FWIW, I use a pair of Drobos as NAS & find them very convenient (scalable to need). If you were to use them with "green" drives (like WD) they might fit your need for relatively small, convenient & energy saving. Doesn't get you past the proprietary software issue but that's a very common problem with NAS/RAID systems.

jamesf99 wrote:
Drobos are like all NAS from a proprietary software perspective. this is one thing that is keeping me on the fence for some of these things.

I honestly don't know why all these companies insist on writing their own Unix/Linux proprietary code/data storage algorithms and storing data in some funky way. It has been a long time for me, but I guess they're just creating a hash table or something.

seriously. We're talking about data storage for the most part. I know there are communication protocols between the drives, the "case", the client software (if present) so writing code for that is fine, but why can't these guys store data in a consistent form?

I'm assuming that a WHS will store data in a "readable" fashion, and by readable, I mean pull the drive out and put it in a "Blacx box" (or similar) or external case, hook it up, and see what you have...

I use a D-Link DNS 321 with two one terabyte drives. It's been reliable and relatively simple to use and takes up very little space.

http://www.dlink.ca/products/?pid=666

DIS Ottawa wrote:
D-Link DNS 321 with two one terabyte drives.

Yes Im using it too, works perfectly... there are also 4TB I think, with 4 drives...

FWIW. I use a HP MediaSmart server to backup my primary desktop which contains my photos. But, as long as your needs are modest, you could use WD mirrored green drives which come in a single case and connects by USB 2.0.

L33t wrote:
DIS Ottawa wrote:
D-Link DNS 321 with two one terabyte drives.

Yes Im using it too, works perfectly... there are also 4TB I think, with 4 drives...

I have one of these but eventually gave up on it as it kept dropping out of my network - for inexplicable reasons. No joy with D-Link support, so I eventually switched to the Drobo. Have either of you experienced any similar problems?

Haven't taken the plunge yet, but I was thinking about building an UNRAID box:

http://www.lime-technology.com/joomla/

globalkiwi wrote:
L33t wrote:
DIS Ottawa wrote:
D-Link DNS 321 with two one terabyte drives.

Yes Im using it too, works perfectly... there are also 4TB I think, with 4 drives...

I have one of these but eventually gave up on it as it kept dropping out of my network - for inexplicable reasons. No joy with D-Link support, so I eventually switched to the Drobo. Have either of you experienced any similar problems?

I've been using mine for over a year and it's been flawless. I first used it with Vista and now Windows 7 - no problems.