Synology USB Station 2

[haisaikat]

I explained this before but nevertheless again not a problem. Typically I am already owning a pre-built NAS which has two 1TB drives giving me lots of space. I used to keep my FHD movies, MP3, Photos all inside it alongwith semi HD movies, TV Shows etc. Now I have a network of friends and relatives with whom I regularly exchange items. Since I cannot give them the entire NAS box I end up copying the friend's preferred items into a USB Portable HDD and give it. If he has something to give me in return I have to copy them again inside the NAS to be able to share them on network again, tomorrow if I run out of space on the USB Portable drive I remove some or all files and re-copy fresh ones for sharing with friends once again. I want to avoid this extra bit since I already have 1TB External Drive and planning to get another 3TB the advantage being I can easily carry these to somebody's place for give-n-take. Having this Synology or similar product relieves me of all these hasstles as I can instantly put new items on share on the network typically like Hot Swappable drives. Moreover this having built in UPNP server can stream to PS3, TV directly. Hence the keyword is convenience.

 

[sudhishkv]

Checkout the features of Synology Diskstation DS212J here

DS212j Products - Synology Inc. Network Attached Storage - NEW NAS Experience

24/7 torrent download and uses only 17 Watts of power compared to 119 watts of my desktop One of the best feature and the reason to buy this.

 

[haisaikat]

hp n36l seems good platform but import cost is too jigh, almost 10k. Is the board only available in India?

 

[haisaikat]

Another option for the mobo in mini ITX platform Digilite DL425 ATOM Combo Motherboard | Combo Motherboard | Flipkart.com just around INR 3300. As suggested by sam I am avoiding gigabyte boards for their incompatibility with UnRaid.

 

[manniraj]

Another option for the mobo in mini ITX platform Digilite DL425 ATOM Combo Motherboard | Combo Motherboard | Flipkart.com just around INR 3300. As suggested by sam I am avoiding gigabyte boards for their incompatibility with UnRaid.

As I said earlier this mobo has only 2 sata ports so not much of use in NAS based setup. Hence I went for this mobo (ASUS M5A78L-M LX Motherboard) along with a Athlon X2 from flipkart. I should be getting them today and plan to build the UnRAID by this weekend.

thanks

 

[haisaikat]

@manniraj, My NAS setup was to support the USBs mainly and at lowest possible cost (since it is competing with the Synology USB Station 2) and power consumption also at lower sides. But its good that you are going on a path with future upgradability. What cabinet and PSU do you plan to use? Your mobo + processor spend is abot 5.5K INR, in another 2.5K you could have kept the same processor but with this mobo Asus M5A88-M Motherboard which could give you SATA 6gbps ports and USB 3.0.

 

[manniraj]

@manniraj, My NAS setup was to support the USBs mainly and at lowest possible cost (since it is competing with the Synology USB Station 2) and power consumption also at lower sides. But its good that you are going on a path with future upgradability. What cabinet and PSU do you plan to use? Your mobo + processor spend is abot 5.5K INR, in another 2.5K you could have kept the same processor but with this mobo Asus M5A88-M Motherboard which could give you SATA 6gbps ports and USB 3.0.

I already have my sister's old compaq case, so going to reuse it. Its a nice case which can hold upto 6 to 7 hdd. About the motherboard that you have listed yes I went thru it as well but I do not think for a NAS 6gbps ports are required. A 3gbps are more than sufficient. USB 3.0 is also not useful when you are going to have everything you need in the internal HDD. If at all I require using a portable HDD then I can connect it to my Netgear wireless router which has a usb port (only 2.0). I can use that spare cash to get some more hdd's by adding some more cash. I tried to keep the cost as bare minimum as possible as you do not require hifi stuff in a NAS. You require only more and more TB. By the way I also ordered the D-Link 528T gigabit LAN card from gadgets.in site for 850 bucks. So a total of around 8.5k for the stuff and may be another 6-7k for 2TB HDD and my DIY NAS should be ready.
I ordered a Cooler master 350W PSU for 1750 odd from flipkart. I am going to take out a 2gb RAM stick from my htpc and use it in the NAS. Now I just need a 2TB HDD as I am going to get another from US when my parents return back in Sept.

Thanks

 

[haisaikat]

okay do post pics when your setup is complete, would be good to take feedbacks from you, I will in the meantime enquire locally if I can get USB 3.0 or more SAT ports enabled ITX platform mobos at low prices. Since I am on a tight budget thinking whether I should go for just 2 SATA mini ITX mobo at this time and later on add this KINGWIN KF-4002-BK KF-4002-BK Multi-Bay Internal Rack, 4 Drives for 3 Bay Space for SATA, KF4002BK @ AntaresPro.com as a separate mount for HDDs since I already have DNS323 in running condition. This will connect to one of the SATA ports of the mobo. Will ship to India in approx 5K INR

 

[manniraj]

okay do post pics when your setup is complete, would be good to take feedbacks from you, I will in the meantime enquire locally if I can get USB 3.0 or more SAT ports enabled ITX platform mobos at low prices. Since I am on a tight budget thinking whether I should go for just 2 SATA mini ITX mobo at this time and later on add this KINGWIN KF-4002-BK KF-4002-BK Multi-Bay Internal Rack, 4 Drives for 3 Bay Space for SATA, KF4002BK @ AntaresPro.com as a separate mount for HDDs since I already have DNS323 in running condition. This will connect to one of the SATA ports of the mobo. Will ship to India in approx 5K INR

Yes will post the pictures. I have the Xtreamer eTRAYz 2 Bay NAS purchased from one of the FM and I am putting it on sale as I am going the DIY way with UnRAID. I am waiting for the Mod to approve the sale thread and I can use the funds for my DIY.

Thanks

 

[sam9s]

I already have my sister's old compaq case, so going to reuse it. Its a nice case which can hold upto 6 to 7 hdd. About the motherboard that you have listed yes I went thru it as well but I do not think for a NAS 6gbps ports are required. A 3gbps are more than sufficient. USB 3.0 is also not useful when you are going to have everything you need in the internal HDD. If at all I require using a portable HDD then I can connect it to my Netgear wireless router which has a usb port (only 2.0). I can use that spare cash to get some more hdd's by adding some more cash. I tried to keep the cost as bare minimum as possible as you do not require hifi stuff in a NAS. You require only more and more TB. By the way I also ordered the D-Link 528T gigabit LAN card from gadgets.in site for 850 bucks. So a total of around 8.5k for the stuff and may be another 6-7k for 2TB HDD and my DIY NAS should be ready.
I ordered a Cooler master 350W PSU for 1750 odd from flipkart. I am going to take out a 2gb RAM stick from my htpc and use it in the NAS. Now I just need a 2TB HDD as I am going to get another from US when my parents return back in Sept.

Thanks

Good to see your NAS shaping up manniraj, I read your post and your planning is good, also good decision to get quality gbps card (you wont regret). Just make sure you couple it with a quality gbps LAN Router and cat 6 cables) About USB 3.0, even if you would be keeping everything on to your NAS, you still would be copying stuff from external sources to your NAS. Except if maybe your NAS would also be your 24x7 download machine. (Which it is not in my case. I have my laptop as my 24x7 running (download machine) and believe me copying 5+ GB files from my laptop to NAS via USB 2.0 or Wifi n or 10/100 Mbps LAN is pure simple pain in the A**. (my laptop limitations)), I have to copy files on my USB 3.0 WD drive and then transfer the file from my desktop PC (with USB 3.0) to NAS on Gagabit LAN...which is a breezzzzz/blazzer. I miss USB 3.0 on my laptop (download machine). I'd say USB 3 is the way to go, it actually is blazing fast .....

 

[manniraj]

Good to see your NAS shaping up manniraj, I read your post and your planning is good, also good decision to get quality gbps card (you wont regret). Just make sure you couple it with a quality gbps LAN Router and cat 6 cables) About USB 3.0, even if you would be keeping everything on to your NAS, you still would be copying stuff from external sources to your NAS. Except if maybe your NAS would also be your 24x7 download machine. (Which it is not in my case. I have my laptop as my 24x7 running (download machine) and believe me copying 5+ GB files from my laptop to NAS via USB 2.0 or Wifi n or 10/100 Mbps LAN is pure simple pain in the A**. (my laptop limitations)), I have to copy files on my USB 3.0 WD drive and then transfer the file from my desktop PC (with USB 3.0) to NAS on Gagabit LAN...which is a breezzzzz/blazzer. I miss USB 3.0 on my laptop (download machine). I'd say USB 3 is the way to go, it actually is blazing fast .....

Thanks Sam. Me too using my HP laptop with core i3 brought from US for torrent downloading and copying the same using the LAN cable routed thru my Netgear to my htpc. My lappy has a usb 3.0 port but sadly I do not have any external hdd with usb3. I am able to copy a 6 gb file in close to 11 to 13 minutes. But I am planning to use my NAS as a torrent download as well. I have only the cat 5 cables as of now but my parents would be bringing in the cat6 cables around sept along with some other stuff.

thanks

 

[haisaikat]

for cabling you can also get cat5e+ cables which i recently got locally for less than Rs 20 a metre including installation. It supports GBPS although I have not mentioned the loss but FHD video streaming happens smoothly with power cables running parallelly over several places across the length.