Computer techy question - NAS devices

**Duncan** · 9th August 2006, 17:42

Ordered one of these earlier - arriving tomorrow. (The free Drivestation was a bit of a bonus!

)

I looked at them last year when the TeraStation came out but didn't like the fact that the drives were not easily accessible. As my disk space was getting drastically low lately on my main workstation, I looked again today and saw this new version that seemed to tick all the boxes. Nothing else seemed to touch it for spec and price. I want it to primarily be the server/storage for all my images.

Just wondered if anyone has had any hands on experience of using one of these latest ones?

Another question (just in case I've missed something obvious!!). The unit can work at Gigabit speeds - so it makes sense to take advantage of that for the faster file loading and saving. I've also ordered a PCI Gigabit card for each of the PCs that will be connected to it. They are currently networking through an ADSL router (which is 100Mbs). So I also bought a Gigabit switch which I intend to plug the PCs into and then plug the router into the switch so that I then have the ADSL connection with the network running at Gigabit.

As far as I can see, I haven't missed anything else that I need to do or get?

D

**JuzzyD** · 9th August 2006, 17:53

I've not had much to do with the Buffalo's, but I understand that they are one of the better ones.

It sounds as if you've ticked all the boxes other than cables - what grade cables do you currently have? (CAT5, CAT5e or CAT6). I believe that for short distances CAT5 would be OK for gigabit, but CAT5e or CAT6 would be preferable (but I stand to be corrected on that one).

**Duncan** · 9th August 2006, 17:55

My runs are only 2-3 metres, and I'm running CAT5e cable - which I've been told should be fine for that distance.

D

**yorkshireborn** · 9th August 2006, 19:06

**Duncan** · 9th August 2006, 19:40

**Duncan** · 9th August 2006, 19:49

Originally Posted by Duncan

My runs are only 2-3 metres, and I'm running CAT5e cable - which I've been told should be fine for that distance.

Just looked at the tech spec again on the manufacturer's site. They quote Cat 5 (and 4!) as being compatible for using on a 1000Base-T network.

D

**AndrewTi** · 9th August 2006, 21:06

**Duncan** · 9th August 2006, 23:21

**bowler** · 9th August 2006, 23:54

I would not want to use less than Cat5 pref Cat5e for Gigabit speeds, Cat4 has far to much noise and crosstalk, I doubt it would run at a Gigabit on Cat4 it will just drop down to 100M. You should be fine with Cat5e but don't expect to see tranfers happening at that speed it will appear much lower.

Are you going to run it in RAID 5 mode or as one large volume (awful lot of data to lose if it fails)

**Duncan** · 9th August 2006, 23:59

Definitely running in RAID5 mode, so I'll have around 750Gb useable. Thought about running it in mirroring mode so I had 2 x 250Gb drives - each one mirrored, and I could then remove the two mirrored disks and lock them in my safe if I wasn't around - but I thought 250Gb was a lot to give up for that. I can just lock up all four drives in the safe if I'm not around.

You don't think I'll get Gigabit speeds with CAT5e? i.e. do you think I'm likely to get (significantly) faster transfer with CAT6? If that's the case, I'll get some CAT6 as I want the fastest speed possible. I don't want to be waiting ages for a file to open. A number of files are 250Mb+, even 500Mb+ if they are 16 bit layered files!!

D