Tech Blog

[#1]

Many home computing environments now include more than one computer, all connected to the Internet. Yet each is likely using its own hard drive for storing music, video and photos that others in the household may want view.

To share this media, you either have to set up a 'shared directory' that can be accessed through your network, or revert to the physical 'sneaker-net' and dump the files to a CD/DVD/USB-Drive/SD-Card/etc.

But, there's a better, more efficient, and secure way to make your data available to your 'personal network'. Install a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device.

Was ist NAS?

Basically, NAS is just a very small and simple computer that hangs off your current network router. This computer has one job -- securely share and maintain your data.

My current NAS is the Dlink DNS-323. It's a smart hard-drive case with the computer and network firmware installed -- you bring a matched pair of SATA hard drives to the party.

I've equipped mine with 2 500GB drives set up to mirror each other. This is called RAID 1, and provides basic data integrity by constantly maintaining one copy of your data (a data mirror) on each drive. If one drive fails, the NAS warns you and uses the data from the 'good' drive.

Doin' the NAS-ty

The NAS attaches to your network using a standard Ethernet connection using common data transfer rates (10mbps, 100mbps and 1gbps). The faster your network, the faster the data gets from the NAS to your devices.

Once the physical connection to the network is made, it's a simple matter of using the included Dlink software to find the device on the network and set up 'network drives' on each of your computers.

This means that the NAS now looks 'almost' like a regular drive to your computer. It has a drive letter and can be used with most programs. I say 'most' programs because some software is designed to NOT use network drives for data storage --NAS is not as fast as a local computer hard drive, and some programs require speedy disk reads and writes.

NAS also works with Macs, though not quite as easily -- you have to manually find the device through the network file sharing functions in OSX as the included software is Windows only.

But wait! There's more!!!
The Dlink DNS-323 is more than just a NAS though. As a smart hard drive enclosure, it also gives you:

• Internet access to your files via FTP - this lets you set up a FTP server and securely access your files from outside your current network through theInternet.
• UPnP AV for Storing and Streaming Media Files - UPnP technology lets you efficiently stream media to other UPnP devices on your network (Media centres, game consoles, etc)
• USB Print Server Port - connect a USB printer and everyone on your network can use the printer -- this frees you from tying a printer to one of your computers, having to boot it up just to print a document.
• iTunes server - the NAS becomes visible as a device when iTunes is running, allowing you to access and manage your media inside of iTunes.

So, I've had two NAS devices on my network over the last few years. For me and my computing environment, NAS is Indispensable. And I think it's time that more home-networks included a NAS device, if only for media sharing and backup.

Your thoughts? Would NAS fit into your home computing environment? If you already have NAS, how do you use it?

Message Edited by Julez on 07-29-2009 03:33 PM

Message Edited by Laura on 08-21-2009 11:17 AM

[#2]

I'm currently rocking NAS at home. I was attempting to use the AirDisk function of my Airport Extreme, but getting it to stream data reliably to my home theatre was next to impossible.

Instead, I'm now using a Linksys Media Hub attached to my Airport Extreme.  It's got a 500GB drive in it that will be joined by a 1TB drive shortly. My Aperture vault is there, my entire DVD collection is on there (700+ discs) as well as my music collection (ripping discs is such a chore).

The whole thing is connected to a gigabit wired network or streaming out over wireless N. Watching three separate HD streams in three places is one of those nerd-pride moments that make you tear up.

[#3]

@Graham,

That looks like an ideal system! Well done. My next step is to upgrade my wireless to N. I've only got G right now, but that's ok for now as my mobile devices only support G. For wired I'm at gigabit though

And I totally get that nerd-pride..3 HD streams across a network will cause those cables to heat up some