The complete NAS guide for you.
NAS, a staple of data management, centralized server solution and the media streaming aspect of Home Automation.
Having a central file server that makes all of your files available to all of your connected devices is very useful in most situation. Additionally, it’s one of the best way to make it possible to view all of your multimedia files from anywhere in your house and even across the globe!
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NAS: the beginning
What is a NAS?
According to Wikipedia, a NAS is:
“A file-level (as opposed to block-level) computer data storage server connected to a computer network providing data access to a heterogeneous group of clients.”
In other word, it’s a data storage device, such as a WiFi hard drive, that is connected to a network and provide file access to the multiple connected network clients.
In this NAS Guide I will give you more details on the purpose, components and what to buy as NAS.
Purpose of a NAS storage
The uses of a NAS as diverse as there are needs. These are some of the standard uses of a NAS.
- Multimedia streaming;
- Data backup; and
- File sharing between multiple devices.
As such, it’s a convenient solution to several headaches, a single centralized storage device to stream, share and save your data. Also, a NAS is not only a commercial solution. Whether you are looking for a business, professional or personal solution, there is a NAS for your use.
Why is a NAS a Good Investment
When you have multiple computers or devices working to achieve a single goal, it’s important that they access the same data, multimedia and tools. As such, a NAS is a reliable and efficient solution as it allows all the connected devices to the network to access the same file system from anywhere. Additionally, it allows the same devices the opportunity to access other functionality such as printing, faxing and scanning.
Another good advantage of a personal NAS over the numerous public server solution is the increase speed to access your data and a complete control of the server administration.
Components of NAS
A useful step in this NAS Guide is to determine the components of a NAS.
Several different required components compose a NAS. If a component is missing, your devices or clients, cannot access the data that is stored within.
Server
The most obvious component required by a NAS. Basically, it’s the server/computer that will be hosting the files. It’s composed of several parts. You can go with a commercial off the shelf solution or with a DIY one.
Case
This piece of hardware contains all others pieces together in a nice package. Depending on the space and requirements you have, it can be very small or huge. However, in some cases you might go without a case! As an example, if you are using a raspberry pi with an attached external hard drive.
Motherboard, CPU and Memory
A Motherboard, a CPU and some memory bars are all required for your file server to work properly. Depending on your requirement and budget, the performance you look for will be different. Additionally, you need to keep in mind some future update and the number of sata port when you select a motherboard.
Software
Secondly, the software component is also important. It will control your server and depending on the solution you chose, might enable you to select a different set of hardware. As an example, you could select a linux distribution or even a Windows OS.
However, I believe that FreeNAS is the way to go for a good NAS OS that allows customization.
What good is a NAS without a network?
As such, having a good network with a powerful router is a must. Regardless if it’s wired or wirelessly a NAS will connect to your network to provide it’s services.
Also, if you stream media to your devices, you also need to make sure that your WiFi covers all of your home. If not, a WiFi booster or a meshed network is a good investment. The alternative would be, for some devices, to have them wired through a Gigabit ethernet network.
Obviously, storage component is of utmost importance! If you don’t have anything to store your data on, your NAS has no purpose. It can be as small as a single USB key on your computer, to a multiple array of 16 To drives in a dedicated server.
How to Choose a NAS.
Do it yourself or Consumer Off the Shelf
The first option you should think about, while reading this NAS Guide, is whether to buy a ready solution or if you want to build one yourself from scratch.
You should base your decision on your willingness to invest more time on building and configuring the NAS or maybe more money on a ready made solution. More on this below.
Budget
Knowing the budget allocated to that NAS project is important. Although having a good back up of your priceless memory and being able to access them from anywhere is important, remember that the price tag of a good NAS is not cheap.
Storage Capacity.
Obviously, the storage capacity of a NAS depends on the number and capacity of the hard drive contained within.
For most personal use, 2 or 4 hard drives of 2 to 8 TB are sufficient. But, for some hobby and professional use, it’s not impossible to find NAS with scalable hard drive bays with petabytes of storage capacity.
Network Connectivity
There are several ways to connect a NAS to a network. Most of them will connect to your router directly using an ethernet cable. Some other solution connects to the network using a WiFi radio. A Wifi connection allows you more flexibility in placing the NAS. However, keep in mind that a wired connection is always faster.
Physical installation location
A NAS can be very small, a Raspberry Pi with a connected external Hard Drive. Or, it could also be of a desktop size as are most personal and small business one, be it a Synology 4 bay NAS or a DIY solution in a desktop case.
However, for the big business, rack mounted NAS exists. Being heavily customizable and scalable, they are very good option for those business who requires a huge amount of data to be stored. However, this versatility and capacity comes with a high premium.
Backup and Recovery
A NAS is not only a network dump to store your data, it’s also a vault protecting your precious data. For that, the use of ZFS or RAID to make your NAS fault resistant and allows your data to be safe.
Consumer Off-The Shelf NAS
You might think that owning a NAS is difficult from reading the previous sections of this NAS guide and that only some “wizkid” can actually use them. But, you cannot be further from the truth!
Once they get some basic understanding, anyone can actually set up its own NAS by following this NAS Guide. One of the easiest route is to buy one that is already built and sold as a complete solution.
Some of the great name in the game are QNAP, Synology and Western Digital. And, they produce a wide variety of NAS making sure you will be getting the one that satisfied your need.
Additionally, these COTS NAS comes with a proprietary software that allows you to quickly and easily set up your NAS.
DIY NAS
You want to learn more on the technicality of computer?
Maybe you don’t want to spend that much money on your NAS?
And you want to keep total control of what goes into your NAS?
There are plenty of reason why someone would want to build a NAS themselves and I hope that this NAS guide will have helped you decide. Whatever is your drive, building a NAS is a great experience, and maybe not always easy, but very rewarding.
However, since it’s a self-build solution, you need to install an OS and all other software on the machine yourself. Don’t be distressed! There is always a lot of people on forums ready to help you out.
The Last Word
Now that you know more about what is a NAS and how it can be of service, it’s time that you really start thinking on getting one to protect your file.
Remember that going with a COTS NAS, you need to evaluate how much space you need and how many HDD you want. Also, using RAID or ZFS requires more HDD so choosing a higher number of bays make sense.
If you are going with a self-build, you need to do a bit more research but the personal reward is substantial.
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