Thinking of buying a DNS-323 NAS

[jebise]

Trying to upgrade my network to make it more efficient and robust. My biggest mistake was buying a 2TB E-HDD instead of NAS and would like to get one now. My current setup is BBox > Attached 2TB HDD > Wired to Router. I current use this as a "NAS" via file sharing in the Boxee settings. BBox is on 24/7 as i use this like a NAS and it has all my media and use it to stream to the second BBox in the family room.

The plan is to rip open the E-HDD and use the 2TB in a NAS. I'm thinking of getting the D-Link DNS-323 because i can get it for $50 BNIB which seems like a steal to me. The things i want a NAS for is mainly for stream local content to my home network (2 BBox) and have ftp, torrent.

Some of these questions may not be Boxee related but people here are very knowledgeable here and is mainly for my 2 BBox's.

1.) Do you think its worth it to pay 50 bucks to have a real NAS box vs fake Boxee NAS via file sharing?
2.) I know 323 is an old device but does it still keep up with the current NAS being sold or should i shell the extra $$ for one with higher CPU/RAM? Plus what can the newer NAS devices do vs this one?
3.) Is the DNS-323 solid device or does it have bugs and is unreliable? i see there has not been an FW update since 2010 which mean no official support for this any more.
4.) The idea is to add another 2TB HDD will it have issues seeing 2 2TB drives? how well does RAID0/1 function on this NAS?
5.) How is the torrent client, is it very basic or you can change settings and such etc? Don't really use torrents but a bonus when i need to get WoW updates and would be nice to have it on the network vs a PC.

[haveringcottage]

if it helps, i think the boxee devs have a Dlink - 323 at their office so whenever an update rolls out, you can pretty much guarantee your hardware will work properly with the box!!!

[portnoy]

I did buy a NAS a couple years ago and used that for my BoxeeBox briefly. Also used a shared folder on my desktop PC for a time. Now I use an external 1TB hard drive attached via USB port on my router (ASUS RT-N56U) and have no issues at all. It seems to work rock solidly and setup was simple. I assume this would be true with most any decent router that has a USB port that can be used as a server.

[pme991]

I have boxee box and DNS-323, it is a great setup. I am using funplug on DNS-323 and am able to login to Linux and dl other programs onto it. A great NAS and a great platform to configure and hack on.

To the point about boxee testing on DNS-323, well I wish that were true, as I do have the SMB issue on Boxee with DNS-323, I am going to dl beta and see if that works.

to answer your points:

1.) Do you think its worth it to pay 50 bucks to have a real NAS box vs fake Boxee NAS via file sharing?
Yes, buy the DNS-323 or the latest version.
2.) I know 323 is an old device but does it still keep up with the current NAS being sold or should i shell the extra $$ for one with higher CPU/RAM? Plus what can the newer NAS devices do vs this one?
My DNS-323 keeps on ticking, it went down last year and I thought that was it. I ended up buying another DNS-323, and then I thought, let me just try the power adapter from the new one on the old one as it turns out the power adapter went bad on the old one and it boot up just fine with new power adapter. I returned the new DNS and just ordered a replacement power adapter from Dlink for $25 bucks. That is when I got the boxee box, with the cash from refund, I bought boxee box.

3.) Is the DNS-323 solid device or does it have bugs and is unreliable? i see there has not been an FW update since 2010 which mean no official support for this any more.
Solid box in my opinion. Goto the DNS-323 forum for hacking, very configurable box. http://forum.dsmg600.info/f3-General-Discussion.html . I have had mine for ~3 years now.

4.) The idea is to add another 2TB HDD will it have issues seeing 2 2TB drives? how well does RAID0/1 function on this NAS?
I just use RAID0, and I stripped my pictures across the two drives in RAID1 configuration.

5.) How is the torrent client, is it very basic or you can change settings and such etc? Don't really use torrents but a bonus when i need to get WoW updates and would be nice to have it on the network vs a PC
Torrent client is basic, so I implemented funplug and am able to use tranmission on box. Very cool, I am going to load 'subversion' to store source code, etc. very cool little box.

[rhigh44]

I downloaded freeNAS and it's been rock solid for 1.5 years - runs 24/7. It has all the features you mentioned - ftp,torrent, etc. I stream all my movies from it to my boxee box. The operating system runs off a USB flash drive. This is a great feature if the OS fails. Only thing on my drives is movies and personal data - no space taken up by unwanted files.

[jebise]

Thanks for the input, i just want to know what i might miss if i don't buy a current gen higher model one with 1GHz. I have read that the 323 is slow and max transfer rates on a gig line is 11MB at best, i get that currently with the HDD hooked to BBox right now.

The new NAS boxes are much faster but what does that really mean? i'm not looking for that many features just need to store my data, but what can newer NAS do that this one cannot? and is it worth the $$?

@pme991

What is you transfer rate read/write?
Can you play a 1080p 5.1 DTS video file to 3 devices from the DNS-323 simultaneously?

[mbryanr]

If you can get it for $50 BNIB...go for it. Once you are ready for another NAS..you'll want more than 2 bays. Great place to start, for comparison a DS-211j ~$199 diskless.

[Blair123]

I have a DNS-323 NAS and the fastest transfer rate writing to the drive was 12.7 MB/s but it takes a while to ramp up to that rate. The transfer rate is with jumbo frames turned off as my older 1gb switch/router does not support jumbo frames. You will need to update the firmware to beta 1.10 to format the newer 4k Advanced Format drives. I have read that some people have then down graded to the more stable 1.9 firmware after formatting the drives. I am currently running the 323 with the 1.10 beta 6 firmware and it work well with the current BB firmware. Currently the drives are limited to 2TB as the 323 does not support larger drive. I think for now the firmware development seems to be on hold if not discontinued. I would think a more knowledgeable person than I could do the theoretical calculation to evaluate the bit rate for 3 machines connected to the NAS streaming 1080p video and 5.1 audio. For me the DNS-323 works well with the BB but I have not yet used the BB to stream Blu-ray content. For 50 dollars it seems like a good place to start but you will need to evaluate how fast your library will expand to fill the 4tb limit and if 12 MB/s is fast enough to future proof your needs. You may want to read more about NAS information on the smallnetbuilder web site for NAS comparisons.

[jebise]

the transfer speeds are what is stopping me, i don't have a gig router yet but thats on the future upgrade list as 12MB seems slow. What speeds do you get on current NAS boxes?

[mbryanr]

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/nas/n...filecopy-write