Project

The Astroman · 10-08-2006, 05:30 AM

OK, so here's what I wanna do;
I'm gonna set up a NAS for backups, but it will also be used as a medium to store familly pictures, videos, music etc.

1) What NAS do you reccomend, and what capacity? There will be 3 computers connected to it, and 2 via a WLAN. They will be backing up their important files and configs onto the NAS, but also uploading new pics/music etc. There's my PC that would be wired and the other two that wouldn't.

2) Is there a software that would allow me to create a database in which I could add pictures and sort them into categories, that would be installed on the NAS (a master database), and then I would install a slave version of the software on the other PCs and they could access the database and view pictures?

3) What kind of software would I need to stream music and videos off the NAS? Is it even doable considering 2 computers would be streaming via the WLAN...

4) My mom has tons of pictures on film (35mm) that she would like to scan using a film scanner, as to get excellent quality and be able to share them using the digital environnment. What scanner would you reccomend? I have about 2000 pictures to scan, so a fast scanner would rock my world... LOL...

StaticInMyHead · 10-09-2006, 03:08 PM

How much storage you'll need is all dependent upon just how much media you're planning to store. If you have 2000 photos that need scanning, they'll probably consume around 2GB, assuming they are all about a megabyte each. That 2GB doesn't include any pictures that you may have on your computer already. Music takes more space than pictures, and videos are several times that. Without approximate figures of how much you want to store, it's impossible to recommend any size. 80GB of storage would be cheap, but 400GB would allow for more storage options. With a larger drive, you can create and password a small piece of that drive so that only you have access to it; there are a lot more options with more space.
As for the software, you might want to check with Netgear and see what they have to offer. These days, everything is becoming idiot-proof, so it's hard to set something up and not have it work.

Here's a cheap one from SimpleTech:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822154326

And here's a more expensive one from Netgear: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822122001

Those should be ideal for your needs; it just depends on how much storage you need.

10-08-2006, 05:30 AM	#1 (permalink)
The Astroman Registered User Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 1 OS: Win XP Home	Project OK, so here's what I wanna do; I'm gonna set up a NAS for backups, but it will also be used as a medium to store familly pictures, videos, music etc. 1) What NAS do you reccomend, and what capacity? There will be 3 computers connected to it, and 2 via a WLAN. They will be backing up their important files and configs onto the NAS, but also uploading new pics/music etc. There's my PC that would be wired and the other two that wouldn't. 2) Is there a software that would allow me to create a database in which I could add pictures and sort them into categories, that would be installed on the NAS (a master database), and then I would install a slave version of the software on the other PCs and they could access the database and view pictures? 3) What kind of software would I need to stream music and videos off the NAS? Is it even doable considering 2 computers would be streaming via the WLAN... 4) My mom has tons of pictures on film (35mm) that she would like to scan using a film scanner, as to get excellent quality and be able to share them using the digital environnment. What scanner would you reccomend? I have about 2000 pictures to scan, so a fast scanner would rock my world... LOL...

10-09-2006, 03:08 PM	#2 (permalink)
StaticInMyHead Registered User Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Tucson, Arizona Posts: 319 OS: WinXPPro, Vista HP My System	How much storage you'll need is all dependent upon just how much media you're planning to store. If you have 2000 photos that need scanning, they'll probably consume around 2GB, assuming they are all about a megabyte each. That 2GB doesn't include any pictures that you may have on your computer already. Music takes more space than pictures, and videos are several times that. Without approximate figures of how much you want to store, it's impossible to recommend any size. 80GB of storage would be cheap, but 400GB would allow for more storage options. With a larger drive, you can create and password a small piece of that drive so that only you have access to it; there are a lot more options with more space. As for the software, you might want to check with Netgear and see what they have to offer. These days, everything is becoming idiot-proof, so it's hard to set something up and not have it work. Here's a cheap one from SimpleTech: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822154326 And here's a more expensive one from Netgear: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822122001 Those should be ideal for your needs; it just depends on how much storage you need.