Background:
Well, my current NAS, an Infrant NV (essentially this without the LCD), is at 870 / 873gb capacity and I'd like some more space. Even though my NV supports X-RAID for expandability, I'm thinking of backing it all up before trying.
Since Infrant was bought by Netgear, their prices have sky-rocketed. An empty NV+ now runs ~$1000. For reference, I bought NV from Newegg for ~$600. Furthermore, they're not the quietest of boxes. In fact, that's why I keep my NV on the first floor.
Because of the prior, I've thought about building my own NAS when I replace my current quiet PC. To this end I've been reviewing RAID controllers. From my filtered newegg search query, two rise to the top of the heap:
- 3ware 9650SE-4LPML PCI Express Lanes: 4 SATA II Controller Card RAID Levels 0, 1, 5, 10, Single Disk, JBOD - Retail
* pros: no fan, accessible phone support, good reviews
* cons: 2nd highest sorted - areca ARC-1210 PCI-Express x8 SATA II Controller Card RAID 0/1/1E/3/5 JBOD - Retail
* pros: most newegg reviews, highest sorted
* cons: fan + inaccessible phone support