Which NAS device should I get?

Mofman

Established Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2007
Messages
51
Reaction score
3
Points
14
Hiya all,

I've a home using 4 Apple Macs! iMac, new MacBook, old Mac Mini and an old 'dalmation' iMac.

I have stored lots of photos and music on all. I was thinking of buying a Network Area Storage device to pull together all the Libraries. As well as to store further files on and to work from. I'm a graphic designer working from home.

Any suggestions on which make / model is best. I don't need to connect any PCs just Macs. I have a wireless router connected to Virgin Media Cable Modem. The router has a couple of spare ports free too.

Many thanks
Ian
 
Hi Ian

For what it's worth we have just bought a Qnap TS 419P

We run this with the following toys:

Sony Viao
Apple Tv
Mede8er
New Mac Mini Server
New Mac Mini
PS3
iPad
iPod Touch
MacBook Pro

Works really well for storage, streaming and network access
 
Another fan of QNAP products here. I have a 209 and a 409 which all work flawlessly between Macs, PCs, consoles on my network.
 
I'm looking at getting a NAS too, probably a QNAP.

Wanting it to stream media (mostly video) to the PS3's I have in my house, as well as do Time Machine backups, and to drag and drop files between Macs on the network.

I've been looking at the QNAP 210 but am now start to wonder if I should spend more and get the QNAP 219? For what I'm wanting, will it be much benefit in spending extra? I know the actual router/network makes a big difference, but just like to future proof myself as much as possible, but equally the money I save getting the 210, could get me a 2TB HDD.

I've also looked at the Synology NAS drives, any reason to favour QNAP over Synology?

Cheers

Craig
 
There are fans both sides of the fence Craig - in the end I spent quite a bit of time on both forums and that helped to make my mind up - no regrets - I'm really delighted with it - but the Synology is probably just as good!!
 
i can highly recommend the Netgear Readynas NV+. I run one on my network and i access data from it on my iPad, iPhone, Macbook Pro, Mac Mini, Xbox 360, and PC. I have 4 x 750gb drives in it and i get 2tb of usable space using RaidX which means i can upgrade discs by replacing one drive at a time in the unit until all the drives have been replaced with larger drives, thus allowing me to upgrade capacity. Apparently this is a feature of RaidX and can't be done with a Raid 0, 1, or 5.

I also have a time capsule and the readynas wipes the floor with it in terms of functionality.
 
Last edited:
I have just purchased a QNAP TS-419P with 3 x 1TB drives.

I am very much looking forward to having a play over the weekend as this is my first NAS venture! :smashin:

FYI - I found it for £380 delivered from B4UDirect (Qnap TS-419P Turbo Network Attached Storage System (NAS) @ B4UDirect.com! FREE Shipping & Fast Delivery!) which is by far the cheapest that I could find it online.
I thought that you had found a hell of a bargain until I realised that price is without any drives.

What exactly is the difference between QNAP TS-419P & the QNAP TS-459 Pro Turbo which looks identical but costs 50% more?
 
Last edited:
I have just purchased a QNAP TS-419P with 3 x 1TB drives.

I am very much looking forward to having a play over the weekend as this is my first NAS venture! :smashin:

FYI - I found it for £380 delivered from B4UDirect (Qnap TS-419P Turbo Network Attached Storage System (NAS) @ B4UDirect.com! FREE Shipping & Fast Delivery!) which is by far the cheapest that I could find it online.

Cheers for the link mate. Never heard of the site before though. Have you received your NAS yet? Where did you order your hard drives from?
 
Thanks. Think I'll spend a little bit more and go with Scan.

I ended up buying from Cresent Electronics QNAP TS419P Turbo NAS NAS server who price matched B4UDirect on the QNAP TS-419P @ £380 and offered free next day delivery.

I ordered from them at 16:45 yesterday evening and have just taken delivery this morning. Now that is service for you! :smashin:
 
Guys, you've now got be contemplating a 419!

This is my first NAS also, and really just trying to get my head round RAID etc.

If I did get a 4 Bay NAS, can I gradually buy a harddrive every so often and then say change the RAID configuation without losing my data? Or will I have to buy 2-4 harddrives immediately, configure and leave it as that? Would it be possible to have 2 bays as on RAID configuration, and the other two bays as another?

I probably only need 1-2 bay NAS right now, but for the extra £100, I've then future proofed myself for the next few years. That sound logical or me just trying to justify spending even more? :suicide: :rotfl:

Also if I did just get a 2 bay NAS for the time being, is it easy to upgrade from a 2 bay NAS to a 4 bay one? Is it just a simple case of taking the 2 hard drives out of the old one and placing in the new 4 bay NAS?

Cheers in advance,

Craig
 
If I did get a 4 Bay NAS, can I gradually buy a harddrive every so often and then say change the RAID configuation without losing my data? Or will I have to buy 2-4 harddrives immediately, configure and leave it as that? Would it be possible to have 2 bays as on RAID configuration, and the other two bays as another?

I know for a fact that the QNAP TS-419p will upgrade from RAID1 or RAID5 (3 disks) to RAID5 (4 disks), RAID6 and RAID 5 + spare without losing any data. It actually does it without having to turn the NAS off!

EDIT - have a read of this http://www.qnap.com/pro_detail_feature.asp?p_id=127 and navigate to the section on 'Online RAID Capacity Expansion'
 
Personally I would go with a 4bay for the exact reason you point out. It can grow as you do. the 419 will have enough processing power to do pretty much whatever you need and also offer the option to expand disc capacity.
You can start with one HDD. This can then be migrated to either RAID1 or RAID0. Should you then add a third HDD this can then be migrated to RAID5 which would divide your data over the 3 HDDs and should one fail you can slap in a new HDD and the NAS would rebuild the database. Any RAID setup will require you to use HDDs of matching capacity otherwise it will default to the smallest HDD size.

Other things to consider is you cable infrastructure. Do you have Gigabit grade cable running around your house to a Gigabit router and/or switches ? This will ensure you get the fastest speeds across your network.
 
Cheers guys.

As for my cable infrastructure, it's non existent. I've just got a wireless N Netgear router (however single band, so only running G). I was just going to plug my NAS into the wireless router via ethernet, then everything else would just be wireless. Is this ok? Is there any point me getting an all singing, all dancing NAS if I'm doing most of it wirelessly?
 
Cheers guys.

As for my cable infrastructure, it's non existent. I've just got a wireless N Netgear router (however single band, so only running G). I was just going to plug my NAS into the wireless router via ethernet, then everything else would just be wireless. Is this ok? Is there any point me getting an all singing, all dancing NAS if I'm doing most of it wirelessly?

Interesting point. It will be interesting to see what the performance is over wireless.

I have a Time Capsule running at Wireless-N (300Mbps) which I connect the Mac to and I have the Mac Mini connected to it via ethernet.

Once I get my NAS setup today, I will do a few tests and let you know the outcome!
 
Interesting point. It will be interesting to see what the performance is over wireless.

I have a Time Capsule running at Wireless-N (300Mbps) which I connect the Mac to and I have the Mac Mini connected to it via ethernet.

Once I get my NAS setup today, I will do a few tests and let you know the outcome!

Cheers. I'll wait to see what you say.

If I'm going to get a patchy performance either way, then I might as well go the cheap option for the time being.

Also what hard drives did you get? I've been looking at the Samsung Spin Point's.
 
Cheers guys.

As for my cable infrastructure, it's non existent. I've just got a wireless N Netgear router (however single band, so only running G). I was just going to plug my NAS into the wireless router via ethernet, then everything else would just be wireless. Is this ok? Is there any point me getting an all singing, all dancing NAS if I'm doing most of it wirelessly?

That's more or less my intended setup, although my Linksys router is only running wireless N now. I'm following this thread with a lot of interest - looking forward to rafe17's results :smashin:
 
Intrigued that no one has mentioned Drobo, they out of favour now?
 
That's more or less my intended setup, although my Linksys router is only running wireless N now. I'm following this thread with a lot of interest - looking forward to rafe17's results :smashin:

Is your router dual band or have you somehow managed to only get devices that do wireless N? I still have loads of devices that are wireless G only. My girlfriend has an iPhone 3GS and an old iBook, both my PS3 consoles and Wii also. Plus I've heard that even the iPhone 4 isn't the fastest version of N and can slow the network down.

There can't only be just a few of us that just has the broadband going to the router and then the wireless everywhere else, can there? :confused:

Intrigued that no one has mentioned Drobo, they out of favour now?

I thought it wasn't strictly a NAS unless it got the DroboShare thing, and I've heard some really bad user reviews on that.
 

The latest video from AVForums

TV Buying Guide - Which TV Is Best For You?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom