Alternative to Synology

Mcthommo · 14 Jun 2023 at 09:47

I have a couple of Synology NAS units at different locations- one is a basic 2 disk while the other is a 5 disk with a further disk attachment. I am needing to expand the two disk to increase both storage and more importantly redundancy and have an unused mini itx with 8700k, 32 GB of ram and case big enough for many hdd.
I would like to use this if possible but any ideas on the o/s software that I could use to be as close to the synology software as possible- I will/might need to copy files from one location to another so need it to be KISS.
I dont really want to buy a new Synology unit to replace the 2 bay as the 2 bay doesnt accept additional storage and is limited to a max of 24TB I think- not quite there yet but would be if properly redundancy!
Thanks for any suggestions

BongoHunter · 14 Jun 2023 at 09:52

Dunno if this is still going strong / supported?
https://xpenology.org/ (Open source attempt at Synology DSM)

Mcthommo · 14 Jun 2023 at 09:59

thx BH- il lhave a look
Also been mentioned TrueNas so will check that out as well

Armageus · 14 Jun 2023 at 10:03

BongoHunter said:
Dunno if this is still going strong / supported?
(Open source attempt at Synology DSM)

Nothing open source about that - it's just a loader that allows you to illegally use Synology's software on unsupported hardware

TrueNAS or Unraid are good legal alternatives

Hades · 14 Jun 2023 at 19:50

Another vote for TrueNAS and Unraid.

Mcthommo · 14 Jun 2023 at 20:41

will do a deep dive on both to see what will be simpler for a JBOD setup- not needing the redundancy at all as pure copy of each seperate NAS

visibleman · 15 Jun 2023 at 15:43

Yup, TrueNAS or Unraid is the obvious choice but worth watching YT guides and reading tutorials before diving in.

And Xpenology is a bodge at best; if you want DSM (Synology's OS) and the Synology features, then just get another Synology as it'll save you the headaches.

Nikumba · 26 Jun 2023 at 10:37

I use unraid and find it pretty simple to use, also has a good marketplace for apps

chrismscotland · 27 Jun 2023 at 12:51

Another UnRaid user here, very happy with it after almost 5 years.
Using it on an old Micro Form Factor Dell Optiplex 5050