IGX

I bought one of these a year or so ago and I love it. (211j)

It has 2x2TB hard drives--I think it was around $400 spec'ed out like that.

This is the current version:

http://www.synology.com/products/produc ... 2j&lang=us

Pros:
-RAID your data and survive hard drive crashes.
-Download tasks (e.g. bit torrent, emule, ftp) 24x7 while your computer is off with built-in download station.
-DLNA server - I stream movies and music directly to my Playstation 3, Laptop and to my Nook Tablet with this--it was easy to set up, too. (Nook Tablet rooting was not easy to set up--that's a different story)
-You can set up file access from the internet, which I haven't done yet because I don't travel enough. But this is a good feature too.
-Timed on/off so you can power down the disk station automatically when not in use to save power.
-Intuitive web-interface has a gui for as well as a cli terminal for advanced tasks (e.g. setting up backup directly to Amazon S3 from the NAS.)
-Easy to set up file shares

Cons:
-Couldn't afford RAID 5
-211j version had a 2TB max drive size (current version has a 3TB max)
-Still trying to figure out how to back up 2TB without breaking my bank (will probably back up to external all CDs and DVDs, and only live-backup the data that changes)
-You fuckers probably have no idea what I'm talking about


I thought I might be overpaying for this product, but I use it constantly now.

You paid 400 bucks for a portable hard drive?

If it has 2x2TB hard drives, wouldn't you use one to back up the other?

Beer Jew wrote:You paid 400 bucks for a portable hard drive?

It's more than a hard drive, it's a "NAS" server, complete with an operating system. It's "standalone" storage that your other PCs in your home network can acess as needed - or from a laptop outside your home network if you know the proper shibboleths. Admittedly, only a fanatic would shell out $400 bucks for one, but I understand where he's coming from.

Good review, thanks. I am in the market for some hardware to upgrade my household network, this looks interesting.

Terry B. wrote:If it has 2x2TB hard drives, wouldn't you use one to back up the other?

Terry-- yes, this is what the RAID does--it 'stripes' the data across the two drives, so if one fails, you pop in a new one and the data automatically 'rebuilds'. Hard drive failure happens to everyone, but RAID gives you a much better chance of surviving.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID for more than you want to know about this.

Abandoned by Wolves wrote:

Beer Jew wrote:You paid 400 bucks for a portable hard drive?

It's more than a hard drive, it's a "NAS" server, complete with an operating system. It's "standalone" storage that your other PCs in your home network can acess as needed - or from a laptop outside your home network if you know the proper shibboleths. Admittedly, only a fanatic would shell out $400 bucks for one, but I understand where he's coming from.

Good review, thanks. I am in the market for some hardware to upgrade my household network, this looks interesting.

Here was the problem this was intended to solve: I have a box of hard drives dating back about 10 years with data that goes back earlier than that. I wanted this data safe and accessible. My wife works from home on a laptop and needs a solid backup plan as well. The point was to get all the data into one place, then back it up from there.

This also means if I get new hardware at any time, I just set it up, I don't have to worry about migrating my data. If I want to install windows 8, I just do it. All my data is stored on my NAS. etc.

In addition, streaming videos and music wirelessly is freaking great. I use my PS3 all the time now, and I never play games on it.

Here is exactly what I got:
HGST Deskstar 5K3000 HDS5C3020ALA632 (0F12117) 2TB SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive x 2 @ $79.99 each
Synology DS211J Diskless System DiskStation 2-bay NAS Server for Small Office and Home Use @ $199.99

So it was about $360. I bought some RAM at the same time that brought the total up to around $400.

I guess I am a fanatic.

I mean, you can view porn from a phone or Ipad.

Or from a 46" widescreen TV.

A colleague was telling me about something like this (not the porn on the big screen - simply too lazy to quote here) where you could unplug a drive and toss it in your bag, rehooking it up to your office computer. Then, when finished, you repeated the process and the entire system synced with a nice backup when you replugged it in.

Could you do that? If so, I feel that the cost would be worth it.

I"m so confused right now.

protobuilder wrote:I"m so confused right now.

What browser are you using?

I"m logged onto the Internet