I have been searching for an inexpensive (cheep??) solution for my file storage needs. This is most definetly a weird market, ie Network Attached Storage. There are new Home Network 'boxes' being fielded by everyone (it seems).
Netgear, Iomega, LaCie, Buffalo, D-Link, Apple.....These solutions provide varying levels of options and services, and with that comes varying levels of heartburn. Due to customer support, application flaws and of course hardware problems (some units are picky about which HD's they will recognize...).
Plus, there is also the solution of building your own (which I did last year with FreeNAS), which might be the best solution. That way you would have exactly what you want..
In a nutshell. I wanted a basic file server with: Raid-1, gigabit connectivity, easy setup, sata drives, allow for critical file backups, usable by all my OS's (w2k, xp, *nix), small footprint (easy), low power (also easy) and low cost.
I settled on a D-Link DNS-321 (This is a scaled down version of their DNS-323). The 321 uses a slower cpu (400mhz vs 500), does not have print server ability and will not work with bit-torrent. I can live with that.
Anyway, I paid $100 for the enclosure, and ~$170 for 3 - 320 gig sata's. I know, I know, why so small with the HD's you are wondering... I was trying to keep the price down (and buy what I hoped were solid HD's), and my old server only had 80 gig of storage anyway. Plus, I am not planning on storing A/V on the NAS. So, to get back to it.... I bought 3 HD's so I could have a spare on hand.
After deciding on this NAS, I flipped through some forums (again) and reviewed my notes. It seemed that some owners had problems getting the 321 to be recognized on their network (the problem looked like the setup software..). There are also some 'permissions' issues (they get lost, go missing etc). Since there are only 2 people using this, permissions are a moot point for me. So when I set my 321 up, I ignored the setup CD provided, and went straight for the ip address of the 321. Found it, connected through the web interface, and began to set it up.
The setup (via web interface) and configuration for RAID-1 was easy and flawless (some people reported problems here also. I still think it's the setup software...which I did not use). I copied a bunch of files from my 'old' server to the 321. Then I did a controlled 'shutdown' of the 321, replaced one of the HD's with the spare. I powered up the 321 and it re-configured itself for RAID-1. Checking the web interface showed a successful RAID-1 configuration, and all files were secure.
This solution may not be for everyone. And when buying 'off the shelf', you have to take what you get. But, for my needs, this is working out fine so far....
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Originally Posted by Bender10
