Is NAS Really What I'm Looking for?

Lwes96 on 02/10/2017 - 23:40

So I have been a user of portable hard drives for the past ten years. In the early days, data was never backed up and when I did lose it, it was never that big of a deal. But since 2013 happened, I've been averaging 1TB a year. Not sure if that is substantial or not but that's for another topic.

I'm currently sitting on 5TB of information across three different portable hard drives. And now it's time for me to look for a new hard drive, except this time I might look for a different sort of drive but unsure of what it is I'm looking for.

So what is it am I looking for?
I'm currently studying film and television at university which uses RED cameras so a lot of data needs to be transferred often. I save my photos and iPhone backups on the computer rather than the cloud, but music is Spotify. I also make Time Machine backups which at the moment is running through my first hard drive I ever brought (WD 160GB).

My initial plan was to consolidate all the 5TB onto an enclosure with the possibility of RAID. Then I'll be free with 3 blank hard drives to use.

So is NAS the best option?
Or is a direct USB 3 option better for me?
Or have I not considered not enough information yet?

I very new to the whole NAS etc things, and even newer as a OzBargain member although I've been on this site since high school many many years ago.

Computing

Comments

  • CyberMurning on 03/10/2017 - 00:05
    +5

    Yes….. Get a nas

  • Diji1 on 03/10/2017 - 00:15

    NAS is limited by network speed which is usually 1Gbps unless you have something more expensive than usual such as 10Gbps ethernet.

    USB HDD is limited by USB interface: USB 3.0 is 5Gbps, USB 3.1 is 10Gbps.

  • Vortex99 on 03/10/2017 - 00:18
    +1

    These were awesome when available. If you want to dip your toes in, try a 2 bay NAS like this ~$210. Smaller than a toaster, whisper quiet, sip electricity and can be tucked away.

  • garetz on 03/10/2017 - 01:03
    +1

    You want 3 things.

    1. A very fast usb connecting device that you can use for your daily needs.

    2. Something you can dump that data on, as needed.

    3. A backup.

    for 1, it depends on what you need to transfer daily, I would get an external usb 3.1 ssd drive for this, propably 256gb should be enough.

    for 2, just a normal hard disk internal on your computer, a black wd 5 tb will propably do. This data is backed up to no 3, so if it dies you still have a backup. You can add another 5tb for more data as needed.

    for 3, a 4 disk x 3tb nas setup should suffice using wd 3tb reds. Keep at least 1-2 spare 3tbs in case 1 fails and you need to repopulate the nas. For the nas i prefer synology, but qnap is also up there.

  • AlienC on 03/10/2017 - 02:29
    +1

    Just get 2 x Seagate 8tb off Amazon. Should cost you roughly somewhere under $500 AUD all up after shipping and everything but still totally worth it. Works out to be about $30/tb which is not bad tbh.

    If you find a 10tb deal that is even better then jump on that but still early days 8tb is where is at atm.

    Check Amazon US for great deals.

    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01HAPGEIE/ref=oh_aui_deta…

    This is the one I purchased, two to be exact. Working all great.

    If storage is what you need then this will suit you perfectly.

    Here is some exact pricing.

    Just checked 2 of them in my cart.. comes to $478 AUD total including all costs which in this case is just $451.50 AUD for the drives and $26.50 AUD for the shipping.

    Great deal imho only issue might be if Seagate honours or does international warranty as at this point in tune I am not sure so that would be a determining factor if you decide to get them from America or overseas.

    But yeah you could use one as your primary and the second one as backup therefore you have at least one level of error and redundancy protection.

  • ExtraSalt on 03/10/2017 - 07:11
    +2

    i came here to talk about Rap and Hip Hop….This thread is not what i thought it was going to be

  • ihbh on 03/10/2017 - 08:14
    +1

    What you need is redundancy - a second drive to back up your 5TB of data onsite, then a third drive to back up the data offsite.

    How you do it can be in the form of external drives, a NAS, etc.

  • CyberMurning on 03/10/2017 - 08:25

    multiple disks, you keep pluggin in pluggin out to find a specific file, time consuming and stressful. (i'm talking when you have more than 3 disks, and you have only 2 usb ports empty on your laptop or desktop).
    imagine the usb cables.. the power cables… everywhere…

    and how about backup? backing up manually? really?

    just get a nas. you can backup something else too. family photos, girlfriend photos, pet photos…

  • John Kimble on 03/10/2017 - 10:01

    At the very least you should probably update your time machine HDD given they tend to fail the older they are?

  • dogboy on 03/10/2017 - 12:27

    I would go for a 3 part plan:
    1. Portable USB3 HDD for everyday needs
    2. NAS or similar (G8/N54L) to store everything
    3. Backup to cloud for the important stuff (photos)

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