NAS Again (Sigh)

Ok, this Icy Box has packed up again and MicroDirect have agreed to RMA it thank god.

So, I need to find a new DLNA NAS box.

I would prefer an all in one solution with 1TB hard drive, however, am also happy with a single empty bay solution that I can sling a 1TB drive in from the IcyBox.

So far, I am drawn toward a QNAP solution as there seems little issue with their DLNA capability compared to other kit and seem quite high spec for a NAS solution.

The one I am looking at seriously is the QNAP TS-119.

However, about a week ago I am sure I saw a QNAP with a similar model number which already came with a 1TB drive and it was not second hand kit. I just cannot remember what search terms I used to find it, but, I cannot find it now.

Anyway, open to reccomendations however I notew problems with WD, Iomega and Buffalo hence the attraction to the QNAP.

What I need to know, regardless what kit I decide on is, since I already have a single drive solution with the IcyBox, can I simply take the JBOD configured drive out of the IcyBox and stick it in the QNAP or will I have to loose the data or back it up first?

In reply to a post by NaNook:

Ok, this Icy Box has packed up again and MicroDirect have agreed to RMA it thank god.

So, I need to find a new DLNA NAS box.

I would prefer an all in one solution with 1TB hard drive, however, am also happy with a single empty bay solution that I can sling a 1TB drive in from the IcyBox.

So far, I am drawn toward a QNAP solution as there seems little issue with their DLNA capability compared to other kit and seem quite high spec for a NAS solution.

The one I am looking at seriously is the QNAP TS-119.

However, about a week ago I am sure I saw a QNAP with a similar model number which already came with a 1TB drive and it was not second hand kit. I just cannot remember what search terms I used to find it, but, I cannot find it now.

Anyway, open to reccomendations however I notew problems with WD, Iomega and Buffalo hence the attraction to the QNAP.

What I need to know, regardless what kit I decide on is, since I already have a single drive solution with the IcyBox, can I simply take the JBOD configured drive out of the IcyBox and stick it in the QNAP or will I have to loose the data or back it up first?

As far as i know, jbod isn't configured as such - especially for a single drive. The thing you may find is that you have permission problems due to it be linux and then shoved into another box.

Personally i'd get a two bay (or more) and shove the 1tb drive from the icey box into the qnap and then copy data, over to the new drive and then set it up the old drive as a mirror ..

Ideal situation would be to go over to a raid5/6 nas tbh

Tje drive itself is FAT32 but I can see what you mean about permissions.

It is likely I will get a QNAP but then I need to get the data to it. Therefore meaning I either have to buy another hard drive (which I do not want to) or loose the data on the current one which I also do not want to do.

Just bought a USB SATA hard drive docking station from Maplin for 25 quid.

Works out of the box with the hard drive that was in the IcyBox and transfer rates are at least quadruple.

Ok it is not a NAS unit but this coupled with Windows Twonky will keep me going until I either get a QNAP or someone reccomends a better NAS DLNA solution.

http://www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk/Shop/ShopDetail.asp?...

what sort device are you streaming the media to? if a tv/console (or other device with limited format support) it may be cheaper and easier to just buy a media player that can take an internal harddrive and support h264 in mkv (just a guess thats what your using twonky to stream), some good ones are pch-a110 and xtreamer. xtreamer is great for the price but only takes 2.5" hdd's, the popcornhour is a bit expensive against the xtreamer but it can take upto 2tb internal 3.5" hdd and has slightly better connectivity. both work really well for playing hd movies certainly less hassle than using transcoding software like is required for ps3

One is a PS3, the other is a Netgear EVA2000.

The IB was fine for this purpose when it worked.

To be honest, with the hard drive in this nice USB docking station and Twonky server installed on the PC, the things works absolutely perfectly.

The urgency was that we had material to be watched last night on the drive in the IB so I needed a solution yesterday and it seems QNAP units cannot be sourced locally.

I was just browsing through Maplin thinking I may just get an external caddy and saw this:

http://maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=222999

Actually my unit looks different but, same principal.

I can now at least in slower time look for a NAS solution but I am almost certain it will be QNAP as I have not seen a bad word said about them on the net.

EDIT: I am not actually streaming any HD material and the EVA2000 does not support .mkv even if they say they do.

Edited by NaNook (Fri 01-Jan-10 14:25:52)

i should have bought some shares in QNAP before i suggested them to you on your other posts


i have the 409-pro so not quite the same category as you (i get the feeling you want a one at most 2 drive unit) - but even still i have no complaints about the unit
when i got mine the x09 series was the ones they had like 109, 209 and mine 409 (and larger) with the x09 where x usually told how many drives the unit held not really any bad reviews about them all, now though they have moved on in all unit sizes, so you need to investigate how good (or bad) they still are but i get the feeling they have not dropped the ball and are still good lil' workers

as for local sources, i doubt you will get any good NAS from a local source, just get it online, whether it be qnap, snyology, readynas, or any other brand you know......

DONT rush into it tho, you have been burned by that icybox, make sure you know the good and the bad for your new one, as there is always a compromise - you need to work out what matters.


edit
forgot to add i have a 2 drive thecus box its the n2100 rebrand that evesham done so i got it less than half price (same machine just different logo that you can firmware hack back to a thecus unit) when i was getting my 4 drive qnap i was tempted by their 4 drive unit at the time but test results semed to suggest it was slower and it had less features - but since then i think their 4 drive units have went onwards and upward, and they brought out 3 drive units so you could dabble with raid 5 on that or some other combos etc
another to check out is a drobo box, dont know much about them but i kept seeing it being mentioned when i was looking for my 4drive unit, they seemed to get a good review but i am not sure on this - didnt go for them so didnt investigate that much

Edited by deleted (Sat 02-Jan-10 00:48:20)

drobo is a DAS with network addon, performance is supposed to be awful with the network adapter though (and not much better with usb/firewire)

Have you looked at the Netgear ReadyNAS range? Similar in price to QNAP. the readynas can do iscsi if you change the o/s apparently. i would never bother with cheap nas boxes like the icy-box. with nas solutions it seems you certainly get what you pay for.