NAS Replacement - choices?

snips86x · 11 Jun 2020 at 10:38

I currently have a 2 bay Synology NAS and recently one of my disks failed. I'm in the process of backing up to an external drive (my first backup drive failed) but wondering if it would be more suitable to replace the Synology NAS with a base unit running FreeNAS.

If I was looking to replace with a base unit of some kind, does anyone have any recommendations on what would be suitable? Looking for suggestions on make/model. I have a budget of £100-120 ish. I plan on running 3x 3TB WD Reds in Mirrored with the 3rd as a backup for a disk failure on the 1st or 2nd drive.

I find the power of the Synology not amazing, it's slow to process large amounts of data when copying, would prefer something with a little more power behind it.

IAmATeaf · 11 Jun 2020 at 11:47

What will you be able to get for that sort of money? I've just had a quick look and there's not much on offer.

NAS are always a problem as the well known brands are expensive for what they are really.

You could try getting an el-cheapo SFF PC and use that but then disks become an issue and by the time you've got an external enclosure and card the costs have increased.

I've got on old Buffalo NAS, bit of an old dog but I've got SSH access to it and have upgraded software on it that I can such as Twonky so as a backup and media server it's fine.

snips86x · 11 Jun 2020 at 11:55

IAmATeaf said:
What will you be able to get for that sort of money? I've just had a quick look and there's not much on offer.

NAS are always a problem as the well known brands are expensive for what they are really.

You could try getting an el-cheapo SFF PC and use that but then disks become an issue and by the time you've got an external enclosure and card the costs have increased.

I've got on old Buffalo NAS, bit of an old dog but I've got SSH access to it and have upgraded software on it that I can such as Twonky so as a backup and media server it's fine.

I did wonder that. Maybe I should stick out what I have for a while longer. I have 3 brothers who are frequently using up storage for downloads so we could try and group together to get something a little more robust and powerful.

snips86x · 11 Jun 2020 at 13:09

Unless someone can recommend a base unit that would suite my needs?

mushtafa · 11 Jun 2020 at 23:28

I'm going down the route of a small form factor unraid build using second hand parts.
Mines cost about £120 so far, just need to add drives, and buy the unraid license

BongoHunter · 12 Jun 2020 at 00:03

I would go for a second hand pc and fill it with disks, then install unraid - would be a very capable NAS, second hand bits are cheap, and you can always upgrade as needed.