Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with nas

Would linux breathe new life into my old powerbook?

jlowen — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 19:21:21 -0800

I want to have a fast capable NAS/file server/upnp device very similar to the QNAP TS-110 TurboNAS. I have an old 12" Powerbook G4 aluminum MAC OS x laptop. Would it be possible to install a barebones linux installation on the Powerbook to have access to many of the same features of the QNAP device? My Powerbook is a 1.3ghz with 800mb memory, with OS X 10.5 (leopard) installed. I want to use it to stream movies to my PS3 using upnp. I have tried software like Nullsoft's medialink and the PS3 media server, but the laptop does not seem capable of serving up media files to the ps3 without serious stuttering and lagging. (Even with both devices using ethernet cables - A problem my new shiny macbook pro does not have)

I was considering purchasing a QNAP TS-110 but it seems that my powerbook has twice the power and should in theory make a dandy media server. Would it be possible to learn and install a linux variation on the powerbook to recreate the same core features of the NAS device and turn the old decrepit powerbook into a capable media/file server? Note: I need only serve the file from the powerbook to be played on other hardware.

Is there a particular linux distribution I should use? Or would it be better to upgrade to a dedicated NAS?

Multimedia-filter: Looking for help from all you Network and digital media Gurus in making my first house totally awesome. Movies, Televsion, Music, Wifi, Streaming Content and 50mgbt broadband within.

Cogentesque — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 05:03:13 -0800

Multimedia-filter: Looking for help from HDTV, NAS, Media Servers and Network Gurus' in making my first house totaly awesome. Movies, Televsion, Music, Wifi, Streaming Content and 50mgbt broadband within. Ok guys, this is my first new message on metafilter, so thanks for everything thus far - to business.

The Premise:
In two weekends time, my girlfriend and I are moving into our first house together in Southampton (UK).

Thankfully she is very accomadating and shares the same views with me reguarding the wonder of technology and allure of gadgetry and thus: we have decided to go down the "cyberhouse" network route - all be it slowly.

What we currently have
50mgbt line and a Television package from Virgin.
2 relatively high-spec PCs downstairs (in the lounge) (XP/Vista soon upgrading to Windows 7 im sure)
A new TV - to be bought - (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/154997/show_product_reviews?offset=10&review_type=both&review_order_by=RLF - ebuyer's own)
1 ipod touch
Host of parts to make a low spec PC.

What I would like in my cyber house
DVD's playable on the TV
Normal channels (Virgin package) playable on the TV
Video (films, episodes) from PC's playable on the TV
Music, both downstairs and upstairs: DAB radio/Cd's/Downloaded Music/Online Radio (last.fm etc would be great)
The ability to change the music remotely (ideally, different sources for different rooms)

Some ideas I've been looking at so far
KVM Switch and a long HDMI cable for my computer to use TV as alternative screen - enabling videos from pc to be played
NAT Storage hiding somewhere in the network
Popcorn Hour to play video from PC
Sonos music system to play upstairs and downstairs
Media pc configured to do the job of sonos and popcorn hour (apparantly this is very tricky?)

What do you think metafilter? Remember that we are definately "on a budget" but I much more trust your collective ideas and conceptions than my own - so what would you reccomend should be my immediate course of action?

Batch transfer of ~1TB from 8 drives over LAN

saysthis — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 11:03:02 -0800

Are there any better tools for transferring about a terabyte of files over a local network than just dragging and dropping in Windows? Specifically, is there a tool that can pick up and double-check files once they've been copied over? I'm moving all my stuff to a new NAS. Lots of stuff scattered all over a lot of computers, and I'm wondering if there's a way to "automate" this, rather than just drag and drop. As I'm doing some of these transfers over wireless, the network occasionally drops, and the transfer gets interrupted, which means I have to start all over again. I'd love to find a software with some kind of "transfer resume", so I can just start it and forget it instead of checking it every hour or so.

VPN from home NAS system.

CodeMonkey — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 10:36:19 -0800

I am trying to set up my router so that I can get at my files on my 3 NAS boxes. These NAS boxes are 1) D-Link DNS323, Infrant ReadyNAS NV+, and a Buffalo TeraStation HD-H2.0TGL/R5. The router is connected to the internet via a home service cable modem so it won't have a static IP and one step is to find the IP address before accessing. I have a router (DLink DGL-4100) which says it can make a IPSec VPN or FTP using a Virtual Server (I think). There would be no other PCs on the network since I would be taking my laptop with me when I access the network. The manuals for the routers talk about FTP serving but if I get a VPN set in my router then I should be able to just browse for whatever I want that way...right? The instructions say it can be done, but how? Please give me step by step instructions the best you can for setting up the router, the NAS boxes and my XP laptop (with suggested software, if necessary) since I have looked all over the internet and can't find anything I can understand. Of course the access should be encrypted and password protected. THANKS GUYS. From the router manual. (DGL-4100):
Application Level Gateway (ALG) Configurations
Here you can enable or disable ALG’s. Some protocols and applications require special handling of the IP payload to make them work with network address translation (NAT). Each ALG provides
special handling for a specific protocol or application. A number of ALGs for common applications ar enabled by default.

IPSec VPN:
Allows multiple VPN clients to connect to their corporate network using IPSec. Some VPN clients support traversal of IPSec through NAT. This ALG may interfere with the operation of such VPN clients. If you are having trouble connecting with your corporate network, try turning this ALG off. Please check with the system adminstrator of your corporate network whether your VPN client supports NAT traversal.

FTP:
Allows FTP clients and servers to transfer data across NAT. Refer to the Advanced -> Virtual Server page if you want to host an FTP server.

Virtual Server
The Virtual Server option gives Internet users access to services on your LAN. This feature is useful for hosting online services such as FTP, Web, or Game Servers. For each Virtual Server, you define
a public port on your router for redirection to an internal LAN IP Address and port.
Example: You are hosting a Web Server on a PC that has Private IP Address of 192.168.0.50 and your ISP is blocking Port 80.
1. Name the Virtual Server Rule (ex. Web Server)
2. Enter in the IP Address of the machine on your LAN – 192.168.0.50
3. Enter the Private Port as [80]
4. Enter the Public Port as [8888]
5. Select the Protocol - TCP
6. Ensure the schedule is set to Always
7. Check the Add Rule to add the settings to the Virtual Server List
8. Repeat these steps for each Virtual Server Rule you wish to add. After the list is complete, click Save Settings at the top of the page.
With this Virtual Server Rule all Internet traffic on Port 8888 will be redirected to your internal web server on port 80 at IP Address 192.168.0.50.

From the D-Link NAS DNS-323 manual:
FTP Server
The DNS-323 is equipped with a built in FTP Server, which is easy to confgure. It allows users access to important data whether they are on the local network or at a remote location. The FTP server can be confgured to allow user access to specifc directories, and will allow up to 10 users to access the DNS-323 at a time.

This section contains the configuration settings for the DNS-323 FTP Server.
The current settings and status of the DNS-323 FTP Server are displayed here.

The FTP access for users and groups can be added and edited here.

Category Determines whether the FTP server rule will apply to an individual user or a group.

User / Group Select the group or user the FTP server rule will apply to.

Folder Browse to and select the folder or directory you are granting FTP access to. Select root to grant access to all volumes.

Permission Set the user or group permission to Read Only or Read/Write.

FTP Server Settings
Max User: Sets the maximum amount of users that can connect to the FTP server.
Idle Time: Sets the amount of time a user can remain idle before being disconnected.
Port: Sets the FTP port. Default is 21.
Flow Control: Allows you to limit the amount of bandwidth available for each user.

Most standard FTP clients like Windows FTP, only support Western European codepage when transferring files.
Support has been added for non-standard FTP clients that are capable of supporting these character sets.

Access List: Lists all defned FTP Rules.

If you are behind a router, you will need to forward the FTP port from the router to the DNS-323. Additional flltering and frewall settings may need to be modifed on your router to allow FTP Access to the DNS-323 from the Internet. Once the port has been forwarded on the router, users from the internet will access the FTP server through the WAN IP address of the router.

From the ReadyNAS NV+ manual.

FTP/FTPS
To access the share via FTP in Share security mode, log in as “anonymous” and use your e-mail address for the password.
.
To access the share in User or Domain security mode, use the appropriate user login and password used to access the ReadyNAS. For better security, use an FTPS (FTP-SSL) client to connect to the
ReadyNAS FTP service. With FTPS, both the password and data are encrypted.

From the Terastation manual.
To allow Anonymous FTP, choose Enable for Anonymous FTP Server. Select a folder to share from the Anonymous User Public Shared Folder (only one folder may be shared by anonymous FTP) and
choose whether you want the share to be Writable or Read Only. Click the Apply button to set up anonymous FTP.
If FTP Server is disabled in the Basic window, this page will not be accessible.
Anonymous FTP mode uses port 8021 (e.g. ftp://IP Address:801).

How to make my LaCie 5big NAS better?

Señor Pantalones — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 19:55:32 -0800

LaCie 5Big NAS hacks/modifications/tricks? Just got a 5Big NAS (5TB) running RAID5. Has a built-in torrent client but it's pretty weak. Any way to hack it to run a linux distro of Transmission or Vuze, something like that? Any other tricks that make this box better (aside from "spend $1500 more and get a readyNAS")

Thanks!

Which 1080p HDMI media streamer should I purchase?

Perplexer — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:07:00 -0800

Which 1080p HDMI media streamer should I purchase? My Xbox with XBMC is starting to show its age. Which device should I consider as its replacement?

Requirements: Adequate processor for 720P, ideally for 1080P. Ethernet port for streaming MP3s and various video formats from a media server (Windows Vista/Windows7). Intuitive menus. Multi-format support. Should be under $200. (I'm not sure a Roku or AppleTV will meet my needs.)

These are on my comparison list:

WD Live TV Media Player (WDTV-2)
Brite-view Cinematube
Mvix Ultio

Have I missed anything, and what would you recommend?

Zero to HTPC in 700?

itesser — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 05:59:47 -0800

Going crazy trying to figure out my HTPC/media server options from scratch. Yes, I've been reading other threads but I'm a unique snowflake so there's My husband and I are a couple of nomads with a handful of computers (desktops and laptops, 3 Win and 1 Mac) who will be getting our first real TV/stereo/etc when we move into a new apartment late next month.

I want to...
- Stream Netflix to our TV
- Watch other internet video on the TV (and stream Pandora?)
- Play locally stored video / music on the TV/stereo
- Have all our music (~200 gigs) in one place, plus long-term expandability
- Keep important files in one location for frequent backing up to/from multiple computers
- I don't care to watch network or cable tv

My budget is somewhat flexible, but I'm aiming for solutions around $700 for the media-serving part of the set up.

After several hours considering my options (though I admit I'm not experienced at this, plus it's way past my bedtime), I think my current best bet is: xbox360 + XBMC on an XP system* + (Free)NAS. Would 3 machines be overkill?

* I like the iphone remote! and for a few other reasons

Or ditch the NAS and put a bunch of HDs in the XBMC system?
Or ditch the XBMC and stream directly from NAS to 360?
Or replace the XBMC with a MacMini+Plex?

Synology 409 vs. Seagate Black Armor 440

monkeybutt — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 14:14:50 -0800

Help me decide: Synology 409 vs. Seagate Black Armor 440 for my next NAS? I currently have a mix of Terastations and other NAS hardware with small drives. i'm looking to add a multi-terabye device (4-6TB) to my home network to store all my digital photos and music and maintain backups.

I'm torn between the Synology DS409 and the Seagate Black Armor 440 configured with 4 1.5T drives to give it the same capacity of the Synology.

Both devices seem to top out the charts with regards to throughput on a gig-E network, which is very important for me. The Synology has been out for longer and is about 1/3 cheaper than the Seagate device when you buy the drives yourself. I am leaning toward it unless something compels me to get the Seagate.

One feature that i'm interested in is robust error-reporting. Currently my Buffalo devices do not have the ability to email out error reports with SMTP authentication beforehand, which is a must because my ISP requires authentication before it will pass mail. This means I need to check the HDD status of my drives weekly to avoid data loss (as opposed to getting an email alerting me of the issue immediately).

If anybody out there has any first-hand experience with either of these appliances i'd love to hear it.

Thanks

I need help and suggestions for small business RAID server or NAS.

Jackie_Treehorn — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 08:17:48 -0800

I need the best affordable solution for small business server/NAS with RAID. We are a small business with 6 computers + server attached to a workgroup network. Currently we have an old Dell PowerVault which has 4 drives in it that serves our file sharing needs.

The way the Dell is set up with RAID is that Volume C: is disk 0 and 1 in mirrored volume. It is the active system volume. Volume D: is disk 2 and 3 in mirrored volume. It is labeled as Page File. And Volume D: is made up of disk 0, 1, 2 and 3 in RAID 5. It is the shared NAS volume where all of our files are stored.

The problem that I have with our current set up is that if a drive fails, the entire NAS volume is not accessible to my users until I replace the failed drive and rebuild the RAID array. This downtime is not acceptable.

What I am asking here is what system can I buy or build that would give me my required RAID for the system and data, but still be able to limp along with a failed drive for my users until I can replace the drive and rebuild the RAID array?

Thank you,

Jackie

FreeNAS Hardware Specs

tdreyer — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 13:07:38 -0800

I'm going to make a dedicated FreeNAS box. Looking for hardware suggestions. I am comfortable with assembling my own hardware, but I'm a little unsure of the kind of hardware I need. It's easy enough to get the top of the top hardware, but I figure I don't need the best of everything for a FreeNAS box, just something that can handle on-the-fly disk encryption/decryption, RAID, and the fileserving.

I would like guidelines as well as hardware reccomendations. Something like "get at least a dual core processor with xx Ghz" works just as well as "get the AMD Athlon xxxx."

For the hardware, I could use help with mobo, ram, and CPU. Basically, I want the minimum hardware specs to get the job done well (read: I'm cheap), but I need room for many large/fast SATA drives. I want to do RAID with FreeNAS, but i'm not sure if I need hardware RAID support on the mobo...

More info here.

As always, thanks!

insufficient permissions error with OS X

spyke23 — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 10:52:49 -0800

Insufficient permissions error preventing copying files to NAS USB dongle based server from OS X machine I have a clone of an Addonics NAS USB Dongle, and having set it up, I am trying to copy across 1gb or less files from a Mac Mini running OS X 10.5.6 to it, it is 500gb, and the server formats it FAT32 as a matter of course, as this is how it works. However some files will copy, but most will copy then stop, generating an error, stating I have insufficient privileges to copy the file. Can anyone help me sort this issue?

old mac Mini is too Mini for TV

penciltopper — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 15:06:44 -0800

I have an old G5 PowerPC Mac Mini that would be just right to repurpose as a DVR/HTPC. But the weak onboard graphics are preventing joy. Is there a way I can offload the graphics processing workload to an auxillary device? It's an old G5 powerpc mini, still works just fine; but it's an orphan at the moment, with no purpose in life.
So I thought I'd try hooking it up to my TV and using it as a HTPC of sorts.

DVI output to my TV at 1080i works for DVD player, torrented .AVIs via VLC, etc.

But if I try to watch Hulu through it, the picture is choppy if it works at all. Especially for 480p streams.

I'd also like to use something like Elgato's EyeTV to capture over-the-air HD TV broadcasts and play them back later. (Watching the signal live is unnecessary, but would be a bonus.)

But I'm pretty sure the Mini can't handle that processing load?

Elgato seems to have a couple of devices like the turbo.264 that mention that they do the transcoding/processing of the video, offloading it from the attached Mac's processor.

Would this help? If not, is there some other kind of external graphics card or add-on device I can use to externalize the graphics processing workload, so the old hardware in the Mini isn't crippling?

Desired end state is that I am able to watch recorded OTA HD shows and "live" Hulu/other video streams

I have a NAS drive to hold recordings, and an XBox 360 (all three are on same wired network) if that helps.

1080i preferred, HD only (I can skip analog)
$250 max budget (so I'm not just going to buy a new Intel Mini)

Anyone have any experience or suggestions?

Can I freely print while NASing?

entropic — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 15:36:08 -0800

Is there a way to use a PC as a print server while running FreeNAS on it at the same time? I have a roughly 5 year old PC that I'd like to run FreeNAS on for backups and file serving for the two laptops in our household. However, it would also be very convenient to have it pull double duty as a print server, rather than carrying a laptop to the printer every time we want to print. Is there a reasonably easy way to make this work? I don't have a problem running FreeNAS on a CF card or USB drive if necessary, and really had planned on doing that anyway.

Buffalo Terastation

theyexpectresults — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 10:17:02 -0800

What is the best way to use Japanese filenames on NAS drive in Mac OS X? I have a Buffalo Terastation NAS (model TS-1.0TGL/R5), and have some trouble with filenames which include japanese characters. When I mount the drive with SMB, any filenames with japanese characters are not displayed properly (I see those gobbledegook wingding type characters). Any attempt to copy files (with japanese characters in the name) to the drive fails. When I mount the drive with AFP, things seem to work ok but I am then stuck with the fact that AFP does not support files larger than 2GB.

Can anyone point out why I get this problem with SMB, but not AFP? I am also considering setting up the terastation as an NFS server (which takes some work I think), does anyone know if this would make a difference?

Also tried changing the "encoding" option when I mount with SMB, this seems to make no difference at all. I have no trouble using japanese filenames generally within mac os, only on this NAS drive. When I use the drive in windows, I can read and write with no problem at all.

I looked at a bunch of terastation forums, but struggled to find any help for someone needing to use both japanese and access from mac os x. I am using firmware 1.12 (Japanese), which I believe uses Samba v3. Tried a bunch of other firmware versions, none seemed to help.

Thanks for any help.

Best video codec for DVD ripping?

Otis — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 05:37:40 -0800

What are the best video compression settings (codec, bitrate etc.) for ripping DVDs (that I own)? These files will sit on a NAS and be streamed over a wireless G network for viewing on a standard definition TV with XBMC. I already have quite a few video files on the NAS that stream perfectly over this connection. Now I'd like to store part of my DVD collection on the NAS too to watch using XBMC. I don't have a ton of drive space, so I'd like something with good compression. (Not enough room for full isos of everything). What codec offers the most "bang for the buck" when it comes to compression? We are mostly talking 24 minute TV shows here. This is not an HD TV. Looking for something approximating broadcast TV quality. Any suggestions on codec, bit rate etc.? Should I do a two-pass encode? Thanks!

What network hard drives play well with the Airport Extreme?

TedW — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 07:07:16 -0800

Can I use one of the ethernet ports on my airport extreme for a network disc or am I limited to USB? I recently upgraded my home network from a Netgear 802.11 g router to an Airport Extreme. I have been mostly satisfied (especially with the increased speed and range from 802.11 n) but disappointed to find that the ethernet side of things is not implemented as well as on my old router. For example, I tried hooking up my network printer via ethernet on the Airport and never could find it on the network; it has a USB connection as well so I just switched to USB after futzing around with ethernet for a while and it works fine. Now I want to get serious about backing up with Time Machine, and want to know if anyone has had success using an NAS device via ethernet with an Airport Extreme/ Time Machine or should I stick with USB for that as well? Experiences with specific models of hard drive are particularly appreciated; I am looking at drives in the 2 TB size range (I have a lot of pictures) and may get a second drive to use for sharing files over the network. If I would be better off using USB, I will need to use a hub, so any advice there is appreciated as well. I have been using a cheap Belkin hub with my two printers, but it seems to be acting up (although I haven't had time to really troubleshoot; I just ended up hooking the printer I needed at the time directly to the Airport, which solved the problem). As always, thanks in advance for your help.

Data Storage Appliance

Area Control — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 08:18:38 -0800

Anyone own one of these? MvixBOX. I'm wondering if it lived up to your expectations.

DIY Ripserver

spyke23 — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 13:50:53 -0800

DIY Ripserver Having seen the ripserver appliance, I am interested in making a similar CD-ripping toaster myself. Is there a linux distro that does this and only this, i.e. connects to your LAN, rips a CD, adds all the id tags after looking it up, and dumps out the mp3s to the resolution you require to it's hard drive?

What's the best option for home media server/storage

willnot — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 09:55:32 -0800

What is the current best option for a home media server/storage? I think that hard drive prices may have finally fallen to the point where I might be able to put my DVDs on a server, but the options are overwhelming. Points of Consideration:

I'm primarily a Mac house
I have several hundred DVDs, and want to keep the full menu structure and features, so figure I need between 2 and 3 terabytes that will grow over time.
There's really just one primary TV/Stereo system I'd want to serve media too, and possibly a few computers. I suppose that could change at some point.
My house isn't hard wired for networking, so I'm looking at slow wireless or having the server located near the TV.
I don't know what the front-end is going to be yet. I was hoping a new Mac Mini would be released or maybe even a device designed to do this kind of stuff, but that may need to wait.

Drobo seems to be popular with a lot of people, but I've heard the fan is very loud. It also seems weird that you have to buy a separate piece to turn it into a NAS device.

I guess it makes sense to set up a RAID array for this, but on the other hand, a few hard drives may be cheaper/easier. I guess that would suck if one of the drives went down, but it's not like this isn't data that could be re-ripped (although that would obviously take a lot of time).

Reccomend an NSLU2 alternative!

pwnguin — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 20:50:15 -0800

What Network Attached Storage enclosure should I get? I'm tired of storing files on my noisy desktop computer, so I'm looking for something always-on that can serve files and double as a screen+irssi server. A home server without the noise and size, basically. I'm considering an NSLU2, but I'm wondering if there's anything newer with more RAM / cpu or other features.

Required:
* accessible from Debian/Ubuntu computers
* Xbox Media Center connect able (ushare?)
* network connectivity.

Desired:
* ssh login
* capable of running screen+irssi
* runs debian or some apt-get style tool
* ext4 support
* quiet
* whatever you think I'm forgetting

I'm considering an NSLU2, but I'm wondering if there's anything newer with more RAM / cpu or other features.

I have a bottleneck in my home network, and I can't find it. Any ideas?

northernsoul — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 09:03:24 -0800

I have a bottleneck in my home network, and I can't find it. Any ideas? I've had a home fileserver for a while now, and have had speed problems with it from the start. For some reason the speed I get always tops out at around 10-15 Mb/s, when the network is capable of handling 100 Mb/s. My network is pretty simple, with a WRT54GL running Tomato doing the routing, and my fileserver and two other computers running on the network with Cat 6 cables all around. None of the computers are more than 6 feet away from the router. My speeds from both the computers to and from the fileserver are limited to 10-15 Mb/s. However, my speed to and from the two other computers on the network reach the 100 Mb/s threshold. (btw, I've been determining these speeds using this method). This problem has endured through two different computers, one a d201gly2 self built machine and a Power Mac G4 Gigabit Ethernet model I had lying around. This problem even still occurred on the d201gly2 based machine when using FreeNAS, Windows Server 2003 and 2008. I have also used a Cat 5e cable and a Cat 6 cable, but still the problem remains.

Up to this point I have done a lot of things, but not everything. All these different configurations have been running RAID 5 in either software or hardware, using a Highpoint 1740 card. Should I try a different RAID level or JBOD? Another constant has been the router. While I've been able to demonstrate that I can reach decent speeds with it, it's something else that has remained the same. Should I swap it out? Any help you guys could offer would be greatly appreciated.

Nomadic computer components must be civilized

saysthis — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 22:32:22 -0800

I'm looking for inspiration on how to reduce computer clutter. I run a lot of machines and make them do a lot of cool things, but in a 92sqm apartment where we're also trying to manage massive DVD, magazine, and book libraries, and where my previous work station (which was never all that orderly) has been conquered by my girlfriend's rampaging makeup and sewing stuff, it ain't easy. I want to compartmentalize, organize, and speed up the process of accessing my stuff. Ideas? The crux of the problem is that I have a LOT of "computer stuff", and that the network of stuff which we currently have is about to be scaled up, bigtime, due to an impending move to a bigger house. I'll want to include scalability and a solid phalanx of l33t gadgets in the future.

I've just been booted by my fashion designing wife off the corner of the room I used to use for more of her albums of pictures exactoed from fashion magazines. And, in the past year and a half, I've gone from 1 buggy laptop and a big USB hard drive to a substantial accumulation of knowledge and stuff, as I've begun exploring exactly what open source software can really do. I've been suitably impressed made much progress with it, paring down our AV setups from crappy independent DVD players, cords, and all kinds of discs to an interconnected system all controlled from my laptop. Up to now, I've kept the extra stuff in...well, piles. But the recent chaos of her expanding business, my expanding capabilities with hardware, and our impending move is a chance to get this beast under control before it becomes a cancer that conquers all of our available desktop space.

My inviolable principles include:
a) that one of my hobbies is fixing up junk and giving it away. It's an interesting means to get to know people, expand your network, and learn and practice computer skills. Gift economy 4 lyfe.
b) I'm a strong believer in ghettotech, and almost everything I own on the list was inherited. I've spent maybe $500 on computer stuff since 2006. Triple-R 4 lyfe.
c) I take an "appliance" approach to computers - the "all-under-one-box" approach has never worked for me, as something's always gone wrong or I've filled up the hard drive or busted the software and had to reinstall, and I've wasted much too much of my life on downtime and much too much of my money on new machines that proceed to break and not do what it says on the box. Modular single-purpose units 4 lyfe.

We have:
3 desktops
- a sweet media/gaming FrankenPC that gets hooked up to the living room projector
- a gutted box that serves as an uberNAS, with 6 IDE slots, 2 SATA plugs, and 12 USB ports (you bet your ass my data is redundant)
- a clumpy old workstation for volunteers in my organization who can't travel to our main office or the other side of the city; my house is the only locale we have on the east side of the city, and in Beijing, where a lot of the students we rely on to do our volunteer work sometimes don't have computers, or need to work or train with me in person

2 laptops
- my trusty daily driver, from whence I also manage this stuff, a 2005 ultraportable
- my lady's beater, an early 2004 Dell Inspiron, which is likely about to bite the bullet, and will need replacing soon

Peripherals
- bluetooth mouse & keyboard x2, for when I, and the woman don't feel like hunching over my/her laptop
- USB mice and keyboards for the desktops (or laptops if we want to)
- USB bluetooth adapters when necessary, I think we're at 4 now
- an optical drive in an external case - it keeps me from having to buy separate ones for each unit, and we rarely use it, but sometimes I do need to burn things (I work in post-production, clients occasionally just want a multiplexed DVD) or get at something on a disc (rip, mount to virtual drive)
- a grip of thumb drives that I use for data transport, disk images, booting, what have you, all neatly labeled
- a VOIP handset
- CORDS!!! yards and yards of wire in every shape and size, 'cause, y'know, things gotta get linked to things
- a totally sick wireless router
- hard drive USB cases, leftover from the days when I didn't have an uberNAS, and waiting for more hard drives to be connected to the uberNAS
- much of this all needs its own power cord, and I have them in abundance
- the odd RAM & PC card, motherboard, and whatnot waiting for a home in the computers I take home and patch up for friends and family
- various backup hardware in case something important goes kaput
- a couple WIFI cards for laptops, mostly for guests, but the woman's laptop currently needs one to get online.
- 2 monitors for the workstation, gaming machine, and occasional maintenance.

Right. Well, we're moving from a 92sqm apartment to a much much larger one in the coming months (as soon as the decorators are finished!), and we'll be expanding from our current setup of:
- 2 TV's controlled by the media machine
- uberNAS in a corner behind the couch
- laptops on the coffee table
- workstation on a teensy desk in the bedroom
- one phone hookup

to a two-floor apartment with:

- 4+ TV's & audio setups on two floors that all want access to the uberNAS
- a dedicated office for the woman's girlygirl stuff (er, actually, her job) and my own office/den/schmoke lounge for manlyman things
- wherever the uberNAS goes, probably my office
- an upstairs living room with
- the gaming box
- a PS3 (!!!)
- and a downstairs all-purpose studio that wants access to same (this room is a party area, yoga/dance studio, movie screening room, all kinds of fun stuff, but it all calls for proper geekery, and will likely want powered USB gadgets)
- a gajillion phone jacks and in-wall wiring for just about everything but VGA and HDMI
- probably more area and rebar than one wireless router can handle

The wife's hobbies call for lots of shelving and workspace, while mine only calls for a philips screwdriver, voltometer, and lots of teensy compartments. All this stuff, other than the stuff that's actually out and in use, calls for, at most, a dresser-drawer-sized space, but it requires a lot of compartmentalization and protection from dust and spills. I'm looking for inspired solutions on how to minimize and properly store the cords, components, peripherals, and other buildup that goes along with a hobby like this.

The best ideas I've had are toolboxes or tackleboxes for the loose stuff, twist-ties for the cords, a moratorium on any new desktops in the system (any new TV/media hookups are going to be disposable 2ndhand laptops w/ S-video outs and wireless), and a desk area that can be cleared for maintenance if need be. And that might be good enough, but I bet I could improve on it.

I'd love to hear creative, inspired storage solutions if you got 'em!

Tell me about current NAS manufacturers and technology?

loquacious — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 04:53:34 -0800

Tell me about Network Attached Storage ( NAS )? In particular what current manufactuers should I avoid for a typical 1 terabyte (or greater) RAID array? I'm also interested in general information and pitfalls for NAS devices and implementations. Deployment is for a mixed platform small office - about 8 seats. Platforms are XP, Vista and OS X.

I'm assuming SAMBA protocol for shares. Usage is low to medium - the office needs a data/file server for storing and reliably sharing typical office documents.

They emphatically do not need an actual server. There's no forseeable upgrade path to an in-office Exchange server or domain controller or the like - this is handled by a remote office through VPN. I could build them a PC-based solution using something like FreeNAS but that would be overkill, and I don't want to introduce a possibly flaky desktop/server into their office.

What NAS models or manufacturers are considered the most reliable? Best support? Best value?

Much thanks in advance!

Back me up, Scotty!

sprocket87 — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:02:02 -0800

Recommend a good tool to remotely backup/synchronize large folders to my home NAS. Here's what I have:

- Laptop with 100+ GB music library; misc documents, photos, and other data that needs backed up
- Netgear ReadyNAS Duo 750GB at home (supports pretty much everything - rsync, (S)FTP, WebDAV, etc)

Here's what I want to do:

For my MP3 library (100GB, 20k files, 4k folders) - mirror or synchronize any changes from my laptop (remote at work) to my home NAS. I've tried a TON of apps already with varying degrees of success. The major problem seems to be that to do a mirror, the apps have to perform a full "audit" scan of the destination (NAS) share to see what needs updated/copied. Problem is, with 20k files, that takes f-o-r-e-v-e-r, at least using FTP or WebDAV.

Ideally, I'd like a real-time backup app that monitors some selected folders (like My Music) and kicks off an automated upload for any changed files. This (a) makes it fully automatic and (b) [in theory] faster - doesn't have to synch each time, just upload based off a good known synch. Problem is, I've yet to find the right tool to accomplish all these things correctly.

Note: I'd be happy as a clam to use rsync, which the ReadyNAS supports, but I'm sending from a Windows client and my options are limited. I've been racking my brain trying to get DeltaCopy to work, but it keeps timing out when attempting to connect to the NAS. I have port forwarding, etc, working fine on my router, so I can't really figure out why rsync is failing.

Note 2: The ReadyNAS does have optional support for SSH and Telnet, I believe, but it involves some trickery to get working and I think it might void my warranty...

Sharing (via WiFi) a NAS connected via ethernet to a MacMini

franconi — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 01:31:55 -0800

Hi, I have a WiFi network to which a MacMini (with Leopard) is connected. An ethernet NAS disk (ReadyNAS NV+) is connected directly to the MacMini via ethernet. The shares of the NAS disk are correctly mounted on the MacMini. My goal would be to be able to see the NAS shares also from other Macs connected to the WiFi.
This is roughly the architecture:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MacMini ------ethernet------ NAS-disk
DSL---WiFiRouter
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ OtherMac

The NAS-disk is configured to advertise itself via bonjour and appletalk: in fact, when I connect the NAS-disk directly to the WiFiRouter via ethernet, both the MacMini and the OtherMac see the shares of the NAS-disk.

However, when the NAS-disk is connected vie ethernet as above to the MacMini, then only the MacMini sees its shares. I tried to put the shares of the NAS-disk as shared folders in the File Sharing part of the Sharing panel, but apparently they are not accepted (I can not drag them there, nor are they selectable from a file browser window). I also tried to do an Internet Sharing from Airport to Ethernet, but to no avail.

Any suggestion?