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best raid storage unit?

post #1 of 14
7/23/12 at 4:44am
Thread Starter 
So I've been looking at getting a raid enclosure. Hotway seem to make a good product, accord to a friend and seeing his one run off it's head for 2 days straight at a LAN i recently went to. I was looking at getting this one

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=15116

Hotway 4 bay raid enclosure. set to raid 5 with 4 Seagate Barracuda 2TB:

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=19554

have any of you guys used these products? or have any advice for somebody that has never used one?
I was leaning towards the 8 bay So I can have 2 drives in raid 0 for my steam games, adobe and java developing apps then the rest for movies etc..

I was looking to spend a max of $1000 AUD

thanks

Mark
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post #2 of 14
7/23/12 at 5:44am
First up, I guess it doesn't matter if you're wearing pants while posting online....right?

I have never used any Hotway products but I can vouch for QNAP. This unit, however looks pretty freakin' solid. If you looking for RAID 5, then make sure the CPU on it is adequate. I have on more than one occasion come across devices like this, including NAS boxes where the CPU was way too underpowered to do RAID 5.

Check out these too:

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=617&products_id=18631
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=617&products_id=18468

The Thecus has the same CPU as my QNAP (TS-459 Pro+) which does RAID 5 brilliantly. Note these are network attached, so not sure if you want that or not, but they'll both support iSCSI.
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post #3 of 14
7/23/12 at 5:57am
Thread Starter 
thanks for that,

I know pretty much nothing of NAS units. will have to do some research on what exactly all the specs mean! thanks mate
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post #4 of 14
7/23/12 at 6:01am
Quote:
Originally Posted by MarkWearsPants View Post

thanks for that,
I know pretty much nothing of NAS units. will have to do some research on what exactly all the specs mean! thanks mate

If you're unsure on anything, just post it here! wink.gif
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post #5 of 14
7/23/12 at 4:15pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by tompsonn View Post

If you're unsure on anything, just post it here! wink.gif

my main question would be what the difference is between a NAS and a home RAID setup with a couple of HDD's. from what I see a NAS is basically it's own computer with an OS? and what benefit would I have from a NAS compared to the hotway I linked. does a NAS use USB3.0 or is it directly connected to the network?

considering buying this week and if I find the NAS fitting for my needs I will definitely give it a go.

I will be using it at home on my main desktop so I can browse files and watch movies from other computers and devices on my network.
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post #6 of 14
7/23/12 at 5:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by MarkWearsPants View Post

my main question would be what the difference is between a NAS and a home RAID setup with a couple of HDD's. from what I see a NAS is basically it's own computer with an OS? and what benefit would I have from a NAS compared to the hotway I linked. does a NAS use USB3.0 or is it directly connected to the network?
considering buying this week and if I find the NAS fitting for my needs I will definitely give it a go.
I will be using it at home on my main desktop so I can browse files and watch movies from other computers and devices on my network.

Yeah so with the NAS devices, it makes it easier to deploy your data to other devices in the network because the NAS is on the network. Correct, they usually run some distro of Linux and come with a massive array of inbuilt applications for sharing your data with the rest of the network.

You could use the Hotway to do that as well, however it would appear as if you'd need to set up the host PC that it is connected to in order to share your data. NAS is almost out of the box.
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post #7 of 14
7/23/12 at 6:09pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by tompsonn View Post

Yeah so with the NAS devices, it makes it easier to deploy your data to other devices in the network because the NAS is on the network. Correct, they usually run some distro of Linux and come with a massive array of inbuilt applications for sharing your data with the rest of the network.
You could use the Hotway to do that as well, however it would appear as if you'd need to set up the host PC that it is connected to in order to share your data. NAS is almost out of the box.

thanks very much tompsonn. great help. I'll be considering the NAS only because I don't like the idea of having my main desktop on to watch movies or access my steam game files on another PC. Obviously there are other benefits of it too. Although I am still very new to it all
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post #8 of 14
7/23/12 at 6:12pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by MarkWearsPants View Post

thanks very much tompsonn. great help. I'll be considering the NAS only because I don't like the idea of having my main desktop on to watch movies or access my steam game files on another PC. Obviously there are other benefits of it too. Although I am still very new to it all

No problem at all - there's a lot of ways you'd be able to share the data from a NAS box. Even if you don't like the inbuilt applications (such as media servers like Tversity), they'll support SMB (Windows file sharing) and you can go nuts with that!

I guess it makes for a centralized location for your data. I'd recommend you have good networking to get good network performance. Gigabit Ethernet should be sufficient for general home use with not too much traffic.
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post #9 of 14
7/23/12 at 8:24pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by tompsonn View Post

No problem at all - there's a lot of ways you'd be able to share the data from a NAS box. Even if you don't like the inbuilt applications (such as media servers like Tversity), they'll support SMB (Windows file sharing) and you can go nuts with that!
I guess it makes for a centralized location for your data. I'd recommend you have good networking to get good network performance. Gigabit Ethernet should be sufficient for general home use with not too much traffic.

cheers I have a gigabit netgear router at the moment with cat6 cables(overkill but they where cheap lol) Was hoping that the Thecus would support 3tb drives but I highly doubt i'm going to be using 6tb of movies/software in raid 5. really looking forward to using one of these machines now. bit of a neat freak with my cable management so eliminating the need to have my desktop on would be fantastic.
thanks!
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post #10 of 14
7/23/12 at 9:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by MarkWearsPants View Post

cheers I have a gigabit netgear router at the moment with cat6 cables(overkill but they where cheap lol) Was hoping that the Thecus would support 3tb drives but I highly doubt i'm going to be using 6tb of movies/software in raid 5. really looking forward to using one of these machines now. bit of a neat freak with my cable management so eliminating the need to have my desktop on would be fantastic.
thanks!

A 4 bay NAS with 3TB drives would actually give you 9TB in RAID 5...
I didn't look much into the specs of the Thecus, does it say it doesn't support 3TB drives?
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"Zeus"
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Intel Core i5 2500K (4.5ghz @ 1.320v) Gigabyte Z68X-UD3R-B3 MSI R7970 Lightning Corsair 16GB (4x4GB) 
Hard DriveHard DriveHard DriveHard Drive
Plextor PX-256M5S 256GB Crucial M4 128GB Hitachi HDS721010CLA332 Hitachi HDS723020BLA642 
Hard DriveHard DriveHard DriveOptical Drive
Hitachi HDS723020BLA642 Hitachi HUA722010CLA330 WDC WD10EARS-00Z5B1 TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-S223B 
CoolingCoolingOSMonitor
Phanteks PH-TC14PE with TY-140's Lamptron FCv5 (x2) Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit Dell U2412M 
MonitorMonitorMonitorKeyboard
Dell U2412M Dell U2212HM Dell U2212HM Ducky DK9087 G2 Pro 
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Corsair AX-750 Corsair Obsidian 650D Microsoft IntelliMouse Optical  XTRAC Ripper XXL 
AudioAudioAudioAudio
Westone W3 IEMs RE-272 IEMs Shure SE-215 IEMs Schiit Bifrost DAC 
AudioAudio
Schiit Asgard 2 amp HiVi Swan M50W 2.1 
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CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Intel Core i7 950 GA-X58-UD3R Radeon HD 5450  24GB Corsair @ 1333mhz 
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My System
(30 items)
 
"Zeus"
(13 items)
  		 
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Intel Core i5 2500K (4.5ghz @ 1.320v) Gigabyte Z68X-UD3R-B3 MSI R7970 Lightning Corsair 16GB (4x4GB) 
Hard DriveHard DriveHard DriveHard Drive
Plextor PX-256M5S 256GB Crucial M4 128GB Hitachi HDS721010CLA332 Hitachi HDS723020BLA642 
Hard DriveHard DriveHard DriveOptical Drive
Hitachi HDS723020BLA642 Hitachi HUA722010CLA330 WDC WD10EARS-00Z5B1 TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-S223B 
CoolingCoolingOSMonitor
Phanteks PH-TC14PE with TY-140's Lamptron FCv5 (x2) Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit Dell U2412M 
MonitorMonitorMonitorKeyboard
Dell U2412M Dell U2212HM Dell U2212HM Ducky DK9087 G2 Pro 
PowerCaseMouseMouse Pad
Corsair AX-750 Corsair Obsidian 650D Microsoft IntelliMouse Optical  XTRAC Ripper XXL 
AudioAudioAudioAudio
Westone W3 IEMs RE-272 IEMs Shure SE-215 IEMs Schiit Bifrost DAC 
AudioAudio
Schiit Asgard 2 amp HiVi Swan M50W 2.1 
View all
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Intel Core i7 950 GA-X58-UD3R Radeon HD 5450  24GB Corsair @ 1333mhz 
Hard DriveOSPowerCase
4x WD Cavair Red 1TB in RAID 0 Windows Server 2008 R2 x64 Corsair HX-520 LianLi LanCool 
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