Which NAS?

AWBbox

AWBbox

AWBbox

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I am planning on getting a NAS, I have been been mulling over which one to get for a couple of months now and I've almost certainly decided on the Qnap TS-419p+. However I have seen a couple of reviews which pit it against the Qnap TS-439 Pro II+ and the more expensive model does have some real performance gains on it's cheaper counterpart.

I intend on mainly using the NAS for Bittorrent, streaming HD video content to a couple of locations in the house (simultaneously) and occasionally moving large (~120GB) files to and from the device. The TS-439 Pro II+ is £170 more than the TS-419p+, I would love to run to a TS-459 Pro II but I just can't afford that.

Considering I want to keep this device for a long time and have as 'futureproof' a product as I can manage, is the extra potential expense justified do you think?
 
Scrap Qnap and get a Synology instead. Perhaps not built as well, but as far as reliability/performance/user interface goes its much better.

Have owned both and have a Synology DS410 currently with 4x disks in RAID5 and have no problems getting 70-80MB/sec over gigabit LAN.
 
I like a lot of the features of the Qnap units that Synology don't offer, their community seems better and a friend of mine who has been using their stuff for a couple of years says their support is unrivalled.
 
I must say I am fairly impressed with the Synology DS411+II

What is their operating system like for messing around with? Is there much flexibility to add packages and modify existing ones like with the Qnap range?
 
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You guys are doing a good job in beginning to convince me to get a Synology NAS, but could you actually say why you would recommend them? I'm curious to hear your reasoning and I'm not about to make an impulse purchase!
 
AWBbox said:
I intend on mainly using the NAS for Bittorrent.
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Sorry to barge in on this. I hope I don't offend. However what does using a NAS with bittorrent actually mean. I've seen it advertised and never really understood the connection. I know you can download torrent files etc and use a client like Vuze to download whatever it is. Where does the NAS come in?
 
Buchanan0204 said:
Sorry to barge in on this. I hope I don't offend. However what does using a NAS with bittorrent actually mean. I've seen it advertised and never really understood the connection. I know you can download torrent files etc and use a client like Vuze to download whatever it is. Where does the NAS come in?
Click to expand...

As I understand it, most of these boxes OS'es are based on Linux. They come with a Bittorrent client installed that can manage downloads on the device itself without the need or management from another machine. Content is downloaded locally on the NAS and can be transferred to other devices just like any other data on the unit.
 
+1 for synology. They do some good iphone/andrioid apps too for remote access. The GUI is really good with a premium feel and it was a breeze to setup. Can't speak about the qnap though as never had one.
 
AWBbox said:
You guys are doing a good job in beginning to convince me to get a Synology NAS, but could you actually say why you would recommend them? I'm curious to hear your reasoning and I'm not about to make an impulse purchase!
Click to expand...

The hardware feels like it's well made and its easy to install the drives. Software is fantastic, regularly updated even for older devices. I bought my first Synology product in 2008 and my second in February. Both devices have the same software on it as Synology make all their latest firmware upgrades available to all models. You can't argue with that level of support.
 
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+1 for QNAP

I have a TS-419P+ and have nothing but positive feedback to offer, that said, I have never used a Synology device as a comparitive.
 
My thoughts at the moment are that both Qnap and Synology are both probably very good manufacturers and they both have products which suit a variety of price points and applications. But when I look at the price/performance ratio between competing products the Synology range definitely seem to have the edge and it doesn't seem to be at the cost of the quality of the units. At this stage I am probably looking at getting the DS411+II even if it does cost a little more than I was planning on spending initially, it looks like an absolute beast!

I would still welcome all your feedback, I'm still going to chew this over for a couple more weeks :)
 
Sorry to high jack this thread but it's kind of related.

I too have been looking at NAS for a small work network (3 computers max) and they currently use Windows 7 Homegroup to access files off one PC. How easy is it to access files on these NAS devices? Is it all web based or can you use folders placed on the desktop for example?
 
You can set up folders on the Synology and use AD for security. The folders will be available as a normal windows share.
 
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