Storage Solution

Looks like my HDD has given up the ghost. Luckily my previous one is still working even if a bit small, so I can get on t'internet. But now I need to make a decision about the solution to last me the next few years. I've been thinking about both SSD and an external disk for a while. So, I want a solution that works now (see rig) and will be suitable for Ivybridge once they sort the heat problems out.

Probably means a 250Gb SSD, an internal HDD and an external HDD. Aside from the SSD, which will get replaced when and if larger sizes become available at non-silly money, there needs to be a bit of future proofing. External HDD is to fit into network and act as backup for me and media storage for family (3 laptops).

Solutions please. No budget, but let's keep it sensible! Thanks in advance.

crucial M4 256GB and a large conventional drive to store stuff on ?

Is this a laptop ? (since you mention wanting a single internal and single external drives)

Any SSD as a boot drive willl transform your day to day performance - for me it was a bigger change than any previous incremental CPU and RAM upgrades.
Personally I'd avoid OCZ and go for a Crucial or Intel

I also now only buy USB3 external drives - backward compatible with USB2, but 3x the speed when you connect it to a USB3 port.

Not a laptop, but no need for RAID. The idea is that the networked external drive is there for 4 people. The SSD is simply for load speed.

I was thinking M4, yes, with maybe a 1TB internal and 2TB external. Exactly which HDD I have no idea, but USB3 sounds sensible..

what you pick as the internals not that important, if the externals for 4 people then consider a network solution over USB and plumb it into your router.

My router doesn't have USB. Does this mean new router, plug it in to my PC and share, or would it be better to connect to router via ethernet (which I guess would limit/make more expensive the product choice)?

search google shopping for NAS and you will see lots of network options.

Yes, a bewildering array. I was hoping that somebody had a recommendation. :p

Do I really need a NAS?

if you want to share an external drive between 4 PC's then life will be easier if its connected to a spare network port on the router m8.

You're right. Thanks.

So what do I need to look out for in the NAS? I would have thought that if it connected direct to the Router there would be no need for USB unless you were going to "daisy chain" devices. I must be missing something.

most NAs devices have USB to allow a memory stick or external drive to be plugged in, its all down to budget and needs but a simple 2 bay device will be plenty.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004AIWOX...SIN=B004AIWOXY

other members will have opinions as to the best so give them a few hours to post up, even better, set a budget and capacity ?

do you want it to have RAID1 so it can hold a 2nd backup in case a drive fails ?

Thanks again. At the moment it will be backup to what's stored on HDDs, however I can see that it could become the main storage for media in time. Therefore a solution that allowed for 2 disks and RAID but would work with 1 disk from the off might be best. Depends on how much the price differential is I guess - it may be better to buy a new device further down the line. Certainly doesn't need RAID from the off. I'm thinking 2Tb which gives some redundancy (prolly 1Tb is enough right now, but that would fill fairly quickly).

Is there anything clever that they do with the memory stick, as otherwise I can't see any big advantage? Equally chaining HDDs via USB (even 3.0) seems a kludge.

Budget? Well I don't really have one, but I certainly don't want to be spending silly money as I won't be using high end features. Fast, reliable and preferably quiet. So is £250 reasonable including HDD?

I found this, which means going to RAID straight away, but seems to be largely what I need: http://www.dabs.com/products/buffalo...m_content=Q200

Alternatively there are these enclosures:
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/netge...music-and-more
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Netgear-Read...6904312&sr=8-1

Couldn't find any SATA 3 enclosures (at least at the price level I was checking).

Any comments?

sata3 is pointless over the network as the network (or usb) would the the bottleneck in any case. add onto that the price hike for sata3 drives against there limitation of being a platter drive you may as well stick to sata2.

lets say you can stump up the £250 for the 1st one you linked to and feel 2tb is enough then you select raid1 during initial setup. if a drive fails you stick a new one in, leave it alone for 24 hours while it backs itself up into raid1 again and your good to go.