I'm thinking about bagging my Netgear ReadyNAS NV+ in favor of a Mac mini with DAS.
Thanks!
I guess one question would be, why are you ditching the NAS? What is it that doesn't work for you about it, and what do you hope to accomplish by using a mini as a server? It will certainly work perfectly well with any kind of fast external drive, but without knowing what kind of environment you have and what kind of files you're storing, and for what purpose, it's hard to make exact recommendations.
Matt
Matt, thanks for your response. I think the issue I'm having is that although my ReadyNAS NV+ has been a fairly reliable NAS, it's pretty slow, plus the Raidar Software is extremely dated. After posting this I took a look at a few YouTube videos of the Synology 412+, which I really like and may work for me. Here's what I need in terms of functionality.
Thanks for your help.
Kelly Crossley wrote:
Matt, thanks for your response. I think the issue I'm having is that although my ReadyNAS NV+ has been a fairly reliable NAS, it's pretty slow, plus the Raidar Software is extremely dated. After posting this I took a look at a few YouTube videos of the Synology 412+, which I really like and may work for me. Here's what I need in terms of functionality.
- Mac compatible
- Local and remote (via Internet) file access
- Time Machine multi device capable (need to backup several Macs and a PC)
- Able to use as development server for website design, or at least capable of running Mamp Pro
- Able to stream videos (especially MKV format)
- Reliable
- Expandable
Thanks for your help.
I have a NV+ and also a Pro. The NV+ is Mac compatible, can be used as a Time Machine server, can be used remotely using theReadyNAS Remote software, see https://remote.readynas.com/download.html can stream videos (but is not suitable for transcoding on the fly), is reliable, however 4x2TB would probably already be the realistic limit of its expansion. It is also not suitable for MAMP and website design. If you want to look again at your NV+ make sure you have upgraded its software to the current version (which is free).
If you want to switch away, then I would suggest looking at a new Mac mini with Thunderbolt, FireWire and USB3. I have then used a Promise R4 Thunderbolt RAID which can reuse your 2TB drives. There is also the R6 which has 6 rather than 4 drive bays so it can grow to even bigger capacities.
John, how do you like your Promise Pegasus R4? There seems to be a lot of mixed reviews on that device.
BTW, one feature that I like about the Promise, although I don't know if I'd ever use it, is that you can supposedly install and boot OS X from it.
I set it up for a client to run a mail server along with a Mac mini, all the emails including archives and backups are stored on it.
It is much faster than the previous Mac Pro and internal drive setup used for the same job.
Yes, as far as the Mac is concerned it looks just like a big Thunderbolt hard disk and so can in theory be booted from, we however boot from the internal drive and merely store data on it. It took a long time to build the RAID (as do they all) but it has now been running for some time with zero problems and has stopped the complaints about performance.
We are going to get some more to host OS X network login accounts and home directories.
If anyone is considering it, avoid the new Lacie Thunderbolt RAID like the plague. It uses OS X software RAID and apart from that being slower it means it cannot support RAID5. I also advise avoiding their big disks for the same reason (software RAID), as a comparison Western Digital have built-in hardware RAID0 and 1 in their dual-disk big drives.
Thanks John.
BTW, I would have never considered a Promise device had it not been advertised in the Apple Store. Apple seems to be very picky with their business relationships, so I'm assuming the fact that Apple carries Promises products is a good thing. 🙂
The Promise software worked, it was not the simplest or prettiest but it did the job. We have not had any updates in the relatively short time we have had it so far. Once you have created the RAID you can pretty much ignore their software and not need to use it again.
Hardware seems fine. When Apple originally recommended it, it was literally the only Thunderbolt product in existience so they could not really pick and choose 🙂
However as I said, the users are happy so I am happy.
Are there any other similar devices you would consider or are you pretty sold on the Promise?
BTW, the new Pegasus J4 looked interesting, but unfortunately it doesn't support RAID 5 or USB 3.0. I do like the form factr though, which I'm assuming mimics the Mac mini:
http://reviews.cnet.com/external-hard-drives/promise-pegasus-j4-2tb/4505-3190_7- 35555116.html
The J4 uses laptop size 2.5" disks although you could use laptop SSD drives. As you say it is not a 'proper' RAID box in that it cannot do RAID5.
As I have already mentioned the Lacie box should be avoided as it also does not do hardware RAID. The only other equivalent Thunderbolt product is the Drobo 5D, although I don't know if it is officially shipping yet. See http://www.drobo.co.uk/products/professionals/drobo-5d/index.php
On paper the Drobo looks interesting both due to having an extra bay, and the fact it can use an SSD as a sort of super cache (it is actually tiering and more like Apple's fusion drive). I also like the fact that at least temporarily (because it is much slower) you can also connect it via USB3 making it possible to copy files from a PC.
How it performs in the realworld I don't know as it is so new.
John Lockwood wrote:
The only other equivalent Thunderbolt product is the Drobo 5D, although I don't know if it is officially shipping yet. See http://www.drobo.co.uk/products/professionals/drobo-5d/index.php
On paper the Drobo looks interesting both due to having an extra bay, and the fact it can use an SSD as a sort of super cache (it is actually tiering and more like Apple's fusion drive). I also like the fact that at least temporarily (because it is much slower) you can also connect it via USB3 making it possible to copy files from a PC.
How it performs in the realworld I don't know as it is so new.
That looks pretty sweet. Unfortunately, it makes my decision even more difficult. 🙂
Hi Kelly
Sorry about the late reply - looks like you've got some good information from John.
To add my own experience, I use a Synology 2-bay Diskstation (211j, I believe). It's perfectly fine for Time Machine, has LAMP server capability as well as a bunch of other features (FTP, mail server, etc), and I use it to stream MKV and MP4 videos to TV via a networked Playstation. It's a little slower than I would like, but the non-j units or even the 4-drive boxes would be faster. Depends on your budget!
Matt
No worries and thanks. After a lot of thought I'm leaning towards one of the following:
I think a NAS would suit my needs a little better. Plus, since I'm coming from a ReadNAS NV+ that's nearly 5-years old any upgrade will be significant. The Synology seems to have a better reputation. 🙂
Matt Clifton wrote:
To add my own experience, I use a Synology 2-bay Diskstation (211j, I believe). It's perfectly fine for Time Machine, has LAMP server capability as well as a bunch of other features (FTP, mail server, etc), and I use it to stream MKV and MP4 videos to TV via a networked Playstation. It's a little slower than I would like, but the non-j units or even the 4-drive boxes would be faster. Depends on your budget!
Just out of curiosity, what are your transfer speeds on the 211j? I'm currently getting about 25-30 MBs on my NV+.
Kelly Crossley wrote:
No worries and thanks. After a lot of thought I'm leaning towards one of the following:
- Synology DS412+
- Synology DS413
- Drobo 5N
I think a NAS would suit my needs a little better. Plus, since I'm coming from a ReadNAS NV+ that's nearly 5-years old any upgrade will be significant. The Synology seems to have a better reputation. 🙂
In this case I would probably avoid the Drobo 5N. While it can act as a basic file-server, unlike ReadyNAS or Synology units it is very limited in its ability to run additional Linux style software, e.g. webserving, in fact the 5N is even more limited than previous Drobo models as there are currently no 'DroboApps' available for it. It can act as a Time Machine server but whereas the ReadyNAS does this with no fiddling, the Drobo needs extra software and messing about to do this.
Replace NAS with DAS?
