Suggest a Home storage solution

[kapil]

Hi, I have this scenario at home.
I use Linux on laptop + android on mobile. My brother uses Macbook + iPhone and my dad use a Windows machine and an iPad.
We want a central storage place where we can store all the movies and family photos etc.
We use internet through WiFi router.
I was thinking it would be cool to buy a router which would have inbuilt storage of say 2TB and/or a USB slot for external storage.
Then we all can access data from central location and there won't be duplication.
and it would be really awesome if android,iPhone and iPad can access those files.

is it possible?
Have any of you tried doing such thing?

[SecretCode]

Being old school I have home storage on an old computer, rather than a router, running Ubuntu Server and Samba. But I know that there are lots of all-in-one router + firewall + wifi + storage solutions available now, and from what I hear they work pretty well.

I don't think Android can access a network file share by default, but there are a number of apps that will enable it (e.g. Astro SMB Module). No idea about fruity products.

Do not forget one important thing: your backup strategy! People think movies and music can always be downloaded again, but family photos ... not so much. Copying all the shared storage to an external HDD and then keeping that HDD in a safe place offline and even better using two HDDs and swapping them every week or so is a pretty good strategy.

[james147]

I was thinking it would be cool to buy a router which would have inbuilt storage of say 2TB and/or a USB slot for external storage.

This is possible and probably the easier solution, but offers very little protection of your data. So if you go down this route make sure you prepare for the disk failing

Being old school I have home storage on an old computer, rather than a router, running Ubuntu Server and Samba.

This is what I also do (and recommend if you don't mind the extra hassle). With a separate storage server you have the advantage of larger storage (as the routers tend to only support one disk). You are also able to raid the disks in the server (so if one fails you don't have probably many weeks of downtime as you recover everything... This can be a nightmare epically with large file stores) and have options for easier backup solutions (currently my server is setup to backup all non recoverable data to my external disk when its plugged in... all automatically).

Another thing you can do with your own server is setup something like owncloud (a dropbox like service) which will allow you to access your files remotely (as well as from your iphone and android)

Do not forget one important thing: your backup strategy! People think movies and music can always be downloaded again, but family photos ... not so much. Copying all the shared storage to an external HDD and then keeping that HDD in a safe place offline and even better using two HDDs and swapping them every week or so is a pretty good strategy.

Just gona keep stressing this point, too many people don't take it seriously enough Though one thing to note is backups should be keep AWAY from what they are backing up... offline is good, but remote is better. At least then you have one less thing to worry about in case of fire or robbery

[kapil]

Thanks.. your suggestions are much appreciated =)
setting up old computer as data server would be best thing. but somehow i don't find it good idea to keep the computer running 24x7. i don't like to waste electricity. so..it holds me back..
hey..look what i found http://www.seagate.com/www/en-au/pro...ontentOverview
it is not a router per se. But it is soo close to what i want. we can add up another hard disk, use android/iPhone to access the files. i hear the app is crappy but..it works none the less. the only thing which lacks is wifi router.

In india, there are few well known brands which have wifi+storage thing.. Seagate,Belkin being the one i know. If you know any other well known brand which have these functionality please tell me the name of brand..will search. there are many friends who keep coming from US/europe anyways..

@james147 yup.. i have faced that..losing precious data..once. i keep it in mind now..backup..backup..backup!
@SecretCode "I'd rather be locked out than locked in." --well said

[SecretCode]

I think lots of router brands now have models that include storage, but even better lots of storage brands (like Seagate) now offer network-attached models which might be better (separate from the router). Just make sure they have USB ports that can attach extra drives - otherwise you are going to be doing all your backups across the LAN, which will be slow.

eta: It looks like that Seagate product you linked to takes more than one drive at a time, so you could rotate between 3 drives and have backup.

[perspectoff]

The Android browser on my device allows WebDAV folders automatically. There are a few free FTP clients (my favorite is AndFTP) which also accommodates both FTP and SFTP (FTP through SSH), so you can alternatively use an SSH client for Android (several free ones exist).

The power supply on my home server (which uses vsftpd) is 150 W, or less than 3 (dim) incandescent lightbulbs.

I have tried many different types of network hard drives, and they aren't as satisfactory, flexible, or secure (as network servers) as I'd like them to be, so I still prefer hard drives connected to my server. God forbid one has a Windows server (requiring Samba) as its base. (Even so, I sometimes have headaches with file permissions on NFS-based servers, as well, which is why I tend to still fall back on FTP.)

Also, I don't trust the built-in security of any router. I have seen too many hacks of routers over the years. There should always be an additional security layer between the router and any storage mechanism.

I think the Seagate servers use PogoPlug, don't they? It is possible to add PogoPlug to many solutions -- I think it's about $29 lifetime.

I have been a fan of Synology for years, and they have a server (DS212j) that is only 17.6 watts for around $200 for a 2-bay NAS (max 6Gb storage). It can function as many types of file server, and even has built-in media streaming and Torrent, FTP, HTTP, eMule, NZB, and POP3/SMTP/IMAP mail serving functions. It has Directory Server, HiDrive Backup, Mail Station2, phpMyAdmin, VPN Server, Webalizer, Squeezebox Server, Syslog Server, WordPress, and Time Backup. It even supports up to 5 IP cams. It has its own built-in OS (which I believe is Linux-based) and supports 64 concurrent users (and if you've never had the problem of concurrent user crashes with other types of NAS schemes, you don't know what you're missing) and 32 virtual hosts! You may not think you need or want all those things now, but as you progress, you will (believe me).

Adding 2x 500 Gb Hitachi HITACHI HDS721050CLA362 drives would cost another $170 (for both), or 2x 2 Tb Hitachi HDS5C3020ALA632 would add another $260 (for both). (I am amazed how short a time it takes to fill a 1 Tb hard drive).

You can then use them in RAID 0/1 fashion and thereby have your own internal backup solution as well. (The DS212J is not hotswappable, though; the DS212 version is).

It has a USB plug, so perhaps you could plug that into your router.

Synology also makes a USB station if you want to only use USB hard drives instead (max 2 x 3Tb external USB drives), but no RAID capabilities. It supports 32 concurrent users. It is limited compared to the 212 series, though, in the number of integrated servers. (The 212 series does allow USB external hard-drives, BTW.)

My vote? DS-212J or DS-212.

[oshunluvr]

I'm a fan of this route(r)...

http://www.asus.com/Networks/Wireless_Routers/RTN56U/

Does file sharing via USB drive and printer sharing out-of-the-box.

[kapil]

@perspectoff that was bit informative..thanks.
@oshunluvr that is exactly what "i" wanted. it is awesome.
_but_..and there is always a but. all except me in my family use mac/iphone and the airport extreme/ airport time capsule will be the best buy for their convenience. being linux user i have again been left to search for the workaround. So, before diving in and finding solution my self. can somebody p-u-h-l-e-a-s-e tell me if that is possible.

[oshunluvr]

I'm sorry - I don't understand. What do you want to know "is possible" or not?

[SecretCode]

I'm guessing kapil is wanting to know if a Linux box can access file sharing or whatever on the "airport extreme/ airport time capsule" - not sure what products those are but I would guess these: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AirPort_networking

[woodsmoke]

I thought I would let this percolate a little....percolated coffee is good but percolated expresso is ....ummmm not....lol

anyway....

The SPECIFIC thing that was posted was:

all the movies and family photos etc.

There was mention of Android etc. but the specific item was the above.

Here is what I do.

a) "every once in a while" I move my e-mails from Kontact to a "storage folder".
b) I ALWAYS move all of the work done AT ANY TIME...to a usb hard drive in a DATED FOLDER.
c) Every couple of weeks I copy the "storage folder of e-mails" to a hard drive.
e) If I consider ANY of that to be of PRIMARY importance, I then also copy it to a cd.
f) Every "once in a while" , I move the DATED FOLDERS and the "storage folder" to a cd or dvd.

The result of this is that the computers hard drive can completely go south and I still have the "stuff" ..."at least" on a usb drive.

As a note: Each and Every of the "backup" systems that I have seen on both Windblows and Linux are so tedious to set up and JUST DEFAULT TO ONE PLACE....like an external hard drive...

so.....because they default to ONE place....I dismissed them a long time ago...

If the data is worth keeping it is worth the MANUAL move to "staged" external media.

BTW....I have had three hard drives go south. I have never had a USB drive go south and never had a cd or dvd go south.

just my thoughts, not very elegant, but it works.

woodsmoke

[SecretCode]

As a note: Each and Every of the "backup" systems that I have seen on both Windblows and Linux are so tedious to set up and JUST DEFAULT TO ONE PLACE....like an external hard drive...

so.....because they default to ONE place....I dismissed them a long time ago...

A very good point.

My backup strategy includes backups to two separate hard drives which I rotate - and replace as soon as I see any evidence of errors. Some critical data is also in encrypted online sites.

I no longer bother with CDs or DVDs for main backups because (a) I would need hundreds (on top of the hundreds I already have) and (b) I have had discs "go south". I have had an internal hard drive failure (due to user action, oops!) and an external USB hard drive fail (just the USB enclosure though, the drive inside is OK), and I'm pretty sure I've had a USB flash memory stick fail.

Actually I currently have 4 backup drives, having moved from 500GB drives as not big enough, and I'm considering a plan of keeping some of the really long-term stuff on the 2 older drives. As long as they are reliable.

[kapil]

was away from the computers because of exams.
anyways..

I'm guessing kapil is wanting to know if a Linux box can access file sharing or whatever on the "airport extreme/ airport time capsule" - not sure what products those are but I would guess these: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AirPort_networking

Yes.. that is what i want to do. i want to access the files from my free linux world (read as Kubuntu and Ubuntu) and the files will be stored in the caged apple world (read as airport extreme/time capsule)
Though we are going to use it as central data repository there wont be any of the auto file backup.. even i agree.. auto backup is very tedious to setup. But. we will use it as central data place none the less.

For now, we won't be buying the time capsule..as it is not available to purchase in India.
I will post my experience when ever it happens.