NAS recommendations

I too recommend Synology, but suggest you might want to look at their 'play' suffix models, which are designed for video streaming in addition to storage tasks, etc.
 
+1 for Synology, I moved over from running Windows Server for years and would never go back. It's really well made software, does everything I need, has great library of app plugins and the iOS apps for it are good too. I tried FreeNAS, Open NAS and a few others before settling on it.
If you're not sure its possible to get it up and running in a VM (search for xpenology) so you can have a play first.
 
... I run it on an HP ML110 G7 (Xeon based) and it doesn't even break a sweat transcoding Plex streams etc. You get way more bang for your buck going down this route (or the HP Microserver route) than the processor you would get with the equivalent priced 'real' Synology box.
 
The G1610 processor in the HP Microserver will be fine for direct play Plex but might struggle with some transcoding.
My NAS is largely home brew and I suspect sans disks, it's cost less than the Synology equivalent. It sports a Xeon L CPU, 16GB RAM, completely silent cooling and I can run up to 6 disks in it. Plex is run in a VM, mainly to cap it's memory and CPU usage. Plenty of USB ports and I could cheaply add an optical drive if I wanted to.
When it's idle it draws 15 Watts from the wall as oppose to the 18-19 Watts my Synology DS211j draws.

I could run Xpenology on it, which would probably reduce the time investment, but I've opted for Ubuntu Server, ZFS etc. which gives finer grained control.

I'm planning to press the button on a HP Microserver soon to replace the Synology which is my current backup box. I'll be investigating options around failing over DHCP and DNS services which will be nice.
 
Last edited:
Well that was straight forward!
Box arrived, pull contents out, plug in; what RAID did I want asked via LCD on the front panel - that was a question my much smaller Synology needed 2 hours to sort out. I was expecting an overnight build.
But no... 5 mins and it was done.
By magic it appeared on my networks, I logged in, changed the network name to something I could remember, mapped the drive and I was in business.
I've currently got two machines chucking files at the NAS and my network is currently the bottleneck; something to fix shortly.
The QNAP is a reassuringly solid bit of kit; all metal build and the drives go in and out with the thunk you get from a door closing on a high end Merc. Beautiful!
It's also quiet - I can barely hear the drives ticking away over the hum of the Synology fan.
I think the QNAP and I are going to get on just fine!
 
DuncanDisorderly said:
Well that was straight forward!
Box arrived, pull contents out, plug in; what RAID did I want asked via LCD on the front panel - that was a question my much smaller Synology needed 2 hours to sort out. I was expecting an overnight build.
But no... 5 mins and it was done.
By magic it appeared on my networks, I logged in, changed the network name to something I could remember, mapped the drive and I was in business.
I've currently got two machines chucking files at the NAS and my network is currently the bottleneck; something to fix shortly.
The QNAP is a reassuringly solid bit of kit; all metal build and the drives go in and out with the thunk you get from a door closing on a high end Merc. Beautiful!
It's also quiet - I can barely hear the drives ticking away over the hum of the Synology fan.
I think the QNAP and I are going to get on just fine!
Click to expand...
And that is exactly what I want too ... I've lost count of the number of servers I've built, I just don't want to do that anymore. My one concern over the Synology boxes has been the processor and ram, the QNAP seem to have this sorted. Thanks for the update :)
 
There was reference to a serious security vulnerability in one of the fairly recent Security Weekly podcasts and quiye some ridicule for QNAP. Something about the ease with which you could obtain the root password.

What are QNAP like for patching vulnerabilities? IME Synology seem quite fast producing patched versions of DSM with fairly frank admissions as to what the patches are for.
 
....
I must admit I will be tempted to try Xpenology or FreeNAS on the HP Microserver when it arrives, probably in the interim period between it arriving and saving up for a full compliment of disks. ... I have got some ageing WD disks used for one of the ZFS Zpools on my current server so thats 5 3TB disks I need to fund.
 
afasoas said:
There was reference to a serious security vulnerability in one of the fairly recent Security Weekly podcasts and quiye some ridicule for QNAP. Something about the ease with which you could obtain the root password.

What are QNAP like for patching vulnerabilities? IME Synology seem quite fast producing patched versions of DSM with fairly frank admissions as to what the patches are for.
Click to expand...
That needs a link...
I didn't read anything in the reviews and Googling I did before purchase.
If you mean they publish the default root password and don't force it to be changed on first use, then you have them on that one.

Only port 8080 and 443 are open on the web server and both of those can be simply turned on and off.
The other ports only get opened up when you enable the appropriate App.
Installation prompts for either a Home setup or Business setup. Business is a minimal set of Apps which you add as needed. Home gives you everything and offers a huge range of ports and services.
I could easily believe that the Home setup isn't particularly secure as there is WAY too many routes into the files; especially if the root password isn't changed.
You'd still need to get past my router to attempt a hack.

It prompted me to install a recent firmware update before proceeding with the configuration, so yes they seem to be actively maintaining the system.
The info about the update gave more details about the bugs that were fixed than I would expect from most vendors; unfair to criticise them on that one.

I have FreeNAS running on an old PC and it does the job.
It's not really comparable with Synology and QNAP. It's not a plug and play system, it doesn't offer the rich array of services and I wouldn't know where to start adding user accounts and access controls.
If you have an old PC with lots of disk slots and a chunky power supply, and all you want is networked storage, and you are willing to get your hands dirty then it's a good option.
My old PC is only a mini-tower and only has two slots (hard disk plus CD drive), the power supply isn't up to the job either; so it hasn't been particularly effective for me. Even my full size tower only has fours slots, and I had to upgrade the power supply when I fitted the extra disks. So even when it is retired it won't be an alternative to my QNAP.
 
I think this is the relevant CVE:
http://www.cvedetails.com/cve/CVE-2014-5457/

In fairness, there are more reported vulnerabilities for Synology Devices:
http://www.cvedetails.com/vendor/11138/Synology.html
http://www.cvedetails.com/vendor/10080/QNAP.html

DuncanDisorderly said:
That needs a link...
I have FreeNAS running on an old PC and it does the job.
It's not really comparable with Synology a and QNAP. It's not a plug and play system, it doesn't offer the rich array of services and I wouldn't know where to start adding user accounts and access controls.
Click to expand...

I must admit the Synology NAS was one of the best purchases I ever made. Especially as at that time I was fairly uninformed choice, so my purchase was more luck than judgement. However, I didn't want to go the NAS route again because I wanted the ability to run some virtualisation on the replacement fileserver.

DuncanDisorderly said:
That needs a link...
If you have an old PC with lots of disk slots and a chunky power supply, and all you want is networked storage, and you are willing to get your hands dirty then it's a good option.
My old PC is only a mini-tower and only has two slots (hard disk plus CD drive), the power supply isn't up to the job either; so it hasn't been particularly effective for me. Even my full size tower only has fours slots, and I had to upgrade the power supply when I fitted the extra disks. So even when it is retired it won't be an alternative to my QNAP.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure where you get the idea you need to upgrade the PSU to run the extra disks. Most PCs ship with a 250 or 350 watt PSU and that should be ample, unless you are running extra graphics cards etc which are unnecessary in a "storage server". My server sports 5 mechanical HDDs and an SSD. Peak power consumption is about 80 watts when it is first switched on and all the disks spin up simultaneously. This settles down to 50 watts when all the disks are active. It drops down to 15 watts when the mechanical disks are in stand-by. Disks draw more power when they spin up, so it's possible to stagger them so they don't all spin up at the same time if you are running a smaller PSU.

In fact, larger PSUs are less efficient at lower power outputs, so in a good way a smaller PSU makes more sense in a server that's are always on with disks that are idle for long periods of time.

In your old PC, you could replace the CD drive with a hard disk drive. When you say slots, do you mean SATA connections or physical space inside the case?
 
Last edited:
I meant SATA conections.
Yes - CD already replaced. The USB CD drive does a cracking job; faster and more reliable.
In my photo processing tower I've got drives wedged between the casing because I ran out of mounting slots.
Not sure where I got my power estimations from; quite possible I got my maths wrong - very happy to be told I don't have to do that again!
Hmmm - maybe it was because the power supply didn't have enough SATA power feeds to satisfy the connectors on the board; so I scaled the power rating to be on the safe side.
I also have a problem with tinnitus, which having the tower sat on my desk all day every day was a contributing factor; I bought the quietest PSU I could find and it made a heck of a difference.

Either way - you are almost certainly right :)
 
For proof that a powerful PSU isn't needed, just look at what's driving your QNAP NAS. My 4-drive Asustor NAS only has a 90W PSU but has one of the latest 4-core Celerons and 8GB of RAM driving it.
Modern HDDs are only around 10W each when active so, as Daniel says, you only need any real power if there's an additional GPU.
 
Synology, as others suggested, is leaps and bounds better than the competition at your price range
 
pinktank said:
Synology, as others suggested, is leaps and bounds better than the competition at your price range
Click to expand...

I wouldn't say it is leaps and bounds. The Qnap devices definitely give you more for your money compared to Synology in terms of spec and power but the Synology software is the better software/operating system.
 
I'd strongly recommend any backup solution that involves Synology combined with WD Red drives. I've personally opted for a Synology DS213J with a couple of 3TB drives configured as mirrored disks (RAID-1). This in combination with a 1TB DropBox account that's used to provide yet another level of redundancy. It's a solution that works for me.

The Synology user interface is a joy to use.
 
as i said in my earler post qnap and synology are both very similar ( even similar model names and looks ), however if push came to shove i would still choose the Infortrend over qnap and synology any day of the week.

with unlimited snapshot, pool mirror, remote replication and corrupt self healing and worm it has everything needed for data storage without the need to be tarted up with hundreds of apps that mostly wont get used.
plus of course UK based offices and support ( Peter Millard at Infortrend is a tech genius )
http://www.infortrend.com/en/products/models/EonNAS Pro 500
 
dean messenger said:
as i said in my earler post qnap and synology are both very similar ( even similar model names and looks ), however if push came to shove i would still choose the Infortrend over qnap and synology any day of the week.

with unlimited snapshot, pool mirror, remote replication and corrupt self healing and worm it has everything needed for data storage without the need to be tarted up with hundreds of apps that mostly wont get used.
plus of course UK based offices and support ( Peter Millard at Infortrend is a tech genius )
http://www.infortrend.com/en/products/models/EonNAS Pro 500
Click to expand...

Non-ECC RAM? o_O
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top