Simple reliable NAS

[rappy]

So I have been trying to decide what is my best bet. Either build a system or go with a "pre built" system. I want something simple to use, yet actually works. Though I realize building your own rig will be less costly, would it be easier for me (newb) to go with something like a Synology DS412+ or DS413?

So I'd like to back up important docs and a bunch of family photos and about 125 hrs of family video. Though my biggest concern is for a drive to go bad, I will also save the videos on dvd's and leave them at a offsite family members home. How good of a media streamer is the Synology?

Thanks

 

[blastingcap]

It's not just a matter of cost, it's also reliability. Prebuilts do not have end-to-end checksums (on ZFS, btrfs, and ReFS have that ability) or error correcting memory (and despite what people claim about how allegedly rare bit flips are, they can and do occur and if you leave a NAS on 24/7 you will get them, see the CERN study and http://storagemojo.com/2012/10/23/dram-errors-soft-and-hard/), whereas a NAS4Free/FreeNAS box running ZFS does. If reliability is paramount, you should probably build your own NAS.

P.S. I should add that software RAID is better than hardware RAID for many people, so that's another strike vs prebuilts which usually use hardware RAID. If that RAID controller acts up or breaks, you'd need another one just like it which can be expensive. Compare this to exporting and importing ZFS pools.

 

[deaner]

So I have been trying to decide what is my best bet. Either build a system or go with a "pre built" system. I want something simple to use, yet actually works. Though I realize building your own rig will be less costly, would it be easier for me (newb) to go with something like a Synology DS412+ or DS413?

So I'd like to back up important docs and a bunch of family photos and about 125 hrs of family video. Though my biggest concern is for a drive to go bad, I will also save the videos on dvd's and leave them at a offsite family members home. How good of a media streamer is the Synology?

Thanks

I just posted something very similar a couple of weeks back -

Freenas - if u have the hardware, its cheap, easy and so far for me very reliable. I have setup shares to users, CIFS ISO library to my XenServer. I love it.

 

[LurchFrinky]

Although I have never purchased a pre-built NAS, my understanding is that they are not simply plug and play. They may be a little easier to setup than FreeNAS, but you still have to mess with network, shares, and streaming in either case.
There is a large price difference between similar spec build-your-own and pre-built.
I use FreeNAS and honestly, it isn't that difficult to set up. As a side note, even if it was significantly more difficult, you only have to do it once and you still have a cheaper/more powerful system.