Have personal NAS evolved yet? Or is still inaccessible to 99% of the people?

[Augure]

Have personal NAS evolved yet? Or is it still inaccessible to 99% of the people?

I've been prospecting for a personal NAS for 5 years now, and I see that whether at WD, Seagate or LaCie their crap line-up and products haven't evolved and worse, they're still hysterically expensive for what they are (a low-perf network attached storage).

The offer for HDDs is pretty straight-forward: choose capacity up to 8GB, choose performance up 12,000rpm, and that's it, since...well this <mod edit> hasn't evolved either (and Helium HDD are overpriced <mod edit> too).

The rest is all software and how you can access your data over the network, the problem is you need a NAS, which is really a simple, low-spec piece of hardware (at some point there even was external usb attachements that could transform any HDD into a NAS), but in late 2016 all I see is the NAS are the same crazily overpriced and limited piece of <mod edit> out of which I can't seem to be able to find ONE acceptable value offer.

So what am I missing? Have these companies and most people give up on "personal cloud" and NOT having a <mod edit> HDD attached to your laptop or computer all the times? Is there a new technology that is somehow replacing what NAS/Server are used for, I don't understand.

<Watch your language in these forums>

 

[azs]

It really depends on what you are looking for, the greatest restriction on performance will be your network and not any NAS.
Also bear in mind that you will need to manage access to your data and manage redundancy and backup. So you need to look beyond a simple USB external hdd.

In my mind a NAS is used to store things that you either need to share or don't need all the time (movies, music, photos). It can also be used as a backup for your computing device.

There are plenty of good products out there that can meet your requirements. You need to judge what features you want and how much you are prepared to pay. For my home use I have a basic Synology 415+ 4bay server.

Not sure why you think they are inaccessible. They are designed to do a specific task and performance s restricted by network. If you are not looking for NAS then you are looking for Direct Attached Storage (something like a Thunderbolt connection), high performance but tied to just one computer.

I looked for:

• 
  Power consumption, it will be on 7x24 so low power is good
  Capacity (obvious) but how much can it grow
  Ease of Management (multi-user permisions)
  Can it do what I need (eg Apple Time machine)

Your NAS will normally come diskless, so you can tailor capacity to your requirements. Just be sure to use disks that are rated for 7x24. Yes these are more expensive than disks that are desktop only, its your data, so your choice.

There are many good vendors out there so do your homework, look at Synology, QNap, Thecus etc. Work out what you need and don't buy what you don't need.

 

[Augure]

It really depends on what you are looking for, the greatest restriction on performance will be your network and not any NAS.
Also bear in mind that you will need to manage access to your data and manage redundancy and backup. So you need to look beyond a simple USB external hdd.

In my mind a NAS is used to store things that you either need to share or don't need all the time (movies, music, photos). It can also be used as a backup for your computing device.

There are plenty of good products out there that can meet your requirements. You need to judge what features you want and how much you are prepared to pay. For my home use I have a basic Synology 415+ 4bay server.

Not sure why you think they are inaccessible. They are designed to do a specific task and performance s restricted by network. If you are not looking for NAS then you are looking for Direct Attached Storage (something like a Thunderbolt connection), high performance but tied to just one computer.

I looked for:

• 
  Power consumption, it will be on 7x24 so low power is good
  Capacity (obvious) but how much can it grow
  Ease of Management (multi-user permisions)
  Can it do what I need (eg Apple Time machine)

Your NAS will normally come diskless, so you can tailor capacity to your requirements. Just be sure to use disks that are rated for 7x24. Yes these are more expensive than disks that are desktop only, its your data, so your choice.

There are many good vendors out there so do your homework, look at Synology, QNap, Thecus etc. Work out what you need and don't buy what you don't need.

Thanks. I'm searching for a very simple diskless NAS to/from which I can access/manage data (files) from in-house or outside, stream/transfert it easily and with the latest codecs (VP10 or x265 if I will), eventually test websites/prototypes.

And a NAS that I can access at ANY time with a USB/Thunderbolt or direct connection, in case my Wifi router or network was to fail. I haven't found ONE.

 

[Ralston18]

Agree with azs's post.

You might also consider using FreeNAS. Download the software and set up your own NAS via an older desktop PC and HDD/SDD's of your own choosing.

Link: http://www.freenas.org/

And, also, I know you are frustrated but this is a family friendly forum. Please watch the language.