Synology, netgear or server?

[randomreboot]

Hi all,

I'm looking to enter the 21st century and set up a NAS for accessing and streaming media from my PC, PS3, tablet and Samsung smart TV. The PS3 and TV would mainly be for movies whereas the PC and tablet would be file access as well. Not really too fussed about accessing files from remote locations so its mainly for LAN use.

I've narrowed things down to one of these

Lacie 2TB network space 2
netgear_readynas_duo_v2l
synology_diskstation_ds112j

Currently the Lacie would cost £120, the synology £190 and the netgear £175 all with a single 2TB drive. The links above point to tests and reviews. The netgear would then have the option to expand or RAID1 in the future.

I keep reading about how good synology are but the netgear outperformed it in pretty much every test, has loads of features and also has the benefit of being 2-bay. Is there something i'm missing here? Is the Netgear lacking somewhere else?

The Lacie seems good but I keep reading very mixed reviews about these type of affordable level NAS drives and would rather something that will last.

There is also another option. I've got an old Dell dimension 3100 that I could sling a 2TB drive in and use as a ubuntu media server. Bit involved though and I tend to get quite stressed when an OS misbehaves and I have to tinker. Plus it wouldn't exactly be the most discreet media server you'll ever see!


Any advice or experience with them, alternatives, pros, cons, etc would be appreciated

 

[Rroff]

Don't waste your time and money go for a proper NAS like the Synology or QNAP (I believe the Synology has slightly better features).

EDIT: The difference between the Netgear (that model linked actually has fairly decent hardware) and the Synology will be the software functionality - I spent a lot of time messing about with "affordable" NAS solutions, trying to use old PCs, etc. and never got something I was completely happy with til I bought a 4-bay QNAP solution - the cheaper ones either had reliability issues or just plain lacked the software or hardware functionality to do what I wanted properly without lacking somewhere.

 

[welshdragon]

I would say Synology or QNAP. For me Synology just slightly pip QNAP.

My review of the Synology DS112j HERE

Also reviewed the QNAP TS19P 2 single bay solution HERE

I setup many nas systems and just recently setup a DS112j for a friend to do the same things ie media serve and backup. Very nice little unit, very quiet and should handle the task nicely. Good set of mobile apps too. My preference for hd's are WD. Just recently got a set of reds which are ideal but previously ran greens which are also fine.

The synology and qnap are simplicity themselves so no fussing or drama's. They are also very low power and ideal for 24/7 use with some good power saving features.