Hi all, I'm new (sort of) to the forums and want to get some advice on building my own NAS for home network, which currently is has 2 laptops connected (via wireless, but occasionally wired) to it. The purpose of the NAS will be a file/media server so both laptops can access the files.
My current setup is a D-link gigabit N wireless router with the 500GB WD mybookworld. Though initially served me well, the MBW's slow speed has started to be an issue. I did a speed test recently and got read/write speed (MBps) of 7MB/4.5MB (wired) and 4MB/4.2MB (wireless). From what I've read these speeds are typical of all can be achieved. Needless to say even listening to my MP3s and viewing videos get choppy. I tried playing a 500MB video clip wirelessly via Picasa and it constantly stops while downloading the file. Even viewing family photos are a problem. Hence I want to find a better solution.
Here's my questions. I know the easiest is to build a new box for a few hundred $. I have an old box (P3 with 1GB ram) , can I use that and just add drives to it and a gigabit lan card? Would that give me the transfer speed that will eliminate my issues? As 1TB (500GB with 500GB backup) is more than I need for the foreseeable future, I may budget some $ (besides the HDs) to a new box that will get me the speed I need if necessary. Generally, what speeds can be/need to have in order for wireless transfer of media/files to be not choppy/fast?
Thanks much in advance for your advice and comments.
My current setup is a D-link gigabit N wireless router with the 500GB WD mybookworld. Though initially served me well, the MBW's slow speed has started to be an issue. I did a speed test recently and got read/write speed (MBps) of 7MB/4.5MB (wired) and 4MB/4.2MB (wireless). From what I've read these speeds are typical of all can be achieved. Needless to say even listening to my MP3s and viewing videos get choppy. I tried playing a 500MB video clip wirelessly via Picasa and it constantly stops while downloading the file. Even viewing family photos are a problem. Hence I want to find a better solution.
Here's my questions. I know the easiest is to build a new box for a few hundred $. I have an old box (P3 with 1GB ram) , can I use that and just add drives to it and a gigabit lan card? Would that give me the transfer speed that will eliminate my issues? As 1TB (500GB with 500GB backup) is more than I need for the foreseeable future, I may budget some $ (besides the HDs) to a new box that will get me the speed I need if necessary. Generally, what speeds can be/need to have in order for wireless transfer of media/files to be not choppy/fast?
Thanks much in advance for your advice and comments.