Looking to Build a Personal NAS/Cloud for me and family

[greyfire]

Hi, i'm looking to build a personal NAS/Cloud (i'm not sure which to call it) for me and my family. I was thinking about buying NetGears "ReadyNAS 102"
Its hardware is as follows:
Ram: 512 MB
CPU: 1.2 GHz
# Of Bays: 2
USB Ports: One [USB 2.0] & Two [USB 3.0]
The cost for a diskless one is around $125

But I think it might be a better value to just build one. I still want it to cost around the same amount (around $150 withut drive) + the $100 drive i want to add

Here's a build i made for it that i plan to run FreeNAS on.

CPU: AMD A4-6300 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($37.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Asus A78M-E Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($67.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($97.98 @ OutletPC)
Case: Logisys CS301BK ATX Mid Tower Case w/480W Power Supply ($29.99 @ Directron)
Total: $268.94 (including cost of the $100 Hard Drive)

When i look at my build ideas specs v.s the ReadyNAS it looks multiple times faster,

So essentially I have 3 Main questions.
1. Is my build as much faster than the ReadyNAS as it looks? or am I missing something?
2. Could 2 people stream a 720p movie on the ReadyNAS at the same time? Could they on my build?
3. If i used the USB ports on the ReadyNAS to attach external hard drives could I add more than 2?

Thanks for the help!
& Sorry my question was so long.

 

[RaDiKaL_]

1.- Looks good the build for the price, at a hardware level there's nothing in the Netgear solution able to compete your build, at a software level I don't know that FreeNAS but reviews seem to point it as a great solution.

2.- As long as your Server is connected to the network with a gigabit cable to a gigabit interface in your switch and clients with at least Ethernet cable or 802.11n wireless interfaces it should be doable.

3.- No idea but unless there's a software limitation it should be possible.

 

[Alabalcho]

Two crucial differences between the builds will be power comsumption, and space taken (and they are kind of interconnected). For what I know, NetGear' ReadyNAS does not support transcoding of streamed media (that is, your TV must support native file formats). I suppose there are modules for FreeNAS which allow for transcoding.

For what I know, ReadyNAS boots off flash media, so you should provision another $20 for that.

 

[BuddhaSkoota]

So essentially I have 3 Main questions.
1. Is my build as much faster than the ReadyNAS as it looks? or am I missing something?
2. Could 2 people stream a 720p movie on the ReadyNAS at the same time? Could they on my build?
3. If i used the USB ports on the ReadyNAS to attach external hard drives could I add more than 2?

1. The build is faster, but a NAS as a media server requires very little processing power. I'm using an old P4 that barely uses up resources when under heavy network load. Where the power might come in handy is if you decide for some reason to implement RAID.

2. Either could easily handle two 720p streams. (edit)

3. ReadyNAS documentation indicates that it will handle multiple external USB drives.