Help picking a NAS

[PaoloUK]

Been thinking about sorting out a NAS for over a year now and finally decided to make the jump. I did consider building my own using something like FreeNAS but I saw other threads that made me realise right now I just want something that I can set up and leave going and it'll be fine. No need to be manually updating things when new releases/patches arrive etc.

From what I can gather while there are other options Synology seems to be the clear favourite.

I've decided I want to get a 4 drive one and use 8TB WD Red HDDs. Main use will be media storage and streaming over my home network. There would usually be 2 devices connected (rare occasions this could be 3), either PC's or Pi's for the most part but there may be a rare occasion where a mobile device would be used.

I've had a look around, looked through threads here as well as other places and read a few articles, the consensus seems to be that the absolute best choice for me would be the DS918+.

I just wanted to check that this is right and ask a few quick questions.
1. If I start with just 2 drives, when I want to add more (same size/model) is it just a case of sliding them in and the NAS detects them and adds them to the pool?
2. I'm not so bothered with backing up what's on there, but if I wanted to what would be the best set up? 4 drives in RAID 5?
3. I currently use emby but it seems plex has a built in app for synology, would it be worth making the switch? I've never used plex and emby does everything I want but for the sake of ease I wanted to know.

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[bledd]

1. It gives you the option to expand as you add drives.
2. Use SHR (Synology hybrid raid), with 2 drives it will be raid1, as you add more drives, it will convert it to raid5. This process takes a long time, but it works perfectly.

Pick one with a 64bit CPU (max volume size for the older 32 bit models is 16tb). Just check the max volume size listed for the model you pick on the Synology website.

 

[mikedigitales]

Freenas is OK once you've set it all up (but only go down this route if you are looking for a project that involves learning). Synology box is a great easy to get setup option, don't use RAID 5 would be my advice though - if you lose a drive, the re-silvering process when you replace it takes a long time, and if one of the other drives fails during this process you lose the lot. I think you want just a mirror to start off then Raid 6 or 10.

 

[PaoloUK]

Thanks for the advice. Seems the DS918+ is the one to go with then.

 

[AyeAyeAhoy!]

Don't want to be the preacher, but generally RAID5 shouldn't be considered as backed-up, simply redundant.

If you can, it may be worth considering grabbing yourself some cheap external drives to keep backups on. Or at least grab a UPS!

 

[AyeAyeAhoy!]

On a side note, a Dell T20 with UnRAID on works great

 

[hornetstinger]

NAS enclosures with more than one drive slot means you can add drives as you go. I use two NAS's myself, initially bought 1TB then two x 2TB drives. Typically you need to set the drives up after you slot them in. Depends on the NAS software, it'll typically just be a long format. You can use individial drive, jbod (all drives seen as one) or raid. I use individual drive layout.