NAS Storage Explain please

[garrardrj]

I want to replace my hard drive as its nearly full and have in the past kept a separate hard drive too. I thought about copying the hard drive onto another larger drive - Which i cannot do myself . But i have seen Network Storage as an option , i know noting about this at all . But is it sort of the same as a hard drive on my laptop .... For example will it be able to hold my itunes library and for me to still have access to the itunes library as now on my laptop hard drive. Will i be be able to access my photos and documents too like i do now from my laptop hard drive . Is it easily set up ? Are they future proof ?
Thanks in advance as i know there are alot of good people on here to answer this for an oldie 

[RetroRaz]

I have a zyxel nsa 320. Have used them for a few clients too. It sits in my cabinet and all my files are stored on it. It has an itunes library too so u can stream from it. I also have mapped my share drice on it and can access it using my laptop,  phone, tablet, tv and even externally by pointing my external ip address to the nas drive :)

[garrardrj]

I don't understand NAS at all , so is it the same as having another drive on your laptop ?

[jason_rmh]

Yes, except the drive exists on your network, normally accessed over WiFi.
Your data can then be accessed from multiple devices and if configured can allow you to access your files over internet when you're out and about.
Its just another form of storage, which is more expandle, accessible and configurable than a normal USB storage device.
Goofle it, there's bound to be a few articles explaining it a bit better than we have.
Jas

[Dan_FR]

http://www.ebuyer.com/blog/2014/06/nas-explained/

I've had a WD My Book World Edition for years, i don't access it externally via the net, although it is possible. It is used for (local) Network storage and as a media server, daisy chained to another external HDD for additional storage space, and is hooked up to the router so my Smart TV can access all of my media, including my film library, as the TV will play films via DLNA

If you only plan to use it for storage at home, then you can simply configure it as a storage device (in 'My Computer') and it will apear in the same way your HDDs do

[garrardrj]

Thanks Dan_FR 

Now thats what i wanted to hear .....

So that looks like the way i am going to go then ...

So i don't have masses of stuff to put onto a NAS but my laptop HD is full , 250gb . Video/itunes/photos etc . So what storage size NAS should i buy ? 2TB or more ? Is a NAS something that lasts ages , would like to think i won't have to buy another bigger one , are they pretty safe places to store stuff ?

[cooljimy84]

Not to brag but I've got snap, with 4 4tb drives, and I couldn't live with out it.
I would start with a basic one with a raid 1 (I.e. the data is stored on both disks. So twice, in case one of them fails)

Not sure if U'll be able to move ur music from iTunes to it as iTunes is banded in my house, as it keeps every thing in roaming profiles ! So logon/logoff is painful (yes I've excluded)

But we are getting off topic, my bad.

Its not really the same as a plug in Hard drive, as u won't be able to see it till ur at the desktop

[dazza]

As cooljimy84 said raid 1 would be best.

Something like this would do the job.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00FWURI8K/ref=s9_simh_gw_p147_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1RG275729GTNJYQK68JA&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=455344027&pf_rd_i=468294

I have a DS213 old now but still working well. 2 x 3TB drives in raid 1 so total storage is 3tb.

[cooljimy84]

2nded. Looks like a good one to start from.

[garrardrj]

Not to brag but I've got snap, with 4 4tb drives, and I couldn't live with out it.
I would start with a basic one with a raid 1 (I.e. the data is stored on both disks. So twice, in case one of them fails)

Not sure if U'll be able to move ur music from iTunes to it as iTunes is banded in my house, as it keeps every thing in roaming profiles ! So logon/logoff is painful (yes I've excluded)

But we are getting off topic, my bad.

Its not really the same as a plug in Hard drive, as u won't be able to see it till ur at the desktop

I haven't got a desktop , only laptop . I want to use the NAS as a hard drive to keep my stuff off my laptop otherwise i could just get a bigger drive for my laptop and copy the hard drive onto the newer one (which i can't do) so this option would be my harddrive with most of my stuff on it . Also as it was Networked my son can put his massive music collection on it too under a " Sons Stuff" folder ? It needs to work like a hard drive so itunes finds it and puts newer purchases onto it automatically , my sons has a usb extra drive attached to his laptop which defeats the object of a laptop as its got stuff hanging out of it .

This NAS will be plugged into the Broadband Wifi Router , so it will be seen by all laptops on our home network , yes or no ?
All files transferred to it would be via wifi , yes or no ?

So when i open My computer will i see the new NAS Storage as somewhere to move stuff to , like my present C and D Drives , which will obviously remain ?

As you can see i am not that good with this sort of thing !

[garrardrj]

As cooljimy84 said raid 1 would be best.

Something like this would do the job.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00FWURI8K/ref=s9_simh_gw_p147_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1RG275729GTNJYQK68JA&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=455344027&pf_rd_i=468294

I have a DS213 old now but still working well. 2 x 3TB drives in raid 1 so total storage is 3tb.

Why is that one so expensive ? I have been pointed in the direction of this one http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2-bay-d-link-sharecenter-pulse-dns-320l-cloud-network-storage-enclosure-sata-hdd and two of these http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2tb-toshiba-dt01aca200-35-hdd-sata-iii-6gb-s-7200rpm-64mb-cache-8ms-ncq-oem

So 4TB of storage or 2TB with the other to mirror that as back up ?

I would rather have something that i can upgrade the drives on that will last than cheap 

[dazza]

If you don't want to share files i would say upgrade the HD in your laptop. If you dont already have an SSD in there this would make a massive improvement.

I think accessing the NAS wirelessly will cause slow read and write speeds. The NAS units have gigabit connections for a reason.