Western Digital 4TB NAS WDH2NC40000N

[Tom Metro]

Jerry Feldman wrote:
> At the moment we are reviewing our storage needs in the office. ...we
> were thinking of buying a Mybook II to use as a backup server.

A MyBook II is really at the low-end of the NAS spectrum, so unless you 
really need to optimize for cost and nothing else, you'll find products 
more suited for office use that cost a bit more. Thecus, Qnap, Synology, 
and others make Linux-based NAS appliances with more direct support for 
non-Windows machines, and some even provide ssh access (Qnap).

For example, you can get a 2-bay Synology DS209+ for around $300 (no 
drives):
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/content/view/30657/75/

A 4-bay Synology DS 409 or a Thecus N4100 Pro will run in the $400s.

Check out the NAS comparison charts for other options:
http://smallnetbuilder.com/nas-charts/


> Federico talked about the MyBook II at the May meeting. 
> Would I be able to use the WD Mybook II out of the box without
> hacking it as a NAS backup server or does it only support Windows and
> Mac out of the box.

Although I can't find any real technical specs on the MyBook II, all of 
these appliances support SMB for Windows, so if you can run Samba, 
you're all set. If you want to run rsync locally on the NAS, then you'll 
need to hack it or go for something higher-end.


> Actually, my idea would be to set up a private network between it and my
> NFS server using a crossover cable...

Only some support NFS (the Thecus N4100 Pro, for example), and I'm 
pretty sure the MyBook II isn't one of them - at least not without being 
hacked.


Kent Borg wrote:
> Raid 1 is nice for redundancy in your disks...but what is implementing
> the raid 1?

Federico can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the MyBook II uses 
Linux software RAID (MD).

  -Tom

-- 
Tom Metro
Venture Logic, Newton, MA, USA
"Enterprise solutions through open source."
Professional Profile: http://tmetro.venturelogic.com/