Any benefit in using a NAS instead of local drive?

(2012-05-22 20:50)gabbott Wrote:  

(2012-05-22 20:39)Valdysses Wrote:  I actually got rid of my unRAID server over stuttering frustration on large bluray rips, and never looked back. Something to be said for the simplicity of a single box.

In some cases, true. But I have 4 xbmc installs in my house so a NAS solution makes much more sense for me.

Totally fair. Whenever I get around to building another one of these, I'll have some thinking to do.

(2012-05-22 20:52)GortWillSaveUs Wrote:  However! I get my powerline devices on Thursday (hopefully earlier) and then I can give my impressions.

It might be fine with 720P video. In my system, it is not good for full blown blu-ray ISO in 1080P video and bitstreaming HD audio..........

If the 200mbps doesn't work out, I'm recommending to give this "Netgear XAVB5001" a try for $20 more.......you can be my guinea pig....

If anyone want to stuff multiple hard drives in a neat little box, this case "LIAN LI PC-Q08B" is an excellent choice....you shouldn't not have problem with heat using these oversize fans- Scythe SCBSK-2100 120mm CPU cooler, SilenX EFX-12-15 120mm Case Fan, Noctua NF-P14 FLX 140mm Case Fan, etc......

Thanks for the informative replies. I don't really have that much media but I do see the point in having some sort of backup so I don't waste my time re-ripping all my discs again. I plan on having one 2TB drive in the HTPC which is more than enough for me so noise/heat isn't really an issue. For backup, I can put in a identical size drive in my NAS. What would be the best way to ensure both drives (one in the HTPC and one in the NAS) are synchronized? Would copying from one folder to another without overwriting be okay or is there a more appropriate way to handle this?

how about a nightly rsync cron job?


gotta love linux

(2012-05-22 20:39)Valdysses Wrote:  I actually got rid of my unRAID server over stuttering frustration on large bluray rips, and never looked back. Something to be said for the simplicity of a single box.

Must have been the hardware. Certainly isn't Unraid. I stream as-large-as-a-Blu-Ray-can-get 3D ISOs from my Unraid server (and not my fast 7200rpm server but my regular one).

(2012-05-23 05:09)kotori Wrote:  how about a nightly rsync cron job?

Code:

rsync -avz /xbmc/media YOUR_USER@YOUR_NAS_IP:/nas/media

gotta love linux

That is how I keep my thumbnails in sync.

(2012-05-23 05:09)kotori Wrote:  how about a nightly rsync cron job?

Code:

rsync -avz /xbmc/media YOUR_USER@YOUR_NAS_IP:/nas/media

gotta love linux

Yep, rsync really is a brilliant tool. You can use rsnapshot (uses rsync behind the scenes) if you want to keep multiple backups - it is basically the setup Apple uses for Time Machine.

I had both in the past, a NAS and a htpc with local media.
First of all, if you run more than one htpc, it is a good idea to centralize your content. Otherwise you may have to turn on all devices to have access to your distributed content.

main reason for me to go for a nas...
- can be somwhere far away from the couch (WAF), can look ugly, can be large and noisy and run headless / 24 x 7, , - easy to upgrade ( large case with a lot of space for more drives )
- redundancy, performance and security ( e.g. freenas with zfs, raid... )
- can serve many htpc instances in parallel ( multi-room )
- the htpc boxes can be completely invisible and silent

(2012-05-23 18:10)poofyhairguy Wrote:  

(2012-05-22 20:39)Valdysses Wrote:  I actually got rid of my unRAID server over stuttering frustration on large bluray rips, and never looked back. Something to be said for the simplicity of a single box.

Must have been the hardware. Certainly isn't Unraid. I stream as-large-as-a-Blu-Ray-can-get 3D ISOs from my Unraid server (and not my fast 7200rpm server but my regular one).

Yeah, it was the hardware. Not the unRAID hardware, but the network hardware. I can't run ethernet in my situation, and powerline is supposedly finnicky here in China (on 50hz, 220v lines). I couldn't find any wireless solution for full 3d streaming, so local made more sense for me.

If you can run cable, I imagine that's still the way to go. Without it, local works well for me.

(2012-05-22 14:15)GortWillSaveUs Wrote:  

(2012-05-22 05:17)james Wrote:  Both a NAS and a local drive in a HTPC have sharing capabilities, so what would be the benefit in using a NAS instead of a local drive? Wouldn't a NAS cause more issues when files are streamed over wifi? I currently have a DNS-323 NAS in another room which I use for other purposes but has a empty slot, I want to rip my DVD's and a few Bluray's for the HTPC, and saw some people mentioning the use of NAS but I'm not understanding the benefit of using one instead of a local HTPC drive. Would appreciate help on this, tnx.

Here are a couple of reason why a local drive may not make sense:
Heat - The more drives you add in you HTPC, the more you have to be concerned with heat issues.
Space - Typically, HTPC's are build with as compact a case as possible. This doesn't leave much room for HDD. Even if their small SSDs.
Redundancy - Chances are, that you won't be able to run soem form of raid on a HTPC. At best perhaps Mirroring drives,..but then you lose one drive and also space. If you lose a local drive,..all of your data could potentially be lost. Not a happy thought for me,..or others that have TB of data.

Reason to use NAS or better yet, unRaid:
Heat - What heat? You're using a case designed to be roomy, and these typically have the fans to deal with heat issues.
Space - Depending on the case,...you can load up 8++ HDDs
Redundancy - Typically, NAS drives come prepared to run some form of redundancy (RAID). unRaid is, IN MY OPINION,..the best solution possible. In unRaid,.you can have multiple drives all forming a share that's a cumulation of all the drive's free space. If you lose a drive,..you take it out and replace it,..then unRaid rebuild the data to the new drive.

See here for my HTPC and unRaid build and pictures of the case, the mobo, and fan.

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(2012-05-22 05:17)james Wrote:  Both a NAS and a local drive in a HTPC have sharing capabilities, so what would be the benefit in using a NAS instead of a local drive? Wouldn't a NAS cause more issues when files are streamed over wifi? I currently have a DNS-323 NAS in another room which I use for other purposes but has a empty slot, I want to rip my DVD's and a few Bluray's for the HTPC, and saw some people mentioning the use of NAS but I'm not understanding the benefit of using one instead of a local HTPC drive. Would appreciate help on this, tnx.

Since you also mentioned wireless. I am in the same boat. My wireless has been okay, but there are times where I might get a stutter when watching movies stored on my unRaid Server.

Since I don't want to run CAT cables through my walls,...a few coworkers Highly Recommended these and said he uses them flawlessly with his HTPC.
ZyXEL PLA401v3 HomePlug AV 200 Mbps Powerline Wall-plug Adapter (Starter Kit - 2 units)

These should arrive this Thursday for me.

Guess I should update this post with my experiences with the ZyXEL PLA401v3 HomePlug AV 200 Mbps Powerline Wall-plug Adapter (Starter Kit - 2 units). It's been little more than 2 months now that I've been using these devices to stream 1080p content from my unRaid server. All I can say is,...it works perfectly! In fact,...I forget that they're even there. I had a friend come over 2 weeks ago and showed him my system. He was totally blown away and loved it. He had problems with his home network and so he purchased the ZyXEL PLA401v3 HomePlug AV 200 Mbps Powerline Wall-plug Adapter (Starter Kit - 2 units). So far, he's been using these since then and he is now, one happy puppy.