[gkinberg]

I know that the answer to my questions are probably out there but I'm looking for help.

Our home laptop computer died on us. We just purchased a refurbished HP pavillion dv7 from costco. We didn't have any backup so I want to buy a network attached storage (NAS) that will store all of our music, pictures and maybe even movies.

Recommendations regarding the NAS?

Are they all the same?

I'm thinking about a buffalo 2 TB NAS that I will run in a mirrored format. I will wire the NAS to a router. I also plan to wire my receiver, TV and PS3. I'm sure that there are multiple problems with this configuration. I would like suggestions as to where this configuration is bad or could use tweeks. However, this is the basic framework that I'm working with. 

The last peice of the puzzle that I need I guess is a "transport" i guess you'd call it. Such as a squeezebox or something comperable or better. One catch that I would really like, if possible, is to view/access my music library view the TV screen.

I appreciate, any help and replies that you can offer - Garth

[firedog]

If you want to run an NAS as a SB server, check and make sure the NAS has enough computing power to run SB Server  without problems. Some do, some don't. I suggest going over to the logitech squeezebox forum and getting recommendations there. They have extensive discussions on the topic and the suitability of various pieces of hardware.

[skunark]

If you use a NAS to "store" files for other uses is not a backup, even if you "mirror" the drives.   RAID1(mirror), RAID5, etc only improves reliability of the drive (mount point, file share, etc). 

Consider online storage to back up your media or get two NASes.  I do both online to cover theft and fire along with a local backup since it's rather slow to restore an online backup.   For online i use Backblaze, but might check out Mozy, if you are still wanting to do the NAS to serve files as I think it will backup NAS.  Some folks use carbonite, but last I checked only does internal disk drives.

My experience with using a "NAS" as a file server to "stream" media or "serve" files has been disappointing.  A NAS serving files to a computer, is fine, it's slow but fine.    IMO, a large library have always worked better with the drive directly connected.    I now use a headless computer that I connect via VNC (remote desktop) to play music.   I also use that computer to serve "files" as needed, but it has the muscle to act as a good file server.

[wilsynet]

AppleTV will let you view/access your library through your television.

[gkinberg]

Firedog, thanks for the input about computing power of a NAS and SB. I didn't know about those details and I'll look into it.

skunark, thanks for your information. I have to ask, what is headless? I see that term frequently and don't know what it means. I like the idea of NAS as a server because its cheaper than buying a second computer. But if it is too slow then I may have to rethink it.

Wilsynet, I know nothing about appleTV so I'll have to look into that as well.

Thanks all - Garth

[baumer]

Garth,

Check out Netgear ReadyNAS products. They come pre-loaded with Squeezebox software on them. I used a NV+ for many years to stream music to my Duet. I had zero problems with my system and I ran it wirelessly. 

I ripped music to it from my computer directly. This is when the NAS could be painfully slow. A lot of speed issues also depends on how you use it.

Doug

[AVnerdguy]

skunark, thanks for your information. I have to ask, what is headless? I see that term frequently and don't know what it means. I like the idea of NAS as a server because its cheaper than buying a second computer. But if it is too slow then I may have to rethink it.

Headless means no monitor/keyboard or mouse. The device is accessed via another computer on the network. Basically sits there and waits for a remote command - like from a Squeezbox device, laptop, eyc.

[skunark]

skunark, thanks for your information. I have to ask, what is headless? I see that term frequently and don't know what it means. I like the idea of NAS as a server because its cheaper than buying a second computer. But if it is too slow then I may have to rethink it.

Headless means no monitor/keyboard or mouse. The device is accessed via another computer on the network. Basically sits there and waits for a remote command - like from a Squeezbox device, laptop, eyc.

Correct.. I did the NAS thing after dumping a full-tower that was running linux, gave it away after three months, picked up my first "mac" at that time and never looked back...  It was a bare-bones mac mini, and I decided to forgo the mac osx and installed linux on it and used that as a file-server for about four years.  I finally replaced that with the mac mini server and this round stayed with the mac osx.    So now I have a media drive and a very large backup drive since the server allows me to back up every computer in my house, this greatly simplifies my setup.   I've set it up to auto-login with screen locked, it fires up iTunes and a uPnP/DLNA server on login and nicely streams or serve files as needed.  This clearly cost more than a NAS, but fits my needs very nicely and I think the overall solution is less.   That server also has backblaze for online backups for just the media drive, mostly for fire/theft protection as I count the physical CD as the primary physical backup.   To my geeky friends, they feel I went a bit too far, but I've never lost data after a crash.

Every NAS is different but most are inexpensive and use an ARM processor with minimal memory, so it's important to get detailed feedback on the NAS you end up selecting.   Sadly, it's hard to take a NAS home and try it out for the weekend, so if you do go the NAS route, i hope it's a better experience than mine was.

[firedog]

See http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=72404

notes some limitations of ReadyNAS as SB server.