Many doubts

[MarcoGT]

Hi all...many doubts before buying...

Postby MarcoGT » Fri Jul 06, 2012 8:21 am
HI all,

this is my first.
I landed here as I am considering to buy a NAS

Idea is to buy a TS-219P but I have many questions; first of all I will tell my "home configuration"

- iMac
- MacBookPro
- PS3
- TV (no DLNA, no connection, quite old, intended to be replaced in next months)
- WiFi Printer
- iPad
- 2 iPhones
- Samsung galaxy tab

So, what I would need is to centralize all my media so they can be accessible from any devices but I have some questions:

1) If for example I move all my iTunes library to the NAS then will it be available through as "shared library" (on my Macs) or can I set it up as main library?
2) If the iTunes library is on the NAS, when I am not and home AND I do not have internet connection from my MacBook, I do not have music on it...it means I have to keep a copy of the library on my MacBook...right?
3) Backup: at the moment I backup my Macs on an USB external drive. If I set NAS disks in RAID1 (mirroring) and I back up my Macs on them...ok...but RAID1 in not a real backup as if the file system fails on one disk, then it will also fail on the other one, right?
4) Printer: is it possible to connect my printer with WiFi to the NAS so it will be also available through Internet?

Which model do you suggest me?

Thanks
Marco

[sbresin]

Hi

Here are some suggestions

2) If the iTunes library is on the NAS, when I am not and home AND I do not have internet connection from my MacBook, I do not have music on it...it means I have to keep a copy of the library on my MacBook...right?

right

3) Backup: at the moment I backup my Macs on an USB external drive. If I set NAS disks in RAID1 (mirroring) and I back up my Macs on them...ok...but RAID1 in not a real backup as if the file system fails on one disk, then it will also fail on the other one, right?

no, it 's wrong. RAID1 is mirroring wich means both disks contain the same datas. If one disk fails, the server can still work with the other.

4) Printer: is it possible to connect my printer with WiFi to the NAS so it will be also available through Internet?

NAS can be a printer server however make sure that your printer is in the compatibility list (see qnap.com)

Which model do you suggest me?

It depends on the amount of datas needed. Up to 4 Tb, a one bay nas with external harddrive for backup is enough. If you need more, then a two or four bay with RAID is suitable. Since you mainly need a file server, no need to take the fastest nas. Following links helps to compare QNAP nas features:
http://www.qnap.com/static/products/com ... ll_NAS.php

Finally after 6 months of intensive utilisation, my feedback could be that QNAP nas' have good hardware features however one needs to spend quite a lot of time at the beginning to make it work properly. It is still a Linux based server

Feel free to come back to me with other questions if any.

cheers

Stanislas