Which NAS?

Forums › LAN (ethernet/Wifi/routers/Bluetooth) › Which NAS?

1 | 2 | 3

7415 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2850

ID Verified

Trusted

#1387035 14-Sep-2015 09:50

DaveB:
eracode: Saw this a couple of days ago, FWIW:

http://www.engadget.com/2015/09/11/the-best-network-attached-storage/

I have the recommended Qnap 251 and have never looked back. Very simple to set up for a novice like me and I am now reading up and broadening its use to include more than just being a Home Server.

I see the review of the Qnap says "it's not quite powerful enough for reliable on-the-fly video transcoding through Plex Media Server". With which model (Qnap or Synology) or price point can one get reliable transcoding? And how critical is this nowdays, given many media players handle a wider range of formats/resolutions etc? I'm contemplating going to one of the new ATVs to replace our Mac Mini, given it's now been announced the new ATV will have Plex available; I'm assuming the ability to transcode will be inportant if using the ATV as they probably will be more limited in supported formats?

I have a Netgear ReadyNAS Duo2, and certainly wouldn't recommend either the model or the brand; it's slow and has a crud interface, and has been terribly unreliable running Logitech Media Server for our Squeezeboxes. I'm keen on replacing it at some point, hence my interest in this thread...

Coil

6614 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2153
Inactive user

#1387046 14-Sep-2015 10:13

My experiences,

Unless you spend 2k on a NAS it wont ever be as good as a old core 2 duo with 4GB of ram and 6 HDD's in it running freenas or what ever it is.
I got a core 2 quad machine with 4GB ram and decent enough video card and good motherboard to support up to 6 drives for $50. Out performs most NAS enclosures and also doubles up as a Plex server, surveillance storage and all.

Works a treat!

DS248

1702 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 771

Lifetime subscriber

#1387048 14-Sep-2015 10:18

We have a QNAP TS-453 Pro with 4 WD Red WD60EFRX 6TB drives. As others have said, not cheap, but has been rock solid & packed with features

Mark

1653 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 555

#1387058 14-Sep-2015 10:45

Qnap and Synology as mentioned by others, are good home and small business units. I've a Thecus myself and it's file shareing performance is superb (but only works OK for standard def video with Plex), but it's build quality (hardware and software) is a bit rough, plus Thecus drop supporting older units fairly quick which can be annoying.

If you look at the FreeNAS route or anything with ZFS you need to make sure the specs of the computer are up to it, ECC is a must and most consumer level motherboards don't support that which pushs the cost of the "free" NAS up :-)

networkn

Networkn
32871 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 15468

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1387094 14-Sep-2015 11:37

I'd avoid any Synology with a J in it's name. They are cheap, run the same software, have the same support, but performance is not their strong suit (I mean there has to be a sacrifice somewhere to meet a price point).

Dulouz

887 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 384

#1387108 14-Sep-2015 12:03

I use a WD MY Cloud. It's simple enough for the whole family to use.

Amanon

Geekzone

Want to support Geekzone and browse the site without the ads? Subscribe to Geekzone now (monthly, annual and lifetime options).

nakedmolerat

4631 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 874

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1387536 14-Sep-2015 21:50

freitasm: I did have a Thecus here but the software seemed outdated.

If you want a NAS with lots of support out of the box then it's either QNAP or Synology.

My Thecus n4200 is now almost 6 years. It hasn't skipped a beat.

With Thecus you do have the option to go with Windows-based (http://wss.thecus.com/index.php) or Linux-based (http://www.thecus.com/product_catalog.php?PROD_TYPE_ID=1).

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
80658 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 41070

Administrator

ID Verified

Trusted

Geekzone

Lifetime subscriber

#1387597 15-Sep-2015 06:45

Sure the hardware is good but when I had one here a few months back it looked dated, and not as polished overall as Synology or QNAP. The number of packages available isn't as great either.

Referral links: Quic Broadband (free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE) | Samsung | AliExpress | Wise | Sharesies

Support Geekzone by subscribing (browse ads-free), or making a one-off or recurring donation through PressPatron.

nakedmolerat

4631 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 874

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1387598 15-Sep-2015 06:58

freitasm: Sure the hardware is good but when I had one here a few months back it looked dated, and not as polished overall as Synology or QNAP. The number of packages available isn't as great either.

Which model is it? Linux or Windows based?

Quinny

926 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 208

Trusted

#1387737 15-Sep-2015 11:11

Have had various models thru the years. I have an older ReadyNAS (6x3Tb drives) in Raid 6 with 12TB that is full. So recently did same exercise and tossed between the Synology and QNAP. Got the Qnap TS-651 (6x4tb) also in Raid 6 and very happy so far. With them all there are some tricks and tweaks for raid size and limits so do heaps of reading.

woollettg

50 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 4

#1388120 15-Sep-2015 19:50

I've got a ts212e qnap. Base model. Low power. Web Interface was really slow and UNIX compatibility was crap. Frustrating given it ran on Linux. Thankfully Debian had been ported to it. Now I have exactly what I want. Around 30mbytes per second xfer rate. You wouldn't any to many concurrent clients. That would suck.

Dell

Shop now for Dell laptops and other devices (affiliate link).

Tinshed

278 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 56

#1389747 18-Sep-2015 15:07

Just purchased a Synology DS215+ to replace an ageing and decrepit Qnap TS-110. Really, really impressed with DS215+. Beyond easy to get up and running and the web interface is a breeze. Seems very snappy. A bit on the expensive side but once I fully set it up, especially with Cloud sync to DropBox, I reckon I will have a very robust backup system.

Tinshed
Wellington, New Zealand

JimmyH

2898 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1554

#1392958 23-Sep-2015 18:43

I have an 8-bay Asustor with 6TB WD Red drives in it (not all bays populated yet) configured as RAID5. I'm very happy with it so far.

jpoc

1043 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 289

#1393225 24-Sep-2015 08:42

Mark: Qnap and Synology as mentioned by others, are good home and small business units. I've a Thecus myself and it's file shareing performance is superb (but only works OK for standard def video with Plex), but it's build quality (hardware and software) is a bit rough, plus Thecus drop supporting older units fairly quick which can be annoying.

If you look at the FreeNAS route or anything with ZFS you need to make sure the specs of the computer are up to it, ECC is a must and most consumer level motherboards don't support that which pushs the cost of the "free" NAS up :-)

ZFS does not require high end hardware and claims that ECC is essential are just plain wrong.

Why do I say this?

I have a FreeBSD/ZFS system. It has 4G of non-ECC memory and the oldest and slowest C2D processor that I own.

It runs just fine. Copying files onto the system is limited by the speed of my 1Gbit network.

The reason that you see claims about needing ECC memory for ZFS and not for other systems such as traditional hardware or software raid is this:

Unless you lose more disks than your selected level of redundancy, the only realistic way that a ZFS system can lose data is if a cosmic ray flips a bit in your memory as you are about to write some data to disk.

Other systems such as traditional raid are just as susceptible to that kind of error as is ZFS. It is just that they have so many more ways to lose your data that people do not focus on ECC memory. With traditional raid, you need to get a UPS or a battery backed write cache on a hardware raid controller long before you get to thinking about errors from cosmic rays in your dram.

Even if you do not have ECC memory, a home media server should not lose data through cosmic ray strikes. When you are copying a file onto the server, you calculate a checksum of the original file and then after copying the file, you read it back from the server and recalculate the checksum. If your server has non-ECC memory and a bit was flipped while the data was in ram on the server then you will see the checksums fail to match and you will copy the file again. Personally, I use Teracopy which automates that process. Of course, even with that, I could still lose data if ram in the client had a cosmic ray strike before moving the files to the server. So, really, you should care about ECC on your desktop before you put it in your home media server.

On trademe, you can get a used desktop in a tower case with a C2D processor and 2G of ram for $50. Spend another $30 to boost the ram to 4G and you have everything that you need for a FreeNAS server - just add disks and perhaps a $30 sata card if you have more disks that the mobo has ports.

If you want new and decide that you must have ECC then pick AMD and you will get to punish Intel for refusing to put ECC support on consumer grade motherboards.

Mark

1653 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 555

#1393316 24-Sep-2015 10:53

jpoc:
Mark: Qnap and Synology as mentioned by others, are good home and small business units. I've a Thecus myself and it's file shareing performance is superb (but only works OK for standard def video with Plex), but it's build quality (hardware and software) is a bit rough, plus Thecus drop supporting older units fairly quick which can be annoying.

If you look at the FreeNAS route or anything with ZFS you need to make sure the specs of the computer are up to it, ECC is a must and most consumer level motherboards don't support that which pushs the cost of the "free" NAS up :-)

ZFS does not require high end hardware and claims that ECC is essential are just plain wrong.

I'm just saying it based on being a storage admin for 19 years ...

1 | 2 | 3