Recommended NAS with Raid 1

[jpsum]

I'm looking for a NAS with raid 1 function. What do you guys recommend? Should I buy the NAS kit and drive separately, or buy the ready-to-use units? I just want a unit that has a good warranty and easy recovery.


Thanks.

[radix]

What is your spending limit? How many drive bays do you want/need (obviously >2)? Do you require that the device be wireless capable? What will the be the primary function of the device?

[OneThreeFive]

I would personally recommend the My Book World Edition II 2TB drive (1 TB mirrored).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-355-_-Product

I don't have the NAS version but I have the 2TB Quad interface in a Raid 1.

http://www.buy.com/prod/western-digi...207687210.html

Not sure what your storage needs are but it looks like the egg carries 4TB versions of both. Mine came with a 5 year warranty and I have had no issues to date (been since beginning of this year). I believe the NAS version carries a 3 year warranty (Source - http://www.legitreviews.com/article/998/1/).

HTH

[jpsum]

Originally Posted by radix

What is your spending limit? How many drive bays do you want/need (obviously >2)? Do you require that the device be wireless capable? What will the be the primary function of the device?

The max I would spend is about $300 and I don't need anything more than 2 drives. No wireless needed. I find that using ethernet cable is almost always faster.

I needed a drive to backup my photos. For now, i think 500G to 1TB is good enough.

[jpsum]

Originally Posted by OneThreeFive

I would personally recommend the My Book World Edition II 2TB drive (1 TB mirrored).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-355-_-Product

I don't have the NAS version but I have the 2TB Quad interface in a Raid 1.

http://www.buy.com/prod/western-digi...207687210.html

Not sure what your storage needs are but it looks like the egg carries 4TB versions of both. Mine came with a 5 year warranty and I have had no issues to date (been since beginning of this year). I believe the NAS version carries a 3 year warranty (Source - http://www.legitreviews.com/article/998/1/).

HTH

Thanks.

[radix]

Originally Posted by jpsum

The max I would spend is about $300 and I don't need anything more than 2 drives. No wireless needed. I find that using ethernet cable is almost always faster.

I needed a drive to backup my photos. For now, i think 500G to 1TB is good enough.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822108028

cnet review here:

http://reviews.cnet.com/external-har...-33513797.html

probably the best bang for your buck that you're going to get at that price range. More feature rich than the mybook, but admittedly a bit more difficult to configure.

[jpsum]

Originally Posted by radix

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822108028

cnet review here:

http://reviews.cnet.com/external-har...-33513797.html

probably the best bang for your buck that you're going to get at that price range. More feature rich than the mybook, but admittedly a bit more difficult to configure.

damn, $300 and the drives are not included? That's almost $500 with the drive.

[radix]

Originally Posted by jpsum

damn, $300 and the drives are not included? That's almost $500 with the drive.

Hehe, sorry. This is what I do for a living, so I might have gotten a bit carried away as normally I have the resources of a fortune 50 company to do capacity planning with, and we tend to plan for growth. I don't doubt the MyBook will probably be perfectly fine for just backing up photos. However it's been my experience that what's used to backup photos today will be used to store videos, music, and who knows what else tomorrow. In those cases, you're getting ~33% better throughput with the system I posted due largely to the onboard processor and cache. The MyBook world lacks both of those features. Additionally, the DS209 allows you to connect a USB drive to it if you like, and allows you to schedule backups of your data to external drive on a regular basis. Hell, the DS209+ reviewed in the CNET article even has a built-in photo manager, although it costs more than the link I posted from newegg.

Again, if you don't ever see yourself needing more than the MyBook, then go with that. BTW, here are some screenshots of the Synology interface:

http://www.trustedreviews.com/networ...ion-DS-209-/p3

Keep in mind they are for the DS209+ which costs more, but has even more features (such as the photo manager). The DS209 seems to use the same interface from what I can tell from the product description.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822108017

FWIW, the type of machines we use for NAS at work (EMC Celerra), start at close to $30k IIRC for the entry level models, that's why I asked about usage/price limits.

[rlb]

How about the Iomega StorCenter ix2 1TB. It's about $200.

[jpsum]

thanks for the input, guys.