Browsing large folders of files hung the system on numerous occasions, and streaming of video files (especially seeking) was choppy.

Macs have historically been an unreasonably complex challenge for many networking products, and NAS was no exception.

Here Ive assessed the usefulness of three different cash-conscious strategies for setting up a Mac-and-PC-friendly NAS: Building a NAS out of an old PC, using a router with an external USB drive and buying a dedicated product.Maybe youre wondering why you need a NAS at all.

Best Nas 2012 Torrent And Handbrake

How do I know Because even my parents have a billion photos on their hard drive, and they know nothing of BitTorrent and Handbrake.

An NAS sits there in a corner, a blinking, quietly purring guardian of all those song, video and photo files.

It holds it all, streams it to just about anything else on the network, and even keeps a redundant copy safe on a separate mirrored RAID drive in case the shit really hits the fan.

Best Nas 2012 Software And An

Here are the three systems I pieced together: My DIY system was concocted using FreeNAS software and an older ThinkPad I had lying around.

My router-based system was an AirPort Extreme with attached WD and LaCie USB drives, which was also recycling but cost a bit more.

The dedicated NAS appliance I tested was a two-drive Synology DS207, 330 for the box but the drives themselves are sold separately.

To evaluate the usefulness of each financial step up, I used three main criteria: Overall performance, availability of redundant data via RAID 1, and whether its possible to add in features like media streaming, remote access or integrated BitTorrent.

In a mixed MacWindows environment, the main performance factor for Macs is support for Apple File Protocol for connecting network shares.

AFP support is becoming more and more common in nicer NAS rigs, but it is still not a given in the cheaper range-every NAS alive supports SMBCIFS, the more Windows-friendly protocol, so PCs generally dont have a problem.

While Macs can connect to NAS using SMBand also NFS Unix, which you may also run acrossperformance wise, OS Xs SMB implementation is still shoddy compared to the apparently seamless AFP.

SMB also includes foibles such as filename length restrictions that can throw a Mac into fits.) If youre using an NAS to its highest potential, moving a lot of data around, SMB will cause more spinning death wheels and system hangs in OS X than AFP will.

Its up to you whether you want to go RAID 1 or not-you can also merge or stripe the drives for more storage but less protection.

I want to be able to give a NASs drives a workout and still breathe easy in the not entirely unlikely event of a drive blow-out.

NAS add-ons like BitTorrent, remote access and integrated UPnP are nice higher-end features, but they may not be as important to you.

Advertisement DIY NAS With FreeNAS I took an old IBM ThinkPad X31 I had lying around and installed FreeNAS -an open-source operating system based on FreeBSD that is similar to the OS youll find in most NAS boxes.

It offers similar features like RAID if the machine its installed on has multiple drives, and can do UPnP, FTP access and the like via a web-based admin panel just like most dedicated rigs.

Initial installation is actually not too tough-just burn the FreeNAS live CD and boot it, then follow the install instructions.

FreeNAS will re-format your drives to the somewhat obscure UFS file system it prefers (dont try to run it on already-formatted drives, its not worth the immense hassle).

I was up and running with AFP and SMB sharing without too much sweat.

Like Linux, FreeNAS runs on a ton of hardware, so unless youve got something obscure youll likely be in business.

Advertisement GO Media may get a commission Vibrating Diamond - Jezebel x Bijoux Indiscrets Buy for 60 from Bijoux Indiscrets Verdict: If youre heavy on outdated PCs and you derive pleasure from thrift and tinkering, you should give FreeNAS a try.

That said, dont expect your pig in lipstick to be a screamer.

Best Nas For Mac 2012