Network-attached storage options are more abundant than ever, but jumping into the copious bush of NAS can be quite a task, especially if you want a system that plays nice with both PC and Mac. Apr 10, 2019 If you need to erase the disk manually, use the Disk Utility app to erase using the Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format. Time Machine can't back up to an iOS device or disk formatted for Windows. And if your disk uses the Master Boot Record (MBR) partition scheme, some of its partitions might not be available for use with Time Machine.
Are you planning to create your own NAS (Network Attached Storage) using some old hardware and drives? Then for that self-made DIY NAS server you definitely need some OS or software to work; obviously, because the operating system is the thing that will control the functions that your NAS server will provide later. However, still, there are only a few well known Linux operating systems that dedicatedly meant to do this job. Yet, whatever out there are quite developed to provide Linux/FreeBSD based SAN (Storage Area Network) or NAS (Network Attached Storage) solutions to enterprises, small offices or homes.
Top Open source Linux DIY NAS software
Before listing Linux or FreeBSD distros for creating network Attached storage OS, I would like to say there is no “best operating system” either for NAS or computer. The choice of an operating system depends heavily on what you are going to do with the NAS server. In this guide, we focus on software that understands a NAS server primarily as a system for the provision of data in your office or home. With the operating systems we mention in this article, you can copy data back and forth, perform backups, along with some advanced tasks (such as establishing a VPN connection or installing a mail server) including plugins to extend OS capabilities.
Here we are about to list some best NAS solutions to help you if you are planning to data management using open-source software in 2020.
1. FreeNAS OS
You might be already familiar with its name. It is one of the best FreeBSD based NAS software solutions that not only provide easy to use interface but also plugins to extend features such as for the Plex server. The operating system is designed to enable a self-built NAS system based on free software.
The company behind it actually deals in NAS hardware for enterprises, however, the OS is available free of cost for the general public.
The best thing is you don’t need to have a hard drive for FreeNAS installation, a simple USB drive would be enough, of course, to save data hard drives are needed those can be managed from its graphical user interface. In addition, the operation of the FreeNAS is extremely simple. In terms of upgrades and updates, the manufacturer and their product life cycles are released from time to time. It uses the OpenZFS file system which is highly reliable and can be configured from the admin web interface volume manager.
Key Features:
2. OpenMediaVault NAS software OS
OpenMediaVault (OMV) is another network-attached storage (NAS) software operating system and well-known for home or small office clouds. It is based on Debian Linux distribution, yes, the familiar one thus easy to install and manage without much system knowledge. This opensource Linux NAS software supports all major protocols such as SSH, (S) FTP, SMB / CIFS, and RSync and also can be expanded via plug-ins, for example, DAAP Media Server, Shairport – AirPlay/RAOP receiver, and more…
Open Media vault Key Features:
3. XigmaNAS (formerly NAS4Free)
XigmaNAS was earlier known as NAS4Free. If you want to create your own DIY NAS box, it provides easy-to-manage file server to provide data storage and smaller server tasks such as media services with little effort.
It also based on FreeBSD just like FreeNAS, actually, it had been developed using the code of FreeNAS and later in 2018, NAS4Free was renamed to XigmaNAS. It can be used USB sticks, memory cards or hard drives and SSDs as boot media. It is also possible to boot it from a live CD or a live USB stick.
XigmaNAS has extensive documentation directly on its own website, thus installation and handling would not be a big pain. Like FreeNAS, XigmaNAS server functionalities can also be expanded using its extension based system. For example, you can save data related to BitTorrent directly on the NAS hard drives. Conversion of NAS server into a media server is also possible using the Plex media server extension that allows to manage media data in a visually appealing manner and to stream it to other devices. Or you can install an interface that also makes access from smartphones in a more convenient way.
Key Features of XigmaNAS:
4. Rockstor – Centos based Linux NAS solution
This Linux NAS software is slightly different and has a more stable base that is CentOS. The biggest difference between FreeNAS and Rockstor is it uses the Btrfs file system, which is very similar to ZFS used by FreeNAS. Btrfs is a so-called CoW (Copy-On-Write) file system and developed by the Oracle to provide high read and write performance and to handle fault tolerance, repair and easy administration.
Rockstor supports the protocols/features AFP, Active Directory, LDAP, NIS, NTP, NUT-UPS, SFTP and SNMP. Shares can be made available via NFS and Samba (Smb / CIFS). The SMART function for hard drives has also recently been supported.
It only supports 64-bit modern systems with at least 2Gb RAM and for best out of it, 4 to 8Gb is recommended depending on the number of data hard drives used.
Rockstor offers the possibility to integrate plugins via Docker. The plugins are available as containers, which Docker virtualizes on the host system.
Apart from the traditional NAS system, it can be also used as Personal Cloud Server and SMB Cloud Server, we can set as per the requirement and data availability.
Key Features of Rockstor:
Learn more:
To use Time Machine to make a backup of your Mac, you need any of these types of storage devices:
After setting up the storage device, you can use Time Machine to make a backup of your Mac. And after making your backup, you can use Time Machine to restore files from your backup.
External drive connected to your Mac
Time Machine can back up to an external drive connected to a USB, Thunderbolt, or FireWire port on your Mac.
External drive connected to an AirPort Extreme Base Station (802.11ac) or AirPort Time Capsule
Time Machine can back up to an external USB drive connected to an AirPort Extreme Base Station (802.11ac model) or AirPort Time Capsule.
Best unzip for mac. And it can be downloaded. The app is relatively small so you should be able to get it installed for a few seconds depending on your internet speed. Just use iTunes and search for the app.
AirPort Time Capsule
Time Machine can back up to the built-in hard disk of an AirPort Time Capsule on your network.
Mac shared as a Time Machine backup destination
To use another Mac on your network as a Time Machine backup destination, complete these steps on the other Mac:
When setting up Time Machine on your other Mac computers, you should now be able to select the shared folder as a backup disk.
Best Nas For Mac 2014Network-attached storage (NAS) device that supports Time Machine over SMB
Many third-party NAS devices support Time Machine over SMB. For details, check the documentation for your NAS device.
How to format a disk for Time MachineBest Nas For Mac Os X 10 11
Time Machine supports all Mac OS Extended (Journaled) formats and Xsan formats. If the disk isn't using the correct format, Time Machine automatically prompts you to erase it when you connect it to your Mac:
If you need to erase the disk manually, use the Disk Utility app to erase using the Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format.
Mac Nas Drive
Time Machine can't back up to an iOS device or disk formatted for Windows. And if your disk uses the Master Boot Record (MBR) partition scheme, some of its partitions might not be available for use with Time Machine.
Comments are closed.
|
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |