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[Lazydocker]

Right, although I'm not a complete Luddite I really don't understand completely so I thought I should just ask the IT geeks knowledgeable bods on here

Although most of my business software is cloud based I still have things stored locally on the laptop. I know that I need the facility to back this up and I've been playing with fire leaving it as long as I have If I'm going to pay out for something I may as well get something that fits the bill properly So I need to get myself a NAS drive that will also work as a print server. I have 2 printers (1 is an All-in-one and if I can also scan remotely on it then all the better!) that I want to connect via USB.

I may as well get at least 1TB so I have plenty of space. Price isn't as important as quality, although I don't want to spend too much!

Over to the experts... Any suggestions please?

[TheBoy]

To be honest, for a local NAS, the ReadyNAS range is hard to beat for functionality and reliability. Little bit dearer than some, but if your accountant is any good, should be able to write it off in a year.

NAS isn't a total solution - what if the house burns down/floods/whatever. You loose laptop and NAS, and are then proper 'dangle berries'ed.

I would imagine, but don't know, ReadyNAS would have a plugin for offsite storage of certain files.  Martian is a ReadyNAS expert, so can probably answer questions. Although, IIRC, his is one of the larger models, overkill for your needs.

Living where you do, I doubt your broadband is good enough for real time file syncing to a remote location, although that does depend on how often files are updated.

[TheBoy]

To add to that, things like Windows Home Server may fit your bill as well. Frequently cost effective, and have some abilities to automatically back up entire machines. You may want to look into that as well. *BUT* you will want mirrored disks etc.

[Martian]

What's your budget LD?

I have the Infrant (now Netgear) NV10+ which holds 4 drives and offers all you want and a little bit more besides.
You can configure it for a number of RAID levels, although I use "RAID-X" as this offers 100% redundancy while allowing you to upscale the storage on the fly.

The bare box can be had from Amazon for £226 these days, and you simply add the disk drives to suit yourself.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Netgear-Gigabit-Desktop-Network-Storage/dp/B000VKJEBK/ref=tag_stp_s2_edpp_url

[Lazydocker]

TBH, I've not really looked at a budget. I don't need anything too fancy TBH, only going to be backing up a couple of laptops as far as storage goes. I want something reliable and I want something to work as the print server.

As TB says, I'm not in a position to be downloading or uploading large files frequently, although I could should set up an off site backup as well That's not such an issue at the moment... I can set that up in the near future, perhaps to my father's server or even cloud based.

So the answer is, I don't want to spend more than I need to. Something fairly basic will be sufficient, as long as it's reliable and does all I need The readyNAS range looks like it might well fit the bill nicely Perhaps I should be looking at 2 drives in it and setting it up to mirror them for added protection if one goes corrupt?

[aaronjb]

My solution to this is:

Qnap NAS (I have the 8-bay with 12TB of storage but they have well priced 2-bay units) capable of running Qpkgs
CrashPlan software running on my laptop and on the NAS (via the Qkpg)

My laptop backs up constantly to the Cloud via CrashPlan's gold subscription and, when at home, backs up to the NAS - all in the background.

[Lazydocker]

Looking at readyNAS, I reckon the "Netgear ReadyNas Duo v2" is probably more than sufficient for my needs

[TheBoy]

Looking at readyNAS, I reckon the "Netgear ReadyNas Duo v2" is probably more than sufficient for my needs

That occasionally comes on offer where the single drive version comes with a 2nd drive for free.

If cost is a serious issue, you could simply copy fiiles between multiple laptops, so you always have at least 2 copies. Maybe with one of them syncing with an online storage system like Skydrive or Dropbox (although Dropbox has been hit with a couple of security flaws recently). I know your broadband doesn't really work too well with online storage, but those that have client software doing delta updates should still work "OK-ish", and have the advantage of being fully automatic.  Being a business, ensure you don't fall foul of their T&Cs though (often the freebie services are for consumers only).

Or an old, unloved PC running as a fileserver. Most Server class OS' will allow software mirroring of disks. Though most motherboards usually have some form of pseudo-hardware RAID...

[Lazydocker]

Cost isn't a huge issue, within reason, as it's a business purchase

But, that said, I don't want to be spending more than I need to. I used to have an old tower PC running but it became unreliable and keeps eating PSUs... It's about 8 years old TBH and a little past it

The qnap stuff doesn't seem to get great reviews TBH

[TheBoy]

It's about 8 years old TBH and a little past it

Bugger me, yes. P4 or Athon XP era. Both chips will cook most components, and themselves. Such a system would cost a fortune in electric if on 24/7


I use a Xeon based HP Proliant here, that is where my files are stored, and backed up to tape. Its designed to be on 24/7, and does its job very well.  And I let a small corner of it run OOF as well . Not too much of an energy sucker, probably about a 1/3rd of the power needed to run a large P4 or Athon XP based system . Overkill for your needs though.

[aaronjb]

The qnap stuff doesn't seem to get great reviews TBH

Really? Can't say I've read any, admittedly, but the folks using NAS's around here are all either Qnap or Synology.. someone did have a Netgear but ditched it in favour of a Qnap

[Lazydocker]

The qnap stuff doesn't seem to get great reviews TBH

Really? Can't say I've read any, admittedly, but the folks using NAS's around here are all either Qnap or Synology.. someone did have a Netgear but ditched it in favour of a Qnap

Admittedly they are mostly about setup and say once up and running it's quite good

[cem_devecioglu]

if you didnt say 1 TB I would recommend solid state disks.. they are less prone to failure unless you cook them in microwave

[kully]

I'm a geek and proud of it ;-)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005LRCASM (I think the default option is from some odd company, but you can choose to get it from Amazon directly by checking 'other buying options').

It comes with a £100 rebate from HP (just fill in a form, you'll get the cheque in 3-4 weeks from their office in Reading).

You then need hard drives (upto four), an OS - I'm thinking Home Server 2011, some more RAM (another 2GB stick) and you are away. I have one in my study on 24/7 serving media around the house, acting as a print server for my photo printer and a standard inkjet and also running some apps to download stuff for me automatically. you can do as I did and move the OS drive to the optical drive bay with a 2.5<>3.5" adapter, molex power adapter and a sata cable with a 90 degree bend on one side.

[Lazydocker]

I'm a geek and proud of it ;-)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005LRCASM (I think the default option is from some odd company, but you can choose to get it from Amazon directly by checking 'other buying options').

It comes with a £100 rebate from HP (just fill in a form, you'll get the cheque in 3-4 weeks from their office in Reading).

You then need hard drives (upto four), an OS - I'm thinking Home Server 2011, some more RAM (another 2GB stick) and you are away. I have one in my study on 24/7 serving media around the house, acting as a print server for my photo printer and a standard inkjet and also running some apps to download stuff for me automatically. you can do as I did and move the OS drive to the optical drive bay with a 2.5<>3.5" adapter, molex power adapter and a sata cable with a 90 degree bend on one side.

Sounds a bit too much for my needs TBH