Noob question on NAS

[john_k_antony]

Not quite your main stream question.... but my 2 cents :

Do Not Buy A SeaGate HDD. My personal experience has been Terrible.

Now there is this Reliability Study of ~27,000 HDDs:

Backblaze:

I have been using WD External HDD and they seem to be pretty durable. Do you guys think WD HDD is a safe bet then?

I am thinking of reviving my unused P-4 desktop and make it as a simple music server first. I am looking at using Vortexbox. This is just a weekend project I am planning. If things look fine, I am looking forward for a Synology based solution during my stereo upgrade planned for later this year .

Thanks a lot for the help guys.

-John.

 

[mowgli80]

I would suggest x86 based PC running openmediavault. Data stored on hard disk can only be correctly retrieved by the correct file system driver with correct processor architecture. If you use a private solution like synology etc., it means if your NAS box goes bad, there is no way to retrieve your data back form the disks unless you use another synology box which supports the file system and has the correct processor architecture. Using a widely available solution like x86 + linux/windows means you have no such contraints. Yes there is a learning curve with something like linux but it pays off on the long run as you come to know more about data protection technologies than using a GUI which simplifiess everything but has limited options.

On disk front, my feelings mirror indianears'. Seagate is horrible. I have had multiple disks crash on me. I lost one just last month out of nowhere, working fine in the night but stopped working the next morning. I lost all 2 TB of data .

I would also suggest you buy drives from abroad if possible. After my drive failed, I bought a sealed WD drive locally from a reputed shop but running a data retrieval software showed it was a used disk and lots of deleted files. My gut feeling is indian importers are buying refurbished drives from the manufacturers cheap and selling them as new to maximise profit. They have already reduced the warranty from 5yrs to 2 yrs as the drive quality has gone down.

@jagdish_p: I am able to "stream" extremely high bitrate movies (15GB) from my NAS to HTPC over 150N wifi using the new caching option with xbmc gotham without any stutters. You may want to give it a try.

 

[Shivam]

HDD failure is an integral part of using them. RAID is there to prevent data loss due to drive failure and SMART to help us understand the condition of drive in most cases. I have faced failed HDDs from WD, Seagate, Hitachi etc. So now I choose the HDD based on the price and compatibility with the hardware instead of going by the general consensus and company name.

 

[hydra]

http://blog.backblaze.com/2014/01/21/what-hard-drive-should-i-buy/

Engadget had featured this story a few days back. These are real world usage statistics compiled by Backblaze. Hitachi drives had the least failure rate. And Seagates had the highest failure rate.

 

[chetansha]

I have been using Western Digital My book live and Seagate goflex Home, and i am quite happy with both. Each has its + and - .

 

[dheerajjotwani]

missed this thread. few notes on what i have observed having tested many h/w and s/w solutions both diy and proprietary.

1. start small. most of the times we think of 4 bay solutions to begin with and never end up using 50-60% of the space.
2. for a novice, go with a dedicated setup like the wd my book live/ seagate goflex home since these work well out of the box plus provide a certain degree of added useability thanks to 3rd party plugins etc. both have great forum support
3. ready made solutions are perfect for a out of box experience like netgear rn10400, wd my cloud ex4, synology, qnap etc. they work brilliantly but are costly. tinkering with them is possible too with a little effort.
4. a full diy takes patience and a lot of effort to get it right. its a great learning experience. there are lotsa guides but some basic linux knowledge or willingness to never give in is necessary.

so first identify usage, capacity, budget and effort you are willing to put in that order and then look for choices.

hd streaming over wifi n works well. sustained quality link between the player and router almost always gives a stutter free playback. its gotta do more with wifi router and devices than the nas. thumb rule though is to wire it up as much as u can.