Airport Extreme + external drive or NAS device, Please help

[nolefan]

I have been searching all over the internet trying to figure out the best solution for what I need and stumbled on this forum. Hope you all can help.

My problem: I have a family of 5 and many apple devices, to include two macbook pro's, an iPad, two iPhones, and two iPod touches. All of which take photos and sync music ect. I currently have the wireless home network running with an apple airport extreme with a 160gB external drive attached to the USB port. I was backing up to the external drive via time machine. It has now filled up.

My question: I am looking to purchase a larger external drive to replace the 160gB, but have noticed the NAS devices sold online as well. I would like to have place to back up my laptops via time machine, and (if possible) create a central storage place for all of our thousands of photos and music. What are the advantages of the NAS devices? Or do I just need a larger external drive (2TB)?

Thanks in advance for any input.

Nolefan

 

[sfam198]

The NAS is going to take a lot more configuration to get it to the point of "It just works" you would get with Time Machine and a large external drive. It will also be a more expensive investment for little gain. As your storage needs increase, you will still need to purchase bigger/more hard drives.

Question: How long has the 160GB drive taken to fill up? You say you have Time Machine connected to that drive. Are all your other devices using that for storage as well?

My suggestion would be to get a large drive (2 TB) and partition it. Then, use one partition for Time Machine backups and the other for storage. Depending on how long it took to fill up the 160 GB drive you have currently, this setup could last you a LONG time. Even partitioning the drive in half (1 TB per partition), each "drive" would be over 6 times as large as what you have now.

 

[osxx]

I tend to keep one drive for Time Machine only and even Apple recommends this and on the other drive (separate USB soon to be a WD MyBook Live everything else) for the rest of the family to sends odds and ends they want to keep mainly photos and videos.

 

[msharp]

I too have been thinking of this setup.
Wouldn't the NAS hard drive, connected to the Gigabit Ethernet be a faster option than the USB port.
Will Time Machine work with a NAS setup connected to my Airport Extreme?

 

[osxx]

I too have been thinking of this setup.
Wouldn't the NAS hard drive, connected to the Gigabit Ethernet be a faster option than the USB port.
Will Time Machine work with a NAS setup connected to my Airport Extreme?

A NAS is still on my short list but WD says it will work with TM and Lion on their
website as far as speed another member will have to give you a comparison.