Is a NAS necessary for a ‘centralized’ home file share network?

[GLE3]

I guess what I am saying is that can I get by with a ‘dumb’ external hard drive where I wouldn’t need any management software? I would want the drive to have Ethernet and USB access. My network would be wired – Modem to Switch to 4 PC’s/Laptops and my ex. hard drive. Most of the time, I would just be sending files from one of the PC’s/Laptops to the ex. Hard drive. Large video files and other smaller files that I just want to keep backed up. The USB access comes into play with my PS3 where I would stream movies from it. My thought is that I wouldn’t need any media server software here either as the PS3 would just pick up the ‘dumb’ drive through USB. I would appreciate any information on the subject as I am just learning about setting up my network and was wondering if I can get it done without the use of media server software. Thanks in advance for the help!

[jagabo]

If all you want to do is move a USB drive around to each computer/PS3 (ie, you don't need simultaneous access on different devices) you can do that. It's just inconvenient.

You can't share (simultaneous access) a "bare" USB drive. You need a computer of some sort to handle file sharing. That can be a Windows (or other) computer, or a NAS (which is really just a small computer dedicated to sharing).

[Cornucopia]

The company I currently work for bought (a few years ago) a Maxtor 300GB "Shared Storage Drive" unit which includes filesharing in the drive's firmware, with pwd-protected user access and everything. So I would guess that Seagate/Maxtor probably has a similar (newer) unit now.
Basically, a mini-NAS.

Though it's just as easy to take a former workstation (that isn't getting much use now) and put a Linux Server distro on it. Ain't re-purposing great!

Scott

[GLE3]

Thanks for the info guys. I guess a NAS is the way to go. Not sure if I want to buy one or make one. If I buy one I'm wondering if I will have to put some sort of client on the network to stream video to my PS3. I figure it wouldn't be as easy to just plug it in via USB (from NAS to PS3) and have the PS3 recognize it.

[jagabo]

I recently bought a 2-bay ZyXEL NSA320 (on sale for ~$70). In addition to the SMB shares it has a DLNA server. I don't know how well it works with the PS3.

[aedipuss]

the ps3 should be able to find and use a dlna nas.
http://manuals.playstation.net/document/en/ps3/current/settings/connectdlna.html

just don't by the zyxel 221. it's too slow to use as a video server.

[jagabo]

the ps3 should be able to find and use a dlna nas.

Yes, but how well will any particular DLNA server work with the PS3. What happens when a codec isn't supported by the PS3? Will the DNLA server transcode in realtime? What about support for different containers? ISO images? Subtitles? Etc.

[aedipuss]

a nas is just a smart file server. no support for anything but sending the file as is to the requesting player.

[jagabo]

But a DLNA server may transcode on the fly, open containers that the DLNA client can't, etc. This is the point of DLNA.

[aedipuss]

there are many different dlna certified devices. nas is only a digital media server. they don't open/play any files at all.

The DLNA Certified Device Classes are separated as follows:[8]
Home Network Devices:

• Digital Media Server (DMS): These devices store content and make it available to networked digital media players (DMP) and digital media renderers (DMR). Examples include PCs and network-attached storage (NAS) devices.

[TimA-C]

There are a number of NAS drive units, aimed at home use, that include all sorts of extras including bit torrent clients, one-touch backup/copy, DLNA server (usually a time-limited trial that can be purchased). Some of them also include print server capability for non-network printers, and some also include dropbox type services without using third-party cloud storage - the NAS drive is the storage. Some of the new Netgear NAS units can even be used, with the addition of a USB tuner, as a PVR that can be controlled and whose recordings can be viewed by devices running the client software. If Netgear are doing it, I'm sure some of the other manufacturers are doing it as well.

[jagabo]

There are a number of NAS drive units, aimed at home use, that include all sorts of extras including bit torrent clients, one-touch backup/copy, DLNA server...

Exactly. A DLNA server can serve audio and video streams from containers not understood by the client. And some DLNA servers can transcode for the client if necessary. Most NAS devices don't have powerful enough CPUs to do much transcoding. That's what I was referring to when I said I didn't know how well the NSA320 would work with a PS3.

[aedipuss]

i've got 2. a nice 4 bay plextor and a 2 bay zyxel. they both have "extras" but about all that's easily and actually useful are the network print servers. plug in a usb printer and it's on the network. the rest is fluff. a nas box is a low low low performance cpu and memory combo to keep wattage usage down.

[TimA-C]

There are a number of NAS drive units, aimed at home use, that include all sorts of extras including bit torrent clients, one-touch backup/copy, DLNA server...

Exactly. A DLNA server can serve audio and video streams from containers not understood by the client. And some DLNA servers can transcode for the client if necessary. Most NAS devices don't have powerful enough CPUs to do much transcoding. That's what I was referring to when I said I didn't know how well the NSA320 would work with a PS3.

Jagabo, I hadn't realised that you were talking about the transcoding side of DLNA. You're absolutely right about most NAS devices not having much horse-power under the hood! I'll just shut up next time!

[TimA-C]

i've got 2. a nice 4 bay plextor and a 2 bay zyxel. they both have "extras" but about all that's easily and actually useful are the network print servers. plug in a usb printer and it's on the network. the rest is fluff. a nas box is a low low low performance cpu and memory combo to keep wattage usage down.

For the most part I'll agree with you. I rarely use torrents, but can see the possibilities in the drop-box facilities and the relatively easy to configure backup features without having to be an advanced Linux user.

[jagabo]

Another reason to use a DLNA server instead of SMB shares is transmission speed. SMB uses TCP which is more accurate but slower. DLNA uses UDP which is less accurate (though it hardly matters on a wired LAN). On my WDTV Live with a 10/100 ethernet port I can only get up to about 50 Mb/s videos to play smoothly. With DLNA I can get up to about 80 Mb/s.

Of course that's not really an issue with most videos. But with a wireless LAN (and typically lower throughput) it could be an issue with Blu-ray rips. I've never tested it though. And packet loss is more of an issue with wireless.

[[_chef_]]

Q:
Is a NAS necessary for a ‘centralized’ home file share network?

A: No, a NAS is just a limited computer device, in the past all that were done by computers with some kind of server OS.