Setting up the NAS

[anm]

I have taken up this NAS - http://www.hifivision.com/sale-owner/31034-netgear-readynas-nv-4-bay-diskless.html

My basic use of the NAS is NAS, ie, sharing files over network to multiple devices. At this moment, I may not need the RAID feature right away.

Now I need to figure out what all I need to set it up. Will start with

Q1. Getting the right hard disks, and how many?

It supports upto 2TB only. Does that mean I can not even put a 3TB hdd, or does it mean that only upto 2TB of a 3TB hdd will be used?

Does it make sense to buy a 3TB? I "suspect" (not sure) that their future FW update MAY enable support for 3TB hdd.

Should I go for 3TB disk right away, or buy 2TB?

Most of my music, photos and home made videos should fit in 2TB. These are also most important at this moment for sharing across devices.


Q2 - should I set up X-RAID right now, or push it to later? Wouldn't then I need to put in all 4 disks right away, which means a substantial expenditure. Given that disk prices may fall, and 3TB support MAY come to this device?

Q3 - Backup of data on NAS - is there a cheaper way to back up my important stuff? Given that the NAS can grow up to 6TB, is there a cheaper option to back it up? How are you guys backing up your stuff?

 

[Shivam]

At present this NAS supports upto 2TB hard disks. The newer firmwares that are available have not yet included the support for 3TB disks and so don't upgrade the firmware till this feature is provided and you need that space. Go for 2TB HDD now.

X-RAID is a good way to start if you want to use RAID capabilities of this NAS. You will need at least two hard disks for this. Later you can add one or two more depending on your requirements and the NAS will automatically keep one hard disk redundant.

Don't think of RAID as a backup plan. RAID will help only in case of a hard disk failure. You should have a backup seperately. I have a USB hard disk that holds my important data as a backup and some of the data is written on optical medias and stored in an album.

 

[anm]

thanks. I think optical disks are the best way to backup. I should be backing up only most important data. How expensive is blu-ray media/ writer?
Will use my existing USBs to back up till the time they serve.

Shivam - did you try the "snapshot" feature in the NAS?

 

[Shivam]

thanks. I think optical disks are the best way to backup. I should be backing up only most important data. How expensive is blu-ray media/ writer?
Will use my existing USBs to back up till the time they serve.

Shivam - did you try the "snapshot" feature in the NAS?

I never tried the snapshot feature. On my Windows machine I use a microsoft tool called SyncToy to simply 'echo' the contents that I want to be backed up to another location.
Your ReadyNAS has rsync which is said to be very good tool for backing up but I have never tried it.

See this link for bluray writer -
Theitdepot - LG 14x Internal SATA Blue-Ray Drive (WH14NS40)
I use DVDs for backing up since they are not very expensive.

In terms of importance, the data that I back up-
Office files
Finance related documents
Emails
Photographs
Purchased and downloaded music

( Ripped music and movies can be had again if they ever get lost. )

 

[GeorgeO]

I personally think Flex Raid is a good option(appending drives without the Raid feature), and I am planning to do that on my NAS, since I am backing up all my critical stuff elsewhere.