would be newbie question

[mariowinco]

I'm looking at a AS-302T or AS-304T.

I have 3 Apple computers on my network. I have a home video system where I want the NAS integrated, plan to use the HDMI port for it.

Then, I need 3TB (this covers growth) for Time Machine divided on 3 different logical drives, do NOT want (raid) safety (just storage) for 1TB of video and will replicate 0,5 TB of music by hand on some USB disk I do have at home. Total storage need: 4,5 TB.

I also have a couple of old drives that would like to recycle:
1- 2,5" 250GB 5400-rpm Serial ATA hard drive (comes from my MBpro)
2- 3,5" 500GB SATA hard drive (comes from my LaCie Ethernet Disk mini - 10/100)

Idea1
AS-304T with 2*3TB, install also the above disks to 6,75TB to 4 used slots

Idea2
AS-302T with 1*4TB, install one of the above disks to 4,5TB

Questions:
1. Is possible to have "no RAID at all" with Asustor?
2. Are the disks above re-usable?
3. I've seen (in another thread) that there are issues "with disk 1 failure" (and that also affects the other disks) ... but in case I DO NOT use RAID -> are the internal disks 2 3 4 affected? Sounds strange ...
4. Is correct to assume that I will be able to create XMBC / AsusMedia / Itunes libraries that will see all of my scattered 1,5TB collection (between two discs) content on a unified view?
5. Any suggestion on which of the systems is better for me is appreciated

[sys]

if you do not use raid, then choose Single will do what you need. For AS-304T, you can have theoretically 6.75TB but you will not get so much capacity because the 3TB HDD, you will get around 2.7x TB only.

And for iTune, XBMC, (I do not know what is AsusMedia? or you mean uPnP?), after you add in the folders containing all the music files, then the music will appear in a centralized view that you can choose from (by artist, album etc..)

personally, I will choose a 4 bay model (or bigger one)as the 2 bay is really too small in capacity for future expansion, letting alone that once some video is put in...

[Allen@AST]

Hi mariowinco,

sys makes some excellent points!

With regards to your questions:

1. Yes, it is possible to have no RAID at all. For your purposes you can use "Single" where each drive will be used as a separate storage volume.

2. Yes, you should be able to reuse your drives.

3. With regards to the Volume 1 issue, if you have all single volumes and for some reason Volume 1 fails, the data on the rest of the volumes will remain intact.

However, because Volume 1 is the system volume for ASUSTOR NAS, you will need to have Volume 1 running properly in order to access the other volumes. This is a limitation of our current volume architecture. If you have a failed Volume 1 there would be two ways to fix it:

1) Re-initialize the NAS to re-initialize volume 1.
Re-initializaion would cause all data originally on the volume to be erased.

2) Have our tech support try to revive the volume.
However, this method is not guaranteed to work. You may still have to end up re-initializing the NAS.

So it is highly recommended that you have a backup for all your NAS data.

We are aware of the Volume 1 limitation and are currently working on a solution to this. Thanks for your patience!

4. Yes, you can get a centralized view of all your multimedia content by specifiying the folders that contain the content.

5. The primary difference between the 2 systems is capacity. If you want to expand capacity in the future then the AS-304T would be better. It would provide greater flexibility if your storage needs change.


I hope this answers your questions. Please let me know if you have any further questions.

-Allen

[mariowinco]

TD for the answers!

With 304/302/602: should I be able to do a timemachine backup (the first one) using USB ?

(I have a 10/100 network ... And a first backup of 600+ gb, changed computer ...)

[Allen@AST]

Hi mariowinco,

Are you asking if you can connect your Mac to the NAS via USB and then execute a Time Machine backup to the NAS?

If this is the case, then it is not possible because our product is a network storage device so it must communicate with your Mac over a network.

Did I help to answer your question here? Please let me know if you have any other concerns!

Thanks,

Allen

[mariowinco]

Allen/sys

tx a lot for your valid answers.

1- Which kind of HDMI port does AS3 and AS2 series have? 1.4/1.4a/1.4b ?

I want to be able to connect the NAS to a 3D TV in the future and be able to see good 3D content.

2- Anyone has experience in copying a TimeMachine backup from external hard disk to the NAS and then re-starting from the NAS? (It will be useful for the FIRST backup, that could take days)

Regards
Luis

ps: I'm still relocating my hardware at home and the NAS will be the last addition

[Allen@AST]

Hi Luis,

Our NAS has HDMI 1.4 so you will be able to view 3D content.

- Allen