Raid nas multiple users

[Zaba76]

Hi there,

Some people use consumer priced NAS for single pc/home network backup.

I want to find a NAS for under £500 (under £300 would be even better!lol):
1) to store photos on a network as I take them
2) to have them backed up with mirrored drive (and external regular back up)
3) allow multiple users to access the files simultaneously as soon as they are available on the network drive - a live photo gallery if you like!

I have been looking at RAID mirroring NAS

My question is...

a) Would a RAID striped combined with Mirroring arrray speed up transfer to multiple users? or is the difference negligible and not worth the additional cost.

b) what other factors should I look for when considering a NAS for multiple users simultaneously reading and writing files to and fro the same drive. This May include users reading the same file at the same time.

The network is wired 100Mbps not 1000 if that make a difference. Most files are 1-10MB.


I currently use Bufallo turbo usb drives to backup individual workstations. very good.

Many people have mentioned synology as they have an FTP server which could be useful as I currently use one on the PC to receive images and then store to drive.

Any help gratefully recieved.

Thank you!!

 

[sub mesa]

If you still have an older PC lying around, putting FreeNAS on it can create a quick NAS that works, without having to buy anything new.

I can't help you with any ready-made NAS solutions though, as i'm not familiar with them.

 

[Zaba76]

If you still have an older PC lying around, putting FreeNAS on it can create a quick NAS that works, without having to buy anything new.

I can't help you with any ready-made NAS solutions though, as i'm not familiar with them.

Thanks anyway, have thought about trying that at home... heard lot of people mention freenas.
Looking for a small one box solution - fairly low maintenance - to run with a router and 4 or 5 laptops and a couple printers. But thank you for the response.

I am considering something like the synology ds209 - I don't know if that's over kill for what I want or not... but I guess it has features I may use later down the line for hosting a web/ftp site.
Was originally looking at the bufallo linkstation duo but I hear they are not near as good as the turbo usb drives performance wise.