[Kangkan]

I am planning to have central repository for media as well as backup and file sharing for my computers.

I have a DLink N300 router with USB3.0.

What I am looking for is a solution for having a central storage for media (movies, mp3, phote) and for the other files for the PCs. I shall be happy to share the media among the PCs and view it on TV (I am planning to upgrade my TV and so currently open on that). I do not have a separate media player.

I shall like to have your guidance in this. Please feel free to ask questions in this regards.

Kangkan
My home on the net

[Brian]

Depends on how much storage you need, but any of the modern home NAS systems would work well for you. Our preference is generally Synology if you want a ton of features, but there are other good options too. Netgear makes a good unit, the Buffalo CloudStor with Pogoplug is nice too. Kind of depends on what you want to do.

[Kangkan]

Brian, on 01 February 2012 - 08:18 AM, said:

Depends on how much storage you need, but any of the modern home NAS systems would work well for you. Our preference is generally Synology if you want a ton of features, but there are other good options too. Netgear makes a good unit, the Buffalo CloudStor with Pogoplug is nice too. Kind of depends on what you want to do.

Thanks Brian. I shall look at the products indicated.

Storage volume might be around 2TB. Of course, future upgrade/addition is welcome.

The key features are:

1. Being able to backup/share files within my home network
2. Media (movies/pictures/songs) usage on my computers and TV/DVD player+Apmplifier.

Lower power consumption should be a key factor in selection.

Regards,
Kangkan

[Brian]

You don't need anything complex then. I'd look at a 2 or 4 bay Synology then. I'm using the 712+ for the same exact duties in my home right now -

http://www.storagere...on_ds712_review

That one is a little more expensive as it's designed more for SMB, they also have 3 units that are more home centric with varying levels of performance -

http://www.storagere...ay_diskstations

Those start at $200.

[Atamido]

I went with Windows Home Server for two reasons:

1. It has an incredible backup system for the rest of your household PCs, featuring multilevel deduplicated backups, file level restore through Explorer, and simple bare metal restores for your PCs.

2. I wanted to be able to run Windows programs on it that I wanted running 24/7 without having to create load on my PC.

If neither of those are an issue for you, then a NAS is probably the ideal solution.

[Kangkan]

Atamido, on 12 February 2012 - 09:45 AM, said:

I went with Windows Home Server for two reasons:

1. It has an incredible backup system for the rest of your household PCs, featuring multilevel deduplicated backups, file level restore through Explorer, and simple bare metal restores for your PCs.

2. I wanted to be able to run Windows programs on it that I wanted running 24/7 without having to create load on my PC.

If neither of those are an issue for you, then a NAS is probably the ideal solution.

It seems to be an unneccessary one for me. Except running a software, rest all are available on NAS these days and it comes at a fairly lower price for my kind of users.

[Atamido]

Kangkan, on 13 February 2012 - 06:47 AM, said:

It seems to be an unneccessary one for me. Except running a software, rest all are available on NAS these days and it comes at a fairly lower price for my kind of users.

I think perhaps I'm not communicating well what the backup does. I haven't seen a NAS unit that does anything close to the system backups that WHS does for your desktops/laptops scattered around your environment. Heck, most enterprise backup software won't even do it, or requires expensive add-on modules. WHS costs $100, and at that price it's a steal. It certainly isn't the best solution for file storage, but for 10 systems or less you won't find a better backup solution.

[mountainman1]

My preference for home NAS is
M2NPV MX Motherboard, it has a Mini-ATX form factor, four on-board SATA connectors; most importantly, it supports ECC memory
AMD Athlon Dual-Core CPU
2x1GB RAM with ECC
Antec NSK4400 Mini-ATX case, with custom modifications to hold 4 3.5" disks internally, DVD reader and 4-750GB Seagate 7200rpm hard disks

This is enough to provide you with 2TB redundant and online storage at a low cost

[lmlavinjt]

How large a server did you use for this server? SAS vs SATA? Internal Raid? Memory? CPU?

Atamido, on 12 February 2012 - 09:45 AM, said:

I went with Windows Home Server for two reasons:

1. It has an incredible backup system for the rest of your household PCs, featuring multilevel deduplicated backups, file level restore through Explorer, and simple bare metal restores for your PCs.

2. I wanted to be able to run Windows programs on it that I wanted running 24/7 without having to create load on my PC.

If neither of those are an issue for you, then a NAS is probably the ideal solution.