Please recommend storage (with backup) solution

[bigcat]

I only have MBPs in the house and we can no longer store all the music, photos and videos in the macs themselves.

What I am looking for is storage in our LAN to store all that. I want something that can also backup such information (redundancy) so a single drive failure can be recovered from. This place should ideally also support time machine backups.

I am not an expert in the topic, and google produces a number of products, I am not sure what's good. I was wondering if anyone here has found something that can be recommended.

Thanks in advance

 

[bigcat]

I am kind of liking the Drobo FS. Any one used that product?

 

[satcomer]

If i were you I would buy a router like the Airport Extreme that has a USB2 port to share network files.

If you get the Airport extreme, get a good powered USB2 hub. Then get two externals, format both to MacOS Extended. Then move your iTunes Library and also Move your iPhoto Library and move both that one drive. Then, if you have the second external use something like Time Machine or something like Carbon Copy Cloner to backup your Macs.

 

[bigcat]

If i were you I would buy a router like the Airport Extreme that has a USB2 port to share network files.

If you get the Airport extreme, get a good powered USB2 hub. Then get two externals, format both to MacOS Extended. Then move your iTunes Library and also Move your iPhoto Library and move both that one drive. Then, if you have the second external use something like Time Machine or something like Carbon Copy Cloner to backup your Macs.

Thanks for the feedback. I already have an Airport Extreme. In the setup you explain, the itunes libraries are not being backed up right? I mean if that drive is fails, there is no backup.

 

[mabaty]

I am kind of liking the Drobo FS. Any one used that product?

Horrible, our company has two Drobo Pro's sitting on the floor in the server room because they failed SO often (and they are slow).

If i were you I would buy a router like the Airport Extreme that has a USB2 port to share network files.

If you get the Airport extreme, get a good powered USB2 hub. Then get two externals, format both to MacOS Extended. Then move your iTunes Library and also Move your iPhoto Library and move both that one drive. Then, if you have the second external use something like Time Machine or something like Carbon Copy Cloner to backup your Macs.

I wouldn't do this, especially if your looking for a backup solution as well. I highly recommend a Synology DS212J for your needs. It supports Time Machine backup (and Windows if you ever needed it), it is fast, reliable, and redundant.

 

[bigcat]

Horrible, our company has two Drobo Pro's sitting on the floor in the server room because they failed SO often (and they are slow).



I wouldn't do this, especially if your looking for a backup solution as well. I highly recommend a Synology DS212J for your needs. It supports Time Machine backup (and Windows if you ever needed it), it is fast, reliable, and redundant.

Thanks for feedback. I have actually been looking at Synology. Now one thing I forgot to mention I want to do is stream videos to our PS3s. Some of the videos are m2ts (high def produced video camera), I know PS3 Media Service can stream those fine. I am not whether Synology (or any NAS) for that matter can do that natively.

My other thought is to try and use an older server I have and try to build a NAS myself using a linux server, or FreeNas (nas*****), or openmediavault?. I have enough 1TB hard drives laying around to do that. I guess the thing is, if I go the Synology way, will I still have to build a server separate to be able to stream the videos.

 

[mabaty]

Thanks for feedback. I have actually been looking at Synology. Now one thing I forgot to mention I want to do is stream videos to our PS3s. Some of the videos are m2ts (high def produced video camera), I know PS3 Media Service can stream those fine. I am not whether Synology (or any NAS) for that matter can do that natively.

My other thought is to try and use an older server I have and try to build a NAS myself using a linux server, or FreeNas (nas*****), or openmediavault?. I have enough 1TB hard drives laying around to do that. I guess the thing is, if I go the Synology way, will I still have to build a server separate to be able to stream the videos.

It's perfect for the PS3, as it uses DLNA & UPnP. You would not need a separate server.

From Synology: "Media Server allows you to stream multimedia files with an UPnP® Digital Media Adapter (DMA) to a stereo system or a TV-set. Sony® PlayStation® 3 and Microsoft® XBox 360 are also supported."