Compare to a self built system with a budget of $600, what's the advantage for these NAS systems? P8H77-I + PC-Q08B + G620 + 16GB RAM + etc would be easily under $600 and perform a lot better than these NAS system in my opinion.Reply
Size. A MiniITX case with at least 4x3.5" drive bays is several times larger. The ix4-300d is ~8x8x7" = .26 cubic feet in volume. The Lian Li PC-Q18 is ~11x8x14" = .72 cubic feet; roughly 3x as large.
The former is small enough to stick on a shelf next to your modem/router/etc; the latter takes up a similar footprint to a regular PC.
To head off the inevitable nitpicking, while the Lian Li has room for 6x3.5" drives; but the size jump in miniITX cases is at the 1-2 vs 3-4+ drive bays. The former config will sometimes stick them in the same area as the mobo itself; every example of the latter I've looked at puts the drives forward of the mobo like in a typical mid/fullsize tower.Reply
Thanks for the pointer. It's definitely better on size; but from the newegg reviews it seems like I'd probably need to do an airflow mod. Looking at the case I wonder if just cutting a hole in the back plate and flipping the PSU 180* would work; or if the internal power extension cord would make that impossible.Reply
The secondary advantage is that a prebuild nas just requires stuffing the drives in and running a config wizard; a DIY solution will typically require a few hours to assemble and install the requisite os/software. How much you value your freetime is entirely up to you. I as considering a prebuilt nas to replace my aging HP WHSv1 microserver because I have more enjoyable things to do with my time than slap a box together. Reply
At $600, the Px2-300D is on the expensive side for a 4bay nas. Synology has empty 4bay nases starting at $300 on newegg.
The parts for a 4+bay miniITX based SB-Celeron nas will run $400 and up + drives. An atom build will be ~$100 less. This puts prices in the same ballpark. Recycling parts would push the price down more; but my primary backup location isn't a place I feel comfortable using aging hardware.Reply
I have a iomega ix2-200 (upgraded it to the "cloud edition") with two 2TB drives in RAID-1
Just a good dumping ground for movies and shared crap... have not had an issue and perofrmance is great (60/40MB read/write if I recall) over ethernet.
Got the unit as it was being recycled at a job I worked for...Reply
I'm always confused by whether these things with linux drive formats are totally compatible with stuff coming from NTFS and the like.
My understanding is Windows 7 (and presumably 8) includes software RAID 1/drive mirring, so is there any reason you couldn't just buy or build a cheap/low end desktop with regular Windows, throw in the drives you want, turn on RAID 1, and use THAT for backups and the like? Then you've got a real Windows box that's easy to configure, easy to remote to if it's Windows Pro, you know it's secure and won't do anything weird...is there some reason that's a bad idea?Reply
The main difference at that point would come down to power consumption as you'd likely be running the full complement of IO that'd go along with a desktop. Granted things like modern video cards have incredibly low idle power but it'd still be sitting there slipping juice.
As far as configuration goes, you are correct that there would be some advantage in familiarity but you'd have to go to MS for OS support instead of the NAS vendor (even if the NAS is running an embedded form of Windows). While I don't want to get into an OS war, I wouldn't describe Windows as 'secure' or 'won't do anything weird'. On the same note, for a home or small office setup with a some what experienced admin, using Windows on a DIY box with RAID 1 is a perfectly viable option.
The only other thing worth pointing out is that I'd throw in another hard drive/SSD for a boot volume. Just good practice to keep your data distinctly separate from your OS and applications regardless if you're running Windows or Linux. If the OS fails, the drives can be moved elsewhere for quick recovery.Reply
Do units in that price range have dual GbE? I am genuinely curious. I know Synology's excellent DS413 / DS413j can be had diskless for around $500, but they both have single GbE links only. That said, the DS413 has some additional features such as hot-swap, volume encryption etc. which are absent in the ix4-300d. In the end, it may boil down to performance comparisons as to whether the improvement from dual GbE and more efficient SoC in the ix4-300d is worth the extra $70.Reply
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qyqgpower - Thursday, October 18, 2012 - link
Compare to a self built system with a budget of $600, what's the advantage for these NAS systems?P8H77-I + PC-Q08B + G620 + 16GB RAM + etc would be easily under $600 and perform a lot better than these NAS system in my opinion. Reply
DanNeely - Thursday, October 18, 2012 - link
Size. A MiniITX case with at least 4x3.5" drive bays is several times larger. The ix4-300d is ~8x8x7" = .26 cubic feet in volume. The Lian Li PC-Q18 is ~11x8x14" = .72 cubic feet; roughly 3x as large.The former is small enough to stick on a shelf next to your modem/router/etc; the latter takes up a similar footprint to a regular PC.
To head off the inevitable nitpicking, while the Lian Li has room for 6x3.5" drives; but the size jump in miniITX cases is at the 1-2 vs 3-4+ drive bays. The former config will sometimes stick them in the same area as the mobo itself; every example of the latter I've looked at puts the drives forward of the mobo like in a typical mid/fullsize tower. Reply
zer0sum - Friday, October 19, 2012 - link
Admittedly a bit bigger but you get to choose your hardware.CHENBRO SR30169T2-250
Mini-ITX motherboard
12x7x10
4 x 3.5" hot swap bays
2 x 2.5 bays Reply
DanNeely - Friday, October 19, 2012 - link
Thanks for the pointer. It's definitely better on size; but from the newegg reviews it seems like I'd probably need to do an airflow mod. Looking at the case I wonder if just cutting a hole in the back plate and flipping the PSU 180* would work; or if the internal power extension cord would make that impossible. ReplyDanNeely - Thursday, October 18, 2012 - link
The secondary advantage is that a prebuild nas just requires stuffing the drives in and running a config wizard; a DIY solution will typically require a few hours to assemble and install the requisite os/software. How much you value your freetime is entirely up to you. I as considering a prebuilt nas to replace my aging HP WHSv1 microserver because I have more enjoyable things to do with my time than slap a box together. ReplyMGSsancho - Thursday, October 18, 2012 - link
OpenFiler and FreeNAS make the software part easier. My time is worth something but saving a few hundred is also worth it to some. ReplyDanNeely - Friday, October 19, 2012 - link
At $600, the Px2-300D is on the expensive side for a 4bay nas. Synology has empty 4bay nases starting at $300 on newegg.The parts for a 4+bay miniITX based SB-Celeron nas will run $400 and up + drives. An atom build will be ~$100 less. This puts prices in the same ballpark. Recycling parts would push the price down more; but my primary backup location isn't a place I feel comfortable using aging hardware. Reply
Souka - Friday, October 19, 2012 - link
don't forget stability... how often will those DYI systems crash or lockup?A lot more failure points in a DYI vs a dedicated NAS.
Not everyone is a super geek.... Reply
Souka - Friday, October 19, 2012 - link
I have a iomega ix2-200 (upgraded it to the "cloud edition") with two 2TB drives in RAID-1Just a good dumping ground for movies and shared crap... have not had an issue and perofrmance is great (60/40MB read/write if I recall) over ethernet.
Got the unit as it was being recycled at a job I worked for... Reply
Wolfpup - Thursday, October 18, 2012 - link
I'm always confused by whether these things with linux drive formats are totally compatible with stuff coming from NTFS and the like.My understanding is Windows 7 (and presumably 8) includes software RAID 1/drive mirring, so is there any reason you couldn't just buy or build a cheap/low end desktop with regular Windows, throw in the drives you want, turn on RAID 1, and use THAT for backups and the like? Then you've got a real Windows box that's easy to configure, easy to remote to if it's Windows Pro, you know it's secure and won't do anything weird...is there some reason that's a bad idea? Reply
Kevin G - Thursday, October 18, 2012 - link
The main difference at that point would come down to power consumption as you'd likely be running the full complement of IO that'd go along with a desktop. Granted things like modern video cards have incredibly low idle power but it'd still be sitting there slipping juice.As far as configuration goes, you are correct that there would be some advantage in familiarity but you'd have to go to MS for OS support instead of the NAS vendor (even if the NAS is running an embedded form of Windows). While I don't want to get into an OS war, I wouldn't describe Windows as 'secure' or 'won't do anything weird'. On the same note, for a home or small office setup with a some what experienced admin, using Windows on a DIY box with RAID 1 is a perfectly viable option.
The only other thing worth pointing out is that I'd throw in another hard drive/SSD for a boot volume. Just good practice to keep your data distinctly separate from your OS and applications regardless if you're running Windows or Linux. If the OS fails, the drives can be moved elsewhere for quick recovery. Reply
jimmarako - Thursday, October 18, 2012 - link
A quick Google search turns up most 4 bay NAS's in the $250-$400 range. $600 seems fairly high. Replyganeshts - Thursday, October 18, 2012 - link
Do units in that price range have dual GbE? I am genuinely curious. I know Synology's excellent DS413 / DS413j can be had diskless for around $500, but they both have single GbE links only. That said, the DS413 has some additional features such as hot-swap, volume encryption etc. which are absent in the ix4-300d. In the end, it may boil down to performance comparisons as to whether the improvement from dual GbE and more efficient SoC in the ix4-300d is worth the extra $70. Replywang2013 - Tuesday, March 26, 2013 - link
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