![2012081762560765[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/Jvn6GC6.jpg "2012081762560765[1].jpg")
HDD docking station vs NAS?
Which is better? Which scales up better? Need more storage (only have laptops) and don't want to keep buying external HDD.
Getting the whole enclosure, seperate mobo, power consumption seems a little taxing and too much upfront.
>>51645157
But it looks cooler has more functionality and is better for your drives than some guaranteed to die be shit docking station.
>>51645157
bump for interest
>>51645157
if you just want local storage no reason to fuck with a nas
honestly this is a much needed thread to have, I've looked for HDD docking stations and pretty much all of them are shit
>>51645602
I've never looked into docking stations. Why are they shit?
also interested in this, particularly combined with seeding and streaming media to TV
>>51645618
If you are seeding and streaming, NAS is the way to go, otherwise with the station you'd be using your main computer as both your main computer and the server. stations just seem to be a temporary solution if anything.
Servers can be pretty cheap. I bought a thecus 2310 for under a $100, it can hold 2 full size HDDs and does raid or whatever for you, I just use JBOD to maximise space since I have backups elsewhere. it is perfect, two 5tb drives is heaps for me even though I have a butt ton of stuff, it will probably last me until 4k media becomes a common thing.
>>51645602
>HDD docking stations
> pretty much all of them are shit
Choose All Of The Above.
>>51645655
what about power consumption? It's pretty much the unforeseen cost.
>>51645613
Shittily made I guess. Almost all of them seem to have problems, either interfering with the HDD backup process, issues connecting, no protection from a sudden power outage, the list goes on.
If any of you /g/uys can recommend a docking station that'd be awesome
>>51645689
The station won't run on happy thoughts either.
NAS will scale better, there's no obvious bottlenecking, if you have a laptop you are at best limited to usb 3, unless you have some other connection available. You just plug your NAS into your router or whatever and forget about it if you go wireless. Unless you are getting some bullshit large array the hardware controlling the NAS won't be powerful at all and the load on that hardware is not going to be huge.
I would only get a hdd station if for some reason I was often swapping out drives all the time and I didn't need to access them from multiple devices, just the one.
>>51645689
>>51645752
>>51645655
If I just want to listen to music and watch videos from my hard drives and don't want them to be in my main computer because of heat/space
Can I just make another computers with windows 7 on it and use it that way? Or will that be too slow? I feel like it's pointless to mess with freeNAS and whatnot if this is all I want.
>>51645157
just get an old pc to act like a file server. especially if you have the parts lying around.
>>51645782
not really sure what you mean, but a NAS is another computer, but essentially just one designed to move files, stream data and administer storage rather than do any intense computing as such.
You spoke of scalabilty. A docking station will do what you want sure, you could plug the station in and off you go. If you are worried about setting up a server don't, you don't have to custom build the hardware and NAS doesn't have to be expensive. For what a prebuilt offers over a station I think it is very much worth the few extra dollars and from my experience they are very easy to use. The one I mentioned earlier was simply slide the hdds in, turn it on, run the program that came with it and it was good to go.
>>51645838
I'm not OP
I'm just asking if windows 7 will do okay as a NAS OS if I'm just interested in listening to music and watching videos from it.
I have experience with this Lindy USB 3 Dock which is also a Cloning machine.
Its alright but obviously can only read two drives at once, and is mainly for cloning hard drives which is does quite well, even though you only have flashing lights as status indicators.
I'm using pic related, connected through USB 3.0 and it works alright.
>>51646621
these are supposed to be good
>>51646621
>>51646456
win server 2012 would be better imo
>>51646660
Why?
>>51645157
NAS. Always NAS.
You'll want one anyways unless you back your smartphone, computer and whatever else up to "the cloud"... which I wouldn't recommend.
Build your own or buy one of the Zyxel ones (they're not that great in terms of software, but that makes the 2-4 drive ones cheap).
>>51646456
It might be okay perhaps according to the needs of a typical home user sense.
But really, it's shit at software RAID and a lot more, and maintenance downtime and the need to have AV scanners and what not is a pain in general. Use Linux or BSD.
What's the difference between using an old mobo and housing it in an old case and this stuff:
https://www.pccasegear.com/category/617
>>51646753
I don't see why I need RAID or am going to get viruses on a machine that isn't doing anything aside from streaming music to my main computer.
what's a good, cost-effective NAS?
Thinking about one for christmas
>>51646895
Viruses are not the reasons people use RAID m8, in fact RAID would not help you at all if you got a virus
>>51646936
You just told me I'm gonna need AV scanners...
>>51645157
I have both, a synology NAS for 24/7 access, and a 20 bucks chink dock station for offline storage (mostly anime). I keep my hard disks in a shoe box and dip them inside the dock station when I need the stuff.
>>51646960
No I did not...
>>51646898
>y, i
Netgear RN202 or QNAP TS-251 for off-the shelf boxes. Or you can build your own and run Debian + OMV or Freenas
Is it possible to make a NAS with a beaglebone?
>>51646898
Synology DS214/215
>>51645157
>seperate mobo
yeah, I know. buying mini mobos even have vga and headphone shit. feel bad for all those wasted things.
NAS are fucking slow though. Or you pay through the nose for any reasonable speed.
>>51646895
> I don't see why I need RAID
You usually don't - until right the moment where you'll loose your data or at least incur downtime and work without RAID and everything works smooth with RAID.
> or am going to get viruses
It's Windows. Either it's strict configuration and running updates, or you get viruses right down to ransomware.
> on a machine that isn't doing anything
That's not how it will usually work. I bet like most of us, you won't buy a new and dedicated machine for every new larger computer task.
So basically, you'll also use it as TV media box, or web browser, general file server / backup dump or whatever else anyways. Maybe some torrenting, IPFS, and more, too. Who knows...
>>51647632
Not really, the Zyxel and ASUS are fast for under $300 still, I think, unless you need SSD-like speeds with multiple bonded Ethernet channels
You pay out the nose for >4 drive NAS, though. Build your own if you want that.
on the Zyxels you can install Debian with a serial>usb cable or use the slackware "FFP" stick for extrac packages http://zyxel.nas-central.org/wiki/FFP-stick#The_stick_itself
>>51647647
But RAID makes me have to buy an extra hard drive just for backup
From my experience hard drives never outright died on me, they started reporting bad sectors and working badly and then I evacuated
>>51648217
This.
>>51647455
Toys, choose Thinkserver TS-140, Xeon E3 1225/6 v3, ECC ram. Intel AMT. Up to 5 x 3,5".
>>51649525
>cost-effective
>>51648217
not him.... but
>But RAID makes me have to buy an extra hard drive just for backup
With RAID5/Z1 and RAID6/Z2 you still technically have to buy a drive for backup, but you only need one and two drives respectively for redudancy (so even in an array of 20 drives)
>From my experience hard drives never outright died on me, they started reporting bad sectors and working badly and then I evacuated
Yes clearly you have sufficient experience and people are just stupid for using redundancy.
those two are two opposite things , you cant compare them. its like comparing a android to a phaggot iphone.
>>51650977
idk m8, 4 drives gone fucked and none of them immediately.
>>51646865
this is relevant to my interest. anyone can answer this?
I have some old pc lying around, would it be better just to fill it with hdds or should i create a raid thing?
>>51645661
I got a dual bay USB 3.0 anker dock that has worked very well for transferringlarge files between previous and current install
