NAS Recommendations.

[Number1]

I want to use a NAS to store my movies, pictures, documents and music. I want to use Photoshop Element 12 on my laptop and desktop to access and manage my pictures on the NAS. I also want to be able to stream my HD movies (up to 35G) to all my devices. I will use my existing 3 TB drive in the NAS in a JBOD configuration.

I purchased this NAS from NCIX Canada last week and installed it on my network.

http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=77536&vpn=KD20&manufacture=Shuttle&promoid=1115

So far here are my results:

25.5 MB transfer rate as indicated by Win 7.

HD movies streaming jerky, unwatchable on my laptop or desktop.

Photoshop Element unusable when pictures located on the NAS. My picture collection is 130 GB

The NAS disconnects from the network randomly and requires a reboot to be accessible. This is an issue experienced by other users: http://forums.ncix.com/forums/?mode..._id=77536&msgcount=5&overclockid=0#msg2631429

I did install the latest firmware and have been trying to get this thing working for a week.

This kind of performance is unacceptable to me and I have initiated an RMA.

Could somebody give me recommendations for a unit that would meet my needs?

Budget is less than $200 Canadian.

Thanks

 

[ronbo613]

For a $90 NAS, I'm not sure how high expectations can be. Higher end two bay external hard drive enclosures cost that much.
How about this Synology DS214SE? Synology makes pretty good stuff and it's in your stated price range.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Wifi sucks for this application, and a photo library that big needs to be on local storage, period. (Unless you spend a lot more than $200 on NAS gear.)

 

[Doomer]

Watch the cooling fan in the Shuttle, they're known to fail quite often.

 

[Number1]

Thanks for the informative post gentlemen. I will definitely research the Synology DS214SE.

NCIX transferred my RMA request to technical support and I should hear from them by tomorrow.

Any opinions on the ZyXEL NSA325 Diskless System 2-Bay Power Plus Media Server

Thanks

 

[ronbo613]

Thanks for the informative post gentlemen. I will definitely research the Synology DS214SE.

NCIX transferred my RMA request to technical support and I should hear from them by tomorrow.

Any opinions on the ZyXEL NSA325 Diskless System 2-Bay Power Plus Media Server

Thanks

For basically the same price, I'd stick with Synology. See what people are saying about it.

 

[PliotronX]

I would build a mini itx box around a core i3 but I like to run plex media server and transcoding 720p+ requires 2GHz C2D as a minimum

 

[Number1]

The RMA request was approved and I returned the unit this morning.


Would spending a little bit more money on a Synology 213j be worth it for what I want to do?

Synology DS214se spec

Synology DS213j spec


The DS213j has excellent reviews on the net
Expert Review
Stuff

 

[Doomer]

I have 2 Zyxel NSA310's which are the single driver version. They've both be flawless. One of them is being used a a repository for my ip security cams. It runs 24 seven and the HD never powers down as all cams are set to take pics on motion detect and they take A LOT of pics.

Not sure about the 325 but I can sure vouch for the 310.

 

[ccbadd]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Great little NAS. Mine has been in service fore about a year.

 

[Number1]

Thank you all. I decided to go with the Synology DS213j thanks to excellent online reviews and recommendations in this thread. It's a bit above my price range but I think it will be worth it.

Synology Diskstation DS213J 2 Bay Diskless iSCSI NAS


Ill post my impressions once I got it set up. It should be here by the end of the week.

 

[Doomer]

Good choice.

 

[ronbo613]

I'm sure that will do the job for you.
I've had my 212j for about a year and still haven't taken advantage of all the features. It can be a bit tricky to set up, but the Synology forums are pretty helpful.

 

[Number1]

The DS2013J came in Wednesday and I have been experimenting with it ever since. Being a total newb with this type of devices it's been a challenge to get everything working the way I want.

There is no comparison between the Shuttle and this one. It's much more complex and there are a lot more setting to fiddle with. It is way faster and much more configurable with tons of installable packages.
I installed Cloud Station, Download Station and Media Server.

The most troublesome part was to get my photoshop element software to work with all 40943+ pictures on the NAS. I had to redo the photoshop element restore several time before everything started to work. At one point during the restore I lost the connection to the NAS and actualy had to do a physical reset and reinstall the NAS.

But now, files are instantly available on all my devices, photoshop element is slower but very usable and the movies stream very well on TV,s tablets, media player, laptop and desktop. So it's doing what I wanted.

So now its generating thumbnails for all my 40943 pictures and is currently at 12.83% completed. It's going to take days and the CPU is pretty well going full blast.
I am going to update the DSM once this task is completed.

Memory usage has not gone much over 20%

So far so good.

 

[blastingcap]

If you truly care about your data, any NAS that doesn't have ECC memory is not worth buying. You might as well build one yourself and run OwnCloud or NAS4Free or something instead. There are a few NAS's with ECC though, such as some of the higher-end ReadyNASes; those are also starting to ship with btrfs which is a better file system than the less-secure ext3/4 that others use.

 

[FLSteve]

So, how well has DS2013J and Photoshop Elements worked together after a year? I'm thinking about a similar upgrade using PSE3 and upgrading to a gigabit network.
Have you use the PSE with a wifi network or just wired?

 

[voodoo7817]

Interesting to see this thread necro'd. The Synology 215j was just recently released and is the updated model to the 213j that the OP bought. Here's a review: http://www.kitguru.net/site-news/highlights2/leo-waldock/synology-ds215j-nas-review/. The changes are that the CPU is now dual core at 800mhz and it has a usb3 port. For reference, it's basically the same CPU that was in the 214 model from a few months ago. Seems to be a really nice entry level NAS option at ~$200.

If the 213j has worked well for the OP, I think the 215j would be more than enough for my needs.

 

[Number1]

So, how well has DS2013J and Photoshop Elements worked together after a year? I'm thinking about a similar upgrade using PSE3 and upgrading to a gigabit network.
Have you use the PSE with a wifi network or just wired?

DS2013J and Photoshop Elements together are unusable. I moved all my pictures to a local drive and everything works fine.

 

[celestialgrave]

I'm curious if you guys think there's a cheaper option than the Synology 215j if all I want to do is have a 2-bay NAS to aggregate data from 2 desktops and 2 tablets, mirror the hdd for redundancy and then use an external hdd to periodically back the NAS up to. My usage would be just storage, no transcoding or media streaming. Will be having a baby shortly and just want to be able to keep all the pics and vids in a centralized location and backed up easily. Hoping you guys can recommend something under $200.
Thanks.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

I'm curious if you guys think there's a cheaper option than the Synology 215j if all I want to do is have a 2-bay NAS to aggregate data from 2 desktops and 2 tablets, mirror the hdd for redundancy and then use an external hdd to periodically back the NAS up to. My usage would be just storage, no transcoding or media streaming. Will be having a baby shortly and just want to be able to keep all the pics and vids in a centralized location and backed up easily. Hoping you guys can recommend something under $200.
Thanks.

For "cold" storage? The DS214se should work fine.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822108163

It's the "affordable" version. (Slow CPU. Good enough to be a file server though.)

 

[Carson Dyle]

I'm curious if you guys think there's a cheaper option than the Synology 215j if all I want to do is have a 2-bay NAS to aggregate data from 2 desktops and 2 tablets, mirror the hdd for redundancy and then use an external hdd to periodically back the NAS up to. My usage would be just storage, no transcoding or media streaming. Will be having a baby shortly and just want to be able to keep all the pics and vids in a centralized location and backed up easily. Hoping you guys can recommend something under $200.Thanks.

The ONLY reason I'd even (remotely) consider an inexpensive NAS for file storage is if a) size and b) energy use are the most important considerations for you.

Otherwise, you can get several times the performance for less money by checking out your local Craigslist and buying somebody's three to five year-old desktop PC. Keep whatever version of Windows is already on it and install VNC for remote desktop (if the OS is a Professional version of Windows you'll already have remote desktop software). Stick it off in a corner or down in the basement and run it headless.