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Choosing a Network-attached Storage System

2. Factors and Features

The targeting of NAS products to consumers is a relatively new phenomenon, driven by Microsoft Media Server software, and the media serving capabilities of PS3 and Xbox 360 consoles. Now more than ever, middle of the road family homes have a computer network and entertainment appliances that are network aware. Previously, DIY types would hack together a media box out of a customized operating system install and parts they had laying around. Now you or I can get a box in the mail with this functionality built in.

Factors in choosing an NAS system
Before I discuss the specific features, I do want to mention that this technology is still a bit bleeding edge. My reading of  user reviews revealed hours spent on help lines, poorer than expected performance, and little quirks (like hard drive compatibility) that didn’t show up in the promotional material.  Because of these performance and compatibility issues, look for a seller with a good return policy. You might want to start at a local store, where you can ask questions face to face. The good news is that the better companies continue to release firmware updates, eliminating bugs and adding functionality. Waiting to buy will pay off in more stable, less expensive, feature rich options.

Getting online and searching around was daunting. There were lots of reviews, but some are old. Others were for features I didn’t want, but others mentioned stuff that I didn’t know I could do, like streaming to a wireless media server hooked to my TV and stereo. To narrow down the search you can ask yourself two questions.

The first question we need to ask is why? Why do I want network-attached storage?

 I started outlining my needs before, but basically I wanted:

• to centralize my data as a backup
• to facilitate organization and sharing of data and music between computers
• to reduce my energy usage and wear and tear on my PC/Macs

At this point I am not interested in:

• serving movies
• accessing the data from the internet
• serving data to something besides a personal computer

The second question is how much? How much storage will I need in a year?

• count up your current data, then add in an estimate of the new data you will acquire
• remember hard drives deliver less capacity than stated on the box
• prices for storage keep falling
• analyze by cost  per GB to get the best deal

I had a little over 200 GB of music, and 60 GB of photos as I was looking into this. The music is pretty static, as I really don’t buy much anymore. The photos of course continue to grow, at a rate approaching 2 gb per month. (Now I’m glad I organize my images by date!) The usable space in a 320 GB drive is close enough to 300GB to eliminate that option. While I could get by with a 400 GB drive, the 500GB (465 available) drives gave the most storage for the money as they are actually cheaper than the 400 GB by $15 or so. Beyond the minimum needed, a simple $/GB calculation will point you to the best deal.  ($90/500 = 0.18/GB vs $151/750 = 0.20/GB vs $216/1000 =0.22/GB)

I use the one year time point as a rule of thumb. Buying more storage than I need is a waste of money. Even if prices don’t drop, I can use that $126 I saved to buy another 500 GB of hard drive in a year, when I need it. But we know that prices on memory/storage always drop, and Moore’s law says that in 18 months I will be able to buy 1 terabyte drives for the same cost as 500GB today. I figure I can swap out the now 1 year old 500 GB drive for one of the other, smaller drives in my system when I do the upgrade.

So, I wanted a 500 GB drive and a networked box to stick it in. (Or so I thought.) Once I started searching, I found tons of choices, features, and flaws:

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This article was written on Saturday, July 5th, 2008 and is filed under Mastering Skills. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.