[wallace47931]

Hi

I've had a nslu2 for a few years which is a USB nas which can be flashed to allow all sorts of opt ware packages (nfs server, sabnzbd etc) but it's died a death...

Can anyone recommend a good replacement? I use the network with my atv2, my xtreamer and laptop connected wireless and wired. I'd like to be able to use my USB drives.

Thanks

John

[canadave]

Well, everyone's probably just going to tell you what they have, so I'll do the same

I like my Synology DS411+. The Synologys all have a really good control panel that looks almost exactly like a Windows PC control panel. They also have some nice features like a Time Backup app (like Apple's Time Machine), lots of servers (photo/web/audio/etc), download apps, the works.

I bought a lower-end Synology at first and wasn't happy with it performance-wise--I had high standards. My DS411+ on the other hand is great. Let's put it this way, there's nothing you'd want out of a NAS that a Synology wouldn't be able to do--you just need to spend as much/little money as you want in order to achieve the performance you need.

[procrastinator]

this question crops up a fair bit in various places in the XBMC forums.

here's the last one on the iOS forums:
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid...hlight=nas

There's lots on the hardware forums, have a browse through this search in those forums:
http://forum.xbmc.org/search.php?searchid=9225753

there's also quite a few in the general discussion forum (search results):
http://forum.xbmc.org/search.php?searchid=9225762
[I'm hoping that those search links stay active, but in case they don't: I just searched for "nas" in the title of topics in the relevant forum through the advanced search feature]

personally, I use a ReadyNAS duo, which I'm perfectly happy with. Does everything I want. Though I haven't really exploited it to its maximum potential (you can put sickbeard, headphones, and some other useful bits on it, but I haven't really tinkered yet). From what I hear QNAP and Synology NASs are also very good, but I've not used one myself.

[barrmy]

I'm wondering if it's better to build a single a rolling thread and standardize people's experience and feedback...that was they can scroll or search the thread

Device: Synology DS1511+
Connection 1: ATV2 via MoCA
Connection 2: ATV2 via wireless-g
Protocol: NFS

Current Version: xbmc-20110904-a2098db-master-atv2.deb

Review:
- love the easy to-use-gui, and setup was very easy
- SMB works off-the-bat, wiki has the NFS setup directions that require some minor work
- can easily handle multiple concurrent connections (I had a ftp upload going abroad, a 720p stream to the wireless atv2, a 480p stream to the moca atv, and local file transfer going all at once without any impact to the two video streams)
- as mentioned before, has tons of different apps

Prior to this I was on an upgraded HP ex470 WHS serving over SMB, which worked well but had some occasional issues with heavy simultaneous usage

[Ram2000]

I never saw the point in paying all that money for a NAS when you can pick up a cheap half decent PC set it up as a server and fill it up with Harddrives.
Thats what I did :-)

[RosevilleHT]

I have a Qnap 212 that's running flawlessly with Sickbeard, SabNZB and the ATV2. Very "set it and forget it". It's a quiet device, and very good support from what I can tell.

[chuckles]

Make your own, get an atom based board, put in a few drives and run linux or bsd software raid

[activate]

Ah..you see I have spent the last month contemplating which/if server to purchase so as to stream media to the atv2.

But here is the thing, I have an iMac intel duo core 2ghz 2008 model. I have connected a couple of external wd 2tb usb drives. It works brilliantly. I use the time machine from the mac, stream reasonably large files, browse the internet at the same time. No issues at all. So it is very difficult for me to convince myself to invest in a dedicated server.

And I guess if I want remote facilities, I can incorporate them.

Additionally, lot of the issues that were tilting me towards purchasing a NAS device were the streaming issues that have improved tremendously in the last few months thanks to the development progress.

[chuckles]

Ah..you see I have spent the last month contemplating which/if server to purchase so as to stream media to the atv2.

But here is the thing, I have an iMac intel duo core 2ghz 2008 model. I have connected a couple of external wd 2tb usb drives. It works brilliantly. I use the time machine from the mac, stream reasonably large files, browse the internet at the same time. No issues at all. So it is very difficult for me to convince myself to invest in a dedicated server.

And I guess if I want remote facilities, I can incorporate them.

Additionally, lot of the issues that were tilting me towards purchasing a NAS device were the streaming issues that have improved tremendously in the last few months thanks to the development progress.

How does this post help the OP? Are you going to give him your mac and drives?

[RosevilleHT]

But here is the thing, I have an iMac intel duo core 2ghz 2008 model. I have connected a couple of external wd 2tb usb drives. It works brilliantly. I use the time machine from the mac, stream reasonably large files, browse the internet at the same time. No issues at all. So it is very difficult for me to convince myself to invest in a dedicated server.

~13watts for the NAS and ~7watts for the ATV2, makes a compelling power/heat savings over your current setup. Not to mention the amount of space required.

[activate]

~13watts for the NAS and ~7watts for the ATV2, makes a compelling power/heat savings over your current setup. Not to mention the amount of space required.

Yes, I like your point. I would be running a Mac anyway. I figured that adding another device (NAS) would add to the power demand. I figured since the streaming isn't used extensively, as in the Mac with the drives are sleep most of the time, that the power equation works in my favour. Infact this was the prime consideration in the reluctance of adding another device (NAS ), and that it is a working setup.

[Ozymandyaz]

I'm wondering if it's better to build a single a rolling thread and standardize people's experience and feedback...that was they can scroll or search the thread

I also use a Synology, but I use a low end DS110j with a 2TB drive. (Cost is $120 for the NAS and $80 for the drive.) Worth noting that all Synology devices use the same OS and share most of the same features.

Device: Synology DS110j
Connection 1: ATV2 via 100mb ethernet
Connection 2: ATV1 via 100mb ethernet
Protocol: SMB

Current Version: xbmc-20110902

Review:
- Also love the easy to-use-gui, and setup was very easy.
- After over a year of use I have never had an issue with it.
- SMB works great for me. I did NFS a while back but swapped to SMB when I went with a MySQl database.
- The Synology can HOST the MySQL database. (see my blog for a how to)
- can handle multiple concurrent connections. I often have 20mbps downloads runnign while streaming 720p video.
- as mentioned before, has tons of different apps

Prior to this I was using a regular shared folder on a windows box. I bought the Synology to save power since it runs at like 15w. I could not be happier with ~$100 device...

[Betard]

Device: Synology DS110j
Connection 1: ATV2 via 100mb ethernet
Connection 2: ATV1 via 100mb ethernet
Protocol: SMB

Current Version: xbmc-20110902

Review:
- Also love the easy to-use-gui, and setup was very easy.
- After over a year of use I have never had an issue with it.
- SMB works great for me. I did NFS a while back but swapped to SMB when I went with a MySQl database.
- The Synology can HOST the MySQL database. (see my blog for a how to)
- can handle multiple concurrent connections. I often have 20mbps downloads runnign while streaming 720p video.
- as mentioned before, has tons of different apps
.

Is your artwork synched between ALL xbmc systems as well? I have seen mention that the DB can centralize, but the artwork isnt (posters etc,,)

[Lepaka]

i have D-Link DNS-323, they kick out , Video, DVD , Music ...

[alex84]

I suggest you take a look at Qnaps devices. The are of good build quality, delivers excelent performance and are easy to use. You can easy install sabnzbd, sickbeard and couchpotato with 1 click install .qpkg package. Then you will have a nas that not only delivers your hd movies easy but also an low power download station for movies and series.

I own both self bult freenas boxes, synology and qnap and i prefer the later even to the others are not bad choises even. I suggest you take a look over at smallnetworkbuilder, google it. They have both reviews ans benchmark, most of whitch qnap owns in

Cheers.