Network HD enclosures?

[capone]

I was thinking of expanding the storage for the house w/ one of these, so I don't need to have my main system on in the morning. The complaints I seem to read is the speed isn't there on these.

Is there one of these worth a damn yet? I read a lot of complaints about speed.

I'd rather go networked than USB if possible, and the NAS seem a little pricey still.

[wtg]

I've been tempted by these myself, but have finally come to the conclusion I won't do it until I can do it with gigabit speeds. Among the inexpensive home networking companies, Linksys is the only one that makes one (last I looked anyway) though I couldn't find a price for it... I'm guessing it's not cheap.

I'm concerned I could swamp one of these on a 100Mbit wire with 3 MVPs and a PC for recording and playback.

I'd love to hear anyone's experiences with these too.

[capone]

Here's Linksys, which has a slow complaint:
http://reviews.cnet.com/Linksys_NSLU2_Ne...33762.html

Netgear seems to review better, but not up to user's standards:
http://reviews.cnet.com/NetGear_SC101_St...70528.html

I don't think it's so much network speed, as I get by nicely on 10/100 around the house. I think it's the enclosure's R/W speed and firmware that is more important.

It seems like the USB/Firewire devices have come of age, but they have had time to mature. The network ones seem just on the edge of being practical.

[groover km]

I was recently in the market for external storage - I'm getting concerned about having so many irreplaceable photos, home movies, etc., on one HDD - and I very nearly bought the linksys model. I was enamoured with the thought of it just sitting on the network tucked away in a closet somewhere. After reading some online reviews however, I decided against it; slow R/W times, random crashes, formatting issues... all the stuff I'm trying to avoid!

In the end I went with USB; does what I want it to, reliably, and prices have fallen dramatically. I agree with Capone. I think consumer-end NAS stuff needs another 12 months or so to mature and to fall further in price.

[betlit]

why do not build a little server of old compontents and new harddisks?

using a mini-linux-distribution (e.g. DSL (damn small linux)) the space used by the operating system is minimal.
in its standard config, dsl needs about 50 megs (including a window manager, so its nice and colourfull )
samba (smb server) and software RAID are available, too.

since its so small, you can install DSL on a usb stick and boot it from there (of course the mainboard has to support booting from usb harddrives/zip drives), meaning you won't lose _any_ disk space *g*

[groover km]

I actually tried running a linux server on an old PII using ubuntu, but i struggled getting samba working right. Not the fault of ubuntu, which is a fantastic distro IMHO, but more my ignorance and lack of linux knowledge.

I've thought about giving it another go though - my cunning plan, I saw a 'how-to' the other week with a guy turning an Xbox into a NAS running linux and with a big HDD dropped in. i'm waiting for the Xbox360 to take off then I'm gonna pick a second hand xbox up dirt cheap and give it a try.

[capone]

I'll build a system from parts if the NAS enclosure market hasn't come of age by the time I need it, and could do so now if I was inclined to. I'd just like to not add another always-on system to the house if I can avoid it.

It's not so much the power usage, but the idea of another set of fans, PSU, etc, running all the time, and the fact a part can fail (esp w/ older parts), as well as having to waste space on a OS, and needing to think about it w/ power outages and the like.

I really see it like building a system to act as a firewall for a network, when you can simply by a router to do that for you. I just want a device to have one job--storage--and not need or need to bother w/ anything else.

[MasterB]

How about making a XBox NAS
http://www.tomsnetworking.com/Sections-article150.php

[gEd]

I was thinking of expanding the storage for the house w/ one of these, so I don't need to have my main system on in the morning. The complaints I seem to read is the speed isn't there on these.

Is there one of these worth a damn yet? I read a lot of complaints about speed.

I'd rather go networked than USB if possible, and the NAS seem a little pricey still.

http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?pid=10646

Now available with a Gigabit Ethernet interface, it frees file servers by providing independent, stand-alone storage accessible to anyone on the network. The LaCie Ethernet Disk can be shared by as many as 25 users simultaneously and accessed remotely via the web (http or ftp). Use the web-based management tool, which comes in multiple languages, for easy configuration. Its sturdy, aluminum design can support a monitor, be stacked or fit into a 19” rack.

fast or cheap, pick one.....:-)

[capone]

The LaCie is the right specs, just not the right price. But, that's what I'm expecting to see at a reasonable cost in the next year or so (plunging as fast as ram/storage has).

The xbox idea is more intriguing. Not really the straight-forward approach I was hoping for. It'll make for a fun read. Thx.

Edit: I read over the Xbox one more...still looks like a great option, but my wife said I'm not allowed to have anymore "hobbies" I think 5yrs ago, I would have been up seeing if I could add enough of these to create a Star Trek transport buffer.