Because it, like many NAS appliances, is almost certainly running as the OS a slimmed down version of Linux (or maybe FreeBSD). ext4 is the obvious file system to use in such a software RAID, and thus it's configured to only support ext4 for internal drives. So no, you would not be able to format a drive as anything else and have it work in the internal bays.
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It's the NAS (Network Attached Storage) Thread, yo.
- Thread starter Jill Sandwich
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Because it, like many NAS appliances, is almost certainly running as the OS a slimmed down version of Linux (or maybe FreeBSD). ext4 is the obvious file system to use in such a software RAID, and thus it's configured to only support ext4 for internal drives. So no, you would not be able to format a drive as anything else and have it work in the internal bays.
Why would you want that? You'll be accessing the disk as network drives anyway and it doesn't matter what filesystems they have.
Oh, I see - I was assuming my OS would have to support the file system, which OS X doesn't out of the box. That was dumb, sorry.
After a week of research I will be getting this soon
Synology High-Performance 2-Bay All-In-One NAS Server (DS213+)
Synology High-Performance 2-Bay All-In-One NAS Server (DS213+)
Flying Toaster
Member
Synology is a great company with great products you will like it a lot.
For their products, if the main server fails, can I plug in one of the hard drives to a regular computer and read the contents?
Most likely not. Unless you only have a single drive the data will probably be distributed across all hard drives. A single drive of such a setup will not be readable. It might be possible if your server used RAID 1 (mirrored hard drives), but I'm not entirely sure. This isn't limited to Synology either.
Marty Chinn
Member
So how do you recover in the event of a failure? Your only choice is to buy the same unit? Will you even recover by popping the drives into a new unit?
Depending on the RAID setup you can lose a specific number of drives without losing data. You can just replace the failed hard drive and the RAID will be rebuilt.
If your server fails you may be able to put all the drives inside a normal PC running Linux. If Synology uses software RAID (I don't have a Synology NAS, but I believe they do) you don't need additional hardware and with a little command line magic you can mount the drives and extract your data. The other option is buying another server of course.
I built a machine using freenas and 2TB WD Green drives a couple years ago. Every single one of the drives died within months. Then, every replacement drive died. This continued until the drives were out of warranty and I gave up.
Can anyone recommend me a better hard drive for NAS use? Or perhaps inform me if WD has fixed the egregious issue with their 2TB Green drives?
Can anyone recommend me a better hard drive for NAS use? Or perhaps inform me if WD has fixed the egregious issue with their 2TB Green drives?
I was just going to ask this very thing.
I see WD Red drives as "NAS-safe." Are they better bets? I have two 3TB Greens running now, and they were fine for a few weeks but now are grinding something up.
Yes the WD Reds were specifically designed for NAS.
That's why Software RAID > Hardware RAID for emergencies.
Don't know about Synology though.
I know for WHS V1, you could plug in the drives to read contents. Don't know about the later versions.
Most companies that make NASes have a certified list of drives to use with their machines. They test them for this kinda of stuff. I've stuck with "certified" disks for one of my NASes and they outlasted the server. I was able to move over one disk to the other nas....
Which comes to this point. Most NASes have proprietary RAIDs ( Netgear uses Flex, Synology has their own thing). Almost all of these are based on EXT 4 mirrored for the first two drives.
If the machine dies, you still have two copies of the data which you can mount on a linux machine and get to the data. (I had to do this when a surge killed one drive and the NAS itself.
All I did was put the good drive in ubuntu and pulled the files I needed while my replacement machine came in. Then I just slipped the good drive in the NAS and I was back up and running.
When you move to 3+ more disks RAIDS, you won't be able to just plug it into any computer, but you can usually move them between NASes.
(This is why you still need a backup copy behind your working NAS copy.)
The chances of a catastrophic failure with both the disks and the machine are really slim though.
Battersea Power Station
Member
Noob question: What's the difference between using NAS and a networked drive like this:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00A3U8D7O/?tag=neogaf0e-20
What can't I do with the latter that I can do with a NAS?
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00A3U8D7O/?tag=neogaf0e-20
What can't I do with the latter that I can do with a NAS?
Valkyr Junkie
Member
A vaste increase in horsepower and functionality. That Cloudbox may offer enough functionality if you're just looking for something simple, cheap, and network-attached that you can put files on and retrieve later. A full-on NAS is going to provide a lot more advanced functionality since they are closer to full-fledged PCs/Servers. Additionally, that Cloudbox does not appear to be expandable and only contains a single HDD, so you have very little protection or recovery options should that HDD fail.
An update of my current NAS setup.
I just got two new DLINK DNS320 to replace the 2 DNS321. The 320 is the newer version that support 3TB drives, despite the lower model number.
I stuff 4 3TB Seagate drives in them and run RAID-0 for maximum performance.
As far as backup goes, I have 3 3-TB external drives to backup the media files every 3 months or so. The vast majority of my data are media files so I have no need to backup them daily. For the small portion of files that I need to backup daily, I put them in NAS1 and setup NAS2 to backup them daily. The DNS320 has a new function that can do recurring backup designated folders on the SMB network by itself without the computer. Its very handy.
As far as bit torrent duty, whats come with the 320 is slightly better than the torrent client on 321 but barely so. I still prefer to use uTorrent on an Atom box.
I just got two new DLINK DNS320 to replace the 2 DNS321. The 320 is the newer version that support 3TB drives, despite the lower model number.
I stuff 4 3TB Seagate drives in them and run RAID-0 for maximum performance.
As far as backup goes, I have 3 3-TB external drives to backup the media files every 3 months or so. The vast majority of my data are media files so I have no need to backup them daily. For the small portion of files that I need to backup daily, I put them in NAS1 and setup NAS2 to backup them daily. The DNS320 has a new function that can do recurring backup designated folders on the SMB network by itself without the computer. Its very handy.
As far as bit torrent duty, whats come with the 320 is slightly better than the torrent client on 321 but barely so. I still prefer to use uTorrent on an Atom box.
Battersea Power Station
Member
Thanks a lot. As far as horsepower, would soemthing simpler like the Cloudbox be able to stream HD media (over LAN) to a XBMC client, Plex, etc.?
Valkyr Junkie
Member
Yup, definitely.
An update of my current NAS setup.
I just got two new DLINK DNS320 to replace the 2 DNS321. The 320 is the newer version that support 3TB drives, despite the lower model number.
I stuff 4 3TB Seagate drives in them and run RAID-0 for maximum performance.
As far as backup goes, I have 3 3-TB external drives to backup the media files every 3 months or so. The vast majority of my data are media files so I have no need to backup them daily. For the small portion of files that I need to backup daily, I put them in NAS1 and setup NAS2 to backup them daily. The DNS320 has a new function that can do recurring backup designated folders on the SMB network by itself without the computer. Its very handy.
As far as bit torrent duty, whats come with the 320 is slightly better than the torrent client on 321 but barely so. I still prefer to use uTorrent on an Atom box.
Why not step up to a 4 bay setup?
MWS Natural
Member
I have about 4TB of media currently. Looking for a NAS/HTPC all in one that can play my files (currently using PS3) but also share them. Is there a solution available that does this or should I build?
A 4-bay cost as much as 4 2-bay. I paid $90 for a DNS320.
Also I still has single point of failure with a 4-bay.
DouglasteR
Member
Anyone know how much cost the license of the 2012 essentials ? im using its trial key and have left 33 days 
Anyone know how much cost the license of the 2012 essentials ? im using its trial key and have left 33 days
$400 US DOLLARS
That's true, but you're doing routine backups anyway.
Didn't know the two bays were so cheap, I remember paying like $175 for a synology 2 bay a few years ago.
It really depends on your budget. I'm a big fan of my Synology 4 bay NAS. I've had it for 4 years now with little to no issues. I'm getting close to running out of space so it might be time for another one myself.
DouglasteR
Member
I've been looking into it. As it is now, I'm thinking that I'm probably going to move from my current Windows Home Server setup to a custom unRAID build.
But that's long term. Maybe end of year, once I find a new place to live, etc.
Woah, didn't know we had a NAS thread. I have had a Synology DS411j for a little over a year and still have these questions:
01) How can I get remote access to my NAS? I have the apps for my iPhone but I don't know how to be able to view pictures, watch movies, look at files etc. when I'm outside and away from my WiFi connection.
02) Can I record TV with the Video Station app for the Synology through my EyeTV Hybrid if it's connected to the USB in my NAS?
03) Can the Video Station app play all video formats?
01) How can I get remote access to my NAS? I have the apps for my iPhone but I don't know how to be able to view pictures, watch movies, look at files etc. when I'm outside and away from my WiFi connection.
02) Can I record TV with the Video Station app for the Synology through my EyeTV Hybrid if it's connected to the USB in my NAS?
03) Can the Video Station app play all video formats?
I can only answer 1 as my Synology is a couple years older and doesn't get the latest update with Video Station
. First thing you want to do is setup some sort of Dynamic DNS service. I believe you can do this in the Synology DSM but I typically like to have my router handle that instead. The reason you want to do a Dynamic DNS is so you don't have to remember your IP or if it changes not be assed out. DynDNS.org is the popular one supported by most routers.
Once you have your DDNS setup you will need to configure port forwarding on your router so when you connect via the iOS app or web browser your router forwards the correct port to you NAS. Oh and you don't already have your NAS setup with a static IP in your network you should do that as well. Right now on mine I have ports 5000-5006 and that should cover the bulk of the remote apps Synology offers.
For example I have my NAS setup with a static IP of 192.168.1.10 and in my router I have 5000-5006 forwarding to this IP.
I can only answer 1 as my Synology is a couple years older and doesn't get the latest update with Video Station
First thing you want to do is setup some sort of Dynamic DNS service. I believe you can do this in the Synology DSM but I typically like to have my router handle that instead. The reason you want to do a Dynamic DNS is so you don't have to remember your IP or if it changes not be assed out. DynDNS.org is the popular one supported by most routers.
Once you have your DDNS setup you will need to configure port forwarding on your router so when you connect via the iOS app or web browser your router forwards the correct port to you NAS. Oh and you don't already have your NAS setup with a static IP in your network you should do that as well. Right now on mine I have ports 5000-5006 and that should cover the bulk of the remote apps Synology offers.
For example I have my NAS setup with a static IP of 192.168.1.10 and in my router I have 5000-5006 forwarding to this IP.
Oh wow I'm totally lost here, I have never played with port forwarding or anything. I'll try see if I can do the DDNS.
Shin Johnpv
Member
I had not seen this thread before today. Back in August I built my own NAS box, and it's still running strong. I shared the build in the Need a New PC thread, but seeing this here, figured I'd cross post it over to here.
I know it's not the regular type of builds that we see here, but I thought I would share it anyway. So I went ahead and built my own NAS. I decided to not go with a prebuilt NAS cause non of them offered all the options I wanted. Plus for how much they cost I was impressed with how much storage they offered. What I wanted was something with a ton of storage. It needed a ton of space to hold my girlfriend and mines Animation files/Demo Reel files, her photos and videos she takes, music, our movie files etc etc. Plus I wanted some redundancy, I had a hard drive die not to long ago and unfortunately I didn't have some stuff backed up. I was luckily able to rebuild with out too much effort the important stuff, but it made me crave redundancy. So along with that I wanted a RAID 1 (mirrors one drive to the other) for onsite backup of the really important stuff. With out further wait here is the list of parts.
PSU Seasonic SS-460FL 460W Fanless 80Plus Gold
Motherboard/CPU/GPU ASUS E35M1-M PRO (1.6 dual core AMD E-350)
CASE Fractal Design Define R3
RAM G.Skill Ripjaw sieres 1066 DDR3 8GB (2x4)
OS Drive OCZ Agility 3 180GB SATA III
Hardware RAID card Areca ARC-1223-8I 8 port SAS/SATA Raid card
RAID 1 drives Seagate Barracuda 7200 RPM 3TB (x2)
RAID 6 drives Western Digital Red NAS Drive 3TB (x6)
Just got the WD Reds in today, so the RAID 6 is building now. Holy shit is it going fast, only looking to be taking about 5 hours for it. Which is about how long the Barracuda's took to build just their RAID 1.
Mine has been running solid 24/7 for about a month now. 7-10MB/s on nfs, 7-9MB/s on smb. Its also running transmission daemon, an owncloud instance on lighttpd, dircproxy and used as an ssh tunnel to get around the work proxy. I have it also serving my music collection via nfs to another pi running mpd. No crashes, freezes or lockups. Its quick and stable. Just do a base install of raspbian from their installer and add the bare minimum to get things going and you wont have any issues.
Nice. I personally would've gone for a software solution (namely, ZFS/RAID-Z) instead of hardware RAID as I value the portability of the RAID array to any performance advantages of hardware (especially in a personal/home use environment), but even that is far preferable to most off-the-self NAS solutions.
If you don't want to mess with the router, I know there is an option in the Synology called EZ-Internet that let's you do a lot of this stuff. I haven't ever messed with it myself as I do it by hand on my router. You can give a shot and see how it is at least.
Which NAS should I get if I just need to access it via LAN? I have a few media devices like PS3/WDTV/Android/iOS stuff too.
I have no need for torrents or internet access to the NAS. I'd like if it had some backup redundancy though. Don't know much about storage but I'm guessing RAID1?
I have no need for torrents or internet access to the NAS. I'd like if it had some backup redundancy though. Don't know much about storage but I'm guessing RAID1?
Shin Johnpv
Member
What are you looking to spend? How much storage do you need?
If you're just going to have just 2 drives Raid 1 would give you an exact mirror of 1 drive and your total available space would be that of the one drive. If you're going for more than 2 drives you'd need to look into something other than Raid 1.
Gordon Shumway
Banned
I see you don't care about a download manager or access from out of your network. I'll still recommend the DS212j NAS from, you guessed it, Synology. $199 and 2 bay. I've personally had no problems with it streaming to my PS3, Android phones/miniPCs or iProducts. I had no interest in accessing files while out and about, but streaming music on my long bike rides and watching my movies when i'm 1,000 miles away is pretty awesome. You obviously don't have to use it..but, it's nice to have options
A dedicated storage device will consume a lot less power and put out less heat and noise.
They often come with a license to some built-in media streaming shit so DNLA devices can see and access your shit easily, but that's not really necessary.
I just have a 2TB network drive that I access via IP to get at shit directly. I've never had a desire to use any of the other bullshit. Just store my shit and let met get at it later.
Moral Panic
Member
I don't know why the unRaid guys haven't made a small model to sell yet. The software is perfect, it works and is much, much, much more usable than raid whilst still offering the redundancy that most people need. A good 4/5 drive model with well selected parts that work together and they could make real money.
Valkyr Junkie
Member
They're two completely separate types of devices, although some combine both roles into one box. In your case, your Apple TV is your HTPC (hopefully it's a model you can jailbreak and put XBMC on) and a NAS would be a device with lots of storage to serve files to your HTPC and other PCs and devices.
So I have 5x(eventually 7x) 3TB WD Reds and I'm trying to think of the cheapest way to JBOD and software RAID them, while still using a SSD for the main OS.
Could I just use an old mobo without 8x SATA ports and add a card similar to this with unRAID?PCI-express to SATA
Edit: Does anyone have any experience with these eSATA RAID Boxes?
Could I just use an old mobo without 8x SATA ports and add a card similar to this with unRAID?PCI-express to SATA
Edit: Does anyone have any experience with these eSATA RAID Boxes?
RangersFan
Member
DS1513+ has finally been released. I'll probably pull the trigger on it when WD finally comes out with a 4TB version of their Red NAS drives
Marty Chinn
Member
I've got two of these in the 4 bay configuration hooked up to my server for a total of 12 drives. It works great for me.
TheBryanJZX90
Member
Any word on Windows 8 metro apps like Xbox Music recognizing files on an NAS?