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PostPosted: Mon Nov 23, 2015 6:43 am 
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Hi, Networking has never really been my bag .... I am trying to navigate my way through what may or may not be a suitable NAS(?), file server, non raid solution for my needs.
Looking for users advice on possible options.

I am after at least a four bay unit, which I could populate with 4TB hard drives.
But, with the option of temporarily installing hard drives of different makes and capacities, for the purpose of carrying out file moving (house keeping), formatting etc.
I have a stack of hard drives which need to be sorted and files saved to the 'server'.
I suppose could always opt for connecting a USB drive to do this.

When the unit is connected via Ethernet to the Network Router, I want each of the hard drives to be seen as individual drives, by other PC's on the same network.
In addition I also want to be able to set up a Cloud to access the unit when away.
Could an actual NAS box which has it's own OS installed, be set to simply be a file store, rather than a Raid. You see I want full use of all the hard drives installed, not lose capacity because of mirroring etc. I am not really interested in a backup up device.

Re: a preconfigured NAS box, could I wipe the OS and install another so the box acted simply as a file server.
What are your thoughts on an alternative OS, bearing in mind all the networked PC's run Windows OS.
VMWare? Windows Hyper V Server? Boot from USB to preserve the bays for file storage?

I would welcome any non techie speak tips advice and general comments :):)
Many thanks for taking the time to help me understand a little better than I do right now.
Cheers Mac


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PostPosted: Mon Nov 23, 2015 3:33 pm 
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You did not say what os version you use.
But as a simple solution, why not buy a port multiplier say a towerraid or rosewell
using esata or usb. Connect it to a existing pc and share the drives to the network.
You can get them now with like eight bays and they use either esata or usb but usb would work faster with usb 3. if you have that.
Also with a sata III interface they usually support most all the current larger drive sizes.

I kinda did this with a htpc I built.
Instead of each drive shared, I used stabilbit and created a dynamic drive and shared it on the network.

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PostPosted: Tue Nov 24, 2015 6:19 am 
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Hi Ruben many thanks for your reply, much appreciated. Cheers Ian

The more information ideas suggestions and advice the better.

The OS on the networked PC's are Win7/8

I did think about using a TowerRaid as you suggest, because it uses esata or usb connections, that would mean the PC it is coupled to, would also need to remain on, in order for other PC's - remote or local - to be able to use the file store.
So I am inclined to go the Ethernet route.

I have just got hold of a Western Digital Sentinel DX4000 currently set up as Raid 10 with the NIC set to DHCP (over my head) running Windows Storage Server Essentials 2008 R2 SP1.

I have not even plugged it in, as I want to learn a bit more about networking a Nas or file server.
I have wondered if the installed OS would mean I could run the WD box as a simple file store and turn off the Raid altogether as I want a store, not a backup solution.


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