Recommendations on RAID'ed external storage

All-

I would like some recommendations on external storage. Here are the specs that I am looking for:

• Can be either NAS or DAS (external USB drive)
• Must support RAID-1 or RAID-5
• Must have at least 1TB of useable space after RAID.
• Must NOT be a computer with shares... I don't want the added size, heat, and headache of running a file server.
• Under or around $700 for 1TB of useable space
• Will be used to store DVD backups and to store audio / video(porn) media. Does not require streaming.

It can be either an external enclosure w/disks, a diskless NAS device where I buy disks, or a disk-included NAS device.





My old Western Digital MyBook 500GB external USB drive died the other day :(. I managed to salvage the data by putting the entire USB drive in the freezer, sitting outside of the freezer with a laptop, and running USB cables from the drive (still in the freezer) to the laptop to copy off whatever data that I could. But now, I need some place to put all of this data, especially now that I am a die-hard RAID-1 evangelist.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Just curious as to what the freezer has anything to do with retrieveing data?

Freezing a drive is a last-ditch effort to retrieve data off of a dying hard drive.

One of the possible reasons that a hard drive fails is because the mechanical parts (usually the ball bearings that help the platters rotate) wear down, or become misaligned. As the metallic components of the drive heat up, they expand and can make the problem of the wear / misalignment worse.

Freezing a drive causes the metal to shrink, which may help the drive operate for a few minutes so that you can salvage whatever data is on that drive before it dies. Now with external USB hard drives being so popular, you can just take a dying hard drive, stick the entire USB enclosure in the freezer, and just run cables to a laptop that is just outside of the freezer.

kent, the trouble you'll find is that the price of 1TB drives (especially in external enclosures) only recently dropped below $350 per drive. Thus the drives alone might cost you upwards of $500.

NAS enclosures for 2 drives aren't bad in pricing. but more than that (4 drive) tend to start at about your maximum price.

A DAS enclosure might be your best bet, but then you will need to look into purchasing a RAID controller as well to attach it.

This is a list of diskless NAS enclosures at Newegg.

This one in particular catches my eye, as it is eSATA connected. It's the Thecus N2050BD. (Not sure why it was listed under NAS though.)

For your price envelope, A 2 drive 1TB RAID1 solution is going to fit your needs best.