've set up the drives as Standard (rather than JBOD). Can i swap one of the drives, leaving the unswapped drive in the unit, and not need to re-format it? Has anyone tried swapping 1 of the 2 drives?

 

[Deleted member 480461]

That does seem pretty slow. I copied around 150GB of data across to my NAS in about an hour. Your speed is what I would probably get over my wireless! Maybe even slower!
You are using an Ethernet connection aren't you? I would always use Ethernet for large data transfers and stick to wireless for everything else.

 

[bez.59]

Out of interest, i'm copying my data from my USB via my Media PC to my Dlink as we speak. However, it's copying at around 8mbps, which is going to take 3 hours to copy 80GB of data over. I'm doing it in "chunks" just in case i get a problem.

I have 1.75TB of data to copy, which is going to take 67 hours!

Is this correct, or am i missing a trick into getting this to copy faster?

Also - I'm looking to upgrade at least one of the drives in the near future (i currently have a 1TB and a 750GB installed). I've set up the drives as Standard (rather than JBOD). Can i swap one of the drives, leaving the unswapped drive in the unit, and not need to re-format it? Has anyone tried swapping 1 of the 2 drives?

Can you plug it into the usb port on the front of the d-link and copy it that way? Might be faster?

 

[monkey butler]

That does seem pretty slow. I copied around 150GB of data across to my NAS in about an hour. Your speed is what I would probably get over my wireless! Maybe even slower!
You are using an Ethernet connection aren't you? I would always use Ethernet for large data transfers and stick to wireless for everything else.

Yep, Ethernet but over power line adapters.

Edit - I'm now copying via a gigabit hub (avoiding my BT Homehub), and getting a transfer speed of 15mbps. Better but not brilliant.

 

[djcla]

Used to get between 10 and 15 on my old qnap. What speed is your nas and memory amount? Also look up fast copy for windows