Storage Solutions Best NAS/MEDIA ACCESS SOLUTION

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thedeadghost

thedeadghost

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Hi,
I was wondering why do we need so many devices to store and access media. Can't we just put up a large
device like WD my cloud 2 or 4 tb and put it up on a wireless router ? Or even better a seagate or wd wireless hd which has its own hot spot to transfer and access the files ?

I can understand the media has to be shared with a tv ( like in my case if it does not have a lan port ) only option is to connect the external drive to tv ).

Some one please explain.
I also need advice to setup my little setup. I have a tv with no lan port. My requirement right now is to transfer videos from my cell phone which I download from torrent or tubemate which will be viewed on TV with usb port.

Does it make sense for me to buy a media player or a wired/wireless large external hdd serve my purpose.
 
You can just connect the phone to your TV and read it off the device memory if the format is supported by the TV
 
Never tried that one. But that would keep my phone engaged all the time the video is running. Also I need to store it to view later which would require to move it off the phone storage
 
even i download youtube videos on my phone and tablet for later viewing (on TV or PC), but from downloading most of the stuff on my desktop PC, i've now shifted the job to dedicated downloading and sharing devices, which are:

- a Seagate Goflex Home with a 500GB HDD
- a router capable of download, and running linux-based OS and packages for the same
- a Pogoplug Pro (recently acquired)
- an old laptop, revived exclusively to act as a 24x7 downloading-rig (since i've revived it, i find myself using it much more than the above).

except the laptop, the rest are centrally placed in my home. in my living-room, i have a gigabit switch, via the LAN ports of which i connect my TV (has a LAN port), media player, & music-streamer.

my router and NAS have SAMBA installed, so whatever gets downloaded and stored in the drives attached to them, they can be shared/viewed on the devices connected to my home-network, like the TV, PC, etc. since you also intend to store your downloaded data, having a NAS will be a good option. you could perhaps use your phone to watch the downloaded videos on your TV using MHL (TV needs to have an HDMI port)/chromecast, but your phone will again be remain occupied. i don't have much knowledge on these two, having neither used them nor read about them in-depth.

a dedicated downloading device/NAS, like goflex, rPi, pogoplug, and many more, can be easily had from the forum or more can be learnt about them here; for instance, there's a discussion going on about one, named Odroid C1, in a thread of the same name. you may have a look.
 
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Thanks for all the suggestions. I am a lot more clear now. Actually was thinking how to minimize the wires and keep it minimum.
 
i had to buy lengthy LAN cables for wired connectivity across devices, as well as simple insulated copper wires for extending power-connections. to avoid mess, i got the wiring extended and done internally through in-wall conduits. an electrician will be able to do that. some wires though may not be avoidable on the exterior, but nothing that a decent cable management can't take care of!
 
Thanks for all your suggestions guys. From what I understand to setup a very budget friendly NAS at home would require
1. A wireless router with usb port.
2. A large external HDD 1-4 TB
3. Lan cable to connect the TV and wireless router ( for movies/music )
( In case the TV is without lan port only option is to connect the hdd directly via usb ) alternate option is to use a big capacity 32gb or larger and keep storing moving in it, better check with your tv if it supports very large capacity drives though
4. Cell phone can also access/transfer files to HDD via some wifi app.
 
:thumbsup:

also, if you are left with some spare cash after investing in a NAS solution, you could get a dedicated media player from someone from the forum for cheap (asus o' play or anything like that), connect its LAN port with your NAS/router via a LAN cable, and stream your movies/music to it. no need to everytime move a portable HDD or flash-drive around.
 
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Hi,
Was thinking of going for this player
http://www.amazon.in/ASUS-Play-Mini...TF8&qid=1421955824&sr=1-1&keywords=asus+oplay

How do i set it up with my tv ?
I have a 1 tb external seagate. I also have a adsl router. But my Tv does not have any ethernet port.

Is it better to get a better model of asus o play gallery which has a internal storage 3.5' bay to put a 2 tb drive ?
The cost of a external nas 3 gb would anyways be around 12k. but not sure about the device availability.

I also saw AC Ryan players but it seems they are not popular due lack of service.
 
hello!

you would connect such a player with your TV, while the router will be connected to your player via its LAN port. a LAN cable from one of the LAN ports of the router would be connected to the LAN port of the player. to stream movies from your PC, you will need to connect another port of the router to your PC's LAN port, if feasible. else, get a NAS, and connect your HDD to it. last thing would be to connect the HDD directly to your media player, in which case there's no real need to keep your media player connected to your router, as the storage itself is connected to the player.

asus o'play mini or gallery or any other player, IMO you should place a WTB request on the forums than source a new one, as you may like to discard or/and upgrade the device in future when you find better alternatives, so it'll be good if you cut some expenditure. i think there might be quite a few members having these, and many of them might not be using them fully or not at all. plus, one added benefit could be that usually forum-members keep their players' firmwares updated, or/and mod them, and keep them well-configured, hence you won't have to go through those hassles, unless you want to learn and do those things yourself (but later on). place such a thread here, as well as on hifivision.com, if you are registered there. if not, now would be a good time to register yourself there.
 
If you know something about raspberry pi and able to follow few unix instructions (the same dos like black screen typing thing we learnt in school) then buy this-http://www.ebay.in/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR10.TRC0.A0.H0.Xbanana+pi&_nkw=banana+pi&_sacat=0.

It has gigabit lan+HDMI++sata extension+usb port+micro usb otg port, which has support for XBMC and android. It will serve the purpose of torrent machine too. But be prepared to do a lot of googling and scratch your head to set it up the way you want. The information is scattered, especially if you want to use a usb wifi (if you use the android image there is no need for anything, mostly plug and play once you burn the image to the sd card). It took me almost 2 weeks to set my Tenda usb wifi. But you use most of the raspberry pi help with this board so makes things somewhat simpler if not ready made.
 
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My 2 cents:

Setup a low powered custom rig and run xpenology on it.

For the starts, You get a download manager which you can access at home or remote, install plex in it for streaming media to all connected devices, and there are several apps to expand its utility, beyond what I have mentioned
 
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guys, any inputs on the WD My Cloud drives? I need a centralised storage which I can access over my home wifi network between windows/mac/ios devices. The main purpose would be backup/access phoos/videos from phones, access/transfer movies/music and other media between devices. Any user experiences with the My cloud drives?
 
I have used Wd my book live and my cloud nas too. They are good, will do your job. I found it better than Seagate goflex home.
 
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Hi guptaji,

With the help of WD My Cloud device, you can access your files from anywhere on your phone with WD's free app.
My Cloud Storage can be used for home or small office that uses an Internet connection for local data access, and My Cloud software to make data available to remote users anytime, anywhere.

The easy-to-use Dashboard keeps you, the Administrator, in total control of your data. You decide which groups and users can access which folders, manage all passwords, and schedule crucial back-ups.

The transfer speed depends on your internet speed, It works like a normal cloud service, but the data is under your roof with all under your control.
For more details on the WD My Cloud drive you may visit the link below which will help you to understand:

http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=KbUeFi

Hope it helps.
 
A couple of years back, I was in the same shoes.
Reluctantly bought a used QNAP NAS/SOHO Server from the market section, but it turned out to be one of the better investments I had made in a long long time.
Have a look at these as well, lot more functionality that WD/ Seagate cloud NAS drives.

https://www.qnap.com/i/in/
 
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