Storage Help (NAS+Media Streaming+RAID+Automatic Backup)

Aloise wrote:
1. I was thinking about Netgear ReadyNAS 516 (6-Bay). Any suggestions? Any models other than this?

An RN316 is another option. Though the RN516 has a faster processor. The RN716 is faster still, but is more than most home users need.

Aloise wrote:
2. One mandatory feature for me is to have the ability to mirror my data on backup dedicated HDs. I know that there's a tradeoff concerning performance vs security (redundancy). I know very little about RAID and thought that maybe RAID6 would be a reasonable option. I also know that if I fill my NAS with 12Tb, 6Tb would be for useful data and 6Tb for backup (in a nutshell). Does it make sense?

If you have 6x2TB with RAID-6 (dual-redundancy) then you get 8 TB of storage, and 4 TB of redundant data. This allows the RAID array to be rebuilt if two drives fail. This is not a backup though. Backups ideally would be written to a different device (another NAS, USB drives, or perhaps a cloud server). Backups protect against device failure, user error, theft, disaster, etc. RAID only protects against 1 (or 2) failed disks. It is really more about availability (your next question) than protection against loss.

Aloise wrote:
3. Also, my personal desire it that, once a drive has failed, I would like to hotswap it with a new one so that the NAS rebuilds the information and no data loss occurs. Is it feasible or am I dreaming?

Yes, it does work that way.

Aloise wrote:
4. I know these NASes don't work with SAS HDs. So I'll have to stick to SATA Enterprise Class HDs, such as Seagate Constellation or similar. Higher RPM and internal memory would increase disk I/O. Both Netgear and QNAP sell either diskless or loaded with enterprise class HDs. Any comments/suggestions on this?

Personally I use Home NAS drives (I use WD30EFRX at present, though the Seagate ST4000VN000 is also worth looking at). You can of course use enterprise drives if you wish. The home NAS drives are faster than gigabit ethernet for sustained file transfer.

BTW, you can also use SSD drives with this device. Though the new 1 TB SSDs are not on the hardware compatibility list at this point. I don't think I'd use SSDs in a RAID array though - you'd be better off with jbod and backups.

Aloise wrote:
5. Are these NASes able to stream media "from factory", of course through my wifi router or will I need to install tons of apps/software to do it? Any light on this?

What you need depends on your playback devices. You'd need an app for IOS, you might not for Android. I don't stream FLAC or RAW, so I don't know specifically about those. Plex is a DLNA server that is an add-on for the NAS - it has the ability to transcode the media if that is needed for playback. Streaming over the internet is more challenging. The openVPN server in your router would help there.

Aloise wrote:
6. I have an Apple TV box. May I also use it as another option to stream media (videos, audio,photos) from the NAS to my TV?

The short answer here is that none of the NAS (ReadyNAS or its competition) work seamlessly with the Apple TV. That's Apple's fault.

There is an iTunes server, but it can't do home sharing (Apple keeps that to themselves). You can't directly stream to the Apple TV from the NAS, but you can use airplay (assuming the IOS player supports it). Getting airplay pairing to work on the NAS is a bit more difficult than getting airplay pairing to work on your router.

The easiest answer in practice is to put your media library on the NAS, but run the real iTunes on a PC/Mac. Then you can watch the media on the AppleTV and your IOS devices (using the built-in media players).