NAS vs USB HDD for Single PC setup. Reliability & ease?

[Gurd99]

The work to set up my WD DL2100 NAS was colossal compared to just plugging in a USB drive. Lot to learn about network stuff, even after learning it,

The nas has too many problems like with vista not recognizing the device & having to access the nas by specific shortcuts in the browser.

Sometime the nas has problems with blinking lights & can't be accessed.

The performance of my nas playing HD movies looks negligible over my USB 3 enclosure.

Just recently my first nas DL2100 which I only use for backups turning on only ever 5-6months died with no sign of turning on. Not even 2years old.

All the cost of a NAS compared to a cheapo aftermarket 3.5" enclosure there seems to be no comparison to the simplicity of usb enclosure for me.

What are they doing to a NAS to make it pack up like this? Reminds me of the Playstation days, kept my console clean & cool, only used 10% compared to my friends & it died in a few years.

[Krispy Kritter]

Anything can fail at any time. It's just as likely an environmental issue as it is an actual fault with the NAS. In any case, no one can provide any use insight into the issue with your NAS. I see more complaints about USB drives failing than I do NAS failures. Setup varies by brand/model. The last one that I setup was a 5 minute process to actually configure the NAS, wait for the drives to format, the unit reboots and it was good to go.

[aedipuss]

2 disc nas are a breeze to set up. either mirror drives or one big disc. not much choice. if your network is all gig-e performance should be good. i have 3 nas 4 disc boxes and wouldn't trade them for crappy usb connections.

[lingyi]

As Krispy Kritter stated, review the environment you're using your electronics in. Short haired animal fur will play havoc with cooling fans and heatsinks, high humidity or extreme temperature changes (e.g. hot room, then quickly cooled with an air con at full blast), bad power conditions, etc.

As I've posted before, for my usage (local playback through media players), I find hard drives connected through USB ideal. Streaming is through the "backup" HDDs in main PC. However, I use multiple bay USB enclosures for my local HDDs. Better cooling and stability. A single external HDD is great for it's portability until you drop it and lose everything. Just a couple of weeks ago I lost a 3TB external drive because it fell of my desk. Luckily I was just using it for file transfers and everything on at least one other HDD.

Finally, really recommend switching from Vista. I switched from Vista to Win 7 shortly after the launch and so many of the quirks and issues with Vista were immediately gone!

[theewizard]

interesting topic, i have multiple external USB drives, (2) not being used for many months, up and dies, they light, but don't talk to my PC
I have been pondering the NAS ver personal cloud situation for several months
my ideal would be the PC plugged into one box, with wifi file/media access and backup for my phone and tablets
i would like to avoid having a separate router for networking, which of course may not be a possible option
i have fallen behind the info curve

[Gurd99]

Anything can fail at any time. It's just as likely an environmental issue as it is an actual fault with the NAS. In any case, no one can provide any use insight into the issue with your NAS. I see more complaints about USB drives failing than I do NAS failures. Setup varies by brand/model. The last one that I setup was a 5 minute process to actually configure the NAS, wait for the drives to format, the unit reboots and it was good to go.

Still too much lack of quality control in this mass produced world. Things just pack up without any obvious reason. There is virtually 0 chance it was an environmental issue (well maybe it was knocked about in transit). My setup is elite, very low dust, humidity, low temp environment with no obvious signs of power spikes or the unit being knocked around at all.

As for USB drives failing, are they in a proper aftermarket enclosure with a fan cooling? In this case the odds are overwhelming the NAS is more likely to pack up, its basically a mini computer with many electrical things to fail.

I agree once you know the setup it takes 5mins, but there are still issues where you simply can't access the drive.

This really has turned me off the NAS, I can't wait until SSDs in a simple USB enclosure at 8-12TB are "cheap enough".

[Krispy Kritter]

Like any other device, it varies by brand and model. Your same QC argument can be made about any electronics, not just NAS units. And there are several types for varying uses. Some are as simple as a standard external USB enclosure, and some are basically a small PC inside a HDD enclosure.

Just because you buy one car that turned out to be a lemon doesn't mean that all brands and models of cars are junk. The same applies to most all hardware. Even brands known for their quality produce a bad batch sometimes. I'm sorry that you got a bad unit, but they aren't all that way.

[lingyi]

Anything can fail at any time. It's just as likely an environmental issue as it is an actual fault with the NAS. In any case, no one can provide any use insight into the issue with your NAS. I see more complaints about USB drives failing than I do NAS failures. Setup varies by brand/model. The last one that I setup was a 5 minute process to actually configure the NAS, wait for the drives to format, the unit reboots and it was good to go.

Still too much lack of quality control in this mass produced world. Things just pack up without any obvious reason. There is virtually 0 chance it was an environmental issue (well maybe it was knocked about in transit). My setup is elite, very low dust, humidity, low temp environment with no obvious signs of power spikes or the unit being knocked around at all.

As for USB drives failing, are they in a proper aftermarket enclosure with a fan cooling? In this case the odds are overwhelming the NAS is more likely to pack up, its basically a mini computer with many electrical things to fail.

I agree once you know the setup it takes 5mins, but there are still issues where you simply can't access the drive.

This really has turned me off the NAS, I can't wait until SSDs in a simple USB enclosure at 8-12TB are "cheap enough".

While heat is an issue with external drives, it usually the interface that fails. Understandable since you're subjecting the interface to [low] voltage / amperage shock every time you connect and disconnect. As has been recommended and done dozens of times on this forum, pull out the drive and all is well.

I use four (five, counting a multi-bay dock) of these https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-SATA-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4/ref=sr...iasonic+probox for my external drive needs. It not only provides a proper power switch, but also temporarily shuts down if you insert or remove a drive.

As for external SSDs, it's an interesting prospect, but you'll still have to deal with the USB interface issues and I'd be wary (do a Google search for SSD archive) about keeping a SSD with data unpowered for more than a few months (just in case )

[theewizard]

In my case I did remove the drives from the USB enclosures and connect then to a different interface
Did not make any difference, and no they don't make any grinding noises or anything
They do feel like the drive is spinning, but I don't think the heads are seeking and reading


And thanks for that pro box link

Something else to think about