Want to buy a NAS.Help please

[gizbug]

Background: Home Windows 8 pc (3TB space), Macbook Air, 3 Ipads, 3 Iphones, Boxee Box, ASUS AC66U router.

I want to unload all my MP3's and MKV movies that I have on my Hard Drive, and move them to a NAS. This will free up my Hard Drives and help better organize my files. I want my MP3's on a NAS, which my Home PC Itunes can access and stream. I want my MKV files on a NAS, so I can stream them to my Boxee (opposed to SMB share off my Windows 8 box). Also want windows 8 backups on there also. Does it sound like a NAS is the best solution for me?

If so, I see a lot of positive feedback on Synology products. Seems like no local stores here in Chicago carry these. I looked at Microcenter, and see a D-Link DNS-325. Would this be a major downgrade over a Synology (DS212j 2200)?

I'm trying to find one that already has HD's in it, but those seem tough to find.

Opinions please.

 

[Zxian]

Don't get the D-Link. Terrible performance, poor support, and I've always had a bad experience with D-Link in general.

Order the 212j off Newegg along with two internal hard drives (WD Red are my preference). Adding new drives to any NAS will format them, so don't just put your existing 3TB drive in there expecting it to work. You'll lose everything.

I'd recommend getting a NAS and hard drives separately. You know exactly what parts you're getting, and you can deal with each company's support directly. WD Support is very, very good.

I have had the 212j at home for about half a year now. Works as advertised, and no problems yet.

 

[Eug]

I have two Synologys but they are kinda of expensive for what you get. The benefit is the GUI-based and easy to use OS, but some techheads prefer other brands with more configurable OSes.

Personally, I wouldn't get the 212j. It will do all that you ask, but it's kinda slow and is missing what I consider key features like USB 3 +/- eSATA, which are helpful for backups of the NAS. I'd go to a higher end Synology. I have a DS211j, and ended up upgrading to the DS413. Not that I would suggest the DS413 for your needs, but perhaps something like the DS213 would be good for you. It has twice the memory of the 212j, almost twice the CPU speed, and USB 3.

I haven't used a D-Link NAS, but I note that they get less positive reviews than the Synology.

 

[SolMiester]

Background: Home Windows 8 pc (3TB space), Macbook Air, 3 Ipads, 3 Iphones, Boxee Box, ASUS AC66U router.

I want to unload all my MP3's and MKV movies that I have on my Hard Drive, and move them to a NAS. This will free up my Hard Drives and help better organize my files. I want my MP3's on a NAS, which my Home PC Itunes can access and stream. I want my MKV files on a NAS, so I can stream them to my Boxee (opposed to SMB share off my Windows 8 box). Also want windows 8 backups on there also. Does it sound like a NAS is the best solution for me?

If so, I see a lot of positive feedback on Synology products. Seems like no local stores here in Chicago carry these. I looked at Microcenter, and see a D-Link DNS-325. Would this be a major downgrade over a Synology (DS212j 2200)?

I'm trying to find one that already has HD's in it, but those seem tough to find.

Opinions please.

Plex has a plug in for Synology, which would be right up your street with the ipads etc, I love Plex on mine....As for the D-Link, I have a DNS323, the original DLink NAS...They are great bits of kit with heaps of plugins, although TBH, not really in the same park as the Synology

 

[beginner99]

Why not just use your windows 8 PC as NAS? add a second drive if you need the space and setup shares and done.

The only thing I don't know is if Macs can read windows shares but I guess they can do that since Ubuntu can do it too.

I have a win 7 pc with all the files and mainly access media files from a WD TV Live and that works perfectly fine.

 

[gizbug]

Want to have a good backup solution incase my hd fails in my pc.

So debating on synology ds212j vs ds213. About $150 price difference

 

[Eug]

What prices are you seeing?

Here in Toronto, the DS212j is $240, but the DS213 is $310, a $70 difference.

I see at Newegg in the US, the DS212j is $210, and the DS213 is $330, a $110 difference. However, Synology America has the DS213 for $300, and Amazon.com has it for $297.

 

[gizbug]

What prices are you seeing?

Here in Toronto, the DS212j is $240, but the DS213 is $310, a $70 difference.

I see at Newegg in the US, the DS212j is $210, and the DS213 is $330, a $110 difference. However, Synology America has the DS213 for $300, and Amazon.com has it for $297.

newegg has sale on ds212j, which is 197, same as amazon. Looking at around 299 for ds213

 

[LurchFrinky]

Want to have a good backup solution incase my hd fails in my pc.

Are you only worried about a backup solution to your PC? If that is the case, then the NAS is fine.
It sounded like you wanted to move stuff from your PC onto the NAS. Just be sure that if you have files on your NAS that exist nowhere else, that you will probably want a backup for these as well.

 

[mlody]

Why not just use your windows 8 PC as NAS? add a second drive if you need the space and setup shares and done.

The only thing I don't know is if Macs can read windows shares but I guess they can do that since Ubuntu can do it too.

I have a win 7 pc with all the files and mainly access media files from a WD TV Live and that works perfectly fine.

I second this suggestion. Your board has 6 SATA connectors. I would get a brand new pair of nice and fast hard drives and create a windows software raid 1. It will beat the hell out of any 2-bay NAS with zero additional cost - you will see 100+ mb/s reads/writes - something that is unattainable as far as I know on anything Home/SOHO NAS platform for under $500 - not sure about more expensive NAS'es.
In case of a failure, since it is a windows software raid, you can pull any disk and put it into a different system and you will have access to the data - no gimmicks to recover, no wasted time.

 

[Eug]

My 4-bay Synology DS413 NAS gets 100+ MB/s writes. It is well under $500 in the US, at least at certain stores. However, the 100+ MB/s write speeds are with non-RAIDed setups. It's slower with RAID5/6 or Synology Hybrid RAID.

The 2-bay Synology DS213+ NAS has the same CPU and therefore gets the same speeds, and goes for under $400 in the US.

 

[mlody]

My 4-bay Synology DS413 NAS gets 100+ MB/s writes. It is well under $500 in the US, at least at certain stores. However, the 100+ MB/s write speeds are with non-RAIDed setups. It's slower with RAID5/6 or Synology Hybrid RAID.

The 2-bay Synology DS213+ NAS has the same CPU and therefore gets the same speeds, and goes for under $400 in the US.

It should be noted that the synology 100+ mb/s read/write performance is only achieved in the best case scenarios (large file transfer) and only on ds713+ model which sells for more then 500$ - even on Amazon.
Small files transfer (more typical case use for an average nas) - uploading/downloading music, pictures, small home vidoes take 30-50% performance hit on said NAS'es.

I am basing my statement on the following information, so i appologize if this is not current anymore.
http://www.synology.com/products/performance.php?lang=us#tabs-2

 

[Cerb]

Small files transfer (more typical case use for an average nas) - uploading/downloading music, pictures, small home vidoes take 30-50% performance hit on said NAS'es.

The smaller files will get you that kind of performance hit on anything but a well-tuned ZFS-based PC file server, or SSD RAID array. GbE is limited to around 100MBps (125MBps for plain copper, before overhead), and then everything that can reduce that, like packet sizes, protocol overheads, disk access speeds, and CPU time to handle the file access, will do so.

Also, if you use a switch, make sure it supports jumbo frames. Pretty much all do, now, but a few years back, that wasn't necessarily the case.