Comments on: NAS 101: A Buyer’s Guide to the Features and Capacity You Need https://www.backblaze.com/blog/nas-101-a-buyers-guide-to-the-features-and-capacity-you-need/ Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup Wed, 14 Sep 2022 03:59:00 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 By: andrewm https://www.backblaze.com/blog/nas-101-a-buyers-guide-to-the-features-and-capacity-you-need/#comment-329215 Wed, 14 Sep 2022 03:59:00 +0000 https://www.backblaze.com/blog/?p=97277#comment-329215 In reply to jeyare.

can you point me to more in depth articles that go over these points in more detail?

]]> By: Skip Levens https://www.backblaze.com/blog/nas-101-a-buyers-guide-to-the-features-and-capacity-you-need/#comment-327706 Wed, 17 Feb 2021 10:50:25 +0000 https://www.backblaze.com/blog/?p=97277#comment-327706 In reply to Mihai T.

Hello Mihai – We’ll definitely consider it for a future post – the DIY approach has a lot of variables and considerations but hopefully the information here breaking down your solution by category will be helpful. Thank you again for this great feedback!

]]> By: Mihai T https://www.backblaze.com/blog/nas-101-a-buyers-guide-to-the-features-and-capacity-you-need/#comment-327705 Wed, 17 Feb 2021 10:04:21 +0000 https://www.backblaze.com/blog/?p=97277#comment-327705 Can you make a similar article about home users? Because I recently had a discussion with a colleague about a home NAS. I cam across your posts from a Reddit community (homelab or HomeNetworking) when I was looking for statistics about NAS HDDs. I tried following the article, but it does not apply to home users as the end goal for home users is a little different. I am using a DIY NAS with OpenMediaVault as software and an oDroid H2 (x86 chipset, a NUC like device) for my needs.

]]> By: Skip Levens https://www.backblaze.com/blog/nas-101-a-buyers-guide-to-the-features-and-capacity-you-need/#comment-327688 Tue, 09 Feb 2021 16:30:17 +0000 https://www.backblaze.com/blog/?p=97277#comment-327688 In reply to jeyare.

Thanks for more great commentary! The ‘where you deploy your NAS’ is a really important topic that is often overlooked.

]]> By: jeyare https://www.backblaze.com/blog/nas-101-a-buyers-guide-to-the-features-and-capacity-you-need/#comment-327687 Tue, 09 Feb 2021 11:54:54 +0000 https://www.backblaze.com/blog/?p=97277#comment-327687 Just better approach for the newbies is based on these steps:
1. calculate your current data capacity
2. calculate your 4y horizon data growth. Summarize the both calculations.
3. just imagine if you need all data in single volume. More is oftentimes better and you don’t be “surprised” in near time horizon.
4. then chose right model of the redundancy (RAID) for every single volume. For home use is RAID6 overkill for your CPUs. And finally you can chose the disk drives. Every kind of NAS certified HDD has enough performance for the 1G LAN, even in 4xLACP in home usage.
5. then calculate number of bays (never start setup from this point)
6. then you can solve your network needs. frequently +5bay NASes contains 2+ NICs (Ethernet slots) or expansion slots, even 4 NICs for 8bay NASes are available.

for a better sleeping when you are frequently out of the NAS location, or during vacation – you can use a Spare disk feature (limited NAS range), then next one/two bays can be helpful.

Last:
NASes need an airflow = fans in operation = a space for the airflow.
Don’t put this piece of HW into small closed cabinet, or near your bed. And don’t switch off the vents. …. Yes people are crazy.

]]> By: Skip Levens https://www.backblaze.com/blog/nas-101-a-buyers-guide-to-the-features-and-capacity-you-need/#comment-327686 Tue, 09 Feb 2021 09:24:30 +0000 https://www.backblaze.com/blog/?p=97277#comment-327686 In reply to jeyare.

Thanks for the great comments! 1. Yes it’s true NAS systems can be complex, and a solid backup plan is crucial indeed. We hope to make it a bit easier for users to get to know the capabilities of these systems with guides like this one. 2. It’s absolutely true Atom can be a nice option for light server work – great to hear a real-world confirmation that it can handle Docker and share services for up to 20+ users! 3. Absolutely – its quite a jump from 1GigE to 10GigE, and 4. getting the most out of your 10GigE will require a bit of work (which we’d like to explore in a future post…) Fantastic feedback – and thanks for taking the time to send in your comments.

]]> By: jeyare https://www.backblaze.com/blog/nas-101-a-buyers-guide-to-the-features-and-capacity-you-need/#comment-327685 Tue, 09 Feb 2021 01:10:19 +0000 https://www.backblaze.com/blog/?p=97277#comment-327685 yes, with more NASes people can use more BB services. No doubt.
Based on these articles, people are able to believe that the NAS enviro is just like “touch the button” and create a photo by your smartphone.
And this is where the stories of NAS-newbies begin, which end with articles in the news that their data has been compromised or encrypted by ransom attacks.
NAS enviro isn’t simple and people need understand = this isn’t a simple toy.

some recommendations:
1. better than one day spent with R6 rebuild is properly chosen Backup strategy. RAID isn’t about save of your mental health, when your NAS was locked by someone from dark net, …
2. don’t be foolish with imagination that for the home use you need more than Celeron or Atom based CPU. With “simple” Atom you can run 25+ Docker containers and Shared services for 20 concurrent users (home, small office. Smart people know, that Atom has also server line CPUs. Yes this whole topic is about home or small business NAS usage.
3. Demonized 1Gbps. For home use absolutely enough. Just imagine your WAN connection or your TV 100Mbps only NIC. For home or small business enough.
4. Over evaluated 10G LAN for home usage. For 90% utilization you need really, really fast storage pool in the NAS and same in your computer. Otherwise you have fast LAN (or TB3), but you have heavy bottleneck in the storage part (frequently about 20% of the throughput). And there is a gap between 1G and 10G LAN cost

]]> By: Skip Levens https://www.backblaze.com/blog/nas-101-a-buyers-guide-to-the-features-and-capacity-you-need/#comment-327672 Sun, 31 Jan 2021 08:41:29 +0000 https://www.backblaze.com/blog/?p=97277#comment-327672 In reply to TT.

Completely agree – its an amazing, built-in capability on a Mac that can be overlooked… Thanks for the alert – will keep monitoring the Windows support.

]]> By: TT https://www.backblaze.com/blog/nas-101-a-buyers-guide-to-the-features-and-capacity-you-need/#comment-327670 Sat, 30 Jan 2021 03:29:12 +0000 https://www.backblaze.com/blog/?p=97277#comment-327670 Using Thunderbolt for network connection is a wonderful feature and it goes really fast, but only works on macOS, in Windows 10 there is a bug starting from version 1803/1809 (I don’t remember correctly) that makes this connection completely unusable.

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