Best RAID 1 NAS?

[krustweb]

I currently have a regular NAS drive, and I want to buy a RAID 1 NAS with two bays, just to basically decrease the chances of data loss and at the same time enjoy the network sharing features.

I've researched it for a while, and to be honest I'm torn on which one to pick, some of them are expensive as hell.

WD just released a My Book Live DUO:
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=620

To be honest, that's too much, I don't want 4 TB, I want maybe 2 TB max.

Here is what I found that could be a possibility:

Synology DS211J
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822108065

BUFFALO CS-WV2.0/1D (Not sure if JBOD only or RAID 1 too)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822165289

NETGEAR RNDU2000-100NAS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822122069

BUFFALO CS-WX1.0/1D
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822165290

Does anyone have personal experience with any of the devices I mentioned or something similar? In other words, what would you recommend for a NAS RAID 1 two bay 2TB drive?

 

[Chapbass]

I'd probably just grab some old computer, put a copy of unraid free on it, and throw some HDD's in. Basically the same thing with only 2 drives.

 

[krustweb]

I'll keep that in mind, that's not a bad idea but at the same time sounds "too much" for what I need.

Basically, I want what I have now but more secure. I have a 1TB MyBookLive, plug and play, so to speak. If there was something similar and reliable with the options I mentioned, it would be great.

WD DUO would have been sufficient, but it's much more than I need, capacity wise.

 

[greenhawk]

just to basically decrease the chances of data loss and at the same time enjoy the network sharing features.
....
To be honest, that's too much, I don't want 4 TB, I want maybe 2 TB max.

you do know that if you enable Raid 1 on the system, you will only have 2TB of space? So protecting you from a single drive failure.

But then, if you are after a second NAS and still going to use the original NAS, then getting another single drive unit could work just as well.

 

[fastman]

I picked up a Synology DS212J:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822108095
It's pretty much plug and play after setting it up with drives and it plays everything I throw at it.

 

[krustweb]

@greenhawk, yeah, but to be honest I'm having more than slight doubts about the WD DUO.

After I researched some more I found that WD DUO has so many limitations, even the drives used have to be of specific "module" that you request from WD, because the firmware has to be installed on it, not to mention the size limitation, only 2TB and 3TB drives.

Synology though, that one might be the winner, has so many features and practically without any limitations. The one I'm talking about is the one fastman suggested, seems to be right on the dot.

Synology has both the software and hardware requirements I'm looking for, I mean, the WD DUO doesn't even have a power button, or a decent stats indicator, not even a cooling fan!

I had one last question though, I read a couple of comments that suggest the best RPM to use with a RAID 1 two bay system should be 5400 RPM, to reduce failure possibilities, any truth in that? Logically it makes sense, less RPM means less work means not tore down as fast, so to speak.

 

[fastman]

I had one last question though, I read a couple of comments that suggest the best RPM to use with a RAID 1 two bay system should be 5400 RPM, to reduce failure possibilities, any truth in that? Logically it makes sense, less RPM means less work means not tore down as fast, so to speak.

I'd pick up what ever has the best warranty. To me that says a lot as this is likely gonna get a lot of drive time. I usually keep it on 24/7 but sometimes I do turn it off too. I put 2 WD 2Tb Black drives in mine. 5 yrs hopefully won't have to think about it too much during that time frame.

Good luck

 

[krustweb]

Ok, I have a kind of a noobish question.

I ordered the Synology DS212J:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...&SID=u00000687

And ordered two Seagate 2TB 7200 RPM 64 Cache (Barracuda):
http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.j...00001a48090aRCRD&vgnextch#tTabContentOverview

They'll arrive tomorrow, however, I had a question about installation, do I just connect the drives to Synology then it'll format then set to RAID 1, or do I have to format them first then plug them in?

Special thanks to fastman for all the help.

 

[fastman]

I can't give an absolute answer as my drives were pulls from external enclosures and I don't recall, but I do remember formating them before placing them in the Synology. Once installed there, the Synology did the rest with the RAID setup and all.

Enjoy

 

[krustweb]

What filesystem should I use though? At first I thought I'll just do NTFS, but then remembered that ext4 or even ext3 are technically better because they are faster with read/write and much less fragmentation, to my knowledge.

Should I use ext4 on both drives and set them as RAID 1? Or is it a bad idea and I should just stick with NTFS?

 

[fastman]

FWIW I went with NTFS.
I don't recall ext3 or 4 option.

 

[Husky55]

What filesystem should I use though? At first I thought I'll just do NTFS, but then remembered that ext4 or even ext3 are technically better because they are faster with read/write and much less fragmentation, to my knowledge.

Should I use ext4 on both drives and set them as RAID 1? Or is it a bad idea and I should just stick with NTFS?

Synology will do everything for you. Just install the HD per instruction.

The following is from Synology:

"Synology Product has to work with at least one internal hard drive installed, excluding USB Station. It supports file system types as follows:
For internal hard drives:
Only EXT3 format is available. EXT3 (Native) format offers better data protection and higher performance.

For external hard drives (USB and eSATA):
To format the connected external hard drives, users can choose:

EXT3 format: offers better data protection and higher performance.
FAT32 format: can be used on both Windows and Mac.
In addition, from DSM 2.2-0942 and onward, the system supports read and write functions on NTFS formatted external HDD. (Read-only on DS109j, DS108j, DS107 and DS107e)

Please note that the max single file size is 4GB in FAT32 format, and 2TB in EXT3 format on Synology Product (4KB block size)."


7:49

 

[krustweb]

Thank you all for your help, I've set up everything and it works exactly as I wanted.

By the way, turns out ext4 is supported by DSM/Synology, as seen on the following image:

 

[Old Hippie]

By the way, turns out ext4 is supported by DSM/Synology

That's what always kinda scared me away from these things.

Good Luck!

 

[billyb0b]

QNAP - http://www.qnap.com/images/products/comparison/Comparison_2BayNAS.html

I have a TS-212 and it's very nice