Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Entry-Level NAS Storage Servers Compared

Posted by samzenpus on from the line-them-up dept.

snydeq writes "InfoWorld's Desmond Fuller provides an in-depth comparison of five entry-level NAS storage servers, including cabinets from Iomega, Netgear, QNAP, Synology, and Thecus. 'With so many use cases and potential buyers, the vendors too often try to be everything to everyone. The result is a class of products that suffers from an identity crisis — so-called business storage solutions that are overloaded with consumer features and missing the ease and simplicity that business users require,' Fuller writes. 'Filled with 10TB or 12TB of raw storage, my test systems ranged in price from $1,699 to $3,799. Despite that gap, they all had a great deal in common, from core storage services to performance. However, I found the richest sets of business features — straightforward setup, easy remote access, plentiful backup options — at the higher end of the scale.'"

6 of 182 comments (clear)

  1. one-page version by larry+bagina · · Score: 5, Informative

    here

    --
    Do you even lift?

    These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.

  2. Synology is nice by SirMasterboy · · Score: 5, Informative

    I have a DS1010+ 5-bay model and absolutely love it. It's got 10TB in it right now but I may replace the drives with 3TB models eventually. With a dual-core 1.6GHz atom and 1GB DDR2 ram it easily reads and writes at 100+MB/s via a RAID5 array on my simple home gigabit network.

    Also the new NAS' that are Intel-based can run most CLI linux servers and programs which is great. You may need to add more RAM if you run lots of heavy servers or have lots of concurrent users but most have spare ram slots.

    The best thing I find about Synology is their every updating and cutting edge Web GUI. They are already using HTML-5 features to support things like dragging and dropping files right into your web-browser to upload files to the NAS remotely.

  3. No mention of SMB2 support by Trongy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The newer SMB2 protocol in post Vista version of windows is much more efficient in network usage. Samba 3.6 now has SMB2 support, but the article doesn't say which (if any) of these devices support the newer protocol.

  4. Horrible article, No Metrics by bigdady92 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    There is no mention of speed, performance, file copy replication, the ins and out of each solution, just a list of features they all share and how the author went about determining them at his whim. Without metrics this article is just a sales blurb for links. Other websites do it better: Storagereview for one, Smallnetbuilder is the other.

    Another wretched sales brouchure disguised as a review by Infoworld.

    --
    Wheel of Time: Book by Book and Sumview (summary review) Bigdady92 style: http://bigdady92.blogspot.com/
  5. Re:price by failedlogic · · Score: 5, Funny

    Quick and easy tip to increase storage space on a budget: buy the 3.5" model and punch a hole in the top corner. When the first side is full flip over the disk and use the other side. You will need to periodically flip the disk over and make note of what side contains the data you want.

  6. That PSU is to cheap and more ram can help as well by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 4, Informative

    That PSU is to cheap at least get a $50+ one and don't just go for high watts.

    get 2-4 GB ram mini should only be about $50-$60 for good 8 GB DDR 3 you want at least dual channel ram.

    8 sata ports you may want to get a pci-e raid card / sata card. Maybe even SAS.

    redundancy you may want raid 6 on a raid card and not on board fake raid and most south bridges only have 6 ports any ways.

    Also some low end MB only have 10/100'.