Re: Can an NAS appliance be used as a regular computer?
On 4/28/22 12:42, Tom Browder wrote: All I want is a small PC able to host multiple drives for redundant storage. Can a typical NAS appliance be used for that? For several years I used NETGEAR ReadyDATA 516 (RDD516) as both, desktop and NAS. It's equipped with HDMI port, so connecting monitor (up to 1920x1200) is not a problem. Main problem was 13-3220 CPU. I upgraded to i7-3770 and active cooling. So, there are NAS device capable of acting as a desktop PC but it may require some effort.
Re: Can an NAS appliance be used as a regular computer?
On Thu, Apr 28, 2022 at 05:42:38AM -0500, Tom Browder wrote: > All I want is a small PC able to host multiple drives for redundant > storage. Can a typical NAS appliance be used for that? > > Thanks. > > -Tom Tom, Things like the Synology / Buffalo or similar are designed as storage appliances. They often have a low power ARM processor in (or similar) to run the disks/Samba/a web interface or similar. The expensive business ones are expensive but quality: the cheap ones are cheap. They're all designed to be used as easy storage but not designed for power users necessarily. They may be running Linux under the hood - but you'll be on the hook and dependent on the vendor doing the right thing because you can't do much, if anything, to patch it or keep it up to date outwith the vendor doing it right. [And their quality of security is ... mixed ... ] The quality of disks/disk interfaces and proprietary filesystems are all in the mix. If you want to _use_ the system for anything else, then the Dell / HP Microserver route might be a good one: two Microservers here are useful for more than one thing, for example. A four disk system will handle 16T with no problem. All the best, as ever, Andy Cater
Re: Can an NAS appliance be used as a regular computer?
On 2022-04-28 12:42 UTC+0200, Tom Browder wrote: > All I want is a small PC able to host multiple drives for redundant > storage. Can a typical NAS appliance be used for that? As suggested by me and others before, I would look for a cheap device like the Raspberry Pi for home use. You can configure and install everything like you want and you are not limited by the use cases intended by the manufacturer. I replaced an older Synology NAS myself this year with a Raspi based solution and I am totall happy with it. For file serving I use sshfs, which better fits my needs than SMB or NFS. I think there are also clients available for Windows and Mac (if you need that). I use it completely headless, but - if you wish so - you can also use it as a low-end ARM based desktop PC. If you have any questions regarding setup, please come back. Regards, Christian -- http://www.cb-fraggle.de
Re: Can an NAS appliance be used as a regular computer?
I would prefer a system with x86 CPU. But be aware that GPU is not the best. I have a x86 QNAP NAS running Debian, I use it a file server. So I can't say much about Desktop computing. 00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 35) On 28.04.22 12:42, Tom Browder wrote: All I want is a small PC able to host multiple drives for redundant storage. Can a typical NAS appliance be used for that? Thanks. -Tom
Re: Can an NAS appliance be used as a regular computer?
On Thu, Apr 28, 2022 at 06:08 Dan Ritter wrote: ... Debian can run on some NAS boxes directly, with more or less > effort. > > https://wiki.debian.org/InstallingDebianOn/QNAP > > https://wiki.debian.org/InstallingDebianOn/Synology > > Some Synology models support running virtual machines on > the NAS. > > https://www.synology.com/en-us/dsm/feature/virtual_machine_manager > > That's pretty flexible, but they tend to be relatively expensive > and low on RAM... and while the disks are upgradable, the RAM > frequently is not. Thanks, Dan.
Re: Can an NAS appliance be used as a regular computer?
On Thu, Apr 28, 2022 at 06:03 Jonathan Dowland wrote: ... I believe popular NAS appliances by manufacturers such as Synology can > either be "rooted" so you can run your own stuff on them, or support > running applications via containers on top. Thanks, Jonathan.
Re: Can an NAS appliance be used as a regular computer?
Tom Browder wrote: > All I want is a small PC able to host multiple drives for redundant > storage. Can a typical NAS appliance be used for that? There's no such thing as typical, here. If the *only* thing you want is a networked filesystem, most NAS boxes are adequate for that: after all, that's what the manufacturer intends them to be used for. The problem with NAS boxes is that the manufacturer not only doesn't want to support other use cases, the manufacturer doesn't expect to run arbitrary software - only their own. So they feel free to put in their own proprietary everything. Debian can run on some NAS boxes directly, with more or less effort. https://wiki.debian.org/InstallingDebianOn/QNAP https://wiki.debian.org/InstallingDebianOn/Synology Some Synology models support running virtual machines on the NAS. https://www.synology.com/en-us/dsm/feature/virtual_machine_manager That's pretty flexible, but they tend to be relatively expensive and low on RAM... and while the disks are upgradable, the RAM frequently is not. -dsr-
Re: Can an NAS appliance be used as a regular computer?
On Thu, Apr 28, 2022 at 05:42:38AM -0500, Tom Browder wrote: All I want is a small PC able to host multiple drives for redundant storage. Can a typical NAS appliance be used for that? I believe popular NAS appliances by manufacturers such as Synology can either be "rooted" so you can run your own stuff on them, or support running applications via containers on top. Turning the question inside-out, a regular computer can be used as a NAS. -- Please do not CC me for listmail. Jonathan Dowland ✎j...@debian.org https://jmtd.net
Can an NAS appliance be used as a regular computer?
All I want is a small PC able to host multiple drives for redundant storage. Can a typical NAS appliance be used for that? Thanks. -Tom
