I seek a 1TB-ish, Mac Friendly, Sub $200, NAS Drive - Things Keep Gettin' Better... :banghead:

[Paul F.]

New iMac, Hughes.net "FAP"-ing me, Article Published...
And now, my home backup drive is making a clunking noise and not reading/writing...
What's next? Is my cat going to barf up a flawless 3 carat emerald?

It WAS a Lacie Ethernet Disk Mini in 500Gb, which I was quite happy with for my uses for over a year.
Now it's a doorstop...


Can anyone recommend an NAS drive that does NOT require "drivers" on computers that are to connect to it, that is in the 750gb to 1.5Tb (1Tb-ish...) range, that is in the "under or around" $200?

Or is there really no such thing?

I will probably set up my G4 MDD as a server/backup, but it doesn't have enough drive space, takes up too much physical space, and uses more electricity than I'd like (ideally).


I DO like networked drives, and if I could find a G4 Mac Mini with a 1TB drive in it, for even $300, I'd be thrilled...
I'd be more thrilled if I actually had the $300 right now, so maybe it would be more accurate to say I'd be thrilled if I found that sort of G4 Mini deal in a month or two...

NAS brand/model suggestions welcomed so I can start researching!

[mattkime]

that would definitely be the low end for a NAS. what is your home network like? how many macs, etc.

[Paul F.]

Three Macs, one PC (that I could live without backing up...), and one of those Macs is pretty much redundant, and will probably go away.

I've just really liked the "no moving drives around" backup convenience, AND having the NAS in an outside accessible closet. Not quite as good as an "off site" backup, but a bit of a hedge in that direction.

The Lacie's 1TB version goes for $179... but reviews on that version are a bit worse than for the 500gb model I have - it seems that the power supplies go out VERY regularly.

I was just wondering if there were any other models in the same price zone I should look at...

I'm OK with fairly slow transfers... automated backups with SuperDuper work fine so I can go to bed, and let them do their thing...

[AAA]

Paul

I picked up a 500GB Buffalo Linkstation for $69

Here it is:
http://www.ecost.com/detail.aspx?edp=42514835&source=k3787&cm_mmc=Affiliates-_-Performics-_-k3787-_-eCost.com%20-%20Your%20Online%20Discount%20Superstore

It just appears in the left drive/device listing of the finder. Just set it and forget it, as they say.

The nice thing about that, aside from 'just working', is well it's Gigabit but the other nice thing is it has a USB port so you can add an additional USB2 external hard drive that it will also serve up to your network. So, get that for $68, and add a 1TB or 1.5TB ext USB2 and you're still within your budget.

Look at these items
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/search/r...?ord=tdate&dir=desc

AGAIN, mine works perfectly! That's all one can ask.

Another cool thing - put your iTunes library on it, and it will show up in all your iTunes on your network as a 'shared' library, as if another computer/itunes is sharing their library. Only works for audio. I can't figure out the video trickery. DLNA

[jdc]

why NAS? to put it in an outsode closet?

you can get two USB2 1TB drives for $179, one on-site the other offsite -- and USB2 is faster than a budget NAS

are you sure you dont want to keep the MDD?

setup over 1000BT it flys as a "server" -- $40 SATA card + some $80 1TB drives would make a sweest server...

[mattkime]

i'd consider using one of the existing macs (are they desktops?) and let them sleep but also turn on wake on lan. it'll be slow to browse the volume at first go but after that it will be much faster than a buffalo linkstation.

so that might work for speed + low electricity usage.

[Wailer]

I have a asus wl-520gu wireless router with a built-in USB port. I have tomato running and have enabled USB sharing.

I currently plug a flash drive into it and use it as an NAS, ableit a small one. One could plug a large drive into it. I like the low energy usage of a flash drive.

I mount it directly from the finder using cifs/smb so it's platform independent. It looks just like an external drive. I get sustained transfers of about 1.5MB/sec over wireless.

It's pretty easy to setup if you aren't afraid of telnet. The router runs $30-$40.

[Racer X]

dibs on the diamond.