[kenreau]

Looking for recommendations on an external hard drive NAS system optimized to work with Apples platform, firewire 800, etc. 

My current plan is to use the mac mini internal 160 gb hard drive for the os and basic programs.  Eventually plan to change it to a SSD.  I had in mind an external hard drive system with 4 bay x 1.5TB for total 6TB system.  To be used for a house network back up and primary storage for 4 users.  I was thinking a raid 5 config.  [up to 3 TB data with complete mirrored back up].

I've read a few good comments regarding the OWC Mercury product and then a few more really shot it down (see Amazon reviews).  This +/- $800 price point is my budget range

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/hard-drives/RAID/Desktop/

Any other recommendations out there for a similar solid (set it and forget it) system?

Fwiw, I just learned of a forum that provides a good summary of the topic at  http://guides.macrumors.com/External_Hard_Drives

Thanks
Kenreau

[skunark]

Drobo's are an interesting choice as they now offer FW800 and will allow you to hot-swap a drive as you need to grow.  Not all RAID5 solutions allow for that.  One other interesting feature Drobo offers is to create a disk larger than your current storage which I think is useful with windows or if you were going to connect it up to a router with USB port.   

Like most raid-5 solutions, I found Drobo a bit noisy and have opted for fanless external drives and also started doing offsite backups.  I am losing out on the added benefit of CRC checking that RAID-5 or Drobo offers.    I now use my drobo to archive data and it's mostly powered off now.

Once SSDs become more cost effective I might reconsider my decisions.

Best of luck --Jim

[kenreau]

Thanks Jim, I will check out the Drobo.

I'm kind of perplexed that these NAS machines cost so much when I can buy 1.5TB HDs for ~$100-$120 now.

Kenreau

[skunark]

Yeah they get costly pretty quick.  Here's a link to a post which kinda describes what I would do today if I was adding storage to a mac mini.   

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=78352.msg742852#msg742852

[JohnR]

Are you looking for NAS (networked i.e. Ethernet) or attached (FireWire/USB)?

[kenreau]

Are you looking for NAS (networked i.e. Ethernet) or attached (FireWire/USB)?

I was thinking a NAS for outboard mass storage and back up of the music files to be played from the mac mini on board hard drive program/os.  I was under the impression the firewire would be the best path to connect these with.  I am using a mwi transporter for a music server and it has a ethernet connection now.  The mac mini and NAS will be physically in the same room so cablng/ethernet/usb/firewire is not a challenge. 

There will be 2 or 3 other computers in the house that I had intended to use in a similar manner (local HD on imac/pc with OS and main files networked to NAS storage).  These other computers are on another floor of the house and may be a challenge to run ethernet to.  Maybe end up needing to connect them over wifi to the NAS. 

I may be misunderstanding the question?

Thx
Kenreau

[skunark]

I think it might be semantics he is after..

Network attached storage NAS, refers to just the HDD or device that connects to a network that one would remotely manage like you would a router or wired/wireless printer.   Which most likely is a bare-bones ARM processor running Linux in the same box as the HDD..     Several RAID5 manufactures will offer an Ethernet port and sell it as a NAS box.  (i.e. http://westerndigital.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=584 with built-in itunes server support)  This is optional with a drobo as well and you can also create a NAS with pretty much any router today that has a usb port and a usb drive.

If your goal is to use the mac mini FW port to connect the external drive to then you would essentially have a NAS but it might stretch the definition a bit.   What you would have is a direct-attached storage connected to a server.

I've had a lacie network drive and apple time capsule and find them both horribly slow.  I gave away the lacie network drive and the owner re-gifted after a few weeks of usage...   I just now use the time capsule for a timemachine disk for a lightly used laptop and keep a FW/USB drives for the heavy users.

[JohnR]

I was thinking a NAS for outboard mass storage and back up of the music files to be played from the mac mini on board hard drive program/os.  I was under the impression the firewire would be the best path to connect these with.

Hi - if the drive is connected with firewire, then it has to be connected to one of the computers - the mini in your case I assume. This is different from a network drive (NAS) which is not connected to any particular computer, just to the network - basically, it's a small dedicated server all by itself.

I'd suggest have each computer have enough local storage for its own use, and use a cheap NAS (non-RAID) for backups only. That's what I do anyway. That way the wireless (limited bandwidth) is not really an issue either.

Note that you can always share drives attached to any of the computers. (The always-on ones anyway.)

I guess if you had something in mind like a shared iTunes library then it's a bit different.

[JohnR]

I think it might be semantics he is after..

Well... just trying to help... no sense spending a lot on the wrong thing

The NAS I use (for backups) is the WD World Edition - http://westerndigital.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=587 - seems to work fine, just shows up in the finder as a remote disk.

[skunark]

Well... just trying to help... no sense spending a lot on the wrong thing

I agree, if you don't need the network port on the external drive, it's not worth the extra cost.

The NAS I use (for backups) is the WD World Edition - http://westerndigital.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=587 - seems to work fine, just shows up in the finder as a remote disk.

Does that work with Time Machine as well?   The lacie didn't... so can I assume no with newer NASes?

[JohnR]

Does that work with Time Machine as well?   The lacie didn't... so can I assume no with newer NASes?

I don't use Time Machine, but what it seems to do is create some kind of virtual partition that you can select as the Time Machine drive. I don't see a way to limit the space used per computer though.

[kenreau]

Hi - if the drive is connected with firewire, then it has to be connected to one of the computers - the mini in your case I assume. This is different from a network drive (NAS) which is not connected to any particular computer, just to the network - basically, it's a small dedicated server all by itself.

I'd suggest have each computer have enough local storage for its own use, and use a cheap NAS (non-RAID) for backups only. That's what I do anyway. That way the wireless (limited bandwidth) is not really an issue either.

Note that you can always share drives attached to any of the computers. (The always-on ones anyway.)

I guess if you had something in mind like a shared iTunes library then it's a bit different.

The shared iTunes library is a feature I am attempting to incorporate as part of this system

Thanks
Kenreau

[JohnR]

The shared iTunes library is a feature I am attempting to incorporate as part of this system

The WD NAS I linked above says it supports a shared iTunes library - don't know what's involved or why it would be any different to just telling iTunes to get the media from the network drive, but if you need to know I'll try it out with mine. You could also look into the Home Sharing thing that iTunes has now, which is a different scenario.