[ProgSoc] Need advice on NAS & HDs to get

Anand Kumria wildfire at progsoc.org
Fri Jan 14 17:08:35 EST 2011


So, I've been following this with interest, as I used to do also build
machines and install drives in them.

After a while (circa 4 years ago) this became tiresome because, really, all
I was after was RAID1 and the ability to swap out (and throw away) a failed
drive.

So, I switch to 'ready-made' NAS products. Unfortunately - 3 years ago - my
budget did not stretch to getting one with an easy to swap drive (I bought
two Western Digital My Book World's) but they were swappable.

They have been in basically continuous service since then. BOTH failed in
the last week -- and I've spent over 130 recovering one of the drives --
with the primary drive being unusable.

The backup was there, but running a precautionary fsck over large disks can,
well, take a while.

So; for my interation; I've basically decided to go with portable, external
USB drives and have one as the primary and perform an hourly rsync to the
other. At AUD(USD)$75 for 1TB they are cheap enough that even if I have to
replace one per year, I'm still ahead.

Plus, I've got both an hourly archived copy of the data too. Yes, via USB
2.0, the transfer speed will not be brilliant but I'm willing to trade speed
for data security. Plus, are a non-technical user to pop into a shop, buy a
new disk and replace the existing one is significantly simpler.

I'd expect in a year that USB3.0 drives at 1TB become common at the sub $100
price-point, in which case it'll make sense to buy some USB3.0 PCI ports and
the speed issue will disappear too.

Anyhoo - that's my current thinking on the whole: 'secure you data on the
network' issue.

HTH.

Anand

On Thu, Jan 13, 2011 at 10:08 PM, Leefe <3trk at progsoc.uts.edu.au> wrote:

> At 12:16 PM +0000 8/1/11, jedd wrote:
>
>> [snip]
>>
>>
>>  Maybe Leefe will deign to grace us with a follow-up at some point.
>>
>>  j.
>>
>
> I'm more inclined to buy an existing NAS than build one myself. And from
> other people's replies, the ReadyNAS NV+ looks ok. But I haven't had the
> time to chase up getting one yet.
>
>
> Leefe.
>
> --
> http://progsoc.org/~3trk/ <http://progsoc.org/%7E3trk/>
>
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>
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