Any sifu can enlighten.... thanks

interested in this too.

home server good...but need maintanance cost..

depends on what do you want the server/nas to do

If its more than just file storage, go for home server as it has multi-uses; monitor network health, centralize backups and provide remote access to other home/ networked PCs.

NAS is base on Linux, shld be more consistent than any others

the requirement mainly more on file (different file format like microsoft office, pdf, jpeg, etc) sharing (store & retrieve) among PCs within the same network. No need very high spec. but lately NAS become hot topics in the market so just wondering is NAS able to do the same job or home server still the best in term of versatility and most importantly cost effectiveness.

Many thanks for the replies and hope to gather more specification info and recommendation....have a great day ahead guys....cheers

Based on what you have just said, NAS can do the job just fine.

can recommend brand/model/price in the market ?

Cheap one, Dlink NAS should do the job.

A NAS is generally more cost effective than a full-blown server not to mention most of them are so consumer friendly on the market these days to setup, configure and maintain for long-term network storage and sharing which would be more than adequate for any mainstream needs.

And I second D-Link. Their NAS are priced economically, you can find one for about 500-600 bucks depending on specification.

D-Link DNS-320 can get for about RM300 for 2 bay unit. I have installed an older D-link 323 unit with 2 x 2TB Western D drive. It runs without problem for 3 years already. U can set up the drive from the included CD. Its very easy. Until u come to the part where u want to allow which user to access which folder that it becomes a little bit complex. But still managable.

Most NAS units are like servers already. Can become print server, can even add in additional USB hdd or flash drive for emergency use. Some allows for torrent usage where u just turn on the unit, drop the torrent link in the page and it will d/l the stuff without having the pc to run whole day. The HDD can be run combined storage size or mirror.

I saw 1 unit that has external LCD to monitor space, heat and a bunch of information.

Thanks guys for the replies again. When files are getting more and more, it is difficult to manage on pc or hard disk alone. A simple file server is definitely help besides cloud like google or Dropbox.

For a sme business like us, it serve our purpose whereby everyone can share the file simultaneously and do not need to invest a server that cost a bomb to us.

If NAS is the right solution, any particular cons that we need to take note. Thanks for the advices again

In my opinion

NAS = File server, including Backup services.
Easy to setup, easy to maintain. Minimal upgrade potential

Home Server = File server + any other server service you need, like WAMP, etc etc...
Harder to setup. Harder to maintain. Plenty of upgrade potential.

Reliability =>
NAS > Home server

Also just a suggestion, for business use try to get a nas which supports RAID. You don't want your disk to fail and realize you don't have backups

Thanks

Thanks for enlighten.

I will get below spec....will it sufficient for start up ? and if let say would like to expand it in 3-4 years later, should I need to buy a new NAS ?


ShareCenter® 2-Bay Cloud Storage 2000
DNS-320L
D-Link® ShareCenter 2-Bay Cloud Storage 2000 (DNS-320L) is the perfect way to store, safeguard, share and remotely access or stream your digital documents, music, videos, and photos from anywhere in the world.
Simple and secure Cloud access via mydlink.com and mobile app
Transfer files and media between your ShareCenter, PCs, Smartphones and tablets
Remotely stream and upload/download media to your mobile devices
Four RAID configurations to protect your data in the event of a hard drive failure
Intuitive web-based user interface for easy file access and management

want cheap have to go Dlink, if wan good go for synology

been using NAS since like forever...got 2 NAS - dns 323 and dns320

very solid performance,file sharing(movies),centralized backup(but not much use),downloads and torrents...

highly recommended..

noted...but synology is very pricey, almost triple leh...thanks anyway

yes this look good for start up, but in future if you need more space better get a 4 bay nas

For Synology it seems one is paying for the software rather than the hardware. I have heard of it before, but never tried it. Probably have the same features as D-Link. Should be LINUX based software inside also. But Synology got high capacity 20 bays ones. D-Link does not have those.

This post has been edited by netmatrix: Mar 20 2013, 08:30 PM

Got it

Thanks for the info

Dear All Sifus,

I need your advice on similar issues. I have a simple LAN (without "Domain", don't know what this is) in my office, connecting about 8 pcs. All major files are shared in my PC running Win 7. Very often other PC cannot connect to my PC (turned on 24hr) and we both have to restart windows. Sounds stupid, right?

I was recently told NAS can save me a lot of trouble. My requirement is quite simple:

1) To share data among different users thru LAN
2) Different users are allowed for different folders
3) Realtime data backup
4) Virus protection
5) To allow access of data over internet from home (boss want us to work from home mah)
6) Can download bit torrent (personal without boss's knowledge....)

I don't really need big storage. Most of the data are MS Excel, word, drawings, etc. Not even up to 2TB yet. (of course exclude my downloaded movies which is > 2 TB, haha).

I've gone thru the previous posts. Can I just go for

1) DLink DNS320L RM269
2) HDD WD AV DRIVE (NAS certify) 2TB RM309

Are the above 2 items enough to do the work? Do I need a 2nd HDD as backup?

Currently I'm using 5M unifi with the modem and router come together with it.

Since the company is paying, budget of +/- RM1000 is not an issue if I can get something much better by paying slightly more.

Also, any guidelines for installation? (I can setup monitor, keyboard, mouse....but NAS?.....sigh.... )

Thanking for your advice!!

This post has been edited by jinxiang: Apr 19 2013, 02:25 PM

with a 1k+ budget i think u can get a synology nas.. or something with raid support.. office data is important.. backup is a must have..

please don't use office's server for torrent download. Cause when something happen you will be in deep shit.

I am also researching for NAS. I saw many recommend DLink, has anyone use Buffalo NAS? In term of HDD, what is the difference between AV and RED HDD (both are NAS certified)?

Those NAS with a lot of bays is not worth the price. Haswell sips power so the power consumption difference wont be big.

Celeron G1820 or Pentium G3420 - RM139/RM208
Asus H87M-E motherboard (six SATA 6Gbps ports with RAID support) - RM329
Kingston 4GB DDR3-1600 x1 - RM114
FSP Hexa 400W power supply - RM129
Coolermaster 4 in 3 device module - RM69 (optional)
Wifi USB dongle

Casing is up to you for future expansion

Please buy at leasy dlink-dns 327. Those 323 models and below have horrible write speed. So spent about rm400 for a decent Nas. Still cheaper than a new pc...unless you already have parts lying around.

agree with you on the pc nas more expensive
pc nas only viable if we have old computers around to recycle use as nas

DLink has horrible write speeds
even my mybook live writes and transfer faster

anyone has tried WD's NAS EX series?
saw it also has Cloud service to share the folder with ppl outside of the network

DNS-327 not so bad...can get 60MB/s over gigabit lan. Not bad lah, for RM399. DNS-323 is horrible...only 2xMB/s

my DNS-320 still ticking
max 20 mb/s on 100 ethernet

i have seen WD EX2 / EX4 doing over 80mb/sec over gigabit in online reviews

thinking of whacking one EX2 just to try the speed and bittorrent

dlink is not so bad. It is cheap and good enough for user with low requirement. For the kind of price, you can't be expecting too much.

if have more budget then get synology or qnap.

if even more budget then get the new hp microserver gen8

The more the budget, desktop gets more favorable. You might even get 80Plus Platinum power supply with it too.