In Need of a NAS

[TheLostSwede]

Thecus are apparently having a ton of firmware/software problems at the moment, I'd suggest checking out their forums.

[Frick]

Originally Posted by magibeg

Now I know it's not perfect, but I'm comfortable with those risks. Getting another NAS to backup my NAS just doesn't seem worth it in my particular case.

Seems like you're covered with the most important things. Me I have a couple of hundred megabytes of important files I backup, the rest is mostly media and games and while it would be annoying to loose that data it wouldn't be that bad. So you'll be fine imo.

Now if we were talking about mission critical data for a company.. It would be a different matter entirely.

[Urlyin]

Just a FYI for another spindle based backup... http://www.quantum.com/Products/Remo...RDX/index.aspx

[magibeg]

Originally Posted by yogurt_21

have you thought about the drives you want to use? I might have missed it.

I was looking at the western digital Red 3TB drives. They're supposed to be more reliable and made for 24/7 operation. Based on the reviews i've read on them the hardware is actually different and doesn't just seem to be a marketing term.

As a re-cap the current top pick for me:

Synology DS413

with Western digital RED drives (x4).

[AthlonX2]

Originally Posted by magibeg

I was looking at the western digital Red 3TB drives. They're supposed to be more reliable and made for 24/7 operation. Based on the reviews i've read on them the hardware is actually different and doesn't just seem to be a marketing term.

As a re-cap the current top pick for me:

Synology DS413

with Western digital RED drives (x4).

+1 for Wd Red

[magibeg]

Also I just noticed:

Thecus N5550 5BAY


5 bays, has an atom processor. I know someone said earlier about firmware issues with thecus, does this one share the same problems? It's on sale for $130 off* so it's actually cheaper than the synology DS413.

Also more questions, is it possible to get 3x3TB drives, then add 2 more of the same drives at a later time and expand the RAID?

I know I shouldn't be posting on myself but:

I think I want to go with the Thecus n5550. It's more powerful than the synology DS413 and has 1 additional drive bay.

I'm going to buy 3x3TB WD Red drives and run them in raid 5. I found out that i can migrate to raid 6 down the road with 2 more 3tb drives and have protection from up to 2 drive failures.

I really want to pull the trigger on this tonight so i'd appreciate some quick input before i buy it within the next hour.


Edit - And it's done. About $1100 later:

Thecus n5550 5 bay
3 x 3 TB Western Digital Red

It will be running raid 5 until i buy 2 more drives down the road and migrate to raid 6.

Thank you everyone for all of your help. I hope this thread helps someone else in the future.

[Aquinus]

The reds are nice because I'm pretty sure they're 1TB platter drives (so good speeds, ~130MB/s) and I believe that they have TLER, which I doubt really matters for a NAS, but could make sense if you ever wanted to use a computer for that RAID instead. Personally I've been picking up WD blacks for the performance and the 5 year warranty. Also considering every drive I've sent to WD has been back in about a week from the day I ship it, so I recommend WD anyways. IIRC, the reds have a 3 year warranty on them. The reds might have WD's intellispeed on it so it might not always run at 7200RPMs too.

Either way, I'm sure the reds will work fine. I just like the longer warranty just in case because WD drives, like any other drive manufacturer, has some drives that fail prematurely.

[kciaccio1]

If you are buying your raid enclosure from Newegg here is a coupon they emailed to me today that you can apply if you want.

15% OFF ALL RAID Enclosures*

BTEXWVW53
*Up to a maximum discount of $75 per order. No minimum purchase required. Limit one use per customer; may not be combined with other promo codes or combo discounts. Expires at 11:59PM PST 1/27/2013 or SOONER based on fund availability.


The BTEXWVW53 is the coupon code.