Geek

I've been looking for a NAS backup solution for a while now and have yet to find the one I want. My ideal solution is an external drive enclosure with built in software and capable of powering down when not in use. It would also have two hot swap slots capable of Raid 1 and a GigE interface.

Something like this is pretty good, especially considering the cost.

Linux.com | FreeNAS makes it easy to add storage to home networks

My only issue with it is that it still requires a full tower PC to run it.

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Geek

<Cue heavenly angels>

SC101T - NETGEAR.com

Now I just wonder what "Coming soon" really means.

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sheepofblue

and in typical Netgear fashion no Mac support (though you can get their routers to work just fine)

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Geek

Looks like this is a more robust NAS software:
About Openfiler

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Geek

I don't see why you wouldn't be able to format it for Mac. The specs are kind of sketchy, but I think someone with some decent technical abilities would be able to get it to work.

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sheepofblue

On a guess it is Linux using SAMBA and you could hook to it as a windows share. I agree it is likely to work fine, my gripe is Netgear says no Mac support even when a one armed blind monkey could make it work.

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ccwilli3

We had that POS in our office. It wouldn't let you mount the drive at it's IP (or samba or windows file sharing or anything) you had to have specific software to access it and have it work. We returned it. That's why it won't work...

ccwilli3

specifically, we didn't have the 't' model. It used EIDE drives, not SATA too. But it was the same setup as I mentioned above...

Geek

Well that sucks. I got my hopes up that I finally found the enclosure that I've been looking for. I saw the EIDE version, and that is readily available for ~$100 - it's just not as fast.

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ccwilli3

yeah, we were very disappointed. We really wanted to hang some storage on our network without having to have a PC/server to hang it off of. stupid software had to be installed on each PC in order to access it and only with that software could you admin/format/partition the drives inside...

sheepofblue

XServe

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Geek

If I wanted to go the server route I'd go the Linux NAS route. In fact I already have a SCSI attached 8 slot drive cage at home with close to 500GB of storage that I don't use because I don't want to run a full server.

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sheepofblue

Might not be what you want but check the shared drive feature on the new Airport Extreme. Just plug a USB drive in and poof (or so they say) It actually looks kind of sweet. Might be nice for synching bookmarks without paying the blackmail on .Mac

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Geek

Well, this is an alternative. Pricey, but it's available. Newegg.com - BUFFALO HS-D1.0TGL/R5 TeraStation HomeServer Network Attached Storage - Retail

The reviews are a little worrysome though.

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Hmm...500GB for $279 - that's not a bad deal. Wonder if I can yank the WD drives and put in some Seagate Barracudas??

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Lacie now has some available in the affordable range...

LaCie - Ethernet Disk mini - Gigabit Ethernet & USB 2.0

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sheepofblue

You ever do anything on this? I am hunting mass storage for video. I don't need big speed as it would be archival rather than used to rip tapes to disk. I kind of want something that could go 1TB+ though Of course if I had a new Mac Pro with the SATA drawers

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Geek

No, never ended up doing it. You could probably do the FreeNAS thing that I linked to in the first post on the cheap.

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sheepofblue

The Lacie is tempting as you get 500GB that can hit the network or USB2 for a small premium. When I finally upgrade my G4's it has a better chance of remaining useful

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sheepofblue

This could be interesting RND2000 - ReadyNAS Duo (1 x 500 GB)

Not super clear if you can attach more to the USB and/or upgrade the drive though...

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OSIRIS

A guy I work with has the Lacie drive...I think 1TB worth. He loves it. GBit connection and I think a web interface is what he uses. I think he paid ~$300 for it a while back.

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Geek

Still haven't bought anything. This is getting closer to what I've been looking for. The heat/Time Machine issue the one user mentions in his review is somewhat of a concern. I wonder if the firmware can be upgraded on these..

Newegg.com - Rosewill R2-RAID Dual 3.5" SATA 3G HDD 2-Bay RAID 0/1/BIG/JBOD/SAFE33/SAFE55 System/ USB2.0 & eSATA Output Design - Server RAID Systems

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