I need a NAS solution for my apartment that works with my 13" Unibody Macbook Pro, my roommate's old Sony laptop running Vista, and my PS3.

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ChronoMac August 26, 2010

I need a NAS solution for my apartment that works with my 13" Unibody Macbook Pro, my roommate's old Sony laptop running Vista, and my PS3.

It would also be nice if it streamed to my iPhone 4 as well.

The main purpose would be to stream music and HD movies (MKV and converted MP4, 720p and 1080p). My PS3 is on a wired connection to my existing old Dlink router and our laptops connect wirelessly. My current process is to enable file sharing on my Macbook, then connect to that IP address through my PS3's web browser and transfer the files before I can watch them. Not only is it slow, but it takes up precious space on the PS3's 60 GB hard drive.

So I want a new, dual-band wireless router, a stable and fast NAS, and at least a 1TB 7200 RPM hard drive. And I don't want to spend $500, if I can.

So what components should I choose and where should I look for info on how to set it all up?

Here's what I'm considering so far:

Router: Linksys WRT320N
NAS: D-Link DNS-321
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 1TB ST31000528AS

Any and all suggestions are welcome!

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ArmpitOfDeath 1 year ago

The D-Link has pretty abysmal throughput which will hurt you on a daily basis. The Synology DS210j is Synology's cheapest 2-bay NAS, and while the price is roughly double that of the D-Link, the throughput is also double. If it were me, the DS209 is getting to a speed I would consider 'no serious issues' - but that's another $100 over the DS210j.

originwww.synology.com/us/products/ds210j/index.ph...

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LANjackal 2010-08-27 09:11:20

Not to mention that you really do NOT want to actually own anything D-Link. Impressive featureset, but they have the reliability of a paper umbrella.

ChronoMac 2010-08-27 11:56:08

If I keep the DS210j on a wired connection, since it'll be right next to the router and the PS3, would I get any issues with HD streaming? I can imagine with a wireless connection the chances of success drop pretty fast.

ArmpitOfDeath 2010-08-31 16:12:21

Well - depends on how 'HD' your HD is. Highly compressed HD is absolutely doable - Apple downloads, download-friendly compressed movies, etc as these are about 7Mbps (at least for the commercial services. Torrents, no idea). But original Blu-ray? Probably not, even a DS209 would struggle. But you're probably not talking about Blu-ray rips, right?

ChronoMac 2010-08-31 16:25:51

HD for me is anywhere from 4 GB to 10 GB rips of Blu-ray movies and 300 MB to 1 GB rips of TV shows. Both have substantially decreased bitrates than their originals. I think they're pretty close to what you'd get from Apple. Definitely not 30 to 50 GB untouched Blu-ray rips.

ArmpitOfDeath 2010-08-31 17:41:39

You should be OK in that case. Wireless - yeah, it's a bit of a crap shoot. A few metres (or indeed, a few tens of metres) of separation will not make any difference to network speed as long as you're using CAT5e or greater.

ArmpitOfDeath 2010-08-31 18:05:01

Oh yes, if you're using the router to make the Gigabit connection between PS3 and NAS, make sure the router's internal switch can handle the throughput. I tend to stick to 'semi-enterprise' stuff even for home, but I have used Linksys N/Gigabit routers before and they had oddness in the wired switching.

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wesg 2011-03-25 12:00:01

If you're feeling adventurous, roll your own with a low power PC running some form of Linux. My 6.75TB box runs Ubuntu 9.10 and can stream .AVI and transcoded MKV to my PS3, share files with my MacBook Pro and Windows 7 desktop and even record OTA HD with the installed TV tuner.

Sure, it wasn't a straightforward setup, but the end result is something I can mould into whatever I want and it can be upgraded in nearly any way.

If it's something you want to do, check out MythBuntu as it makes media streaming easier than straight Ubuntu (which I used).

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I need a NAS solution for my apartment that works with my 13" Unibody Macbook Pro, my roommate's old Sony laptop running Vista, and my PS3.

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