LaCies 2big NAS Review

AnandTech reviews the LaCie 2big NAS

On May 15th, LaCie launched an updated version of their 2big Network 2 2-bay product, the 2big NAS. The 2big NAS comes in diskless and 6TB versions, priced at $299.99 and $649.00 respectively. At this price point, the NAS competes with advanced 2-bay SMB solutions such as the Synology DS211+, and not the LG NAS N2A2 which is geared primarily towards home users. In this review, we set out to find whether the features and performance match up to the price point.

via AnandTech

Building an Ultra-Low-Power File Server with the Trim-Slice

Linux Journal builds a low power NAS with an Arm-based server and USB hard drives.

As an experiment, and finally to get rid of that large, inefficient and ugly tower case, I decided to use the new Trim-Slice as the base for an ultra-low-power, ultra-small replacement file server. The Trim-Slice is built on the NVIDIA Tegra 2 platform, and the specific model I purchased features a 1GHz dual-core ARM Cortex A9 processor, 1GB of RAM and a 32GB SATA SSD.

via Linux Journal.

Compact Network Attached Storage from Synology: DiskStation DS411 Slim

This compact product working with 2.5”hard drives brings low power consumption “green” solution, quiet operation, reliability and easy disk replacement in a small size. The operating system, Synology DiskStation Manager 3.0, delivers rich features for multimedia, Internet sharing, data protection and energy-saving options. Read more in our review.

via X-bit labs.

DIY: Home UBUNTU NAS Server

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.

via DanielAndrade.net

FreeNAS 8.0 now available

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.

via The H Open Source

Synology DS211+ SMB NAS Review

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.

Build or Buy: How to Get the Best Boxee Box for Your Money

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.