RAID External Drive vs NAS

RavingMac

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Every 4 months or so I decide I need an NAS and dutifully begin to research. Each time I reach a point of overload and indecision, lock-up and decide to forget the whole idea.
Part of the problem is I have no experience with NAS or NAS like setup other than using a Timecapsule (I also had a WD external HD hooked by USB to the Timecapsule for a while--but eventually abandoned it).
Second, I tend not to buy items that don't have a substantial number of reviews on Amazon (my vendor of choice) and especialy if the 1 star reviews are significantly higher than 10% of total reviews.
That brings me to three, which is all of the NAS devices I have looked at either have almost no reviews or have greater than 20% 1 star reviews, which makes it difficult for me to pull the trigger on them.

In my research I saw a reccomendation to just connect a RAID external HD to a computer that was always running, and use enable drive sharing. That piqued my interest because I use a Mac Mini as a home theater and it is always on. So that brings me to my questions:

1) Would this be a suitable alternative to an NAS?
2) If so, how do I go about setting it up?
3) Reccomendation on NAS vs RAID (specific equipment included)?
4) I was looking at the OWC 4 TB RAID -- good choice?
5) If RAID is the way to go, RAID 0, 1, 5 ????

My goal for this is file sharing, in particular shared iTunes, iPhoto and Video Libraries. Don't plan on using it for back up. I use individual Seagate portables with Time Machine for each computer.

Thanks for any input or help. :)
 

cwa107


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Every 4 months or so I decide I need an NAS and dutifully begin to research. Each time I reach a point of overload and indecision, lock-up and decide to forget the whole idea.
Part of the problem is I have no experience with NAS or NAS like setup other than using a Timecapsule (I also had a WD external HD hooked by USB to the Timecapsule for a while--but eventually abandoned it).
Second, I tend not to buy items that don't have a substantial number of reviews on Amazon (my vendor of choice) and especialy if the 1 star reviews are significantly higher than 10% of total reviews.

I think you're doing yourself a disservice with that methodology, particularly when it comes to technology. Let's be honest, 95% of self-proclaimed technology experts, have no idea what they're talking about.

If you're shopping for a toaster, sure, the customer reviews are valid. But for anything complex - especially something like a NAS - most of the reviews are based on ignorance or misinterpretation of whatever device.

I have a D-Link DNS-323 NAS and it's absolutely brilliant. Now, I did have some issues with the first set of drives I used - but as it turns out, that particular series of Seagate drives had some firmware issues. Once I swapped them out for WD drives, everything has been rock solid. Now, if I were the average consumer, I might have assumed (based on the behavior of losing the RAID set) that the device just didn't handle RAID well and given it a negative review. But since I did some research and educated myself on the product and its peripherals, I ended up successfully troubleshooting and found that it is indeed a very nice machine.

That brings me to three, which is all of the NAS devices I have looked at either have almost no reviews or have greater than 20% 1 star reviews, which makes it difficult for me to pull the trigger on them.

In my research I saw a reccomendation to just connect a RAID external HD to a computer that was always running, and use enable drive sharing. That piqued my interest because I use a Mac Mini as a home theater and it is always on. So that brings me to my questions:

1) Would this be a suitable alternative to an NAS?

Sure. Most NAS devices are just a small computer bundled in a box with drives. Mine runs Linux. In this case, you'd just be setting up a very powerful OS X-based NAS that has an external RAID controller.

2) If so, how do I go about setting it up?

You'd basically turn on Sharing for the services you want and set up your libraries to sit on the external drive.

3) Reccomendation on NAS vs RAID (specific equipment included)?

OWC's Guardian Maximus line seems to be pretty solid for an external RAID-based drive. I think you already know what NAS I'd recommend ;)

4) I was looking at the OWC 4 TB RAID -- good choice?

Yep.

5) If RAID is the way to go, RAID 0, 1, 5 ????

RAID 0 shouldn't even be a RAID classification because there's no redundancy. RAID 0 setups are all about performance and should you have a drive mech fail, your data is toast.

RAID 5 is only necessary when you need the performance benefits of striping with the reliability of RAID 1 (mirroring). But since your NAS is limited to a Gigabit Ethernet connection at best, you really don't need the performance associated with striping. You're only as fast as your weakest link.

My goal for this is file sharing, in particular shared iTunes, iPhoto and Video Libraries. Don't plan on using it for back up. I use individual Seagate portables with Time Machine for each computer.

Thanks for any input or help. :)

I seriously think the DNS-323 is exactly what you need. If you haven't looked at it yet, you should.
 
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Have you given any thought on how you are going to backup your NAS in case of fire, flood or theft?
Or if the "logic board" onboard the NAS goes out, can you be without your data until it is repaired and or replaced.

I know the above are probably far from reality but it can happen.

Just food for thought?

DavidH
 

cwa107


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Have you given any thought on how you are going to backup your NAS in case of fire, flood or theft?

The same argument can be had for any locally stored medium.

Or if the "logic board" onboard the NAS goes out, can you be without your data until it is repaired and or replaced.

I know the above are probably far from reality but it can happen.

Just food for thought?

DavidH

The DNS-323, like many NAS devices, uses a standard ext2 format. So, in the event of that issue, you would pop the drive out, hook it up to a USB adapter and access your data.
 
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RavingMac

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Thanks for the replies to all.

I actually have the DNS-323 in my Amazon shopping cart. Was ready to purchase and got cold feet. Had planned on getting two each 2 TB WD Green HD (better choices?).

Assume from your post that I should go with RAID 1.

Do I need to provide for any additional back up, or will the RAID 1 take care of that?

What about buying a 3rd HD and periodically swapping them out?
 
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cwa107 is correct that it can happen with a lot of backup strategies.

To help mitigate some of those issues I do the following:
I have two separate single drive backups of my Computer's Hard Drive on-site, one is a Time Machine backup to help me restore an accidentally deleted file or to go back to a previous version. The other is a Super Duper clone drive copy of my Hard Drive that I can also boot my computer from.

I also have a third drive which is a clone copy of my Hard Drive which I store off-site to help protect me against fire flood or theft.

Its not perfect but thats how I do it.

DavidH
 

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Thanks for the replies to all.

I actually have the DNS-323 in my Amazon shopping cart. Was ready to purchase and got cold feet. Had planned on getting two each 2 TB WD Green HD (better choices?).

I have 2 500GB Black Edition drives. In hindsight, I probably should have gone with the Blue series. In theory, the Green series drives should be fine, but I've heard they have some issues. NewEgg ratings are extremely low across the board. So, I think I'd recommend going with the Blue series, which are a good balance of performance and thermal efficiency.

Assume from your post that I should go with RAID 1.

Yes, RAID 1 provides mirroring. So, if one drive fails, you don't lose your data. And you can rebuild the set by replacing the drive.

Do I need to provide for any additional back up, or will the RAID 1 take care of that?

Well, RAID1 provides redundancy, but that doesn't mean your data is backed up. It just means that a mechanical failure of one drive doesn't take all of the data. But if you were to delete something from the NAS, it's not like you're going to get it back. So, it might not be a bad idea to back it up occasionally. In fact, I have a single 500GB external that I run quarterly backups of the NAS to.

What about buying a 3rd HD and periodically swapping them out?

You could theoretically do that, but it won't be fast. Rebuilding RAID sets on this device can take quite awhile, during which your data is unprotected.
 
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RavingMac

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Thanks.
I will probably go ahead with the DNS-323 may have specific questions later (especially on how to do a direct back-up if it isn't obvious).

I'll look at the Blue series drives, and probably go with 1TB (2TB was overkill at this point). :)
 

cwa107


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Thanks.
I will probably go ahead with the DNS-323 may have specific questions later (especially on how to do a direct back-up if it isn't obvious).

I just use SuperDuper to clone the one to the other. But keep in mind, your stated need was not to have a backup device, but to use it to hold media. That's exactly what I use it for - as a server for shared media. With that goal in mind, you probably won't be doing a whole lot of direct manipulation of the filesystem, you'll most likely be putting data on it and reading from it. And in that case, mirroring has you covered in terms of keeping your data stable.

I'll look at the Blue series drives, and probably go with 1TB (2TB was overkill at this point). :)

I'm getting ready to swap my 500's for 1.5TBs - just waiting for the prices to come down a bit more.
 
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Follow-up on NAS Decision

Thanks again for all the help.

I got my DNS-323 and two 1TB WD Caviar Blue drives yesterday. Was at first a little put out because there were no Mac specific instructions. I pushed on anyway and setup turned out to be straightforward and relatively easy.

I also downloaded Filebrowser for my iPad and now I am delighted. With the combination I was able to directly access the NAS from my iPad. Browsed through the volume and found Spykids (courtesy of Handbrake) double clicked on it and I was watching streaming video from my new NAS in seconds.
:)
 

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