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Help evaluating an NAS solution

Help evaluating an NAS solution

Old Mar 18, 2009, 1:40 pm
  #16  
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Originally Posted by nmenaker
WHS doesn't do RAID IIRC.
It is not traditional RAID but the data is stored in multiple places such that the failure of a single drive doesn't cause a loss of data (in theory). I am a rather strong opponent of software RAID - including the WHS sort of approach - as the chances of a software failure are higher than the chances of a hardware failure and the recovery steps are likely to be more troublesome. But that's just me.
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Old Mar 18, 2009, 2:39 pm
  #17  
 
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Originally Posted by pred02
1) Sharing of files across a number of workstations;
2) Those files to be safe in event of a hardware failure
3) Maintainless process for the system performing 1 and 2 above.

Thanks!
I realize that you said you're not interested in WHS, but WHS meets the criteria you're looking for. I'm just saying

Another thing to think about. You mentioned viruses as a concern for the Microsoft platform. You're going to be storing data on your NAS from your Windows laptops / desktops, correct? Do you plan on running antivirus software on a Linux NAS? Your real virus exposure is in the data that you're storing on the NAS, and if you're not running an A/V solution on the NAS to scan the data that you're storing / sharing on it, then you're leaving yourself exposed.
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Old Mar 18, 2009, 2:49 pm
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I would just go with a simple NAS, 1TB, and then a back up THAT backup either direct to that NAS - many do this. Most NAS will offer such software to essentially backup the NAS to another USB drive even connected to it. I have a couple from Iomega that do jus this.

It won't be RAID, but it would be much less expensive. The Iomega ones also offer remote login and access, like the western digital ones do too. It costs something like 45$ a year after 3-6 months free, but then YOU TOO could access the files and check on the backups
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Old Mar 18, 2009, 3:51 pm
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Originally Posted by pred02
1) Sharing of files across a number of workstations;
2) Those files to be safe in event of a hardware failure
3) Maintainless process for the system performing 1 and 2 above.

I will set the workstations so documents are all saved to these drives and all pictures, videos, and other media files are available there. Thus the loss of the independent workstation hard drives is less of a concern that the above.

Thanks!
They all have internet access?
just go with an online back-up\sync solution

Carbonite, mozy, Adrive, livemesh, live skydrive, sugarsync or the like
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Old Mar 19, 2009, 8:33 am
  #20  
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Originally Posted by windwalker
They all have internet access?
just go with an online back-up\sync solution

Carbonite, mozy, Adrive, livemesh, live skydrive, sugarsync or the like
A couple of issues with that. There is lots of data (about 300-500 gig worth) I presume that the only backup services do incremental uploads so it would not be a problem to back it up there as well. Secondly, the privacy of data, I mean the digital photos and videos detail our lives month to month for the last 7-8 years. Thirdly, what happens if one of these services goes under, maybe not tomorrow but 5, 10 years from now?

Thanks!
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Old Mar 19, 2009, 8:54 am
  #21  
 
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Originally Posted by pred02
Thirdly, what happens if one of these services goes under, maybe not tomorrow but 5, 10 years from now?

Thanks!
That there is the biggest concern, IMO. A few online storage providers have gone under in the past, literally overnight, leaving their users completely helpless.
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Old Mar 19, 2009, 11:49 am
  #22  
 
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Now I understand

My mistake I thought you meant that multiple machines was a option you were exploring not that you already had. I have setup the WD NAS box for a few people. They use the 1TB system (2x500GB drives), which we setup in a mirrored pair (500GB available). It connects to the router with Gig-E, and can even be wireless (but slow this way). No software is required for windows or mac. If everyone using this can see everyones data you are done. If not then you need to setup access controls. But since this is home use just create a share (folder) by user name.
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Old Mar 19, 2009, 11:56 am
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different

Originally Posted by sbm12
It is not traditional RAID but the data is stored in multiple places such that the failure of a single drive doesn't cause a loss of data (in theory). I am a rather strong opponent of software RAID - including the WHS sort of approach - as the chances of a software failure are higher than the chances of a hardware failure and the recovery steps are likely to be more troublesome. But that's just me.
The only way to have file and folder and data duplication on the WHS is to set it up that way, as essentially a within the tower multiple backup strategy. The drives are independent, and they are not redundant if setup as shared storage. So, if one doesn't specifically say, keep DRIVE A, separate from the DRIVE B and C aggregate storage pool, and then also specifically says backup folder 1-10 on drive A, ALSO on the shared storage pool, then if drive A fails, you will lose the data. This drive is not spanned across any other drives in WHS.

I have four drives in the tower, disk 0 (original and OS disk) and disk 1 and 2, in a pool of 2.5TB. Then, disk 3 (the fourth in the tower) contains backups of essential data that I had designated as needed to backup. If disk 0 fails, I am SOL as for the OS going down. I cannot just pop in another disk 0 and be back up and running.

so, it isn't really as great as RAID CAN be, but it is also much faster and more specific.
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Old Mar 19, 2009, 12:21 pm
  #24  
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Originally Posted by nmenaker
so, it isn't really as great as RAID CAN be, but it is also much faster and more specific.
I'll give you "more specific" since you actually choose what you want to have drive-independent redundancy on, though that can be a bad thing if you forget to choose the data you want protected.

The one I'm not at all sure of is "faster." How is WHS faster?

As for protecting the OS volume, it just depends on whether that is on a RAID volume or not; WHS and a traditional RAID storage solution are the same in that regard. My current solution has a stand-alone boot volume and RAID 1 for my data. If the boot volume dies I'm down, but I haven't lost any data. I'm OK with that.
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Old Mar 19, 2009, 9:26 pm
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Originally Posted by windwalker
They all have internet access?
just go with an online back-up\sync solution

Carbonite, mozy, Adrive, livemesh, live skydrive, sugarsync or the like
That first Level 0 backup is a killer though.
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Old Mar 20, 2009, 5:55 am
  #26  
 
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Originally Posted by pred02
A couple of issues with that. There is lots of data (about 300-500 gig worth) I presume that the only backup services do incremental uploads so it would not be a problem to back it up there as well. Secondly, the privacy of data, I mean the digital photos and videos detail our lives month to month for the last 7-8 years. Thirdly, what happens if one of these services goes under, maybe not tomorrow but 5, 10 years from now?
Thanks!
300-500, ouch !!, you'd go broke paying their fees too. And,winkydink is right about that first backup

truecrypt is your friend

possibly out of business, no answer for that one
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Old Mar 20, 2009, 1:18 pm
  #27  
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Originally Posted by windwalker
300-500, ouch !!, you'd go broke paying their fees too. And,winkydink is right about that first backup

truecrypt is your friend

possibly out of business, no answer for that one
HDV MPEG2 files are a killer.
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Old Mar 22, 2009, 12:50 am
  #28  
 
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FreeNAS has been my fav. workgroup server solution for awhile. Flexible, price is right. Performance isn't the best, but it's been fast enough where I've deployed it. I have quite a few of them out there. Can't remember the last time I've had to do any real maintenance on them. Sadly, I find FreeNAS shares via Samba (Windows Sharing) better than Windows does. One of those "just works" solutions, despite not being as fast as some of the other NAS solutions out there. Then again some of mine are running on PII-400MHz computers.

I definitely understand the high gig requirements. I have 8 TB of internal drives on my FreeNAS. It gets used as a server and once a month it does a differential backup to a FreeNAS box at one of my data centers. Every so often I'll manually carry a few 1TB ESATA drives between the two machines and do full backups of a few drives at a time.
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