Build Nas For Mac

1. Mac Mini Nas
2. Build Nas For Mac 2018
3. Build Nas For Mac 2017

Oct 19, 2017 - Hi - I'm now working (at home) from my 250Gb MacBook Pro (2013), and sorely miss the multiple HDs on my old Mac Pro. Trying to hang USB. To build your own ultimate home media server, you’re going to need some kind of network-attached storage system, commonly called an NAS. This is basically a mini computer with at a hard drive.

Network Attached Storage, or NAS, devices are very handy for a variety of reasons. Beyond just acting as shared file storage for multiple users locally, most can be configured to provide that access to you while on-the-go. Additionally, hosting some form of media server, storing images, mirroring to another unit, and more are all other reasons to get one. Many also natively support Apple's Time Machine backup tool for Macs.

Using, if a file is ever deleted, you can browse back through different states of your computer through time to recover the file, or even grab a previous version. If a Mac starts acting up, you can completely restore from any point in the past as well.

Apple's Time Capsule was a great option as both a destination for Time Machine backups and as a wireless router. Now that, many are on the market for a new NAS device, so we rounded up the best consumer-grade options for anyone with a Mac or iOS device. There are a variety of My Cloud variants out there, but the most basic and widely appealing option is the model. Time Machine support is included as well as media streaming with DLNA, remote file access, and even an iTunes server. We particularly liked the ability to right-click a folder on our Mac and choose sync to copy all the files to the My Cloud. Mobile apps for iOS and Android make it easy to access on the go, though they aren't the best-designed ones out there. There is also a web interface available if you don't happen to have one of your devices around.

Using the USB port on the back, you can attach USB flash drives or hard drives to import files easily. Aside from the My Cloud Home, My Cloud Home Duo ups the storage capacity up to 16TB in total. If you need additional RAID options, the My Cloud Expert or My Cloud Pro models are a better bet. You can pick up the basic My Cloud Home 2TB model on or at for $139.00. B&H will not collect sales tax on orders shipped outside New York and New Jersey (Colorado and Vermont residents, ).

Seagate Personal Cloud. Alongside Western Digital, Seagate is another common brand when it comes to storage solutions.

Is an excellent NAS device with 4 TB of storage. It has a modern design, with a sleek black body and a horizontal layout, compared to the vertical orientation of the My Cloud. Family and friends can be invited to join with secure file sharing through private emails. It also supports Time Machine, with it working as a local drive when connected through USB or across the network with Ethernet. Using the Seagate Media app, files can be accessed remotely on an iOS or Android device. Alternatively, media can be streamed to a variety of devices, including Apple TV, Chromecast, and Roku. Many TVs from LG and Samsung also work via DLNA.

Not to mention Playstation and Xbox. The Seagate Personal Cloud with 4TB of storage can be found on Amazon. Promise Apollo Cloud 2. The has one of the easiest setups around, all of which can be done from your iPhone. As a bonus, the device supports Apple's Files app on the iPhone and iPad directly, allowing for easy file migration to and from your mobile device.

Connectivity wise, this NAS device has a USB 3.0 port for backups and file transfers, and an Ethernet port for connecting to the router. The unit is powered by a dual-core processor and dual 4TB 'surveillance-class' drives which can be configured as RAID 0 or 1. We took a look at it, and found it to be a great 'set and forget' device with Time Machine compatibility, but lacking niceties found in other devices like media library streaming.

The Promise Apollo Cloud 2 is available on and for $379.00. Synology Diskstation DS218j. Is known for their high-end network storage solutions. The DS218j is an upgraded version of their popular DS216 model from a couple years ago.

Unlike some of the others, the DS218j is sold diskless, and it is up to you insert your own pair of drives. Those drives can be set up in Synology Hybrid RAID, Basic, JBOD, RAID 0, and RAID 1 configurations. Synology offers myriad applications to add capabilities to the unit. Apps like DS File, DS Photo, DS Video, DS Cloud, and others really offer a ton of features for the Diskstation. Like the others, it supports Time Machine, but so much more.

To connect, there is an Ethernet port along the back, with three USB ports available for one-time transfers or expanding the unit with external drives. Given the app-centric nature of the device, streaming options are effectively endless with the Diskstation. After software expansion, the device is able to send audio and video to Samsung TVs, Roku players, Apple TV, Google Chromecast, DLNA devices, and more. You can find the Synology DS218j Diskstation on or for $169.99.

TerraMaster F2-220. Makes some great devices, and the aptly named F2-220 is no different. It has an aluminum alloy body with easily swappable drives. Like others, it comes empty, relying on the user to install any set of drives they'd like. This device also has an Intel Celeron 2.41GHz dual-core CPU and 2GB of RAM inside to help power it, which is great if you have many users or using it as a streaming media server. There is also support out-of-the-box for Time Machine, plus a wide array of apps including a file server, mail server, web server, media server, Rsync remote server, FTP server, MySQL server and others It also supports DLNA streaming, and can act as an iTunes media server.

The TerraMaster F2-220, without drives, can be found on and for $199.99. Buffalo TeraStation 1200D. Makes one of the best looking NAS devices on our list, fitting well within any home or office. It has two internal drive bays, with configurations ranging from 2TB to 8TB of storage. Time Machine is supported, as well as multiple user access with remote support. It is DLNA-certified in addition to iTunes support for media server duties, although reviews suggest it may not be as robust from a file format support standpoint as some of the others. The Buffalo TeraStation 1200D starts at $227.99 at both.

Happens to be the most expensive on the list, running nearly $500 without the drives. It is, however, one of the most lauded NAS devices out there, perfect for offices as well as personal use. This is capable of handling up to 64TB of storage when the drives are installed —which is a fairly easy task. It has enough internal slots for five 3.5-inch drives. One of the best features is the internal battery.

Should power ever fail, the internal battery will keep your data safe until you can get it going again. Dual Ethernet ports also make it easy to connect. One can connect to the router, the other to your Mac or the rest of the network, possibly offering increased performance, depending on network architecture. Beyond file sharing, and Time Machine support, a variety of apps are available that work with Drobo, similar to the Synology NAS. Some allow the setup of a Plex media server, others enable remote access or cloud backup, and one is even available to automatically and securely backup all photos from your iOS device. You can find the Drobo 5N2 on or for $499.99. A deep rabbit hole Some of these devices are extremely easy to set up, like the Promise Apollo Cloud 2.

Others need a bit more configuration and maintenance. It's also very easy for a network attached storage project to get very expensive, very fast. Our list is just of the ones we've used and like, with a limitation we've applied on initial setup ease and a reasonable budget.

Many of them have super in-depth options, with large app stores hosting services that can be added that we've only alluded to. Many more can take a pile of drives for truly epic amounts of storage and a similarly profound cost —but for this, we've eliminated those as well. Take a look at the tech specs of each unit before you buy. And, don't be caught without a backup We've said it before, and we'll say it again: backups are key. While a single NAS in your own home isn't the only source of backup you should rely on, it is a crucial start to a good backup regimen. Instead of relying on yourself to consistently connect a wired hard drive and manually backup, a NAS can offer convenience and automation, as well as a variety of other features. You can extend this with off-site backup options, which is basically installing a compatible NAS in another location such as a trusted friend's house, and automatically syncing the two —but this is a topic for another day.

Be sure to check out for alternatives to Apple's discontinued AirPort routers.

With cheap storage readily available, the temptation to build vast libraries of music, movies, photos, and documents is ever present. But when each PC in your home is packed to its aluminum gills with gigabytes upon gigabytes of digital goods, managing all of that data can be a hassle. Network-attached storage can make wrangling data much easier.

Imagine a single machine on your network slinging files to every PC in your home, managing backups, and safeguarding all of your important memories or sensitive data. Plenty of appliances on the market are ready and able to tackle your storage needs, but buying one can be an expensive option-particularly if you have only a few files that you want to share with a few machines. Things get even more problematic for those users who have terabytes upon terabytes of data: You can expect to pay dearly for a NAS that’s equipped to handle your digital hoard. Fortunately, is simple.

And doing so offers a lot of advantages over forking over your hard-earned cash-build your own, and you can dictate its size, feature set, and storage capacity, and change things on a whim. Choosing the Software A wide variety of operating-system options are available for setting up your own NAS. Many popular Linux distributions offer a server-oriented variant, with instructions on getting your file server up and running. But we’re going to keep things simple and go with FreeNAS. FreeNAS is a popular choice, as it’s fairly easy to configure once all of the hardware is in place. You can download the latest version from the.

Burn the.iso file you download onto a CD or DVD; in Windows 7, just right-click the file and select Burn disc image. For other versions of Windows, you can use the free utility.

Choosing the Hardware Now that you have a copy of FreeNAS, let’s talk hardware. FreeNAS will run on just about anything, so an old PC you’re not using anymore will work just fine. For optimal performance, you’ll want to have at least 4GB of RAM. For my FreeNAS build, I pulled a few spare parts together. My NAS centers on a Gigabyte E350N motherboard, equipped with an AMD E-350 processor. I picked this motherboard because it's small, it draws little power, and it can fit into small spaces, yet it offers four SATA ports for my hard drives. When choosing a system (or building your own), make sure that the motherboard has room to support all of the drives you want to use for storage.

Mac Mini Nas

I collected three spare 1TB drives for storage, plus a spare DVD drive to handle the installation. When FreeNAS is installed, it takes over the entire drive you install it on. To keep all of the storage drives available, I also grabbed a 2GB USB key, to host the the operating system. The Setup: Installing FreeNAS With the hardware selected and the FreeNAS CD at the ready, it’s time to get started. Insert the DVD and USB key into the computer you’re setting up as your NAS. Before you start the machine up, be sure that the ethernet cable is plugged into the motherboard. You’ll also want to have another computer that’s connected to your network up and running, as you’ll be using it to connect to and configure the NAS.

Start up the PC. The steps to getting into the BIOS will vary depending on your motherboard, but the general rule of thumb is to mash the F2, F7, F8, or Delete key while the PC is booting up-watch the monitor after you’ve pressed the power button, and the instructions will scroll past during the normal startup sequence. Once you’re in the BIOS, set the machine to boot from the optical drive. The steps will once again vary based on your motherboard model, but you should see a section that lists a Boot Priority order. Once you've set that, press F10 to save and exit; the machine will restart, query your optical drive, and then start loading FreeNAS from your CD. You’ll know that FreeNAS is running when you see a plain blue screen with a list of options. You want to install FreeNAS onto your USB key, so select the very first option.

Build Nas For Mac 2018

FreeNAS will list arcane drive model numbers, so looking for the capacity of the USB key (in this case, 2GB) should be the easiest approach. Follow the prompts; FreeNAS will warn you that it will delete everything off of the USB key.

Click through that message, and then go get a cup of tea while the progress indicator rolls over to 100 percent complete. Once it’s done, you’ll see a prompt to eject the CD and reboot the machine. When your computer restarts, it should boot FreeNAS from the USB key-if it doesn’t, head back into the BIOS, set the motherboard to boot to the USB key, and restart again. As FreeNAS is starting up, it will present lots of arcane lines of code, followed by a numbered list and a Web address to connect to. This is normal. That URL is the network address of your new file server. Type that address into a browser on a computer in your home that’s connected to the same network as the NAS, and you’ll reach the FreeNAS configuration screen.

FreeNAS will prompt you for a username and password. The default user name is “admin,” and the default password is “freenas.” You can change the default to whatever you’d like in the FreeNAS options. If you ever forget your password, resetting it is fairly easy. You need to head over to the NAS, and type the following command: Python /usr/local/www/freenasUI/manage.py changepassword admin FreeNAS will then prompt you to enter a new password. The Setup: Building Volumes Once you’re logged in, the first thing you’ll want to do is create the file system.

Click Storage at the top of the menu bar, and then select Create volume. In the window that pops up, select all the drives you want to include, and give the volume a name. You’ll have two options to choose from: UFS (Unix File System) and ZFS.

We’re going with ZFS, as it offers support for numerous features designed for file servers, such as RAID support, snapshots, and file compression. Depending on the number of drives in your machine, you’ll see a few new options. With three drives, I get a choice between mirror, stripe, and RAID-Z. Mirror duplicates data from one disc across the others, as RAID 1 would. Stripe splits files among the discs in the array, as RAID 0 would. RAID-Z is essentially a software implementation of RAID 5. So what does all of that mean?

With my three 1TB drives, selecting the mirror type gives me 1TB of total storage capacity, but preserves my data across all drives; if one drive fails, I can replace it and keep moving. Stripe gives me 3TB and a very fast response time; lose one drive, though, and all of that data is gone. RAID-Z is a sort of amalgam of the two: It gives me 2TB of space, and if one of the three drives fails, my data can be rebuilt from the remaining pair while I find a replacement. Because I like to live on the edge, I’m going with the striped option.

It isn’t the safest alternative, but I’ll squeeze out every bit of space, and I can always implement a safer, redundant backup solution later on. Whatever you choose, be aware that any data on the discs will be wiped.

Click Add volume, and moments later your file server is almost ready to go. Sharing Your Files You have your storage volume in place, so now you can fill it with photos of pets, as well as your legally acquired media. FreeNAS makes it easy to share files with Linux, Apple, and Windows computers.

You can create as many shared folders as you’d like-say, a Windows/Unix/Apple share for your movies and music collection, and an Apple-specific share for your Time Machine backups. The first step is to enable the CIFS (Common Internet File System) service. Click Services on the left, and then click the button for CIFS. Click the wrench next to the CIFS line to set your workgroup, assign other network and user permissions, or just give your NAS a readily identifiable name. You’ll be typing this name in to access your file server from Windows machines.

On the navigation bar at the left, click the tab conveniently labeled Sharing. I’ll set up a Windows share as an example here, but the instructions for Linux and Apple are fairly similar. Click Add Windows Share, and give it a name in the window that pops up. Click the drop-down menu next to 'Path' to assign your NAS to an address that Windows will be able to find.

Select Browsable to Network Clients, as this feature will let you use the Windows Explorer menus to access your NAS as you would any other folder on your PC. The other options I’ve selected aren’t especially secure.

Build Nas For Mac 2017

I want this NAS to be readily accessible to everyone, though, and I have a reasonable level of trust in my coworkers. And we’re done! Just click Start on a Windows machine connected to your network, and in the Run text box (immediately over the Start icon) type YourNASnamehere and press Enter. Windows will connect to the NAS, and you can start dropping files in. Feel free to tuck the NAS out of the way. Mine isn’t even connected to a display, as everything we need to do can be handled in a browser on any machine on the network.