Widescreen Gaming Forum

I'm considering for an NAS so I could remove my 3.5" HDD. Thus reducing cable clutter in my PC casing and getting some space for a longer graphic card. Although I have yet to confirm buying one.

But if I am to get an NAS, I would like stream my MKV & MP4 Full HD files efficiently as if they were streamed from a SATA HDD. Should I look for an NAS with eSATA or NAS with USB 3.0 ports? I mean, which connection has better transfer speed? Is streaming through wired connection (Gigabit LAN) better or worse than through eSATA and USB 3.0?

Recommending me what brand and model to consider is welcomed. Please note that Firewire and Thunderbolt are not supported by my motherboard.

All 3 are easily fast enough to stream high quality full HD video files, in order of speed:

eSATA running at SATA III speeds (6 Gbit/s) 750 MB
USB3 (5 Gbit/s) 625 MB
eSATA running at SATA II speeds (3 Gbit/s) 375 MB
eSATA running at SATA I speeds (1.5 Gbit/s) 187.5 MB
Gigabit Ethernet (1 Gbit/s) 125 MB

Things to bare in mind, eSATA and USB are device to device connections, not network connections, unless your connecting to a router that has a USB3 port on it then using anything other then an ethernet connection defeats the point of a Network Attached Storage device, or NAS. Also, your average drive only normally has a 80-100 MB/s sustained transfer rates, and lastly, Full HD content on you tube can be streamed on a 6Mbit/s connection, so speed for streaming HD content is really a none issue.

_________________
: ) Skid : )
My Multi-Monitor Focused YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/c/SkidIncGaming
My Twitch channel which I've been known to stream on from time to time: http://www.twitch.tv/SkidInc
"Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality."

NAS essentially means you're going to be using ethernet. Even if the various NAS boxes have eSATA or USB3... it's usually so you can plug in an extra drive, whether for NAS backups or for more space.

Bear in mind too that not all NAS solutions are created equal. Some advertise gigabit speeds, etc, but don't have the necessary CPU speed and RAM quantity to cope (Western DIgital, I'm looking at you...)

I've been impressed with my Synology NAS. Other possibilities are Drobo and Qnap. However, you'll need to come up with a budget, and research well. Even the good manufacturers occasionally have a poor model.

Final option is building your own with something like FreeNAS, which is awesome... but if you want the best out of it, be prepared to run a ZFS file system and need 1GB of RAM for every TB of HDD space.



edit: serious typo!

Thx Skid! Only missing USB2.0 was around 40mbs?

And the +1 button ;)

So even eSata2 is fast enough to max out a fast HDD!

My hittachi 73000k goes up to 370MB/s. Sata3.
My NAS via ethernt goes around 30-40mb/s ^^

@ Paradigm shifter

FreeNAS is software for Linux/windows or OS? You install that on a normal computer? Or you want to build a NAS from scratch with an ARM developer platform?(seems like a funny project idea, sometimes i wish i had more time^^)
And 1gb RAM per 1gb HDD Space, wouldn't it be cheaper to use SSD's?
Oh arent there Hybrid HDD's with around 40gb NAND ? Might work good in a NAS.

_________________
We gonna send it to outa space!

Kind of, remember, the max transfer rate is normally burst transfer rate, ie writing any amount that can fit inside the HDD cache, everything else has to be read off or written to the disk and that is where sustained read write comes into it.

_________________
: ) Skid : )
My Multi-Monitor Focused YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/c/SkidIncGaming
My Twitch channel which I've been known to stream on from time to time: http://www.twitch.tv/SkidInc
"Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality."

On a NAS, it's almost always going to be sustained transfer rate that you're interested in. A NAS box won't keep much in the cache if it's sensible, unless something is happening at the time.

FreeNAS is its own OS. Based on FreeBSD. You install it to a USB memory stick (2GB+, IIRC) and boot from it on a system with loads of disks in you want to turn into a NAS box. When using ZFS, it recommends 1GB of RAM for every 1TB of HDD.

Sorry, just noticed my fingers hit G instead of T there. :( Mea culpa.

This is rather an old post but interestingly I'm now in the same crossroads. Thanks @Skid for your post as it clarifies a bit more my dilemma.

Yet I have three noob questions:

First: I am building a home 20x harddisk system (sort of "domestic very basic big data server re-using older hard disks in a JBOD fashion"). Initially I though about assembling a tower-like system: 20 disks internally connected to 4 port multiplier backplanes (each 5x1) and then connecting this "system" to a 4 port-SATA PCIe controller in my desktop using four eSATA cables. No motherboard no anything else... keeping it plain and simple, huh? That, as per your post, seems to be faster (SATA2=3Gbp/s) than using a Gigabit connection. I know that to use a Gigabit connection I would have to add a motherboard (plus the lot, in short, add a 'computer' into that box), but if I was to do that, would it be possible to connect the "system" to my desktop directly via a crossed RJ45 cat5 cable without using any router/hub? If so, would speeds be maximised this way to a sustained 1Gbit/s??

Second: I like the idea of a NAS, even if not using any RAID (only JBOD), just the ability to share the disk array with other computers in the home network as well as to stream media is appealing. Yet, in a practical case, say I install FreeNAS or similar, how would I "connect" to the array? Say I'm in my desktop and I need access to the "data server" -which is switched off- so I switch it on and then what?, do I have to add shares in Windows (and do that everytime I switch on the data server)?, is this process automatic as it'd be if it was a mere disk tower? For a long time I've been using a disk tower (Addonics Storage Tower) connected to my desktop via eSATA and when I switch it on, my desktop simple recognizes new units and add them automatically... Sorry if this question is extremely basic but I've never dealt with NAS.

Third: Do you now if FreeNAS (in JBOD mode) boots in seconds or does it take a long time to be ready? I'd be installing it in a USB pendrive attached to the motherboard -or perhaps in a regular 80Gb SATA disk if necessary. I'm willing to wait up to a minute, but if it takes as long as say Windows 7 -which isn't that bad!-, then I'd be rethinking the whole NAS idea. I understand the aim of 24x7 for a NAS, but I don't want 20 HDs on 24/7 moreover when it's going to be a home server... which means it isn't needed, so I am not going to keep this "system" on all the time. I will instead switch it on and off as needed.

Suggestions?

Thanks in advance