Looking for an Ext. HDD RAID solution

[Calibretto]

Hey folks, I'm wanting to get an ethernet-equipped external hard drive that can do RAID 1 (mirroring), as well as access it from both a Windows PC and a Mac without any compatibility issues.

I was looking at the WD My Book Live Duo and it looks to be exactly what I would want, but wanted to see if anyone has any experience with this drive or a similar drive.

Essentially, I'm just wanting a storage solution that can do RAID 1 and can be accessed from multiple computers running different OSes, allowing me to move files to and from the drive from any computer on the network. That price for the 4TB WD Duo (~$300) is about the most I'd pay for something like this, so maybe there's a cheaper option out there?

 

[voyagerfan99]

I haven't used WD drives like this, but I have some experience with Buffalo storage solutions that have a nice web interface to allow drive permissions and has good transfer speeds across a LAN.

 

[Calibretto]

I haven't used WD drives like this, but I have some experience with Buffalo storage solutions that have a nice web interface to allow drive permissions and has good transfer speeds across a LAN.

As long as I could map it as a network drive and access it just like a normal folder on a Windows PC and a Mac, then it would work for me.

 

[voyagerfan99]

Yeah it does that :good:

 

[Calibretto]

I guess another question that I have is will a NAS box like this be able to push 1080p MKV video files to my HTPC? I'm reading on a lot of forums that not all NAS boxes are capable of doing this.

EDIT: Ok, I'm seeing now that the LAN would be the biggest bottleneck -- not the NAS -- as far as streaming 1080p video files. Is there a good way I can test my LAN to see if it could handle 1080p MKVs? (Sorry, I hardly know anything about networking except the basics).