WHY 'a NAS?

Using a NAS brings substantial benefits compared to an internal or external disk. First, the possibility of using a larger memory capacity. A network drive can reach the capacity of 3,000 GB or more, compared with 750 (or at least the terabytes) that are normally the most currently installed on a PC. Furthermore many NAS modular , just join a second to first to double the capacity. Secondly, the use of a network drive allows for a rationalization of your data files. Often within the same network file is replicated on several disks of computers that are part of: a considerable waste of space. Using a NAS can create, for example,an archive of media files to which access to the whole family, eliminating the need for duplicate files. Finally, maintaining a network always on NAS, you can ensure that certain files are always available, even for devices other than computers, such as media receivers that are capable of playing audio and video files available over the network.

COL wire or wireless?

Some NAS have network connection wireless . This means they can enter the network by radio, without requiring a physical connection (if the network includes at least one access point or a computer also has a wireless connection). Using a wireless NAS is very convenient for those who use the laptop: now all notebooks come with Wi-Fi, and this helps in communication and computer disk so almost immediately. It must be said however that, at least with current technology, the wireless connection is never as reliable as that of a landline.If you have a house wired, or if you are willing to lay the cable network, an Ethernet connection will certainly give better results. In particular, many NAS use to connect to a landline Gigabit (10/100/1000). This allows for performance far superior to any wireless network in terms of speed of access to files if the cables and network adapters used PCs are compatible with standard Gigabit Ethernet .

DISC FA SHOW!

Are becoming more common devices that allow access to multimedia content on the web: audio / video, stereo systems, even televisions. Not to mention the laptop and media player pocket, which can be accessed via a wireless network. If you own one or more of these devices is very useful to have a NAS always online to host films, music and photos. To do this, you should also check whether the NAS is compatible with one (or more) standards that allow quick access to resourcesmultimedia network without the need for complicated settings. Most common among these standards is UPnP ( Universal Plug and Play ), created by Microsoft is what allows, for example, Xbox and Windows Media Player 12 to play music and videos from the network. Even iTunes, the Apple software to manage your iPod and make purchases from the Apple Store, you can create a multimedia network of its kind. A third standard is widely used (DLNA stands for Digital Living Network Alliance ), used mainly by manufacturers of hardware audio and video. Before buying a NAS, you should know in advance which type of network to interact and make sure it is compatible.

MORE DETAILS '

A very useful feature for a NAS is the presence of one or more ports USB 2.0 .These can be used to connect an external hard drive (which becomes in effect another network drive). In many cases you can also connect a printer, the NAS into a network printer , usable by all users. How much does a NAS? depends on the capacity and additional features. A Model 500-GB capacity, with a single disk can have a price between 150 and 300 euros, but it is not our case, if we keep in the closet an old computer is obsolete, but still works and always a sin throw it away.

If you did not wreck your PC, you did well! Of chicchedicala We present a series of tutorials that will guide you in the installation and configuration for the occasion will use the free softwware FreeNAS . The requirements are: that has one or more disks and capacious enough for a network adapter.Furthermore, it must be bootable from CD, and must have a floppy disk, or even be bootable from a USB stick.

HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS

• A PC with at least 96Mb of RAM, a bootable CD Rom and choice
• Or a Floppy Disk (for configuration) and one or more Hard Disk (for storage)
• Or a USB drive (disk or memory stick) or CF (Compact Flash) and one or more bootable hard disk (storage)
• Or a hard drive and one or more bootable hard disk (storage)
• Or a hard disk bootable (which will be partitioned into two areas: FreeNAS system, data storage space)
• Or virtualization software such as VMware, configured as above.

Note: In cases where FreeNAS is installed on a USB drive, CF or HDD, CD ROM must be removed when finished installing FreeNAS. Additional Information .

Keys MAIN

• "9" to begin the installation.
• "1" if we want to allocate one of the disks present only operating system.
• "2" if we confine it to a partition.
• You can also install the OS on a USB stick (in this case, remove the key from the computer can still be used with previous operating system). In this case, select option "1".
• "1" and "4" respectively specify the network adapter your PC uses to connect and to choose whether to use a static IP address or dynamic.
• "5" to see if the computer is connected by a ping.
• "7" to restart the PC.

NOTES: FreeNAS does not use the same generic names for network interfaces that use Linux (eg eth0). The name for the network interface used depends on the drivers:

fxp0: For the first network adapter based on Intel EtherExpress
fxp1:For the second network adapter based on Intel EtherExpress
bge0: For the first network adapter Broadcom Gigabit BCM570XX
nve0: For the first network card based on Nvidia nForce MCP etc ...
fwip0 is a firewire: If you find fwip0 the list of interfaces, do not use it.

INSTALLATION

1. To turn the old PC into a FreeNAS server will use the free software, downloadable www.freenas.org . Once you open the Web page, click on Downloads and then download the first item in the list file called LiveCD , clicking on the link downloads. Save the file on your hard disk, which is in format ISO . Once downloaded, you must convert this ISO image to a CD-ROM. To do this you can use various useful programs for this purpose, for example Black Write ISO image to CD-R using CD burner on your PC, and move on.

2. Forinstallation we will need a monitor and keyboard, but once done the procedure we do not need. To collect ScreenShot understandable I run the first installation on VMWare in order to show clear images, and then stored on a PC into oblivion. The procedure is the same even on a physical system so no more talk!