The ReadyNAS Duo was kinda one of my impulse buys. I have had a few always running tower servers over the years, but that was when I didn’t have to pay the electric bill! Having a power hungry tower server can really jack up the electric bill, especially since you have to both power and cool the server. And so I have done without and have missed it. I liked being able to share files, download torrents, stream media, and do all the other fun nerd stuff you can do with a server on a whim all day on demand.
I knew Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices existed, but I always felt the price point was a bit high, especially since I had spare computers lying around. However, NAS prices are reasonable now, especially if you buy one off E-bay as I did. I wound up getting my ReadyNAS Duo with a 1GB HDD for about $192 with shipping for about a 43 dollar savings over retail. That is like a 20% savings, not bad.
Just after I bought the server a few friends asked why, and I had to scramble for reasons, “because I can” isn’t really a valid reason to spend $200. But, after some thought I have finally come up with some valid excuses. So here they are in no particular order.
- If things go according to plan, and I get a pilot slot in the military, it would be nice to have a dedicated server to host all of my stuff regardless of where I am on the globe.
- I am a techno-nerd. I love technology. Generally speaking, there are three types of websites I read: military, gaming, and technology. Being able to tinker with not just a whole website, but a whole server is a lot of fun. Being able to learn Linux increases that nerd factor by like 10. An unfortunate byproduct is that it also increases my inability to get laid by 10. Such is life.
- I can stream media (pictures, music, and video) to other computers, video game consoles, etc.
- I can backup everything! Several years ago I had a hard disk failure. The hard disk that failed had approximately 7 years worth of files I had horded away. Everything was gone, and I couldn’t find a way to recover any of it. That sucked.
- With a RAID capable NAS I can ensure that everything I do backup or want to stream is safely stored on multiple drives. So, unless both drives fail I am good!
- I could restart vexingviews.com. When I forgot to pay my hosting bill I had also forgot to renew my domain. I spent two years without the domain and was actually a little scared someone would steal it and actually keep it. Fortunately, no one did! True, I could pay for web hosting from a company, but that wouldn’t give me torrent downloads. Or the ability to run a VOIP server. Or an IRC server. Or host files and sites for friends/family. Or do xyz with it. It would simply be a web and file server that would have an annual cost of anywhere from $85 to $180 depending on what service and plan I select.
- A NAS has very low power consumption, like 15W to 35W kind of low. Compare that to a full tower which can run anywhere from 300W to 800W depending on what is going on. Now, to be fair, I have increased power consumption due to the fact that I am using an Eee PC as the actual web server, but the thing has a power consumption of between 15W and 45W depending on load. With these two units combined it is effectively like having an incandescent light bulb on. After some unofficial and hurried math I think that is roughly $10 to $12 a month. Not too shabby.
Maybe all of this is me just reaching for excuses to have a new toy. Maybe peanut butter and jelly is the best combination ever. Maybe everything we believe is just a figment of our imagination. Either way, no one cares.
