Hey there guys.
OK, so I got interested in that topic for some reason. And now I have some questions.
NAS is supposed to be any kind of network storage solution. But I don't get one thing:
1. For home made NAS you still need the standard stuff like mobo and CPU and ram etc.
2. If I don't install a specific software solution, I can just throw Windows there and connect it to the network.
So my question is:
Why shouldn't I just put the hard drives in the case, but build basically another PC to act as storage PC?
What am I missing?
Windows is expensive. FreeNas and other Nas software solutions are free for the most part. FreeNas and other Nas software's run better underlying file systems than whats in windows. FreeNas runs ZFS, which is like ECC for your file system. BTRFS, another common file system on linux based Nas software, does the same. On Windows, the file system does very little to prevent bit rot, which becomes problematic if you don't want your data to corrupt over time. I would even argue FreeNas is easier to use as a Nas than Windows. Its pretty much install and go, an hour setup would be over estimating even if your using tutorials for the entire process.
There are also easy to use and install plugins for FreeNas. I can go now and install a laundry list of random different plugins that can make my FreeNas box function as a giant range of things. Crashplan, Bit Torrent Sync, Plex, and many many more. I also have virtualbox running in a jail, and I can run a multitude of virtual machines on it.
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A few things maybe.
Power consumption. You can make a lower powered NAS than PC, considering you might be running it 24/7. Would you rather have a PC on running higher power parts to stream a movie to your phone? Or a lower power NAS.
You generally have special software on it to allow access to other things using NFS, Samba, CIFS, ftp, etc. over the network or remotely, easier management, user permissions etc that are easier to manage.
You can set a share on your PC.. but you wont have the functionality, and potentially not the resilience either.
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Do you mean why should you have a second machine for storage instead of just putting more disks in your computer?
Yeah, it makes no sense if you only have one computer, but if you have a bunch of machines, and a bunch of users it makes sense to have centralised storage.
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Yup... I need to train my English to be able to express myself better.
So basically in average case scenario just get a large hard on, I mean hard drive.
Wait, so NAS is not just a storage solution? I guess if it have WiFi connectivity it could be set to stream to the phone or whatever...
It stores it, so you can access it anywhere. (depending if you allow outside access) you can even set up things like kodi as a media server with the nas storing the media etc.
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One extra quick question...
Let's say I get a fairly modern TV with some network capabilities.
I should be able to connect it to the NAS so I don't have to plug flash drives and move files, etc, right?
I mean as long as everything is set up properly on the software side of the things.
Yes. You could do things like use Plex on the Nas and on whatever operating system the TV is running. Android TV is a good plex client, and most smart TV's also work well. Chromecasts are good, etc;.
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You usually need DLNA support i think. Which some NAS software support, TVs usually pick it up with that.. but youd need to check, ive no TV.
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I see...
Because that is a thing, that actually sounds appealing to me.
Set up something like this, share like one hard drive with the parents, so they can watch their movies and videos and photos and what not, while I use the rest for pure storage and basically remove the noisiest part of my PC...
Thanks everyone :)