What is the best wireless NAS for a home network for storing data, streaming movies and audio.

[AcousticallyChallenged 242]

The HP MicroServers only draw as much as the drives need really, the CPUs tend to be fairly efficient intel models. Even my big boy non micro server only drawn around 50w or so with all the drives spun up.

 

They're fairly easy to set up depending on what software you go with. The worst you can do is have to tinker a lot more.

 

Most decent NAS boxes will also have fans, because HDDs do not like heat. I only suggested the server because of the iPad/Apple TV compatibility I know can be used with something like FreeNAS.

[WilDDog 37]

I thought it was worth testing the water so I plugged an external drive into my router and accessed it wirelessly through a laptop running a 1080p movie downstairs a Macbook running a 1080p movie upstairs and an ipad running a 1080p movie upstairs, these were running fine until I ran another laptop downstairs playing audio, one of the movies dropped out on the first laptop and browsing the internet was virtually non existant.

[Slim 1,355]

Bottleneck might be your wifi/network rather than the router though. 3x1080p is a fair bit of data.

[TomTucker 30]

if you add your AV to itunes it can be streamed from the Macbook to the Ipad or apple tv, and can still use the macbook.

 

ive tried lots of similar 'budget' setups* and sadly only the apple solution works as its the one with the most robust hardware and the other half can do it too which is a boon!

 

*predates chromecast / rasberry pi

[WilDDog 37]

I've decided to go with the HP microserver with 4 x 4 terrabyte hard drives. I also have a memory upgrade.

Hannay was going to build it for me but he seems to have dropped off the radar.

I really don't want to mess this up, especially installing the new memory. Is there anyone out there that can help me build it and give me some advice on setting up FreeNas?

[the stinking enigma 8,957]

i didn't get a word of that. can you change your avatar please?

[jimbo 1]

I got one of the HP micro servers a few weeks ago. Set it up with an SSD for the operating system and 2x WD red 3TB hard drives in raid 1 for storage. Leaves me with two spare bays if I need to add more space.

 

It's running CentOS 7 linux with plex and a few other bits and bobs. It's behind the telly for now and pretty quiet, usually can't hear it over the TV although sometimes it will start thrashing the drives when it's idle. Not sure what's going on there, maybe just reorganising files or something.

 

Setting it up was a bit frustrating, but I got there eventually. Apparently it's a lot easier with Windows, but I really wanted to learn a bit about linux along the way.

[AcousticallyChallenged 242]

If you want the super easy route, unraid is an OS that has become really really popular and is pretty much idiot proof. The only downside is that it isn't cheap.

 

I'd offer to help but I'm not on the Island until around Easter.

[Manxman27 60]

I've decided to go with the HP microserver with 4 x 4 terrabyte hard drives. I also have a memory upgrade.

Hannay was going to build it for me but he seems to have dropped off the radar.

I really don't want to mess this up, especially installing the new memory. Is there anyone out there that can help me build it and give me some advice on setting up FreeNas?

 

One of your hard drives will have the operating system on, that will be a waste of one of your 4TB drives. You might want to install an SSD disk in for the OS. I have one I haven't got around to installing yet.

I currently run Windows Home Server 2011 which is fine but I'm tempted to install something else at some point.

I use iHomeServer as an itunes server for the Apple TV and Cloudberry to backup to a NAS and Amazon S3.

Mine works great for streaming to Sonos, Apple TV, and my HTPC. I've not tried overloading it with multiple HD movies though. My main problem at the moment is that it keeps going to sleep even though it is set to stay on. It didn't used to so not sure what has changed.

[jimbo 1]

I've decided to go with the HP microserver with 4 x 4 terrabyte hard drives. I also have a memory upgrade.

Hannay was going to build it for me but he seems to have dropped off the radar.

I really don't want to mess this up, especially installing the new memory. Is there anyone out there that can help me build it and give me some advice on setting up FreeNas?

 

I can't help with FreeNas specifically, but if there's any advice I can give while this is still fresh in my mind, feel free to ask here or pm me and I'll do my best.

 

 

 

I've decided to go with the HP microserver with 4 x 4 terrabyte hard drives. I also have a memory upgrade.

Hannay was going to build it for me but he seems to have dropped off the radar.

I really don't want to mess this up, especially installing the new memory. Is there anyone out there that can help me build it and give me some advice on setting up FreeNas?

 

One of your hard drives will have the operating system on, that will be a waste of one of your 4TB drives. You might want to install an SSD disk in for the OS. I have one I haven't got around to installing yet.

I currently run Windows Home Server 2011 which is fine but I'm tempted to install something else at some point.

I use iHomeServer as an itunes server for the Apple TV and Cloudberry to backup to a NAS and Amazon S3.

Mine works great for streaming to Sonos, Apple TV, and my HTPC. I've not tried overloading it with multiple HD movies though. My main problem at the moment is that it keeps going to sleep even though it is set to stay on. It didn't used to so not sure what has changed.

 

 

Assuming you are looking at the gen 8 hp (if not, just ignore me as this probably doesn't count)... I think this depends on configuration. If you are using the 4 drives individually, I *think* it will want to boot off the lowest numbered sata drive it encounters, which will be one of the drive bays. To use an SSD you would have to use the sata connection for the optical drive, which is #5. If you are using the built in raid then it's not a problem - you can boot off any.

 

My box didn't come with a dvd drive, so I put the ssd in the empty space. Had to get a sata data cable and a floppy drive->sata power converter. If you want to have the dvd drive AND an SSD you'll need to sacrifice one of your hard drive bays or get some sort of expansion card.

 

It's worth bearing in mind that you can also boot off the internal usb or microsd (regardless of how you configure your hard drives). In the short term this means less messing about than fitting an ssd, but I don't know how advisable it is in the long term. Maybe someone who knows better than me could say if this is a good idea?

[WilDDog 37]

Thanks for the advice all. It's getting sorted by an A1 IT guy. He has lots of these servers.