Experience with entry-level NAS Boxes anyone?

[OptimisTech]

I am trying to put together an inexpensive NAS for my home. I recently received 2 400gb SATA drives from a friend so it seemed like a good time to do it. What I am looking for is:

Gigabit Ethernet
RAID1 Capability for redundancy
Support for Windows and OSX
Low noise level

I also set my budget at $200 and really don't want to go over that. So it seems like the D-Link DNS-323 or the Galaxy 3500MGB-Raid Pro are my best choices.

The D-Link is from a more established company and seems to have a large user base, but I would not use most of its advanced features. I doubt I would ever use the iTunes server since I don't use iTunes, and my printer has built-in networking. I do like how the drives load a lot.

The 3500MGB is a little better looking (to me anyway) offers Bonjour support which is nice for OSX, it can also serve other USB hard drives, has a built-in bittorrent client, and is about $50 cheaper then the D-Link. However I can't find any info online from anyone who has actually used one and warranty info seems a little sketchy.

Has anyone used either of these devices that can offer advice/opinions? I'm also glad to hear of any device I haven't considered.

 

[cuti7399]

i'm looking into nas as well

 

[merid14]

you could always look a getting a cheap pc off craigslist/ebay and use it as a NAS, just pop in a gig nic and run linux. I've never done it but I know people who have. I too am considering building a NAS device using an old desktop. let me know how it turns out!

 

[OptimisTech]

I've thought about the NAS/PC conversion idea as well. At the $200 price point however, it actually gets pretty hard to build a functional Linux NAS that supports Gigabit and high-speed SATA drives. When you factor in energy costs over a years use, it starts to look kinda' pricey. Trying to make something relatively quiet and small only adds $$$.

I think I have decided to try the 3500MGB. I like the compact size and I have used the Graid drives on Macs and they are pretty nice. If anyone is interested I'll post back here after I have it up and running.

 

[DrGreen2007]

I have the DNS323 with 2x 300gb Sata drives.

I havent had any problems at all with it, it runs cool and quiet, wife doesnt even hear it behind the couch in the living room.

Only thing I can say that could be a bit negative, is that it takes a few seconds for the drives to spin up after not using it for a while.
That can be changed in the power settings though, I have mine spin down after 30 min, once they spin up, response is fast though.

Im not using many of the other features, Im using DHCP, DynDNS updater, FTP services without problem though.

 

[Old Hippie]

If anyone is interested I'll post back here after I have it up and running.

Please do. The lack of formatting to NTFS leaves it off my radar, but they may have another model that does.

 

[JackMDS]

NTFS is a problem on most of these inexpensive devices since their relative lower price dictates the use of open source or simple propriety OS (firmware).

 

[OptimisTech]

I'm curious why NTFS is important to folks? I understand it in AD environments or if you really need ADS, and I certainly would avoid fat32, but does it offer anything else over ext2 or ext3? I will be accessing this only at home from multiple operating systems, but since file operations are carried out by the firmware, does it even matter? I really want to know since I don't want to buy something that's too limited.

 

[cuti7399]

i don't think $200 will let you build a NAS that is energy efficient and quiet

 

[JackMDS]

Originally posted by: cuti7399
i don't think $200 will let you build a NAS that is energy efficient and quiet

Yap it is true.

The best I have is an Old Dell P-III 1GHz takes 40 Watt sleeping, 60 Watt idling, and 70 Watts in action.

Which is Not so bad but it is twice or more of the dedicated boxes.

OptimisTech, if you are a single user runing peer-to-peer topology and do not need (or care) LAN security.

For storing Files you can forgo NTFS.

 

[OptimisTech]

For anyone who stumbles here with a google search or something, here are the sites where I did most of my reading...

English NAS-4220 Forum
Info about the 3500MGB which also apparently goes by the MacPower RAID and the NAS-4220. (Global branding drives me nuts...)

DLink Discussion Board
Forum for the DNS-323, a lot of cool info and hacks.

 

[cmetz]

JackMDS et al, check out the Via C7 boards. For example:

http://clubit.com/product_detail.cfm?itemno=A4842001

These are low power to the point of being quite competitive with SOHO/SMB NAS boxes. Couple with RAM, a good case, and a good 80-Plus power supply. cuti7399, there's your recipe for <$200, just add drives.

If you need more processing power, the AMD 45W A64 chip and a modest motherboard would be interesting, too. Double the power but more than double the capability.

OptimisTech, FAT32 is bad because it doesn't support files >2GB, and it's 2008.

NTFS vs. ext2/3 in a NAS is generally a non-issue, except if the NAS dies and you want to pull out the drive and read it on your PC. If you were a Windows user, that drive being native NTFS would make it a little easier to mount on your PC. If it were ext2/3, you would have to download and install:

http://ext2fsd.sourceforge.net/

That would take about five minutes worth of extra work in the event your NAS died. But many Windows-oriented NAS users consider that to be a severe disadvantage.

 

[OptimisTech]

Originally posted by: cmetz
JackMDS et al, check out the Via C7 boards. For example:

http://clubit.com/product_detail.cfm?itemno=A4842001

OptimisTech, FAT32 is bad because it doesn't support files >2GB, and it's 2008.

NTFS vs. ext2/3 in a NAS is generally a non-issue, except if the NAS dies and you want to pull out the drive and read it on your PC. If you were a Windows user, that drive being native NTFS would make it a little easier to mount on your PC. If it were ext2/3, you would have to download and install:

http://ext2fsd.sourceforge.net/

That would take about five minutes worth of extra work in the event your NAS died. But many Windows-oriented NAS users consider that to be a severe disadvantage.

Thanks for the info. I'm pretty certain now that NTFS is a non-issue for me. Now I'm wrestling with ext2 vs ext3.

 

[narzy]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?Item=N82E16822336002R

 

[Madwand1]

SNB's chart shows that the gigabit NIC doesn't really matter for some products in this category, including the D-Link DSN-323 and the ZyXEL NSA-220.

(Concentrate on the 1 GB file test results, as the others have more cache pollution)

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com...t/view/30304/170/1/15/

 

[pmark]

I'm interested in NAS storage too. Just something to easily back files up to and share files across the network. What did people decide on?

 

[trmiv]

I'm considering this as well. That D-link looks pretty nice.

 

[DrGreen2007]

I use the Dlink DNS323, no problems yet, nice little unit

 

[adsmith82]

I am looking at NAS devices now... What are the conclusions anyone has come to about the cheaper units?

Also, does the Galaxy 3500MGB-Raid Pro web server support php/mysql? Does it even have a web server? Is there one that does?

 

[DarkPengu]

Does anyone know if the DNS-323 supports SATA 1.5 or SATA 3? Or both?

 

[D4L]

So, any update on this thread? OP did you buy the Dlink unit or something else?

I am also in market for NAS, my purpose for it would strictly to store files (movies, music, photos, etc...) and then be able to access/stream to whichever device I need to. This is for home/personal usage and I am not sure what I should look out for what type of features I would want to have in a device.

Thanks for suggestions/help!

D$L