Looking for NAS suggestions

[DQ]

So I am thinking about swapping to a NAS for my storage needs. I am an IT guy so I know what they do and I understand them etc etc.

What I am looking to find out is what folks have had good success with and or what you prefer.

Here is my use case:

-I am currently looking at QNAP or Synology (but I have never used either hence the post)
-this is for Plex but I am not going to run plex on it (I have a dedicated PC for that)
-plan on running RAID5 with a 4 bay device
-I want a device with at least a 1 2.5gb ethernet port
-I am looking more for a good NAS than something to run VMs on
-models I am favorable to so far are QNAP TS-453D-4G

 

[DQ]

I am just floored that as much as everyone likes to talk about their NAS units there is no suggestions on this.

Here are 2 other units I am looking at although the QNAP TS-453D-4G is still my favorite due to its myriad of ports, 2.5GB ports and a good spread of capability.

- Synology DS920+ (only has 1GB ports)
- QNAP TS-431P3 ( has an off brand CPU)

From what I can gather Synology has more polished software but QNAP seems to have better hardware capability. I am leaning towards QNAP heavily.

 

[hart2hart]

I am just floored that as much as everyone likes to talk about their NAS units there is no suggestions on this.

Here are 2 other units I am looking at although the QNAP TS-453D-4G is still my favorite due to its myriad of ports, 2.5GB ports and a good spread of capability.

- Synology DS920+ (only has 1GB ports)
- QNAP TS-431P3 ( has an off brand CPU)

From what I can gather Synology has more polished software but QNAP seems to have better hardware capability. I am leaning towards QNAP heavily.

I’m also IT person. I did same search a few years ago and bought a Synology 1815+. Which is an 8 bay unit. They do have very polished software and a store with many addons. I’ve tried a couple but really only use it to serve ripped discs.

They continue keeping the software updated. The unit failed a few years ago due to a bad chip (recognized by them as systemic) They shipped a new unit immediately and extended the warranty by another year. I plugged drives in and it recognized and immediately started working.

It has 2 1 gig Ethernet ports. I upgraded the ram to 8 gig and the fans to Noctua higher volume and quieter versions.

I compared hardware at the time and preferred Synology’s choice of CPU and SATA controller.

 

[DQ]

I’m also IT person. I did same search a few years ago and bought a Synology 1815+. Which is an 8 bay unit. They do have very polished software and a store with many addons. I’ve tried a couple but really only use it to serve ripped discs.

They continue keeping the software updated. The unit failed a few years ago due to a bad chip (recognized by them as systemic) They shipped a new unit immediately and extended the warranty by another year. I plugged drives in and it recognized and immediately started working.

It has 2 1 gig Ethernet ports. I upgraded the ram to 8 gig and the fans to Noctua higher volume and quieter versions.

I compared hardware at the time and preferred Synology’s choice of CPU and SATA controller.

Thanks for that.

Sounds like they have solid support which is hard to find these says.

The main reason I am leaning toward the QNAP is the 2.5GB interface. To get that on Synology you have to move to a unit with a 10GB port which is fine except it drives the price way up and it's a bigger unit than what I wanted.

 

[hart2hart]

Thanks for that.

Sounds like they have solid support which is hard to find these says.

The main reason I am leaning toward the QNAP is the 2.5GB interface. To get that on Synology you have to move to a unit with a 10GB port which is fine except it drives the price way up and it's a bigger unit than what I wanted.

I always future proof and gets specs as high as is cost effective so I’m with you. Just curious is your use case serving ripped discs?

 

[DQ]

I always future proof and gets specs as high as is cost effective so I’m with you. Just curious is your use case serving ripped discs?

No actually this would be storage for my Plex server. My thought process (at this point) is to just use SMB between Plex and the NAS via that 2.5GB interface. Which is why I wanted it. With Jumbo frames on Windows will push that whole 2.5GB. Well through the NIC anyway the drives might not being they are mechanical and would be in RAID 5.

 

[Watcher0363]

I am just floored that as much as everyone likes to talk about their NAS units there is no suggestions on this.

Here are 2 other units I am looking at although the QNAP TS-453D-4G is still my favorite due to its myriad of ports, 2.5GB ports and a good spread of capability.

- Synology DS920+ (only has 1GB ports)
- QNAP TS-431P3 ( has an off brand CPU)

From what I can gather Synology has more polished software but QNAP seems to have better hardware capability. I am leaning towards QNAP heavily.

I do not think many people actually have NAS systems. It appears most people just have a bunch stand alone drives with stuff on them, using a computer to control things. I started with four 8tb seagate backup plus drives, then bought a 4 bay DAS. Then I made the mistake of buying a NAS. The fact is, NAS systems are not for average people, especially seeing how the eco system around them are built with IT professionals in mind. Just trying to avoid qlocker has been more of a pain in the butt, than I bargained for. I am still amazed at the number of question that go unanswered or dismissed with you should already know, on both the Qnap and reddit forums. Also given the prices of NAS's, and how long they should last, most people are only going to have experience with one NAS and or brand. On that last note, comes pain. I thought I got one hell of a deal on my NAS, which it was, until you find out it has chip that will fail for sure within 5 years, because of design flaw.

 

[DQ]

I do not think many people actually have NAS systems. It appears most people just have a bunch stand alone drives with stuff on them, using a computer to control things. I started with four 8tb seagate backup plus drives, then bought a 4 bay DAS. Then I made the mistake of buying a NAS. The fact is, NAS systems are not for average people, especially seeing how the eco system around them are built with IT professionals in mind. Just trying to avoid qlocker has been more of a pain in the butt, than I bargained for. I am still amazed at the number of question that go unanswered or dismissed with you should already know, on both the Qnap and reddit forums. Also given the prices of NAS's, and how long they should last, most people are only going to have experience with one NAS and or brand. On that last note, comes pain. I thought I got one hell of a deal on my NAS, which it was, until you find out it has chip that will fail for sure within 5 years, because of design flaw.

It's possible you are right about who has what. I had just heard folks mention NAS many times but maybe between the same people talking about it over and over and a possible misuse of the term it sounds more than what it is. But that's fine I still want to move to a NAS for multiple reasons. As luck has it I am an old IT guy so using a NAS is not a barrier. I know they can be a pain but I also know much of that comes from running apps/VMs on it. I don't plan on doing any of that, just want it for the disk management as I already have a dedicated Plex box. I was not going to even allow it to the internet because I have seen all the shenanigans with those from a security perspective.

 

[Tanquen]

I have a Synology DS1813 and just upgraded to a DS1821+ with 10GE and it's really nice. Do not get 7200RPM and or faster enterprise drives with higher head seek noise if the unit will be in the room with you. With 8 drives it's bad. The old NAS had 8 4TB drives (never heard a peep) and I wanted to go big with 14TB drives but I did not know that they don't make any 5400rpm drives in that size. WD had some labeled as 5400rpm but they were not. I'd only be able to upgrade to 6TB drives and stay at 5400rpm. Trying to figure out how I'm going to run cables to the utility room down stairs.

 

[DQ]

I have a Synology DS1813 and just upgraded to a DS1821+ with 10GE and it's really nice. Do not get 7200RPM and or faster enterprise drives with higher head seek noise if the unit will be in the room with you. With 8 drives it's bad. The old NAS had 8 4TB drives (never heard a peep) and I wanted to go big with 14TB drives but I did not know that they don't make any 5400rpm drives in that size. WD had some labeled as 5400rpm but they were not. I'd only be able to upgrade to 6TB drives and stay at 5400rpm. Trying to figure out how I'm going to run cables to the utility room down stairs.

It's ironic you just replied. I am THIS close to pulling the trigger. I was going to go with the QNAP TS-653D because of the 6 bays and 2.5GB ports. The 2 drives I already have are 7200 so I was going to add 2 more 7200 drives just so they somewhat matched.

EDIT- a NAS was on my road map but PC raid failures are forcing my hand to do this now or risk losing my collection.

 

[Tanquen]

Yeah, you would want the to match as much as you can if you are going to do any RAID. RPM, size, make model and so on. I use RAID-5 but Synology has a format that lets you use different sized drives. Not really looked into it. Reading and writing to the NAS at 1GB/s is nice from time to time.

 

[DQ]

Yeah, you would want the to match as much as you can if you are going to do any RAID. RPM, size, make model and so on. I use RAID-5 but Synology has a format that lets you use different sized drives. Not really looked into it. Reading and writing to the NAS at 1GB/s is nice from time to time.
View attachment 58817

Yes this is my plan. 2 WD drives and 2 Seagate. Same size, similar hardware specs but of course 2 different make/models. I am assuming the QNAP can pull it off.

1GB is cool but I want the 2.5GB. I don't expect the NAS to pull off the whole 2.5 but if it can get anywhere close that would be good enough.

 

[Tanquen]

Yes this is my plan. 2 WD drives and 2 Seagate. Same size, similar hardware specs but of course 2 different make/models. I am assuming the QNAP can pull it off.

1GB is cool but I want the 2.5GB. I don't expect the NAS to pull off the whole 2.5 but if it can get anywhere close that would be good enough.

Check the pics, that's 10GB network and 1GB/s transfer.

The 2.5GB network would be around 250MB/s.

Still worth it. 1GB is what the old NAS had and it topped out at 110MB/s, so it almost 10 times that now.

 

[Tanquen]

different make/models.

I've only had issues when I want to add drives to an existing RAID and the new ones say they are the same size but are really a few megs smaller. If you redo the RAID with the 4 drives it will just make the volume segment on each drive the size of the smallest drive.

 

[DQ]

Check the pics, that's 10GB network and 1GB/s transfer.

The 2.5GB network would be around 250MB/s.

Still worth it. 1GB is what the old NAS had and it topped out at 110MB/s, so it almost 10 times that now.

Yeah if I can get anywhere near 300MB I would be thrilled. 250MB would be fine. I am talking Megabyte's, so that would be round 2Gigabits/

 

[DQ]

Thanks for all the input from everyone on this thread. Due to repeated failures in the PC raid I was using I was forced to do something or risk losing my collection. And I really needed more space anyway.

But I pulled the trigger and got the following device.
https://www.qnap.com/en-us/product/ts-653d

This is what I liked about it:
- 6 bays so I can add more drives easily later (I will populate 4 initially)
- 2.5GB network
- Intel CPU
-4GB RAM expandable to 8

The unit is very capable of running VMs like Plex and such but I am only going to use it for a storage NAS as I already have a machine dedicated to Plex with a stronger CPU for transcoding. Plus I have an antenna Tuner card installed in it as well.

Thanks again