DS1511+ ..Basic Questions From A Newb

[Detox]

I've been reading about the Synology DS1511+ and it sounds like a great machine, I do however have a few basic questions and I hope someone can help me out.

I am looking for a home use device that will store family photos, music (mp3s), movies and other backups such as word documents, pdfs etc.

I also want the machine to be able to back up a couple of personal computers on my home network (for example a couple of windows PC and/or a Mac if I ever get one).

Will I be able to access photos/music on various devices such as iPad/iPhone/PS3/Xbox360 etc.

Regarding how data is stored on the DS1511+, I don't fully understand RAID configuration, but is the basics that if I put 5 drives in the machine and one drive fails I can replace that single drive and not lose any data?

I was thinking of a WHS type machine, but this sounds a lot simpler, and reason to not choose this over a WHS type machine?

Many thanks,

Detox

[deerpark]

Will I be able to access photos/music on various devices such as iPad/iPhone/PS3/Xbox360 etc.

Yes, Synology have apps available for Android/Iphone and PS3/Xbox360 can access media through the DLNA media server.

Regarding how data is stored on the DS1511+, I don't fully understand RAID configuration, but is the basics that if I put 5 drives in the machine and one drive fails I can replace that single drive and not lose any data?

Basically yes. RAID is short for 'Redundant Array of Independent Disks'. It allows you to create volumes that span multiple disk where the failure of one or more of the disks (depending on the RAID setup) won't lead to data loss. Be aware though that RAID does not equal backup. Plenty of things can happen to a NAS that RAID won't save you from.

I don't have experience with WHS, other than I've heard about it. There was a lot of problems with data loss when it was first released, not something you want from a storage server...