Hi, Networking has never really been my bag .... I am trying to navigate my way through what may or may not be a suitable NAS(?), file server, non raid solution for my needs.
Looking for users advice on possible options.
I am after at least a four bay unit, which I could populate with 4TB hard drives.
But, with the option of temporarily installing hard drives of different makes and capacities, for the purpose of carrying out file moving (house keeping), formatting etc.
I have a stack of hard drives which need to be sorted and files saved to the 'server'.
I suppose could always opt for connecting a USB drive to do this.
When the unit is connected via Ethernet to the Network Router, I want each of the hard drives to be seen as individual drives, by other PC's on the same network.
In addition I also want to be able to set up a Cloud to access the unit when away.
Could an actual NAS box which has it's own OS installed, be set to simply be a file store, rather than a Raid. You see I want full use of all the hard drives installed, not lose capacity because of mirroring etc. I am not really interested in a backup up device.
Re: a preconfigured NAS box, could I wipe the OS and install another so the box acted simply as a file server.
What are your thoughts on an alternative OS, bearing in mind all the networked PC's run Windows OS.
VMWare? Windows Hyper V Server? Boot from USB to preserve the bays for file storage?
I would welcome any non techie speak tips advice and general comments
:)
Many thanks for taking the time to help me understand a little better than I do right now.
Cheers Mac