Thecus N4800 Review on Bjorn3D

Selling for a bit over $600 on Newegg, the Thecus N4800 is a 4 drive NAS powered by an Intel D2700 Atom processor and 2GB of DDR3 RAM. Unique among NAS devices, this Thecus NAS has an HDMI port on the back with the promise that it will serve not only as a server for streaming media, but will also be a media player as well. That is, once this feature is enabled, you will be able to plug the NAS directly into your TV.

The Atom D2700 process is a 64 bit processor with hyperthreading support

Thecus N4800 Review on Bjorn3D

Thecus N4800 Review on Bjorn3D

Selling for a bit over $600 on Newegg, the Thecus N4800 is a 4 drive NAS powered by an Intel D2700 Atom processor and 2GB of DDR3 RAM. Unique among NAS devices, this Thecus NAS has an HDMI port on the back with the promise that it will serve not only as a server for streaming media, but will also be a media player as well. That is, once this feature is enabled, you will be able to plug the NAS directly into your TV.

The Atom D2700 process is a 64 bit processor with hyperthreading support

Thecus N4800 Review on Bjorn3D

Building a Do It Yourself NAS with Unraid

I came across a long and detailed post along with a discussion thread about building a NAS. The author goes into great detail about the choices he made for hardware and software.

The post is called "Sam's NAS project powered by Unraid". He includes some pros and cons of various software choices including Flexraid, FreeNAS and of course, Unraid.

His hardware choices include and E2140 intel processor and 2 GB of RAM.

Primary pros of Unraid are listed as:

1. Very Easy install
2. Uses

Building a Do It Yourself NAS with Unraid

FreeNAS, OpenFiler or Ubuntu Server

Another of the type of posts I like to read - this time over at "The Diary of an IT Man". In the post, Nicolas Roussi discusses building a server and player for media files in his home and talks about the hardware and software choices. Although starting out with FreeNAS, he eventually settled on Ubuntu server with ZFS as the file system:
So I saw that ZFS is natively supported in Ubuntu. I installed Ubuntu 11.10 server, added the ZFS repository, installed ZFS, created a RAIDZ array and

FreeNAS, OpenFiler or Ubuntu Server

Windows 8 Storage Spaces Speed Performance

There is a post over at the Homeservershow site testing the new storage spaces feature on the beta of Windows 8. Storage spaces is a feature that allows for pooled drives and parity protection of data. Essentially, this gives the ability to retrieve your data even if one drive fails. Parity solutions that currently exist include Flexraid and Unraid among others.

As you can see in the post, the writer is not impressed with the write performance of storage spaces as currently

Windows 8 Storage Spaces Speed Performance

Guide to Setting Up and Using Desktop Ubuntu as a NAS

Lifehacker has a nice new post giving detailed instructions how to use an old computer as a NAS with Ubuntu linux.

The goal of the project is described:
Here, we'll show you how to put together an Ubuntu-based server, connect it to the other computers in your home, and then go through a few examples of how you can use it as a backup machine, a media server for your music, movies and TV shows, and as a dedicated BitTorrent box.

Lifehacker
Lifehacker makes the interesting choice of using

Read More Using Desktop Ubuntu as a NAS

Budget NAS: Netgear ReadyNAS Duo v2

Legionhardware.com has a nice review of the Netgear ReadyNAS Duo v2, an inexpensive two drive NAS from Netgear. The drive is compared to other two drive NAS boxes:
At just $200 the ReadyNAS Duo v2 is amongst the cheapest 2-bay NAS devices money can buy, rubbing shoulders with the Synology DS212j and QNAP TS-212-US. While we are yet to test the QNAP TS-212-US, we have benchmarked the Synology DS212j so that will make for an interesting comparison with the Netgear ReadyNAS Duo

Read More Budget NAS: Netgear ReadyNAS Duo v2

Comprehensive Review of the Synology DS 1512+ NAS

Decryptedtech.com has a comprehensive review of the Synology DS 1512+ NAS which is an Atom based NAS with 5 bays that can be expanded by using up to two DS510 expansion boxes giving a total storage potential of 15 drives.

In this post, they run through the features of the DSM software that this Synology (and all Synology devices) use. The review goes through many of the features of the software and shows a lot of screen shots. If you read this run through you will know just

Read More Comprehensive Review of the Synology DS 1512+ NAS

Windows Home Server 2011 Software for $29.99

Not sure how long this will last, but Newegg has Windows Home Server 2011 64 bit system builder software for $29.99 with free shipping - but only if you use coupon code TYS618 when you checkout.

Click here to see the software and buy it now - note that the special price only shows after you add the item to your cart and apply the coupon

Read More Windows Home Server 2011 Software on Sale

Synology Releases the One Bay DS112+ NAS

Synology has released its fastest one bay NAS, the DS 112+. Features are listed as:


107.92 MB/sec Reading, 76.66 MB/sec Writing1
Features SuperSpeed USB 3.0
Hardware Encryption Engine
Rich Office Applications
Complete Backup Solutions
Cool and Quiet Design
Running on Synology DiskStation Manager (DSM)

Synology
That's pretty fast for a one bay NAS. And with the USB 3.0 capability, you can add an external drive to backup the NAS quickly.

The Synology DS112+ NAS runs

Read More About Synology Releases the One Bay DS112+ NAS

Fix to "Could Not Reconnect All Network Drives" Error on Bootup

Ever since I got a Windows 7 machine with an SSD as the boot drive, I would get the error message, "Could Not Reconnect All Network Drives" on bootup. I have two mapped drive letters connecting to my Synology DS1010+ NAS. The error would mean that the mapped drives were not available until I accessed them in windows explorer by clicking on them - then they would connect ok.

Searching the internet leads to many posts concerning this issue. Many of them, though, deal with situations where the

REad More Fix to

NAS4Free

I came across a (new to me) project that continues the FreeNAS version 7 line. The new project is called NAS4Free. The differences between this project and FreeNAS are summarized:
This project is a continuation of FreeNAS 7 series project. FreeNAS 8 is based on nanoBSD where as NAS4Free is based on FreeBSD 9.x, hence the name change.

NAS4Free
I'll be tracking this project from now on. It will be interesting to see how this fork of FreeNAS

Read More NAS4Free

Building a FreeNAS Mini ITX Storage Appliance

Samkear.com has a nice post complete with parts lists and photos about building a small FreeNAS storage device. The writer specifically compares his build to a commercial build available at http://www.ixsystems.com/storage/ix/home-office-storage/freenas-mini.html, the "FreeNAS™ Mini".

Some interesting hardware choices in the do it yourself build:








Form Factor
4 Bay Mini ITX Chassis with 4 Hot Swap Bays


Processor
Low Power Intel Dual Core


Memory
8GB DDR3 (2 x

Read More About Building a FreeNAS Mini ITX Storage Appliance

WHS 2011 Build

Interesting forum thread over at homeservershow.com discussing building a Windows Home Server 2011 (WHS 2011) box. The discussion covers finding a small case and what type of CPU should be needed for streaming and non-streaming applications. The discussion starts with the original poster linking to this Newegg wishlist - Mini ITX WHS 2011 Server:










 
Qty.
Image
Product Description
Unit Price
Savings
Total Price







1

LIAN LI PC-Q25B Black Aluminum

Read More WHS 2011 Build

Shuttle Gets Into the NAS Business

The long time small form factor PC maker, Shuttle, has announced what I believe is its first NAS box, the Shuttle OMNINAS KD20. Over at Slashgear, they did a short hands on with the new NAS a few days ago. No testing or otherwise using the NAS was performed, but at least we can see the new box.

Slashgear was impressed by the build quality but thinks that Shuttle has some catching up to do software-wise:
Build quality seems good – though Shuttle obviously has some experience making small,

Read More Shuttle Gets Into NAS Business

Windows Home Server 2011 NAS - Great Deals Pre-built on Ebay

I came across a great selection of pre-built servers with Windows Home Server 2011 already installed on Ebay - and the NAS devices have great room for expandability. These deals are so tempting, I am thinking about buying one rather than building my own from parts:

[phpbay keywords="Windows Home Server" num="6" siteid="1" sortorder="BestMatch" sellerid="digital_sys" templatename="default"]

These servers are available for not much more than the price of the parts and they come with a 3

Read More About Windows Home Server 2011 NAS - Pre-built on Ebay

Install Windows Home Server 2011 without a DVD Drive

I found a quick post over at http://deputycio.com that runs through the steps to install Windows Home Server 2011 (WHS 2011) onto a machine that does not have a DVD drive. The method employs copying the installation files to a thumb drive. This has been around for awhile, but I thought it would be helpful if you haven't seen it.

This method is especially useful if you are installing onto a compact server such as the HP Microserver and don't want to waste one of the five hard

Read More - Install Windows Home Server 2011 without a DVD Drive

OpenMediaVault NAS Linux Distro Review

Linuxexpo.org.uk has produced a video review of Openmediavault. Openmediavault is a free NAS distribution based on linux.

Click on the image below to view the overview/review:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=fIFM1tH24V0#!

Linuxexpo.org.uk

Related articles

Openmediavault Software NAS - Beta .03 Available(nas-pro.com)





Openmediavault 0.3.0.7 Beta

Read more ...

Review of Synology DS1812+ in real life

Niall Best's Blog has a post in which he provides a detailed review of the Synology DS1812+ 8 drive NAS "in real life". The post provides a lot of detail about setting up and using this Synology NAS. The author had the bad luck to have his NAS die after a week, but the replacement has been flawless and he does not indicate that he lost any data:
Unexpected death & bad NVRAM
After about a week of use I noticed that the DS1812+ wasn’t switched on, I assumed that I’d turned

Read more about the Review of Synology DS1812+ in real life

Sans Digital 4 Bay eSATA Port Multiplier JBOD Tower Storage Enclosure - Newegg Shell Shocker Deal

Newegg has a pretty good deal on the 2 item combo listed below - $89.99 while it remains in stock today only. Seems to be a great combo for adding external storage to a WHS, WHS 2011 or other server.

2 Item Combo








Sans Digital 4 Bay eSATA Port Multiplier JBOD Tower Storage Enclosure (no eSATA Card bundle) TR4M+BNC

bundled with:

1x HighPoint RocketHybrid 1222 PCI-Express 2.0 x1 ...

In stock. Limit 3 per

Read More

Low Cost NAS Boxes and Performance over Time

Servethehome.com has an interesting post about the speed differences in NAS devices over time. It seems that as the NAS drives fill up, the speed degrades:
First, the data was being written to the inner parts of the drive platters. On modern disks, it is not uncommon to see a drive go from 130MB/s or more at the outer edge to half of that at the disks inner edge. The disks in the production system were filling the last portions of the disks so the per-drive performance was probably closer to

Read more about Low Cost NAS Boxes and Performance over Time

Synology DS1812+ Overview/Review at PC Pro

PC pro has provided a brief review of the Synology DS1812+ NAS. The Synology DS1812+ is a 8 bay NAS powered by an Intel Atom dual-core 2.13GHz D2700 processor. Since the DS1812+ can support two 5-bay expansion units (DS510) and has been certified to support Hitachi's 4 TB hard drive, this NAS can hold a whopping 32 TB (without the expansion units) or 72 TB with the expansion units attached.

The review concludes by comparing the Synology's value to the similar Qnap and ReadyNas

Read More Synology DS1812+ Overview

Synology DS1512+ Review

Smallnetbuilder has provided a comprehensive review of the Synology DS1512+ NAS. The Synology 1512+ NAS is a 5 bay NAS that is expandable using up to two DX510 expansion units to provide for a maximum of 15 drives. It also has two eSATA ports (in addition to the DX510 ports), 2 USB 2.0 and 2 USB 3.0 ports for additional expansion. The 1512+ runs on a dual-core 2.13 GHz Intel "Cedar Trail" Atom D2700 CPUs with 1 GB of DDR3 RAM, expandable to 3 GB.

Smallnetbuilder does

Read More Synology DS1512+ Review

QNAP 3.6x NAS Software Deep Dive

Tweaktown has provided a lengthy "deep dive" into the latest version of QNAPs NAS software. The post introduces the software review:
A few months ago we dove right into QNAP's new MyCloudNAS Service, but several other features were added in the 3.6 software release that we haven't covered. Among those are a new VPN Server, LDAP Server, Storage Plug & Play and Proxy Server. Improvements were also made to the Music Station, Photo Station, QPKG Center, Backup Services and a new Web File

QNAP 3.6x NAS Software Deep Dive

LaCie's 2big NAS Review

Anandtech has reviewed the LaCie's 2big NAS, a 2 bay NAS that is provided diskless or in 6 TB configurations. LaCie has been known for their stylish NAS and external hard drive devices. Since LaCie has been bought by Seagate, this may be the last of the LaCie devices released that aren't also Seagate products.

This NAS is a relatively low cost NAS:
On May 15th, LaCie launched an updated version of their 2big Network 2 2-bay product, the 2big NAS. The 2big NAS comes in

Read More of LaCie's 2big NAS Review

Building a Cheap and Green NAS (for backup)

I came across a nice little post that is in one of my favorite categories - a post about building a NAS device for backup from scratch using parts. The writer intends this post to be the start of a series in which he will also examine several NAS software options:
We are going to try to build a redundant server which cost less than $500 (at least that’s what the Drobo costs without hard drives) in parts and consume less than 55 watts. While giving us a reliable place to

Read More About Building a Cheap and Green NAS (for backup)

Drobo FS for $399.99

Tigerdirect has the Drobo FS NAS available for $399.99 today only! This price is about $100 off the normal prices at most online retailers.

If you have been wanting a Drobo FS, now would be the best time to jump. Get the DroboFS at

Read more about the Drobo FS for $399.99

Thecus N4800 NAS Reviewed

Smallnetbuilder has reviewed the Thecus N4800 4 bay NAS server. The Thecus N4800 NAS is a Atom D2700 based 4 bay server with built in battery backup (pretty unique feature), USB3.0 and HDMI ports (HDMI is another unusual feature for a server or a NAS unit), and 1 GB of RAM.

Smallnetbuilder rates the noise level of this NAS as low:
I rated noise as low. The low hum of the four drives was audible in my quiet home office, but there was little fan noise, even under the load

Thecus N4800 NAS Reviewed