Raid 5 NAS Recommendations?

[Bizkitkid2001]

I am trying to find a good NAS with 4 or 5 bays (The more the better) and Raid 5 support. So far all I have found have gotten bad reviews or cost $1,000+.



Something like this D-Link NAS would be good, but a lot of reviewers are complaining about poor performance. I will be plugging the NAS directly into my D-Link DIR-855 with a CAT 6 cable for a 1Gb connection. Newegg.com - D-Link DNS-343 Diskless System 4-Bay Network Storage Enclosure - Network Storage (NAS)


Google searching came up with a lot of old articles (2-3 years old) and a lot of articles on building your own NAS (Most of them ended up costing $800-900, double the cost of the D-Link)

Newegg does not have a big selection for NAS's that have 4 or more bays and the ones they do have are either extremely expensive or have bad reviews.


SO I was hoping that some of the storage and network experts would have other recommendations for me.


Thanks,
-Biz

[GroundZero3]

Unfortunately NAS are still expensive and I don't really see anything dropping right away. Here is a recent thread on NAS. The only thing that has really caught my eye and something I would trust is a drobo but those damn things are still expensive

Networked Storage

[Bizkitkid2001]

What about eSata DAS instead? I was just thinking that NAS would be easier to setup but I really just want an external Raid 5 for storage. Those Drobo boxes look nice, but you have to buy a $200 adapter to get Gigabit ethernet and the Drobo S with eSata is over $700.


Newegg also has this Netgear NAS that has better ratings than the D-Link one. Newegg.com - Netgear ReadyNas NV+ 4-bay Network Storage (NAS) w/ Gigabit & speeds up to 25MBps (Diskless) - Network Storage (NAS)

[Bizkitkid2001]

This NAS looks good although a bit more than the D-Link and Netgear ones. It does have better reviews, a faster CPU, and more RAM.

Newegg.com - Synology DS409 Diskless System Disk Station 4-bay SATA NAS Server for Workgroups and Offices - Network Storage (NAS)


The combo deals suck for all the NAS boxes at newegg. The Hard drives that are offered for the combo deal all have firmware problems and one of the WD drives in the combo can not even be used in a RAID array according to Western Digital. I find it funny that it would be included in a combo with a RAID NAS.

[GroundZero3]

Synology Disk Station DS-409+ NAS review - TechSpot

[Bizkitkid2001]

Thanks for that link, it had some good information that I did not see on their website.

Mainly the ability to download torrent files directly. That and the ability to also act as a surveillance system I think just sold me on it. I have been pricing out video security systems as well and this NAS does exactly want I was looking for in a surveillance system.

[EXreaction]

Intel Network Storage Server - SS4200E - Buy.com

You can install WHS or some other OS with a bit of work (either with remote installation or with a PCI-E 1x graphics card).

Supports Raid 0,1,5,10 and up to 4 drives

[GroundZero3]

Intel SS4200-E: PC-Based NAS Evaluated : Intel And EMC Tackle NAS - Review Tom's Hardware

For anyone interested in this, and FYI drives are not included!!

This might be something I will be really interested in later on, the only thing I dont like about it that most NAS have is easy access to pull the drives in and out.



poo Im kind of curious to see if this has been tested out with ESXi

Ed Borden: Intel NAS RAID Malfunction = Kill Me Now

it seems the firmware is a bit dodgy, Im not sure if they have fix it but buyer beware!

My main goal is to get to a point where I have a box that runs ESX and have a NAS solution that houses everything to minimize everything. The device toad listed is pretty much a small pc with some custom firmware running on it.

[GroundZero3]

I would probably stay away from that NAS

[EXreaction]

It gets the job done for a hell of a lot less price. Even hoping for ESX to run on a low end NAS system is insane, the two tasks are almost complete opposites.

[GroundZero3]

How is it insane? Do you even know what vmware esx supports? Most (if not all) low end NAS support NFS which vmware supports. Vmware esx was built in mind with running on network storage. Even that pos intel you posted can be used with vmware esx. Of course in the end if I do decide to start my vmware cert training I would go with a solution such as Freenas

If you do a search on the internet for that intel, you will find a lot of people complaining mainly about the firmware and how they have lost data because of how horrible the device/firmware is. There is a reason why its only a $135

[Bizkitkid2001]

I do not think I need esxi support as I really do not know what it could offer me that I would need.


So, lets recap real quick. The Drobo box would be the #1 choice, but it cost $700 for a 4-bay NAS drive. The Synology 409 is the number two choice but also cost $300 cheaper than the Drobo box.



The Drobo box's main selling points seem to be data integrity and reliability. With its Self healing and dual drive failure redundancy (RAID 6 I am assuming).

While the Synology box has more extra "features" like direct torrent downloads and the ability to attach IP cameras for video security. The Sysnology is also software RAID which allows the use of cheaper desktop class drives without the problem of have the data be corrupt.


Is the Drobo hardware or software RAID? And does it have any other cool features that I am missing? Both support expanding RAIDs (replacing smaller drives with larger drives without having to do a backup and restore), but the Drobo box says it can also RAID drives that are not the same size (I wonder how this is possible).


Basically, between the Drobo and Synology box, does the Drobo offer features that justify the $300 price difference?

[GroundZero3]

I doubt the drobo has any of the extra features such as torrent downloading that you want. The Drobo NAS is for smb in mind, not home users

[Bizkitkid2001]

I'm aware that is doesn't do torrents or ip cameras, but I did not know if there are "other" features that have not been discussed.

The most intriguing thing about the Drobo is that after doing some google searching, it apparently does not actually do "RAID", even though they call it a RAID setup. Something to do with how you can mix and match drive sizes without losing space. It isn't a big concern but it may be nice to be able to mix and match for upgrading in the future.

I'll wait a few more weeks until I make my final decision. (I'm still recovering from buying Furniture and a new 55" LCD TV) Maybe something better will come out. After reading the Synology forums there is apparently a new version of the 409 coming out very soon.

[Bizkitkid2001]

There is also the cheaper "home" based version of the 409. It can do everything the 409 can, but it has a slower processor and less RAM thus slower data transfer speeds and slower rebuild times. The slower transfer speeds aren't a problem, especially since I will save $70, but I do not know if 40MBs/sec transfer speeds will be fast enough to stream 1080p content and record video from two IP cameras at the same time.


Newegg.com - Synology Disk Station DS410J Diskless System Budget-friendly 4-bay NAS Server for Personal and Home Use - Network Storage (NAS)

[Networker4321]

It gets the job done for a hell of a lot less price. Even hoping for ESX to run on a low end NAS system is insane, the two tasks are almost complete opposites.

Check out the NAS200 box at www.linksys.com UNDER $200, DOES WHAT YOU WANT. i LOVE MINE.

[Bizkitkid2001]

Check out the NAS200 box at www.linksys.com UNDER $200, DOES WHAT YOU WANT. i LOVE MINE.

Sorry, the NAS200 does not have 4 bays, RAID 5, GigE or eSata (depending on if it is a NAS or DAS).


It does look like a nice NAS if I was looking for a smaller simpler solution where speed wasn't as important.

[Bizkitkid2001]

Bump

Just wondering if anyone has come across another solution they would like to share.

I had to buy some new tires for my car this month so I was not able to buy the NAS drive. I got my tax return which paid for next months rent and my CC bill so if everything goes well I plan on buying the NAS by the end of March (Birthday is March 11th so I will also have a little bit of birthday cash )

[Bizkitkid2001]

I thought it was fair to give an update.

I finally bought a NAS a couple weeks ago. I waited for Synology to release the new line of Diskstations. I bought the DS410 which replaced the DS409. I then had to wait for newegg to sell a diskless version. They had a 4 TB version available since the DS410 was released but for some it took them a while to start selling the NAS without hard drives.

I purchased it with 4 2TB Samsung Sata drives. Newegg had a code for the drives that took another $30 puff the price, so I ended up saving $120. The final price both the Diskstaion and 8TB of storage was $997 with free shipping and of course no tax.

It has been flawless so far. I had the drives installed and the Diskstation software setup in under 10 minutes. The format and scanning of the drives took all night and the next day I was able to play with it.

I have it setup in Raid 5 so I have 6TB of usable space, or 5.35TB as reported by windows. So far I have used 1.4 TB of space and am still filling it up.

I have it setup to backup the entire C drive in both my desktop and laptop. I bought a Linksys wireless IP camera to use for surveillance. The built in surveillance system is really easy tp use and setup. I have it set to only record when it detects motion while I am sleeping and at work. The motion detection works great. I can also view the record videos and the live feed wherever i have an internet connection with my laptop or iPad.

I have used the built in bit torrent client and like it as well. It is easy to use the web based page to start and stop downloads when I am away from home.

[Bizkitkid2001]

I have another update I would like to share pertaining to the surveillance station.

I have it setup to send me text messages and emails whenever the camera detects something and starts recording. The other night at work I got a text at around 2am from my Disk Station saying that the surveillance station detected motion and recorded a video.

I got out my iPad and logged into my disk station to view the video. I found out that it was only a walmart grocery bag that was blown off my counter when the A\C turned on. But it was nice to know just how well this system works.