Selecting a cheap NAS server

published Jul 11, 2015 10:05 by admin ( last modified Jul 16, 2015 10:02 )

I just wanted a cheap usable NAS server under €200 (2000 SEK, $220).

Ethernet, USB 3.0. Pick one.

I couldn't find one that had both. Or I actually got a WD My Cloud 3TB. And it has USB 3, but only for connecting to hard disks and similar. It wants to be the USB host. It cost me SEK 1500 (€150, including 25% sales tax). Didn't notice that it only had USB host mode until after I bought it.

In the same price range there was a Seagate, but it only had USB 2. In hindsight that would have been better than no USB connectivity to the computer. However I decided to keep the WD device since it has more documentation on care and feeding of the Linux it runs, than what I could find for the Seagate. However it turned out that WD has modified the page size in such a way that you cannot install normal Debian packages. And the workarounds I have found have not worked so far. Ah, well.