NAS drive

[gadgetman]

Seconded - loving my QNAP TS-409. Has every kind of software you can think of. I particularly like the ability it has to schedule a power off AND a power on.

I dedicate an old laptop to torrent / NZB downloads though as I schedule the QNAP to sleep between 12 and 7 am. Then I dump stuff to the NAS later.

This model definitely powers down the drives when not in use too.

[Gonzo]

I have a Netgear ReadyNAS and am happy with it.

They are more expensive (although the differential is lower than 18 months ago) but it is a business expense right?

It is sturdy and solid, has RAID, snapshots, power scheduling and a load of other features that I don't use.

[VectraMan]

This model definitely powers down the drives when not in use too.

That does bug me with mine. With it sitting idle most of the time it really ought to be able to go into a lower power mode. Without getting preachy about polar bears or any such nonsense, it does seem like this would be a no-brainer to anyone engineering something like this. But I've measured it and it sits there sucking 9W all the time.

[voodooflux]

Without getting preachy about polar bears or any such nonsense, it does seem like this would be a no-brainer to anyone engineering something like this.

I seem to recall (via their forums) that QNAP encountered a lot of issues while implementing this, and some drive models seem to handle being powered down a lot better than others.

[Sysman]

That does bug me with mine. With it sitting idle most of the time it really ought to be able to go into a lower power mode. Without getting preachy about polar bears or any such nonsense, it does seem like this would be a no-brainer to anyone engineering something like this. But I've measured it and it sits there sucking 9W all the time.

Conversely I've got a Western Digital Firewire drive (not the NAS one) which insists on spinning down when not used for n minutes. I haven't managed to work out what 'n' is yet and there is no easy way to stop it from sleeping.

The trouble is when you need to access it there's an annoyingly lengthy delay (and accompanying loud clunk) as it fires up. From what I've read folks using the likes of Photoshop (think lengthy edits with occasional saves) find this intensely irritating.

[Platypus]

You'll be even more irritated when the drives give up, which being Western Digital, they will .... very soon

[Sysman]

You'll be even more irritated when the drives give up, which being Western Digital, they will .... very soon

Aye, I've come across similar comments before, so I'm not pinning too many hopes on it

[vandiss]

Got a QNAP TS-509 myself, couldn't survive without it now.

Use it for the following:

• Torrent client (rtorrent++)
• Forums (phpBB)
• Code repository (Subversion)
• Java app server (Tomcat)
• Database server (mySQL)
• Mail server (Dove)
• UPnP server (Twonky)

The firmware received a major upgrade earlier this year and the web front-end is excellent. The file manager is a thing of beauty.

[lilelvis2000]

People always say that, but chances are an old PC will be a) bulky, b) noisy, c) use much more power than a NAS, and d) have a small hard disk by today's standards.

Well okay then. you can do what I do. Replace the fans and the PS with quiet stuff and put some big drives into it. Which is what I do.

[gadgetman]

Or buy a NAS!

Well okay then. you can do what I do. Replace the fans and the PS with quiet stuff and put some big drives into it. Which is what I do.