NAS Recommendations (and Expectations)

Worth giving Asustor a look. I have a Nimbuster 4, use Plex to stream movies to the TV's, a mix of 4k mkvs and 1080p, can stream multiple independent of each other no problem.
Was cheaper for the specs when I considered either a Synology or Qnap as well.
Was tempted to build my own but low power consumption of a dedicated NAS is nice to have.
 
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Thanks again for the replies. Decided to go for the QNAP 464-4G.

I was looking at 4 x 8TB drives. I’m not sure what the best setup is in relation to RAID. I have around 1.5TB of data, pictures etc I wouldn’t want to lose which is increasing all the time.

Then currently around 2TB of media data which would also massively increase over time.

Are there any decent guides out there?
 
You know if you have a family Onedrive subscription it gives you 6x1TB in storage? I have multiple Onedrive accounts in my Synology setup so can use each accounts space. Synology automates my uploads overnight to those accounts.

Cheapest 6TB going.
 
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Andybtsn said:
Thanks again for the replies. Decided to go for the QNAP 464-4G.

I was looking at 4 x 8TB drives. I’m not sure what the best setup is in relation to RAID. I have around 1.5TB of data, pictures etc I wouldn’t want to lose which is increasing all the time.

Then currently around 2TB of media data which would also massively increase over time.

Are there any decent guides out there?
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Good choice - the 4gb version has upgradeable memory.

Raid10 is the only option really worth considering, which gives you 16tb useable and will tolerate up to 2 drive failures (as long as they aren't in the same pair).
 
Armageus said:
Good choice - the 4gb version has upgradeable memory.

Raid10 is the only option really worth considering, which gives you 16tb useable and will tolerate up to 2 drive failures (as long as they aren't in the same pair).
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Thank you. I’m still slightly nervous going from the resilience of OneDrive to this. Is it extremely unlikely that two drives would go at once? Presumably the qnap apps monitor drive health etc?

l In a few years should I start running out of space, what’s the process for upgrading the drives?
 
Andybtsn said:
Thank you. I’m still slightly nervous going from the resilience of OneDrive to this. Is it extremely unlikely that two drives would go at once? Presumably the qnap apps monitor drive health etc?

l In a few years should I start running out of space, what’s the process for upgrading the drives?
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You don't have to give up using Onedrive just because you have a NAS. As above I backup to the NAS locally and this uploads to Onedrive overnight.
 
Minstadave said:
You don't have to give up using Onedrive just because you have a NAS. As above I backup to the NAS locally and this uploads to Onedrive overnight.
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True. It was more because I was exceeding their data allowance and the investment in the NAS saving a few pennies a month paying MS.
 
Andybtsn said:
Thank you. I’m still slightly nervous going from the resilience of OneDrive to this. Is it extremely unlikely that two drives would go at once? Presumably the qnap apps monitor drive health etc?

l In a few years should I start running out of space, what’s the process for upgrading the drives?
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Unlikely that 2 drives in the same pair will fail at once, and raid 1/10 rebuilding is a lot quicker/less risky than raid 5.
There should be email alerts you can set up, and if it's anything like Synology with have an audible alarm.

To upgrade you swap 1 drive out at a time, let it rebuild, then swap the next.
Once all 4 have been swapped you should be able to extend to use the additional space
 
RAID is useful if you want to rebuild quickly after a drive failure (minimise downtime) and also if you need better performance, depending on your needs.

What hasn’t been explicitly said is that you shouldn’t rely on RAID as a backup strategy. Have another external drive for fast recovery and ideally an off-site copy for really important stuff (maybe continue with OneDrive for that). I’m running ZFS RAID on a server but still copy irreplaceable things to a secondary drive that is external and stored ‘cold’ as well as using cloud for another off-site backup. I’m using BackBlaze but my upload is quite slow so have to choose only really critical things for that.
 
I changed my mind again and went for the new Asustor AS5402T Nimbustor 2 Gen2 in the end. I thought what was offered suited my needs, although slightly over budget; having the four M.2 drive slots is something I can use in the future, I have one to put in immediately as the prices have been decent the last few days, then 2 mirrored 8TB drives.

Looking forward to it all coming and working it all out.

Thanks again for the help!
 
Minstadave said:
You know if you have a family Onedrive subscription it gives you 6x1TB in storage? I have multiple Onedrive accounts in my Synology setup so can use each accounts space. Synology automates my uploads overnight to those accounts.

Cheapest 6TB going.
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Would you mind sharng a bit more info about how you're doing that? :)
 
SoundsGood said:
Would you mind sharng a bit more info about how you're doing that? :)
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Simply create 5 additional email addresses and add them to your 365 Family. Then sign into all 6 using the Synology Cloud Sync app and set up folder sync as appropriate. You won't get a 6TB bucket, but you will get 6x1TB.
 
I have had the opposite experience with Synology, as I have a DS1621XS which had 6 x Samsung EVO 4TB drives in it and they all failed at once. I reached out to Synology support who flat out refused to help in any way without installing their drives. Those equivalent Synology 4TB SSDs are just over 1K each, so that left a bit of a bitter taste after that.

"Hi,

Thank you for your email.

I appreciate that standpoint however, we can't be sure of the behavior of the device with unsupported hardware being used.

If the hardware causes issues with compatible drives, then we can be sure that at this point, there is an issue with the Synology, but until then, I am afraid there is nothing further we can advise.

Apologies for any inconvenience that this may cause but hopefully this helps.

Best regards,

Daryl"

As it turns out there is a issue with the Samsung EVO 870 4TB drives, which I have now replaced with WD REDs and it's been working without an issue since then. However, I am not sure ill buy another Synology so if you go down the Synology route, it doesn't lock you into drives.
 
They aren’t saying to install their drives, they are saying use compatible hardware. There are regular brands on their comparability list.
 
RSR said:
I have had the opposite experience with Synology, as I have a DS1621XS which had 6 x Samsung EVO 4TB drives in it and they all failed at once. I reached out to Synology support who flat out refused to help in any way without installing their drives. Those equivalent Synology 4TB SSDs are just over 1K each, so that left a bit of a bitter taste after that.

"Hi,

Thank you for your email.

I appreciate that standpoint however, we can't be sure of the behavior of the device with unsupported hardware being used.

If the hardware causes issues with compatible drives, then we can be sure that at this point, there is an issue with the Synology, but until then, I am afraid there is nothing further we can advise.

Apologies for any inconvenience that this may cause but hopefully this helps.

Best regards,

Daryl"

As it turns out there is a issue with the Samsung EVO 870 4TB drives, which I have now replaced with WD REDs and it's been working without an issue since then. However, I am not sure ill buy another Synology so if you go down the Synology route, it doesn't lock you into drives.
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This sounds like a Samsung issue rather than a Synology issue tbh. Looks like 870 Evo issues are widespread.
 
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