Server, NAS or Cloud Storage Help

[copenhagen69]

I am looking to setup some sort of storage for my house from movies to pics and family vids. I was curious what would be the best route.

I am looking for a couple things in this:
1) Ease of access from anywhere
2) Ease of use .. nice UI
3) Move files around easily or create folders and such
4) Security .. yes I know there is no such thing once connected, but would like to at least keep the majority of the people out
5) Keep it in the $500 and under range if possible

For what I was thinking

Server:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F6EK9J2/?tag=tec06d-20

NAS:
https://www.synology.com/en-global/products/DS214se

Cloud:
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=1140#Tab2
Or
http://www.seagate.com/products/network-attached-storage/home-network/personal-cloud/



I am not limited to those above... those are just the options I have found that seemed to do what I need them to do.

 

[CrackerJack]

I use WD Mybook Live 2TB
Fast, Reliable and Easy to Use!
Love it!

 

[suraswami]

If you are up to building your own box, then get one of those AMD Kabini cpu+ iTX board + decent Raid card and https://owncloud.com/

no fun project is just picking up one of those cloud drives. I have used the synology and they are really fast.

 

[copenhagen69]

I use WD Mybook Live 2TB
Fast, Reliable and Easy to Use!
Love it!

Thanks I will look into it. Is the UI solid?

If you are up to building your own box, then get one of those AMD Kabini cpu+ iTX board + decent Raid card and https://owncloud.com/

no fun project is just picking up one of those cloud drives. I have used the synology and they are really fast.

Ya at the moment I am looking for the no fun project sadly.

 

[Sasqui]

I'm the proud owner of a QNAP TS-253 Pro (about $450 for the 2GB version) and can only gush in wonderment at all the shit this thing can do. I only have 2 1TB drives in Raid 1 right now, it's enough for all my mission critical files. The only problem I've found is it does TOO much, so it takes some time just to figure out some of the simpler things.

QNAP support is amazing too, plus they have their own free lightweight DNS server if your ISP assigns dynamic IP's (which most do).

 

[copenhagen69]

I'm the proud owner of a QNAP TS-253 Pro (about $450 for the 2GB version) and can only gush in wonderment at all the shit this thing can do. I only have 2 1TB drives in Raid 1 right now, it's enough for all my mission critical files. The only problem I've found is it does TOO much, so it takes some time just to figure out some of the simpler things.

QNAP support is amazing too, plus they have their own free lightweight DNS server if your ISP assigns dynamic IP's (which most do).

Wow looked a little more in depth at the QNAP system .. that looks like an amazing setup they have going there. You are right, it does look like it does too much, but you never know in the future when that could come in handy being so versatile.

@Sasqui My only question is would 2GB be enough to run it smoothly if I throw 2x4GB drives in and have a few apps running on it?

 

[Sasqui]

Wow looked a little more in depth at the QNAP system .. that looks like an amazing setup they have going there. You are right, it does look like it does too much, but you never know in the future when that could come in handy being so versatile.

My only question is would 2GB be enough to run it smoothly if I throw 2x4GB drives in and have a few apps running on it?

I'm sure it depends on what apps you are running. I'm not doing anything more than using it to store and share files right now, so I'm probably barely scraping the surface of what it can do, like media server, playing content directly over HDMI, etc etc... My next plan is to work on file sync from my phone and laptop.

 

[copenhagen69]

I am curious if quadruple the ram is worth the extra $100 ... to me it kinda seems so just in case later on I need more from the system I wont have to buy another one?

 

[newtekie1]

When you say you want to access the files anywhere, do you mean anywhere in your home, or anywhere in the world?

Personally, I'd build a server.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/BtQfcf

There you go, $500 with 4TB of usable space in RAID5.

 

[copenhagen69]

When you say you want to access the files anywhere, do you mean anywhere in your home, or anywhere in the world?

Personally, I'd build a server.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/BtQfcf

There you go, $500 with 4TB of usable space in RAID5.

@newtekie1
Anywhere in the world ..

I'm not sure where to begin if I had to setup my own server and get it functioning. How many man hours of studying and actually doing would this be? Kinda why I was leaning to the NAS or Cloud since it is almost plug and go

 

[MSnyder]

I use a Synology NAS myself that I bought and tested in many countries - does everything you described. Under $500 though...maybe $580 after taxes for a simple 4-unit NAS bay

 

[copenhagen69]

I use a Synology NAS myself that I bought and tested in many countries - does everything you described. Under $500 though...maybe $580 after taxes for a simple 4-unit NAS bay

Synology looks nice as well. I'm assuming a qnap is just a better version with more bells and whistles?

 

[MSnyder]

Synology looks nice as well. I'm assuming a qnap is just a better version with more bells and whistles?

QNAP has more raw power in terms of CPU variety (Celeron, Haswell 4970S) and seems to have more applications than Synology off the bat like rtorrent and Plex/Kodi onboard support. BUT in terms of affordability and ease of use...I really have to say DSM 5.2 is more versatile than QTS by QNAP.

Honestly transcoding videos is NOT what a NAS is for...even with a Haswell-E, coding high quality movie files on the fly just isnt there yet to justify high prices for units offering 4K transcoding...which is rather obnoxious imo.

That is simply why I opted for a higher bay count Synology unit that could do 1080p transcoding (more realistic) than a QNAP TVS-871 which I also considered.

 

[CrackerJack]

Thanks I will look into it. Is the UI solid?

I've never had a problem with it. Mobile was very easy to setup. Never had a issue accessing my files away from home. Reason I choose this setup over a local server, was mostly- Power usage, Space and Price.


Note- It has Twonky Media and iTunes built-in. So I can easily access files on my PS3 without issue.

 

[copenhagen69]

QNAP has more raw power in terms of CPU variety (Celeron, Haswell 4970S) and seems to have more applications than Synology off the bat like rtorrent and Plex/Kodi onboard support. BUT in terms of affordability and ease of use...I really have to say DSM 5.2 is more versatile than QTS by QNAP.

Honestly transcoding videos is NOT what a NAS is for...even with a Haswell-E, coding high quality movie files on the fly just isnt there yet to justify high prices for units offering 4K transcoding...which is rather obnoxious imo.

That is simply why I opted for a higher bay count Synology unit that could do 1080p transcoding (more realistic) than a QNAP TVS-871 which I also considered.

@MSnyder

I am a big fan of their app store, I saw quite a bit of apps I would use. The transcoding videos is not a big deal to me at all. I will not be watching 4K anytime in the near future and I mostly wont be watching that many movies from there anyways. I got Apple TV and Roku for streaming content. I guess I am one of the rare people who do not download movies ... maybe one day I will get a proxy service and work on that again, but not at the moment haha.

Does Synology have good app content or is that a major difference in Qnap?

 

[Sasqui]

The one reason I didn't go DIY NAS is the overhead of maintaining, form factor and power consumption. It's on 24/7, and for the most part I don't even need to think about it*

*Edit, knock on wood lol

 

[copenhagen69]

The one reason I didn't go DIY NAS is the overhead of maintaining, form factor and power consumption. It's on 24/7, and for the most part I don't even need to think about it*

*Edit, knock on wood lol

Yes, that is one of the major factors of buying the "pre-built" NAS/Cloud setups. I just do not want to deal with all the extras that are involved.

 

[Easy Rhino]

The simpler the better with these things. Get yourself a single bay qnap and stick a 4 tb drive in it. You can then plug something like a 32 gb usb stick in the back and easily set it up so that things like family pictures are backed up nightly. This is good so if the 4 tb drive dies you don't lose your pics. Qnap also supports simple cloud interface so you can ship files off to dropbox or wherever(highly recommended if a thief steals your stuff or your house burns down/floods.) My family pictures are very important to me so I have multiple backups locally and in the cloud. You don't have to pay much money at all for a setup like that.

 

[copenhagen69]

The simpler the better with these things. Get yourself a single bay qnap and stick a 4 tb drive in it. You can then plug something like a 32 gb usb stick in the back and easily set it up so that things like family pictures are backed up nightly. This is good so if the 4 tb drive dies you don't lose your pics. Qnap also supports simple cloud interface so you can ship files off to dropbox or wherever(highly recommended if a thief steals your stuff or your house burns down/floods.) My family pictures are very important to me so I have multiple backups locally and in the cloud. You don't have to pay much money at all for a setup like that.

I like the premise of this idea ... however, my question would be what happens if your single 4TB drive dies? How much data do you lose? Are you relying 100% on cloud storage to keep your backups safe in a 2nd location?

I have dropbox with 50GB of space on there. So that could be for certain things as well.

Do you use multiple free cloud storage places for different categories? Like Dropbox for pics, Amazon for files ect ect ... or can you even differentiate that on the QNAP software and how you set it up?

 

[newtekie1]

@newtekie1
Anywhere in the world ..

I'm not sure where to begin if I had to setup my own server and get it functioning. How many man hours of studying and actually doing would this be? Kinda why I was leaning to the NAS or Cloud since it is almost plug and go

It really isn't as hard as you'd think. Building the computer is probably the most time consuming part.

 

[Easy Rhino]

I like the premise of this idea ... however, my question would be what happens if your single 4TB drive dies? How much data do you lose? Are you relying 100% on cloud storage to keep your backups safe in a 2nd location?

I have dropbox with 50GB of space on there. So that could be for certain things as well.

Do you use multiple free cloud storage places for different categories? Like Dropbox for pics, Amazon for files ect ect ... or can you even differentiate that on the QNAP software and how you set it up?

I only keep stuff I dont absolutely need on the 4 tb drive. Like movies,music,etc that I can just redownload from another location. The Qnap software does a good job with SMART monitoring and you can set it up to send you an email if it detects a potential problem.

 

[copenhagen69]

It really isn't as hard as you'd think. Building the computer is probably the most time consuming part.

If that is the measuring stick, then once built, I should have everything setup in about 30-45 mins? That is not too bad, I was expecting days of tinkering to get it done

I only keep stuff I dont absolutely need on the 4 tb drive. Like movies,music,etc that I can just redownload from another location. The Qnap software does a good job with SMART monitoring and you can set it up to send you an email if it detects a potential problem.

It seems like the QNAP software will let me do just about anything I want with the options it will provide to the cloud and other apps

 

[newtekie1]

If that is the measuring stick, then once built, I should have everything setup in about 30-45 mins? That is not too bad, I was expecting days of tinkering to get it done

Yeah, I can get everything set up in about 30-45 minutes.

After the computer is built and Windows is installed, it is just a matter of installing Filezilla Server, setting up your user and password and pointing that user to the data. You can setup no-ip so you don't need a static IP address. Forward port 21 in your router to your server.

You can use Windows file sharing to access the files locally. And filezilla to access the files when you are outside your local network.

 

[copenhagen69]

Yeah, I can get everything set up in about 30-45 minutes.

After the computer is built and Windows is installed, it is just a matter of installing Filezilla Server, setting up your user and password and pointing that user to the data. You can setup no-ip so you don't need a static IP address. Forward port 21 in your router to your server.

You can use Windows file sharing to access the files locally. And filezilla to access the files when you are outside your local network.

wow that does sound pretty quick and easy. I will look into filezilla server and see what it offers comparatively to the others. thanks!

 

[newtekie1]

Filezilla is just a straight FTP server. It use the good ol' FTP standard to let you access your files from anywhere with any FTP client(obviously the Filezilla client is recommended).

The good thing with the Filezilla client is once you connect the first time it saves the connection, so you can connect to your server from anywhere in the world with just one click inside of Firezilla. You can choice if it remembers your password or not.