Network Storage solution?

[mazz72]

Hey guys.

I'm looking for something to be used as a NAS to keep all of my music and video files on, to access from any system in my house. It seems all of the NAS enclosures I find are either extremely expensive, or they just don't get very good reviews. Same goes for external hdds with network connections. No prebuilt solutions seem to be very reliable from what I've read.

I know a lot of people on here recommend Apricorn for external hdds, but I haven't seen any of their drives with network connections.

Can anyone recommend anything that would serve this purpose? Basically just looking for at least 1tb of space and the ability to hook it up to my network. It doesn't have to be wireless, and it doesn't matter to me if it's a prebuilt external hdd/NAS, or just an enclosure that I can stick a hdd or two into.

The only other option I can think of is to build a small system to act as a network server. Does anyone think that might just be the best solution? And if so....what kind of specs would be good for such a build? If I go this route, I really don't want something that's going to take up a lot of space....MicroATX, or even ITX would be best.

Price-wise....I'd really rather not spend more than $250, but will go as high as $300 MAX.

Any and all suggestions are much appreciated.

Thanks a lot.

[EzyStvy]

You can find really nice Dell refurbs for under a 100 bucks. then throw in four 1tb or 1.5 tb and off ya go.

[mazz72]

I was thinking of that. I actually have an older system that I was thinking of converting to a NAS. Problem is, I really don't want an ATX style system. I want something small that I can keep out of the way. I was thinking of maybe doing an ITX build based around one of the atom processors, with a nice tiny little case.

[EzyStvy]

If money is no object and or space is more important....

[glc]

If I were going to do this, I'd probably do a cheap build or find something used and put Windows Home Server on it. Something with, say, a dual core Celeron and 2gb ram should do the job fine.

[mazz72]

Originally Posted by EzyStvy

If money is no object and or space is more important....

As I stated in my first post, I'd like to keep it around $250/$300 at the most. Are you implying a small and reliable NAS can't be built at that price?

[mikeL]

Give freeNAS a look, easy install setup, I did mine in about an hour.
http://iso.linuxquestions.org/freenas/freenas-0.69.1/

[EzyStvy]

Originally Posted by mazz72

As I stated in my first post, I'd like to keep it around $250/$300 at the most. Are you implying a small and reliable NAS can't be built at that price?

Nope...I was thinking you just said you had an old system already on hand and was wondering whay you let it sit AND spend money when you didn't have too

[mazz72]

Originally Posted by EzyStvy

Nope...I was thinking you just said you had an old system already on hand and was wondering whay you let it sit AND spend money when you didn't have too

I got ya. While it's not a matter of "money is no object", I would like something other than a full ATX system. I already have 2 of them in the office, plus an HTPC in the living room, and a laptop that is, well...everywhere, lol. So I'd really like to have something that's small and can just be stuffed out of the way, beings that it won't be something I'll have to physically access very often.

This is why I was actually hoping for something like an external hdd or enclosure, but the ones I'm seeing so far either get bad reviews and I don't trust their reliability, or they don't have network connectivity. These reasons are why I was considering a completely separate new system. But if I do that, I don't want something big.

Plus, looking at glc's post, I wonder if that older system I have would even work. 2.4ghz P4, 2gigs ddr400 ram.

[mazz72]

Originally Posted by mikeL

Give freeNAS a look, easy install setup, I did mine in about an hour.
http://iso.linuxquestions.org/freenas/freenas-0.69.1/

Thanks. But still looking for hardware at this point.

[glc]

2.4ghz P4, 2gigs ddr400 ram.

PLENTY good enough.

[mazz72]

Originally Posted by glc

PLENTY good enough.

Darn. I was just using that as a secondary excuse. I really just plain don't want to use the old system, because I don't want another ATX size system taking up a lot of space.

Did I mention the motherboard is an Asrock?

[glc]

Hide it in a closet or somewhere without a monitor and admin the thing with remote desktop.

[mazz72]

OK. I don't want to put it in a closet. I don't want to use the old system. Is that a crime? I appreciate that you guys are trying to help save me some money, or save a computer, but that's not what I came here looking for. It really is appreciated, but not necessary. Thank you.

glc...you mentioned that you would use a dual-core cpu if you were building something like this, which was actually what I was thinking, too. But then you also said that my P4 would be plenty good enough. What would you say would be the minimum specs for a NAS build?

[glc]

It depends what OS you were going to use, research the requirements.

[mazz72]

awesome thanx