I need a new NAS Part II: the Evaluation

I need a new NAS Part II: the Evaluation

My NAS failed last month, so I've been researching a replacement.  I've identified the following criteria, in a rough order of priority:

Most Important:

• Basic File Sharing
• Advanced Media Sharing
• Storage Technology & Expand-ability

Important:

•  Direct Backup to the Cloud
• UPS Protection
• Remote Access

Nice-to-have:

• Automated PC Image Backup
• Applications
•  Flickr Synchronization

I'm going to award medals for each "contest": 

• Gold (4 points)
• Silver (2 points)
• Bronze (1 point)

Ties are possible (it will also be possible to not get a medal at all)!

A note on methodology: Although I have specific hardware models in mind for each of these storage solutions, for purposes of comparison I'm going to work at the platform level (i.e. ReadyNAS vs. Drobo vs. Windows Home Server).  The only exception will be pricing -- in which I compare actual pricing of the specific models.

Basic File Sharing

So my most basic requirement, basic file sharing is, well, basic.  By basic filesharing I mean your most basic Windows CIFS or SMB/Samba-style file sharing.

I have two use cases:

1. Central file share for media sharing by other devices.  Today, that's primarily my Sonos music system -- one of my most favorite geek toys EVER (even my wife LOVES Sonos).  I also want to share other types of content with devices around the home -- namely video and photo -- but I'm not currently doing that (more on that below).

2. Synchronization/backup of personal content.  I use the very excellent Allway Sync by Botkind, Inc. to synchronize media across my laptop and my wife's laptop using the NAS as the go-between.  The end result is the same content available across the three devices.  I did my own bake-off of synchronization tools several years ago and ended up with Allway Sync.  It has given me no reason to consider switching. 

My primary use case for a "sync" tool over conventional backup software was photography (LOTS of photos) and the preference for each laptop in the household to work on photos locally (rather than over a network connection).  


We use Picasa to manage our photos and Allway Sync reliably tracks every new photo (whether it was loaded to my laptop or my wife's laptop).  It also tracks every tweak of IPTC metadata (i.e. keywords and description) allowing us to edit even photo metadata and have it persisted.

There are some anecdotal reports that early versions of Drobo FS had network performance issues.  Nonetheless, I trust that each of the three storage solutions will function equally well for my two use cases.

Advanced Media Sharing

DLNA or the Digital Living Network Alliance is an emerging standard for media sharing across a variety of devices found in the home.  DLNA support can be found in set top boxes from many television service providers as well as gaming systems such as the XBOX 360.  My vision is to use my XBOX 360 in our rec room to watch the dozens of videos we've recorded with our iPhones and point and shoot cameras (we don't yet have much content recorded with our full HD camcorder).  I'm also hoping that there will be DLNA support in my DirecTV STBs in my other rooms, but I won't hold my breath -- this may require a TV upgrade or purchase of another low-cost streaming box such as the WD TV Live.

DLNA support across my three storage solutions is a bit lumpy:

ReadyNAS claims to support DLNA natively, albeit as an add-on.

WHS requires Twonkyserver, a 3rd-party application/add-on.  Although Twonkyserver is not free, I don't have a problem with paying $19.95 for a well-regarded 3rd-party application.  That said, I'd prefer to have native functionality supported by my NAS provider.

Drobo has the weakest DLNA support, relegating it to a 3rd-party community-developed app.

So for Advanced Media Sharing, the nod goes to ReadyNAS, with a Silver Medal to WHS and a Bronze to Drobo.

Storage Technology & Expand-ability

I currently have more than 200GB of data backed up to Amazon S3.  This includes MANY thousands of pictures (and short video), music and documents.  Our usage has expanded rapidly with the advent of HD video recording on our handheld devices -- namely, the iPhone 4.  So I would like to have at least 1TB with both expand-ability and redundancy.

RAID or Redundant Array ofInexpensive Disks is a venerable technology, used extensively in enterprise applications for decades.  RAID is only recently making its ways into consumer applications as the need for reliable storage of media and personal content skyrockets.  RAID is far too complex for the average consumer to configure and maintain, so many technology companies have introduced abstractions of the standard that simplify configuration and maintenance.  

Drobo has BeyondRaid.  Netgear has X-RAID.  The original Windows Home Server has Drive Extender.  Each of these technologies does a great job of masking the complexities of data redundancy from the end-user.  I personally can't identify a specific advantage of any one over the others -- so I would rate this as a three-way tie.  

Unfortunately, Microsoft pulled Drive Extender from the new version ofWHS -- Windows Home Server 2011 -- meaning if you want to run a WHS 2011 box -- you're left to managing RAID on your own.  While original WHS boxes are still readily available, I want an upgrade path that won't require me to start managing my own RAID configurations.  

So the nod for best storage technology is a tie between ReadyNas and Drobo.

So ReadyNAS is out to an early lead:

• ReadyNAS: 12 points
• Drobo: 7 points
• WHS: 7 points

My next post will address my next series of criteria ("Important").