We have been playing around with the QNAP TS-659 Pro II unit over the last month or so. Based on the Intel Atom D525 platform, it has 6 bays and dual GbE ports, making it a candidate for the high end SMB market.
via AnandTech
A detailed blog post which covers hardware and software choices.
For the hardware, I ended up with a fanless MiniITX motherboard Intel D510MO, which has a Atom processor, Gigabit ethernet (all my home network is Gigabit, so it does make a difference). I am also using a 2GB 800Mhz Kingston RAM memory, and both two SATA connectors. The MOBO has up to seven 2.0 USB and one mini PCI Express, in case I want to add more SATA drives in the future.
A quick review with a few benchmarks.
Thecus is the first dual-bay NAS box manufacturer we’ve seen to ditch the usual ARM or Marvell processors found in mainstream models in favour of a fully fledged 1.8GHz Intel Atom D525 CPU.
via bit-tech.net
AnandTech published a great overview of building your own file server, with overviews of current operating system and hardware options.
Whether your budget and storage needs are modest or extensive, we have you covered in the latest builder’s guide to file server systems.
via AnandTech
A professional rackmount version of a DIY NAS, with link aggregation and redundant power:
The N8900 is based on a dual-core Intel Core i3-2120 processor with 8 GB of DDR3 memory and Thecus Dual DOM flash memory.
via SmallNetBuilder
According to iXsystems developer James T. Nixon III, FreeNAS 8.0 includes major architectural optimisations and is more modular than previous versions. It features a redesigned GUI, built using Python and the Django web framework, that is aimed at making the OS easier to use. ZFS and UFS2 file systems are both supported – ZFS is used as the primary file system.
AnandTech dissects, thoroughly reviews, and benchmarks the Synology DS211+:
Synology has a sensible model number nomenclature in which the last two digits refer to the year through which the model is intended for sale. The first set of digits refer to the maximum number of bays supported. Some models have a + at the end, signifying higher performance. Today, we have the DS211+ for review. The DS refers to the product category, Disk Station. 2 indicates a 2 bay model, and the 11 indicates a 2011 model. It is supposed to have a higher performance compared to the DS211 which was released in November 2010.
Soon after it’s discovered that the next version of Windows Home Server will be dropping its drive extender feature, HP decided to drop its Windows Home Server products.
Lifehacker reviews the Boxee Box and software, which is capable of scanning a SMB share of a NAS, finding all the media files, and getting them ready for playback on a TV.
But how do you get your files into Boxee? The pre-built Box has no accessible internal storage, but it can can access shared files on your home network, on dedicated network-attached storage NAS, or on any USB drives you connect or SD cards you slide into its side.
As you could probably surmise from the title above, the only notable difference in Data Robotics’ newest storage robot is the addition of USB 3.0, but the triple interface ensures that eSATA and FireWire 800 users are also taken care of.
via Engadget
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