Looking 4 network storage solutions

PolockPolock Byron, IL.
edited January 2005 in Science & Tech
Howdy all...I'm looking for a good network storage solution. Don't get me wrong, but it don't have to be the best of the best. Don't mind spending the $, but I'm not loaded either. :confused:

Here's whassupp! Got a small hard-wired LAN with 3 - XP Pro Pcs and a lone 98SE on 2 different stories and 3 different rooms. I'm tired of the back-ups back and forth and up and down and where am I. I'm not excited about running around the house with a USB/FW external hardrive, but the price of these big babes is getting hard not to take advantage of.

I remember reading somewhere, sometime about a storage option using a network device with these USB external hardrives set up like a pC on your LAN. This would make a nice central back-up drive and storage for all my tunes and my 2 daughters.

I know it's there...gots any good recommendations for this kind of storage?

If this should be in the storage forum instead of the networking, slap me and I'll move it... :scratch:

Comments

  • ShortyShorty Manchester, UK Icrontian
    edited January 2005
    Depends on what your budget is :)

    Network Attached Storage devices are coming down significantly in price. They are dedicated storage boxes with load balanced mulitple network interfaces and a storage optimised operating system (eg.. snap or windows storage server).

    I bought a DELL PowerVault for my previous employer. Dual nics, 360gb in a RAID-5 config. Looking at around $1500 though.

    You could quite easily make a file server act like a NAS. In a small environment like yours, build a 1ghz machine with a bunch of hard drives (using a decent RAID card or buy a motherboard with lots of SATA connectors). Put an OS on it (you aren't going to be running more than 8 concurrent connections), share folders and map those folders onto your users PC's. Instant NAS on the cheap :)
  • beregidberegid
    edited January 2005
    lacie makes a 250 gb- 1 tb external fireware/usb drives. the 1 tb is about 1200. you just format it for ntfs and install. we have a 1 tb model, very nice. hxxp://www.lacie.com/products/family.htm?id=10007. link is not live, hope its alright.
  • PolockPolock Byron, IL.
    edited January 2005
    Thanks for ideas guys, but let's drop the price some...say, around $300-$400.

    I'll take a little trip over to LaCie to take a peek though. Like I mentioned, looking for back-up and mp3 storage...nothing big. I'm still in the novice level so easy is good.

    I wish my memory was better cause I had read this article (might have been a sale thingy also) about a network device that you could plug in with a Cat5, then attach a USB/FW hardrive to it for network storage. I think the Maxtor One Touch was involved with this article.

    I know at the time I thought it sounded cool, but I let it slip by. I know I wouldn't have thought about anything over $500. Like Shorty said, I could have added another PC for that.

    I'll take a trip by Maxtor on the way to LaCie just in case it jogs my feeble memory :rolleyes:
  • RWBRWB Icrontian
    edited January 2005
    I was at Microcenter once, and found a harddrive that plugs directly to your network and is accessible of course by anyone or whoever you specify. It was like 20GB at the time but that was years ago. I wonder if that would work for you, it was like $150... again this was back when my 40GB drive was quite large.

    Seems perfect for you.
  • PolockPolock Byron, IL.
    edited January 2005
    Look see what's coming from Lacie in the spring of 2005:

    http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?pid=10034

    And the price is in the neighborhood :D

    Sounds like you can connect over the LAN with ethernet or direstly to a PC with USB 2.0...


    Dang...found another prospect at Maxtor (not what I remember), but couldn't find a price for this bad boy:

    http://www.maxtor.com/portal/site/Maxtor/menuitem.6adb6b8313633595062e6be791346068/?channelpath=/en_us/Products/Network%20Storage
  • John-SporJohn-Spor
    edited January 2005
    Hey Linksys makes what you are looking for. They have a LINKSYS EFG120 ETHERFAST NETWORK ATTACHED STORAGE. It has space to add another 120 gig hard drive so it will give you room to expand and street price is under 450.00. Just to a search on Froogle, Pricegrabber etc.
    Hope that helps
    John Spor
  • PolockPolock Byron, IL.
    edited January 2005
    John Spor wrote:
    Hey Linksys makes what you are looking for. They have a LINKSYS EFG120 ETHERFAST NETWORK ATTACHED STORAGE. It has space to add another 120 gig hard drive so it will give you room to expand and street price is under 450.00. Just to a search on Froogle, Pricegrabber etc.
    Hope that helps
    John Spor

    John, you come real close to what I had been looking for. I like what you found much better now, except for the price. It seems like a similar device to the LaCie and Maxtor devices I listed above. All my network products are Linksys, if that makes a diff.

    Gotta let the cat outta the bag. While at the Linksys site, I ran across the original
    network storage thingy I was looking for. The reason it crossed my mind at the time was because Linksys and Maxtor had a big promo to get both for under $250. Of course this was last fall.

    I am liking what you guys have listed more...just wait for the prices to drop a little. That Lacie is due in Feb...

    "Happy Valentine Day honey", Polock says with true love. :D

    And a box of chocolate to boot :thumbsup:
  • drasnordrasnor Starship Operator Hawthorne, CA Icrontian
    edited January 2005
    I just use older machines for my NAS needs. Take an old machine, install a 120GB hard drive or two, install Linux and set up a Samba server. It uses more power than one of those NAS appliances, but it also Folds ;)

    -drasnor :fold:
  • PolockPolock Byron, IL.
    edited January 2005
    drasnor wrote:
    I just use older machines for my NAS needs. Take an old machine, install a 120GB hard drive or two, install Linux and set up a Samba server. It uses more power than one of those NAS appliances, but it also Folds ;)

    -drasnor :fold:

    Did I mention that I'm not in your league? :o

    Sorry to say I would be in the novice to novice plus category. At least I think I've gone beyond newbie, but sometimes I even question that. :D

    I thought about using an old machine, but then you always need it running. These new NSA devices just connect to your LAN as a extra drive.

    Polock
  • drasnordrasnor Starship Operator Hawthorne, CA Icrontian
    edited January 2005
    Truth, but I got to know about these things by doing them. I can assure you I didn't know much about Linux beyond the basic commands before I attempted my NAS/router project. You learn as you go :)

    If you're in a hurry though, those network hard drives are a good solution. Newegg carries quite a selection.

    -drasnor :fold:
  • beregidberegid
    edited January 2005
    with a novice level, a external hdd with either usb or firewire(get firewire, its faster, and firewire controllers are cheap now). ease of use, and the ability to remove it incase of an emergency means alot now-a-days. lacie has some nice 250 gig models that have a fair price. have you went to pricewatch.com and checked external drives there?
  • PolockPolock Byron, IL.
    edited January 2005
    My first thoughts were towards the external hardrive beregid, but I'm gettin' lazy as I get older. I didn't want to lug the external drive up and down the stairs from room to room to do my back-ups. That's why the ethernet connection appeals to my lazy nature and I already have that connected to all the PCs.

    Understand what your sayin' drasnor, but I'm behind on my backups and fixins as of late. When I first retired I was going to attempt such a project with Smoothwall, but with my oldest in her first year of college, the second in middle school (eveyone needs a teenage daughter :eek: ) and my old company calling me back for consultant work...when did I ever find the time :D

    I'm really going to give those devices mentioned earlier a goood look in the next few weeks. The cost is good and I don't need much except for central back-ups and music.

    Now after I get my old Abit rebuilt, I'll have an extra 450 Mhz pC for other uses :thumbsup:

    Polock
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