Personal Cloud

[DMC]

I have acquired 14TB in 3 HDDs. I would like a case to put them in so I can use it as a personal cloud/NAS. The drives were free else I wouldn't bother. Is there a case available that will hold three 3.5" HDDs to serve as a personal cloud? The entire cloud device is > 400USD so I don't want nor care for that.

Anyone know of a case under 200 for this? 14TB is hard to pass up.

[TDMVPDPOY]

get a hp microserver n40l I think it supports 4 hdd

[ElNono]

Honestly, your best bet if you want something integrated is Synology... something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Synology-bay-DiskStation-DS416slim-Diskless/dp/B074VB8DY7/ref=sr_1_1?th=1

But it's $300...

They have a live demo of their software here, so you can see what you're paying for:
https://www.synology.com/en-us/dsm/live_demo

Here's a list of compatible drives for that unit:
https://www.synology.com/en-us/compatibility?search_by=products&model=DS418j&category=hdds&p=1

It's a 4 drive case, but 3 bay cases are rare. Check video reviews if you're wondering about the size.

(disclaimer: I have nothing to do with Synology nor own one, but heard good things about it)

[DMC]

Honestly, your best bet if you want something integrated is Synology... something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Synology-bay-DiskStation-DS416slim-Diskless/dp/B074VB8DY7/ref=sr_1_1?th=1

But it's $300...

They have a live demo of their software here, so you can see what you're paying for:
https://www.synology.com/en-us/dsm/live_demo

Here's a list of compatible drives for that unit:
https://www.synology.com/en-us/compatibility?search_by=products&model=DS418j&category=hdds&p=1

It's a 4 drive case, but 3 bay cases are rare. Check video reviews if you're wondering about the size.

(disclaimer: I have nothing to do with Synology nor own one, but heard good things about it)

I don't need one that only fits 3 drives, but has to fit at least 3 drives.

300.00 is more than I am willing to pay for a case with an interconnect board and some cables.

[ElNono]

I don't need one that only fits 3 drives, but has to fit at least 3 drives.

300.00 is more than I am willing to pay for a case with an interconnect board and some cables.

That actually has a mobo, cpu, memory and the NAS software included.

If you're just looking for an external drive case, with no software, you can get something like this for $100:

https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-SATA-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4/ref=sr_1_7

[DMC]

Yeah I saw that one but goddamnit now you showed me the 300.00 model and I can't go back.

[ElNono]

Yeah I saw that one but goddamnit now you showed me the 300.00 model and I can't go back.

lol... if you need hot-swap, this WD unit isn't half bad either (plus it has an extra gig of ram):

https://www.amazon.com/EX4100-Diskless-Network-Attached-Storage/dp/B00TB8XMR0/ref=sr_1_1

but it's $350 and I'm not sure it will run with anything but WD drives (red, etc).

[ElNono]

Also, Netgear has a unit for $300:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B015S0Y50C/ref=psdc_13436301_t4_B01IW3K1ZK?th=1

Apparently, that's also hot-swappable and 2GB of memory. You should look at reviews, and compare.

[ElNono]

Last one: QNAP, which is also a fairly well known brand of NAS products...

https://www.amazon.com/TS-431P-US-4-bay-Personal-Cortex-1-7GHzDual/dp/B01N2K147Q/ref=sr_1_1

This is actually $266 and change

[DMC]

Qnap TS-431P2-4G-US 4-bay Personal Cloud NAS with DLNA, ARM Cortex A15 1.7GHz Quad Core, 4GB RAM

I grabbed this one.

Thank El, you cost me 200 dollars....

@#%*!%$@#!

[illusioNtEk]

i'm renting a server located in dallas, i have my site spursforums.com hosted in it.. if any of you guys need free web hosting lmk... i'll be happy to give you some space

[ElNono]

Qnap TS-431P2-4G-US 4-bay Personal Cloud NAS with DLNA, ARM Cortex A15 1.7GHz Quad Core, 4GB RAM

I grabbed this one.

Thank El, you cost me 200 dollars....

@#%*!%$@#!

Hope it's as good as advertised, tbh... please post some feedback once you played with it for a while. I heard some of those units do Virtualization too, I might buy one up just for that.

[ElNono]

i'm renting a server located in dallas, i have my site spursforums.com hosted in it.. if any of you guys need free web hosting lmk... i'll be happy to give you some space

:tu

[DMC]

Hope it's as good as advertised, tbh... please post some feedback once you played with it for a while. I heard some of those units do Virtualization too, I might buy one up just for that.

I'll let you know if I ever figure out how it works.

[ElNono]

I'll let you know if I ever figure out how it works.

:lol

[DMC]

I've received it and have it set up. It's rather small, which is good. Very easy to install the HDDs and get going. Not as intuitive however to navigate through the software. Still, I've managed to set up a VPN and create automatic backups while getting up to speed on the NAS lingo, sort of.

It does make a bit of HDD noise, which is to be expected with such a small unit and physical drives. My PC is all solid state, so there's no ambient humming of HDD in my office, which makes the new drives more noticeable. Still, once you get accustomed to them, it's not really an issue.

I have it connected to the router which is also the cable modem. I haven't done the USB connection thing yet.

I'll be in Ontario next week so I will learn quickly just how effective of a VPN I have, what the transfers speeds will be like on the road.

So far though, it's good.

[ElNono]

I've received it and have it set up. It's rather small, which is good. Very easy to install the HDDs and get going. Not as intuitive however to navigate through the software. Still, I've managed to set up a VPN and create automatic backups while getting up to speed on the NAS lingo, sort of.

It does make a bit of HDD noise, which is to be expected with such a small unit and physical drives. My PC is all solid state, so there's no ambient humming of HDD in my office, which makes the new drives more noticeable. Still, once you get accustomed to them, it's not really an issue.

I have it connected to the router which is also the cable modem. I haven't done the USB connection thing yet.

I'll be in Ontario next week so I will learn quickly just how effective of a VPN I have, what the transfers speeds will be like on the road.

So far though, it's good.

Nice. IIRC, you can also download some apps and access through your phone/tablets to use as storage.

[DMC]

Hope it's as good as advertised, tbh... please post some feedback once you played with it for a while. I heard some of those units do Virtualization too, I might buy one up just for that.

So I've had this NAS for over a year and the latest software update has upped the game a bit. The options I have on this are too many to mention but the UI is elegant even if a bit OTT for home use. It works well for me on the road since other services like Box and even OneDrive are unreliable in that they've both moved or deleted items I've stored there and I was unable later to recover them when needed. With this thing I can maintain my own backups and access it anywhere I have internet access.

It did take me a while to warm up to it though. I was expecting something more simple, but this thing and the UI seems like something a network admin would use. Doubt I'll run out of storage space anytime soon though. Now if I could just get SSDs that size without having to spend a fortune.

[ElNono]

So I've had this NAS for over a year and the latest software update has upped the game a bit. The options I have on this are too many to mention but the UI is elegant even if a bit OTT for home use. It works well for me on the road since other services like Box and even OneDrive are unreliable in that they've both moved or deleted items I've stored there and I was unable later to recover them when needed. With this thing I can maintain my own backups and access it anywhere I have internet access.

It did take me a while to warm up to it though. I was expecting something more simple, but this thing and the UI seems like something a network admin would use. Doubt I'll run out of storage space anytime soon though. Now if I could just get SSDs that size without having to spend a fortune.

Glad to hear it's worthwhile. I'd like to set up some storage here at my new place, so I'll probably be looking at that.

[DMC]

Did you ever get the NAS? If so, how do you like it?

[ElNono]

Did you ever get the NAS? If so, how do you like it?

I did not. I started looking for M.2 NAS solutions, especially NvME, and was tempted to get one of these:
https://www.amazon.com/QNAP-TBS-453DX-4G-US-Quad-Core-Nasbook-10GbE/dp/B07NDFXBNJ/ref=sr_1_4

But those are regular M.2, not NvME. Might still put one of those together now that the M.2 sticks are dirt cheap in generally large capacities.

How's yours working out?

[DMC]

I did not. I started looking for M.2 NAS solutions, especially NvME, and was tempted to get one of these:
https://www.amazon.com/QNAP-TBS-453DX-4G-US-Quad-Core-Nasbook-10GbE/dp/B07NDFXBNJ/ref=sr_1_4

But those are regular M.2, not NvME. Might still put one of those together now that the M.2 sticks are dirt cheap in generally large capacities.

How's yours working out?

It's still doing well. Problem with physical drives is that it takes too long to scan and fix issues but it's a NAS so its not like I have to sit around waiting on it.

You'd need a faster processor than I have in my NAS to get the value from the setup you're looking at.

[ElNono]

It's still doing well. Problem with physical drives is that it takes too long to scan and fix issues but it's a NAS so its not like I have to sit around waiting on it.

You'd need a faster processor than I have in my NAS to get the value from the setup you're looking at.

Yeah, array rebuild is a PITA, but that's why you get something you can swap out and forget about it.

Every time I look at that unit or similar, I go back to thinking I probably need to use the 10Gb ethernet port to really max it out. I'm more interested in high capacity at very high speed than backup, etc. I could stripe this thing, but transfer speeds will not translate through the connection.

That's mostly what's holding me back. I also know USB 4 and PCIe 4 are around the corner, doubling transport speeds, so still not sure I want to drop 1.5k on this setup right now.

[DMC]

Yeah, array rebuild is a PITA, but that's why you get something you can swap out and forget about it.

Every time I look at that unit or similar, I go back to thinking I probably need to use the 10Gb ethernet port to really max it out. I'm more interested in high capacity at very high speed than backup, etc. I could stripe this thing, but transfer speeds will not translate through the connection.

That's mostly what's holding me back. I also know USB 4 and PCIe 4 are around the corner, doubling transport speeds, so still not sure I want to drop 1.5k on this setup right now.

Yeah that's way out of my price range for my application. If I needed it for work, that's different (then I could write it off lol).