NAS vs USB 3.0 Router

[nicholassaint]

I am new to NAS and have read some older posts about building one and have a general idea.

USB 3.0 is becoming more and more common and now routers are supporting them for external storage options. I am looking for a low cost option for blue ray quality multimedia streaming for a home network and have over 1TB of 4GB blue ray files to stream from. I have several devices connected to my router via wireless. Between a USB 3.0 router and NAS system, which would be a better option in terms of low cost and performance reliability?

I have an ASUS rt-n12 router running dd-wrt and looking for an upgrade if possible.

Edit:
I also want to ask a comparison or views on cloud storage devices like WDBVHT0040JCH-NESN in contrast between a USB 3.0 router and self custom NAS. I came across some deals with cloud storage devices from Western Digital. I've started to realize a necessity for home network storage and looking at different possibilities for efficiency and possible low cost options.

 

[sk1939]

Well I can tell you that a router with USB3 will probably be slower than a dedicated NAS solution, and it will definitely be less flexible.

 

[nicholassaint]

Is it is possible to run a NAS without a dedicated pc? I ask because I run most of my house network next to my personal computer, so I will have constant access to the NAS itself.

 

[sk1939]

The whole point of a NAS is to be run stand alone. Most NAS's don't require you to do anything with them once you have finished the initial setup (as opposed to a shared disk drive on a PC) and are accessible so long as you have the NAS connected/powered on.

 

[nicholassaint]

Makes sense. In terms of flexibility, it looks like NAS is the better way to go. I think I know where to go from here. I appreciate the help.

 

[sk1939]

If you have any questions about a particular NAS unit or looking for a suggestion on model, feel free to ask. Don't forget to pick best answer.

 

[nicholassaint]

I'll take you up on that offer. My router currently doesn't have gigabit support, so I am planning on getting the Asus rt-n56u router. I'm not sure what's the fastest transfer speeds that a NAS can go, so forgive me on comparing them to a router's capability. At the least, something that can stream blue ray movies nicely would be excellent.

Thanks

 

[sk1939]

Well it depends on what your budget is for a NAS. At the very least I would go for a NAS with two bays just for expandability and redundancy. As far as NAS speeds go, depending on the load, network, device and file type, it can range from 30MB/s (240 Mbps) max to 120MB/s (960Mbps). This means you will want a router with gigabit ports on it for sure. The ASUS is a relatively fast router (one of the fastest last time I checked) for the consumer market, and can push through about 800Mbps routing from the Internet to LAN (which is irrelevant to the NAS transfer speed).

As far as NAS recommendations go, if you can afford it go for the Synology DS712+ ($500), you won't find a faster NAS (960 Mbps transfer possible) with more features at the price point. Alternatively, you could go for the Qnap TS-212 ($200) which would net you a transfer rate of 500Mbps max. I would recommend you step up to the TS-219PII ($300) though, since it gives you 2 USB 3 ports which allow you to add 2 more drives if you were so inclined.

 

[nicholassaint]

According to the description, all of the NAS you've mentioned supports only USB 2.0, but they seem to be what I want at the moment. Thanks for the note on the transfer speeds. I keep running into old posts when I try to find it and wanted to make sure. I think I'll go with the TS-219PII or specs a little higher than that. Thanks for the help.

 

[nicholassaint]

Best answer selected by nicholassaint.

 

[sk1939]

No problem, of the units mentioned I think only the TS-219PII+ has USB3 ports, the Synology unit I mentioned has 1 eSATA and 3 USB2 ports instead.

 

[Kev Knight]

Well it depends on what your budget is for a NAS. At the very least I would go for a NAS with two bays just for expandability and redundancy. As far as NAS speeds go, depending on the load, network, device and file type, it can range from 30MB/s (240 Mbps) max to 120MB/s (960Mbps). This means you will want a router with gigabit ports on it for sure. The ASUS is a relatively fast router (one of the fastest last time I checked) for the consumer market, and can push through about 800Mbps routing from the Internet to LAN (which is irrelevant to the NAS transfer speed).

As far as NAS recommendations go, if you can afford it go for the Synology DS712+ ($500), you won't find a faster NAS (960 Mbps transfer possible) with more features at the price point. Alternatively, you could go for the Qnap TS-212 ($200) which would net you a transfer rate of 500Mbps max. I would recommend you step up to the TS-219PII ($300) though, since it gives you 2 USB 3 ports which allow you to add 2 more drives if you were so inclined.

I'm sorry for reviving an old thread, but I have a question about this NAS. Do you think this server would be great for personal cloud use also?

 

[sk1939]

Well it depends on what your budget is for a NAS. At the very least I would go for a NAS with two bays just for expandability and redundancy. As far as NAS speeds go, depending on the load, network, device and file type, it can range from 30MB/s (240 Mbps) max to 120MB/s (960Mbps). This means you will want a router with gigabit ports on it for sure. The ASUS is a relatively fast router (one of the fastest last time I checked) for the consumer market, and can push through about 800Mbps routing from the Internet to LAN (which is irrelevant to the NAS transfer speed).

As far as NAS recommendations go, if you can afford it go for the Synology DS712+ ($500), you won't find a faster NAS (960 Mbps transfer possible) with more features at the price point. Alternatively, you could go for the Qnap TS-212 ($200) which would net you a transfer rate of 500Mbps max. I would recommend you step up to the TS-219PII ($300) though, since it gives you 2 USB 3 ports which allow you to add 2 more drives if you were so inclined.

I'm sorry for reviving an old thread, but I have a question about this NAS. Do you think this server would be great for personal cloud use also?

Since the original posting the models have changed, and there are a few more options for personal clouds that are faster. That being said, for network/local storage and video streaming these would be just fine. If you were trying to access them remotely over the internet, both Qnap and Synology are very adaptable and relatively easy to configure, but require a decent set of skills to get them working in this manner (dealing with NAT translation, dynamic IP, DNS resolution, DMZ capability, etc).

 

[Kev Knight]

Well it depends on what your budget is for a NAS. At the very least I would go for a NAS with two bays just for expandability and redundancy. As far as NAS speeds go, depending on the load, network, device and file type, it can range from 30MB/s (240 Mbps) max to 120MB/s (960Mbps). This means you will want a router with gigabit ports on it for sure. The ASUS is a relatively fast router (one of the fastest last time I checked) for the consumer market, and can push through about 800Mbps routing from the Internet to LAN (which is irrelevant to the NAS transfer speed).

As far as NAS recommendations go, if you can afford it go for the Synology DS712+ ($500), you won't find a faster NAS (960 Mbps transfer possible) with more features at the price point. Alternatively, you could go for the Qnap TS-212 ($200) which would net you a transfer rate of 500Mbps max. I would recommend you step up to the TS-219PII ($300) though, since it gives you 2 USB 3 ports which allow you to add 2 more drives if you were so inclined.

I'm sorry for reviving an old thread, but I have a question about this NAS. Do you think this server would be great for personal cloud use also?

Since the original posting the models have changed, and there are a few more options for personal clouds that are faster. That being said, for network/local storage and video streaming these would be just fine. If you were trying to access them remotely over the internet, both Qnap and Synology are very adaptable and relatively easy to configure, but require a decent set of skills to get them working in this manner (dealing with NAT translation, dynamic IP, DNS resolution, DMZ capability, etc).

Thank you. I bought an Asus router N65r, and I was playing with the Media Server feature (or "role") with my external drive and it is not sexy when it comes to streaming at times (Or sharing links) lol This triggered me to look into a NAS. I also wanted to back up computers (possibly).

 

[sk1939]

Well it depends on what your budget is for a NAS. At the very least I would go for a NAS with two bays just for expandability and redundancy. As far as NAS speeds go, depending on the load, network, device and file type, it can range from 30MB/s (240 Mbps) max to 120MB/s (960Mbps). This means you will want a router with gigabit ports on it for sure. The ASUS is a relatively fast router (one of the fastest last time I checked) for the consumer market, and can push through about 800Mbps routing from the Internet to LAN (which is irrelevant to the NAS transfer speed).

As far as NAS recommendations go, if you can afford it go for the Synology DS712+ ($500), you won't find a faster NAS (960 Mbps transfer possible) with more features at the price point. Alternatively, you could go for the Qnap TS-212 ($200) which would net you a transfer rate of 500Mbps max. I would recommend you step up to the TS-219PII ($300) though, since it gives you 2 USB 3 ports which allow you to add 2 more drives if you were so inclined.

I'm sorry for reviving an old thread, but I have a question about this NAS. Do you think this server would be great for personal cloud use also?

Since the original posting the models have changed, and there are a few more options for personal clouds that are faster. That being said, for network/local storage and video streaming these would be just fine. If you were trying to access them remotely over the internet, both Qnap and Synology are very adaptable and relatively easy to configure, but require a decent set of skills to get them working in this manner (dealing with NAT translation, dynamic IP, DNS resolution, DMZ capability, etc).

Thank you. I bought an Asus router N65r, and I was playing with the Media Server feature (or "role") with my external drive and it is not sexy when it comes to streaming at times (Or sharing links) lol This triggered me to look into a NAS. I also wanted to back up computers (possibly).

The Asus router is nice, but as you say it is "not sexy" when it comes to hard tasks like that. The one thing I would like to point out with the NAS's (and one that may be relevant) is that they will not transcode media on the fly. For example, if you are streaming .MKV's from the NAS to your TV via DLNA, and the TV dosen't recognize that file type, then the TV will not play that file. Some of the "media servers" like the DLNA servers you can run on your computer do have this ability (although it may not work on all media types).

 

[Kev Knight]

Well it depends on what your budget is for a NAS. At the very least I would go for a NAS with two bays just for expandability and redundancy. As far as NAS speeds go, depending on the load, network, device and file type, it can range from 30MB/s (240 Mbps) max to 120MB/s (960Mbps). This means you will want a router with gigabit ports on it for sure. The ASUS is a relatively fast router (one of the fastest last time I checked) for the consumer market, and can push through about 800Mbps routing from the Internet to LAN (which is irrelevant to the NAS transfer speed).

As far as NAS recommendations go, if you can afford it go for the Synology DS712+ ($500), you won't find a faster NAS (960 Mbps transfer possible) with more features at the price point. Alternatively, you could go for the Qnap TS-212 ($200) which would net you a transfer rate of 500Mbps max. I would recommend you step up to the TS-219PII ($300) though, since it gives you 2 USB 3 ports which allow you to add 2 more drives if you were so inclined.

I'm sorry for reviving an old thread, but I have a question about this NAS. Do you think this server would be great for personal cloud use also?

Since the original posting the models have changed, and there are a few more options for personal clouds that are faster. That being said, for network/local storage and video streaming these would be just fine. If you were trying to access them remotely over the internet, both Qnap and Synology are very adaptable and relatively easy to configure, but require a decent set of skills to get them working in this manner (dealing with NAT translation, dynamic IP, DNS resolution, DMZ capability, etc).

Thank you. I bought an Asus router N65r, and I was playing with the Media Server feature (or "role") with my external drive and it is not sexy when it comes to streaming at times (Or sharing links) lol This triggered me to look into a NAS. I also wanted to back up computers (possibly).

The Asus router is nice, but as you say it is "not sexy" when it comes to hard tasks like that. The one thing I would like to point out with the NAS's (and one that may be relevant) is that they will not transcode media on the fly. For example, if you are streaming .MKV's from the NAS to your TV via DLNA, and the TV dosen't recognize that file type, then the TV will not play that file. Some of the "media servers" like the DLNA servers you can run on your computer do have this ability (although it may not work on all media types).

Yeah, I understand tha . The issue I have mainly is that when I try to stream music (Or video) sometimes, or access the folder through explorer (or finder) it takes for ever sometime to load the folder. Or, when I stream, I find duplicates of files. It is not smooth at times, and that's what I meant by sexy. Even sharing is a hassle. So, I was just looking for an easier way.