Space Exploration
People that know me know that I consume digital storage space at an incredible rate. I have no idea what happens to my free space but as soon as I get some more; it's gone. Quite a few years ago, I built a RAID5 setup in my server using a Promise FastTrack SX4000 RAID controller (with onboard ram and a XOR chip) and four 200GB disks. At the time it was quite a lot, but over the years needs have outgrown the RAID and I now have too much data on non-redundant single drives. Also, I'd like to separate some of the storage from the server, both for cooling, noise and placement reasons. So for a long time now I've been watching the NAS/external eSATA device market with interest, waiting for prices and performance to reach acceptable levels.
Finally it looks like the market is opening up, with several of the big players like Thermaltake (Muse NAS-RAID) and Promise (Promise SmartStor NS4300N) entering the SOHO segment with products of their own, challenging existing players like Stardom and Buffalo who have either traditionally been overpriced or only sold with disks preinstalled at awkward size configurations.
Among all these new and exciting products, one in particular has grabbed my attention. It's the Infrant Technologies ReadyNAS NV+. First of all it's getting good reviews regarding noise levels, something other units like the Thecus N4200 have struggled with. But most intriguing is the promise by Infrant that their proprietary X-RAID technology will not only allow you to start with few disks and gradually increase the number while at the same time growing the volume AND maintaining redundancy, but that you will also be able to incrementally replace the disks with larger drives and actually get the benefit of increased volume out out of it.This might not sound like much of a revolution but if you've dealt with devices like this in the past, or even RAID cards, you'll appreciate this since most solutions seems to force you to destroy and rebuild RAIDs to make any significant changes to them. While some solutions like the Promise SmartStor NS4300N feature online expansion and replacement, I've yet to find anyone other than infrant that will go into details about what their RAID extensions will allow you to do in terms of flexibility and expandability. Also, Infrant seems to be on top of the disk size inflation, with officially supporting 750GB disks while many still list "up to 500GB" (this might be due to outdated product specs, but are you willing to take the chance? I'm not).
The price is still a little above what I'd like to pay for such a device, but considering the ease of mind it brings and the feature list, I feel the time is right to start building a new storage vault based on 750GB disks. And thanks to the virtues of X-RAID, I can start with just the NAS unit itself and another disk (I have one already), and then extend it as I can afford it. That's a great bonus in itself. 2.2 Terabyte redundant storage, here I come!
Comments
Yeah, I agree; the posting definately needs more aliens... and cowbell...
Are you norwegian?
I was wondering if you have tested out the NAS solution now?
And if you had links to some review of Thermaltake (Muse NAS-RAID) and Promise (Promise SmartStor NS4300N)?
What about the LianLi PC-A10B are you happy with it?
Yeah, I'm Norwegian; heisann :)
No it hasn't arrived yet, I also ordered a upgrade to 512MB ram, which I was told could delay it a little. According to my tracking code it was handed in to the post office in Bergen on Monday, but hasn't moved since. Could be lacking logging from the postal service, but I expect it to be waiting for me after Easter holidays (Tuesday for us).
I read one review ( http://aphnetworks.com/reviews/thermaltake_muse_nas_raid ) of the Muse NAS, but I don't know the site or reviewer so I haven't attributed it too much weight. The main issue that led me away from the unit was the listed limitation of 1.6TB.
At the time I made my decision I hadn't yet found any reviews of the Promise unit, but a friend had seen it at CES this year where it was presented, and there were certain concerns about it. Namely noise build quality. Also, Promise doesn't quite hold a strong position with me anymore after my current raid once failed following a disk failure. This raid is internal in the server and based on the Promise SX4000 PCI card. The raid volume collapsed after a replacement disk was added, and Promise support could not explain why.
Also, reading the description of the X-RAID and further details from the Norwegian distributor http://www.masseplass.no/ convinced me that their solution is by far the most flexible around (in this segment).
As for the Lian Li I'm a little unsure what to say. I've bought only Lian Lis for myself the last... 6 or 7 years, and so I'm quite spoiled on the case side. It's a very nice case, but I keep it on my desk only 20cm from my head, I guess expecting total silence would be asking too much. Still, based on my experiences with the Lian Li PC-73SL I think some rubber paddings on the side doors would do wonders - what I'm getting is a slight vibration from the thin alu sides. Other than that, it's a fantastic kit. I guess if I had anything but Lian Li before I would be overexcited. I still highly recommend it though!
I'm disappointed cos of the lack of aliens... however, the unexplained change of colours might be their doings! The truth is out there.