Linux friendly NAS or networked drive/raid - perhaps wireless

[E.S. Rosenberg]

2013/10/5 Steve G. <wordz2u at gmail.com>:
> I am getting to a point that, between all the old computers I still own or
> use, the orphan hard drives from abandoned systems, and the dual boot
> laptops, I have a storage nightmare. I have photos, videos, articles, music,
> everywhere, and it is getting to the point that I can't access files because
> I don't know where they are or were, or because they are on drive that are
> no longer in use.
>
> So I am thinking, maybe I should get an external network drive, or raid, or
> NAS, and use it to consolidate my drive and keep all my files in one place
> from now onward.
>
> Any suggestions of devices, or where to look for them?
As Rabin says you can build one yourself, computer shops also carry
tons of them these days and most are essentially a linux embedded
device with some (proprietary) front-end.
>
> Here is what I think it should look like:
>
> - OS agnostic - should play well with Linux, MacOS, Win7 or 8 (for future).
> If I can access it from tablets or smart phones (iOS or Android), even
> better.
Linux - NFS, Samba, WebDAV, most any fs you can think of.... (though
if you want your home to live there you need a POSIX compliant fs to
avoid major PITAs)
>
> - if it can handle IDE drives it would be awesome - all my old drives are
> IDE , and it would be nice to continue using them.
Are you sure you want to invest the electricity in oparting lots of
old drives when you can probably migrate all the data on them to one
new drive and still have room to spare? (obviously it should be one
set of drives with proper data security in mind but the idea).
>
> If not, I need a solution to connect the older drives - at least so I can
> transfer the data without taking apart an older computer and physically
> mounting each drive.
USB to ATA adapters go for less then 100 NIS at both KSP and ivory,
other "real" computer stores probably also carry them, BUG may not...
>
> - 2 drives (maybe more?)
If I had only 2 drives I would mirror them... but you can get more
drives and have less overhead for the same data security through RAIDZ
or RAID5/6....
>
> - accessible by both wired and wireless connections, if possible
No reason it shouldn't be possible on something you build yourself,
most consumer product NAS products feature only wired interfaces but
17 of the 752 products listed by tweakers.net do claim to have such an
interface.
>
> - I assume I would have to connect to the device directly to set up the IP,
> and from then on manage it remotely. If I can set the IP address without
> connecting (I remember headless servers that let you set the IP with a
> toggle on the device) life would be so much easier.
Some products have a little embedded screen and some buttons that
would allow for a "headless" setup.

>
> - cheaper than dirt, or at least double digits, not triple (in dollars)
Only the simplest of simple NAS products (that generally only have 1-2
harddrive bays) have 2-digit dollar prices.

>
> Questions:
>
> 1. What do I do if my wireless router has two IP networks, one for the wired
> computers and the other for the wireless (a real situation and also a real
> pain in the ass - wired computers and laptops could not reach one another)?
Get a decent wireless router, reconfigure your current router, or if
you made the choice continuously (though you question makes it sound
like you didn't) then either the NAS will have both wireless and wired
connectivity and be a potential bridge between the 2 networks that
should have been isolated from one and other, or you enable routing
between the 2 networks on the router which would essentially defeat
the purpose of separating the 2 networks in the first place unless you
do so with careful policies.
>
> 2. Is there a simple way - or any way - to connect to the drive from several
> networks (because the cell phones have a different IP address, and also the
> wired and wireless devices might have separate IP addresses)?
Cellphones would have the same set of IPs unless you are using you
cellular providers' Internet and not your wireless in which case you
need to ask yourself "Am I comfortable exposing all my data protected
by a measly password at best to the big bad Internet (tm)?"

On a self built solution you may very well be able to raise security
and use keys etc. but still the question will always be "Am I
comfortable with the level of security I created".

Regards,
Eliyahu - אליהו
>
> Thanks,
>
> Z.
>
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