What is the best NAS stoarge for £300 max

[mobilezonex]

Hi

what is the best NAS or Microserver i can get for £300.
will be setting it up as raid and using 3x Hitachi Ultrastar 24/7 Enterprise 7K3000 HDD which i have just brought.

main importance is must last a long time, strong raid set-up to prevent data loss and also high network performance

was looking at the synology DS413, but the price is too high.

[kmac]

NAS boxes are way overpriced IMHO for what they are - low powered CPU in a plastic box with some empty HDD bays and a proprietary or Open Source operating system

You could just buy something like http://www.amazon.co.uk/ProLiant-N40...9070490&sr=1-1 add the hard disks you mention and run something like:

1) FreeNAS 8
2) NAS4free
3) Open filer

or if you want to pay - Windows Home Server

Net work performance - just ensure you have a gigabit ethernet card in the machine ( and use gigabit switch and CAT 6 cable)

All above OS support Raid

[Bonebreaker777]

Or look into some NAS :-)
I have a Synology DS212j and couldn't be more satisfied. Quiet, low power consumption so can run 24/7 and apps for my smartphone so it can be controlled remotely.
Of course any home server you build will be faster and have better price/performance ratio.

[aidanjt]

Synology DS413j would probably be your best bet, £280 so healthily under budget: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...d=2125&subcat=

Might even get cheaper elsewhere.

[peterb]

Hi

<---snip strong raid set-up to prevent data loss snip--->

RAID may mitigate against data loss, but it should not be should not be regarded as a substitute for a backup regime. (Unless you are going to use the NAS as a backup for your main PC, ie duplicate everything on your PC on the NAS box)

[Macadee]

NAS boxes are way overpriced IMHO for what they are - low powered CPU in a plastic box with some empty HDD bays and a proprietary or Open Source operating system

You could just buy something like http://www.amazon.co.uk/ProLiant-N40...9070490&sr=1-1 add the hard disks you mention and run something like:

1) FreeNAS 8
2) NAS4free
3) Open filer

or if you want to pay - Windows Home Server

Net work performance - just ensure you have a gigabit ethernet card in the machine ( and use gigabit switch and CAT 6 cable)

All above OS support Raid

Which would you recommend for a beginner?

I have a Stora which is nearing capacity and was looking for a another NAS device but have enough old components lying around to make 4 or 5 PCs.

[DanceswithUnix]

Just try them, everyone has their own preferences with these things.

[Bonebreaker777]

If you have the hardware for a FreeNAS machine, the storage to experiment and the infrastructure, try it.

I did it myself (PIII 1Ghz Tualatin, 512MB RAM and a 20GB HDD, but I wasn't really impressed).

I am more that satisfied with my Synology. If I could show you remote control from a smartphone, I am sure it would gain +1 by you in it's favor.

FreeNAS could be usefull for the support of Z File System.

[kmac]

Which would you recommend for a beginner?

I have a Stora which is nearing capacity and was looking for a another NAS device but have enough old components lying around to make 4 or 5 PCs.

For a beginner I would try NAS4Free