[notsure]

Hi all, I'm looking to purchase a NAS (Network-Attached Storage) unit and was wondering if anyone here had any recommendations.

I would like a unit that meets the following requirements;

-smallish footprint (i.e. a full sized PC case is too big)
-at least 2 drive bays
-gigabit ethernet port
-robust NFS implementation (will be used to stream to a couple of media players in the house)
-will work with macs (will be used to archive time capsule backups)
-lowish power requirements

I think that is everything.

Thanks in advance!

 

[ALSto]

Take a look at the Synology products. I have a 4 drive systems (DS410j) which works like a charm however direct file transfers are slow. DNLA & audio play are no issues over the network to a wireless TV or BD player.

I use NFS mount for backup stores from my server. It should all work with MAC as it is uses a Linux based OS (and supports terminal access ) . There is also a web interface for file & systems management for the command line challenged.

 

[Jake]

gigabit ethernet port

Look for one that has a better sustained read/writes. The Dlink DNS-323 is popular but slow getting nowhere near those speeds. The Synology DS line is better in that regard.

List of Hardware Media servers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_UPnP_AV_media_servers_and_clients#Hardware

 

[scrooloose]

If you want something more feature rich and flexible and you don't mind paying a bit more, the QNAP home line of products might be worth looking at. http://www.qnap.com/

-Mike

 

[notsure]

Thanks all.

I think the QNAP TS-419P+ or QNAP TS-219P+ are both exactly what I want (and much more).

NCIX seems to have them so now I just need to decide on 4 bay or 2 bay.

Cheers.