Help, I think I want a NAS

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368 posts

Ultimate Geek

#643439 19-Jun-2012 20:56

Think the Synology may have a slight edge on I/O in comparable systems. But it's wins and losses in different situations.

If I could start again, I'd probably go for the QNAP TS-219P II as it supports USB 3.0 and TWO(2) eSATA devices.
Dual Gbit Ethernet would be nice, but it's mostly in the bigger boxes.

Wise

Send money globally for less with Wise - one free transfer up to NZ$900 (affiliate link).

Skolink

1081 posts

Uber Geek

#643648 20-Jun-2012 10:16

billgates: The NAS that freitasm has mentioned, is USD$190 (DS212J + USD$35 shipping) from Amazon. I ordered it last week and now awaiting delivery.

I just had a test at ordering the DS112j but for some reason it won't ship to my address, even though the DS212j (link you provided) will ship. Both are sold by "Amazon.com". If you read the "learn more" information, it basically says that almost everything (other than books) will not be shipped internationally, which obviously isn't true.

LookingUp

411 posts

Ultimate Geek

#643736 20-Jun-2012 12:43

Skolink:
billgates: The NAS that freitasm has mentioned, is USD$190 (DS212J + USD$35 shipping) from Amazon. I ordered it last week and now awaiting delivery.

I just had a test at ordering the DS112j but for some reason it won't ship to my address, even though the DS212j (link you provided) will ship. Both are sold by "Amazon.com". If you read the "learn more" information, it basically says that almost everything (other than books) will not be shipped internationally, which obviously isn't true.

I had the same problem with Amazon, so ended up ordering from RC711 in Hong Kong. Might seem like an odd place to buy from, but the service was great and it even came with a free gift!

http://www.rc711.com/shop/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=synology&x=0&y=0

They also sell QNAP.

Things are LookingUp.... A photo from my back yard :-)

LookingUp

411 posts

Ultimate Geek

#643738 20-Jun-2012 12:48

Oh, and mine's a DS209, running WD Greens, and it works fine. No need for RAID, as it's used as a back-up + media server. I did have one of the drives fail reasonably early in the piece, but I got that replaced (I'd sourced them locally) and I haven't had a problem since.

Totally recommended - just wish I'd bought a 4-bay.

Things are LookingUp.... A photo from my back yard :-)

snowfly

543 posts

Ultimate Geek

#643762 20-Jun-2012 13:13

I have a QNAP TS 219P+, runs really well.
Overview of specs: 1.6Ghz marvell cpu, 512MB ram, 2 HDD bays, 2x eSATA ports, 1x gigabit ethernet.

Use to run 2x Seagate 2TB green drives (ST2000DL003), which ran fine for about 7-8 months, but then issues started happening with the recent QNAP firmware, and these 'green' drives.

Recently changed to 2x Hitachi 2TB drives (HDS723020BLA642), and the NAS runs perfectly, no issues.
So recommend not getting 'green' drives, as others have mentioned.

Store all our music, movies, documents, work stuff on the NAS, in RAID1 mode (mirrored), and use rsync on the NAS to send some data offsite. Also use the PHP/MySQL services running from the QNAP NAS as well for development work.

I have the following devices connected to the NAS via wired ethernet: Office PC, Onkyo Amp, Panasonic BWT700 freeview recorder
And connect over wifi from laptop, android phone/iphone, and transformer prime tablet (using ES File Explorer)

Overall works well.

jonherries

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#644881 22-Jun-2012 18:46

The NAS DAAP solutions don't appear to match the sophistication of itunes. I would be interested for others who have experience of these and how they interface (if they do) with airplay/airtunes, the apple tv, amd home sharing with an ipad/iphone.

Jon

Mark

1653 posts

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#645161 23-Jun-2012 16:22

Most of the DAAP implementations will only handle music, so no streaming of video to your AppleTV.
This was one of the reasons I've ditched iTunes and gone the route of setting up XBMC.
Media is stored on the NAS, as is the MySQL server for the metadata, XBMC is then pointed at media and database ... works better and looks better than the standard AppleTV interface.

JimmyH

2886 posts

Uber Geek

#645249 23-Jun-2012 21:16

Never put green drives in a RAID config, asking for trouble.

Currently have just a 3TB My Book Live, that I got reasonably priced in a sale, hooked up as a NAS serving video etc wirelessly (N at 5.8Ghz) to two WD Lives. Works well for SD video, haven't really pushed it with HD yet.

A bit worried about space and drive crashes, so planning a network rebuild over Christmas (more about available time than budget, as I will be off work for a few weeks, although hopefully hard drive prices should also be much more reasonable by then). I have been slowly accumulating the parts I need to do it. Current plan is:

1. Upgrade to a RAID NAS. Close to ordering the QNAP TS-412, which I plan to load with 4x3TB drives in RAID-5 configuration for 9TB usable space. The QNAP looks like a good unit and 9TB is more space than I will need in a good while, perhaps ever? Plus, it has two eSata ports compatible with port multipliers - so I can potentially add up to 2x5-Bay eSata enclosures later, which with 3TB drives in RAID5 would give me 33TB with redundancy. This is much more than I can ever see myself needing for the foreseeable future.

2. Upgrade to ethernet over powerline using two Netgear XAVB5004 kits (already purchased), as running actual ethernet isn't really practical in my house. One of the routers in the lounge (hooked up to WD Live, Tivo, Blu Ray Player, HTPC). One of the routers in the bedroom, hooked up to WD Live, Blu Ray player and (possibly) another Tivo.

3. Build order/HTPC for the living room. With 1-2 terrestrial tuners, 1-2 satellite tuners as well as HD capture off the MySky - to capture TV & video and feed the NAS. I may just repurpose my old laptop with USB tuners (I already have a Hauppauge HVR900 and an Hauppauge HD PVR kicking around somewhere, and adding a USB satellite tuner only costs circa $100).

4. Airport Express (already purchased), controlled off iPod, to stream music from NAS to sound system.

Coming back on topic, I recently had a 2TB external USB hard drive die on me (luckily, all important content was backed up!). This has convinced me that I need to migrate from the WD MyBook to a multi drive configuration, with either RAID1 or RAID5 - even with backups, restoring data manually is a pain in the backside. RAID5 units seem both faster, with better storage, and look more cost-effective on a $/GB basis, hence why I'm inclining towards the TS-412.

So, that's my Christmas project sorted......

Globolt

17 posts

Geek

#645309 24-Jun-2012 00:21

LookingUp:
Skolink:
billgates: The NAS that freitasm has mentioned, is USD$190 (DS212J + USD$35 shipping) from Amazon. I ordered it last week and now awaiting delivery.

I just had a test at ordering the DS112j but for some reason it won't ship to my address, even though the DS212j (link you provided) will ship. Both are sold by "Amazon.com". If you read the "learn more" information, it basically says that almost everything (other than books) will not be shipped internationally, which obviously isn't true.

I had the same problem with Amazon, so ended up ordering from RC711 in Hong Kong. Might seem like an odd place to buy from, but the service was great and it even came with a free gift!

http://www.rc711.com/shop/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=synology&x=0&y=0

They also sell QNAP.

If you do get one of these from Amazon or Hong Kong, what power lead do they have, eg do you need an adaptor to plug it into the wall here in nz?

DrStrangelove

368 posts

Ultimate Geek

#645394 24-Jun-2012 13:42

The following two PDF documents give a good overview of the product range and services from both QNAP and Synology

Synology Product and data sheet

QNAP Small Home and Office product data sheet

Ragnor

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#645416 24-Jun-2012 15:16

DrStrangelove: The following two PDF documents give a good overview of the product range and services from both QNAP and Synology

Synology Product and data sheet

QNAP Small Home and Office product data sheet

Those links you posted you seem to have accidentally made them relative to geekzone's domain name.. here are the fixed links:

http://download.synology.com/download/marketing/datasheets/Product%20Guide/201203_All_enu.pdf

http://files.qnap.com/news/pressresource/datasheet/Home_SOHO_NAS_datasheet_EN.pdf

freitasm

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Geekzone

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#645470 24-Jun-2012 16:55

Fixed. It happens if people don't put "http://" in front of URLs.

DrStrangelove

368 posts

Ultimate Geek

#645619 25-Jun-2012 01:31

Sorry, My bad. :-(

AndyR

73 posts

Master Geek

#653857 11-Jul-2012 09:09

I currently have a QNAP TS-219P with 2x 1.5TB WD drives in RAID1. Originally brought it to hold backups of old family videos, Time Machine for my MAC and also to drop media on to play via my PS3.

Has been working great for 12 months now. I don't use it for TimeMachine anymore as my TM backup got too large and I was having problems with it getting corrupted every few weeks, so I moved this back to a dedicated USB drive and that works fine. Now the NAS just holds old movies and my wife uses it to backup her laptop via SyncToy to a mapped drive. Nice and easy for her and at least gets her backing up every week now without having to think about it.

Yeah its probably overkill, and I could achieve the same with 2 separate USB drives and sync them together, but having the NAS just makes it so much easier. Plus its nice to be able to drop any movie file onto it and then my BluRay player can access it over DLNA which is great.

allan

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#663009 27-Jul-2012 16:19

Thinking about a Synology device as replacement for a home-built WHS 2003.

After doing a bit of reading on the Synology site, am a right in thinking that in order to get access to files, music, videos etc, a whole bunch of ports need opening rather than just being made available over 80/443? Or am I completely off-track?

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