QNAP NAS, Synology NAS or HP Proliant Server?

msfx

msfx

msfx

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Joined
18 Jan 2010
Posts
14
Location
UK
Hey guys,

It's driving me nuts having my music collection in different places and trying to keep it all in sync, not to mention my code libraries etc for work - i've ran out of space on dropbox and would rather invest in a local solution than pay for more space on dropbox.

So, i've had a look around and I'm looking for the following for home / business use. I'd like to get it all in for < £400-500 and to be future proofed for quite a few years ideally...

- networked storage solution which I can access from anywhere if given an internet connection.

- be able to stream/play video, photos and audio to any client connected to the network, mainly my laptop.

- it would be amazing if somehow I could also stream audio from it to a set of wireless speakers whilst controlling it all via my Android or iPhone/iPad... if i'm dreaming a little bit let me know! :)

- would rather it didn't draw too much juice therefore keeping the cost to a minimum.

- looking using having 2 x 2TB in RAID 1 or 3 x 2TB in RAID 5 initially with ability to expand in future if needed...?

I've had a look around and scouted the forums for threads on NAS and found the most recommended are QNAP TS series, i.e. TS-412 or the Synology DS series, i.e. DS411j. I think eitherof these would do what I want, is that right?

The QNAP TS pages show a video of you accessing the files via their software.. you don't need to do this right? You can just use a regular file browser? (I'm running W7 and OSX Snow Leopard)

The HP Proliant MicroServer however appears great value at the moment with the £100 cashback but how hard would it be to set it up to achieve what i'm after and how secure would it be? Would be a little worried I wouldn't know / understand how to achieve what I wanted...

Any advice very much appreciated! :)

Thanks!

Matt
 
I use Synology for similar things (minus iTunes, I'm too lazy to bother moving it :) ) decent transfer speeds and good support.
 
I'd recommend the HP Microserver every time. Cheap (with the rebate, and not exactly expensive without it) and very flexible. I have WHSv1 installed on mine and it's been fantastic!
Central media store, streams easily to other PC's and the PlayOn HD Mini box, backups all the computers and I also store all my files on there in shared folders.
 
I use a Synology DS211j and can't fault it, great little low-power box. Their support has been great when I had a question regarding the Download Manager, it took ~24hrs for them to get back to me and subsequent replies were ~4hrs.

Would highly recommend it :)
 
Can't go wrong with synology in my opinion. I have a DS209. (1.2ghz and 256MB RAM)

The thing I love about them is the fact they constantly develop new software and add new stuff. It's very easy to use and has some excellent features IMHO.

I had to deal with customer support regarding my fan making a tiny clicking noise after a while but they sent me a replacement without question.

Decent speeds as well, I can read files from it at 70MB/s.
 
Last edited:
Synology would be imba if they were in black :p

One thing is, everything looks like a rip off compared to the HP which is cheaper, more powerful and has more features.
 
thanks for the replies guys! :)

Evoss said:
Synology would be imba if they were in black :p

One thing is, everything looks like a rip off compared to the HP which is cheaper, more powerful and has more features.
Click to expand...

The DS411slim is in Black... :)

So how hard would it be to setup the HP to achieve what i'm after? I'm worried that although it's great value for money I wouldn't be sure where to start with setting it up etc... any advice on that?
 
msfx said:
Hey guys,

It's driving me nuts having my music collection in different places and trying to keep it all in sync, not to mention my code libraries etc for work - i've ran out of space on dropbox and would rather invest in a local solution than pay for more space on dropbox.

So, i've had a look around and I'm looking for the following for home / business use. I'd like to get it all in for < £400-500 and to be future proofed for quite a few years ideally...

- networked storage solution which I can access from anywhere if given an internet connection.

- be able to stream/play video, photos and audio to any client connected to the network, mainly my laptop.

- it would be amazing if somehow I could also stream audio from it to a set of wireless speakers whilst controlling it all via my Android or iPhone/iPad... if i'm dreaming a little bit let me know! :)

- would rather it didn't draw too much juice therefore keeping the cost to a minimum.

- looking using having 2 x 2TB in RAID 1 or 3 x 2TB in RAID 5 initially with ability to expand in future if needed...?

I've had a look around and scouted the forums for threads on NAS and found the most recommended are QNAP TS series, i.e. TS-412 or the Synology DS series, i.e. DS411j. I think eitherof these would do what I want, is that right?

The QNAP TS pages show a video of you accessing the files via their software.. you don't need to do this right? You can just use a regular file browser? (I'm running W7 and OSX Snow Leopard)

The HP Proliant MicroServer however appears great value at the moment with the £100 cashback but how hard would it be to set it up to achieve what i'm after and how secure would it be? Would be a little worried I wouldn't know / understand how to achieve what I wanted...

Any advice very much appreciated! :)

Thanks!

Matt
Click to expand...

To answer your questions. :) I use the Synology DS211J with x2 1.5TB drives in RAID1. I love it, great bit of kit and I can echo that their customer support is really good!

- networked storage solution which I can access from anywhere if given an internet connection. - The Synology can do this. Simply add your user(s) and set the permissions in the various applications on the NAS. May need to setup port forwarding on your Router to get this working for external connections.

- be able to stream/play video, photos and audio to any client connected to the network, mainly my laptop. - Yeah I've managed to stream audio/video to my Android phone and my brothers iPhone (through the DSAudio app) and iPad. For the video to work on the iPad I had to download an app from the store which cost a few pounds (AirPlayer). Works flawlessly though with the Synology NAS. (Just make sure your videos are encoded correctly). And can stream to PS3 easy as well. These work both internal and external.

- it would be amazing if somehow I could also stream audio from it to a set of wireless speakers whilst controlling it all via my Android or iPhone/iPad... if i'm dreaming a little bit let me know! - That is something I've not looked into, but you can get this http://www.synology.com/products/synology_remote.php?lang=enu but I don't think it's wireless.

- would rather it didn't draw too much juice therefore keeping the cost to a minimum. - You can set x3 various fan/power modes. I think they are something like full, quiet and cool. You can then do what I have done and set a power schedule for when to wake up and when to shut down, thus saving you electricity as it's only on when needed. So for example, during the week when I'm at work it's set to come on at 5pm for when I get home.

- looking using having 2 x 2TB in RAID 1 or 3 x 2TB in RAID 5 initially with ability to expand in future if needed...? - The DS211J can support a maximum of 2 x 2TB drives. But you could look at another model, I'm just using mine as an example.


Hope that helps! :)

Cheers.
 
Firegod said:
Hope that helps! :)

Cheers.
Click to expand...

awesomely helpful thanks! :)

does anyone know if the max internal capacity of the DS411slim (4TB) is due to the current 2.5 drives maxing out at 1TB or due to 'internal workings'? Looks damn slick in black! :)
 
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