Perhaps a Raspberry PI, but doesn't have case or SATA interface for drives. Looking around on the internet, I looked at various different devices. GoFlex Net has 2 SATA ports, so RAID 0 and 1 and also spanning possible. OpenMediaVault fits the bill, everything in one place. GoFlex Net has gigabit ethernet port.Īs I don't want to spend all my time knee deep in Linux commands, I wanted some kind of easy-to-use management interface. I wanted the device to be a NAS, that is accessible on the Network so I don't have to mess around plugging and unplugging USB cables. GoFlex Net has a nice moulded plastic case. I didn't want to mess around too much with circuit boards, a finished device in a nice case fits the bill.
Seagate GoFlex Net weighs only a few hundred grammes, hand luggage for travelling. Also it poses some security issues, such as sharing data on Windows network without any password, meaning anyone who has access to your local network has access to your shared files. It's OK for some consumers who don't want to know anything about the technical side, but really it's not much use for anyone serious. Pogoplug on GoFlex Net is like putting a lawnmower engine in a Ferrari. However they tend to suck big style on the software they include with their hardware. Seagate in my experience are THE BEST hard drive manufacturer. Seagate package this device with built in software from Pogoplug.
Ability to install any of the 25000 debian packages, priceless. Total of around £130 for a two disk RAID1 NAS with a web based GUI for administration, off the shelf alternatives are maybe £200-£250. Free market prices vary obviously, at the time of writing it's not expensive around £29 in UK, I guess that's $40 in USA.
For it's size it's powerful, expandable and green. Seagate GoFlex Net has two SATA ports for portable hard drives, it has a 1.2GHz processor and runs on just a few watts of electricity. I like saving money and being green at the same time is a bonus.
This is a guide on how to do the same the EASY WAY. Persistence and Charisma eventually paid off, ended up being a labour of love, but it was WORTH IT. The result of spending copious hours and days, knee deep in Linux IS - a working and stable 2TB NAS with Debian Linux based on Seagate GoFlex NET. Thanks to all the guys here for maintaining the forum and all of the invaluable information posted here, without it, I wouldn't have been able to do this:) This is posted on my blog, but thought it would be useful here too.