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Synology DS918+ 4 Bay Now out of stock
Synology DS918+ 4 Bay NAS $594.15 (OOS), QNAP TS-453BE 4 Bay NAS $534.65 + Delivery ($0 with eBay Plus) @ Smarthomestoreau eBay
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nocure on 25/09/2019 - 15:14 ebay.com.au (3623 clicks)
Last edited 25/09/2019 - 17:35 by 2 other users
Last edited 25/09/2019 - 17:35 by 2 other users
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I'm wondering if anyone else out there thinks that investing $1000+ (after hdd also) for these devices is a good idea, when everything is cloud based and internet is so fast you can now stream 4k on nbn as the norm.
With the money, would you not be better off paying for Netflix, Foxtel and Disney+ subscriptions for years to come rather than spend the money to fumble around with Plex servers and torrents?
And for my file storage pay for google drive or one drive storage and never worry about losing your files even if your house burnt down?
You're assuming that everyone has access to those speeds and that the NBN is always working. And not everyone trusts their data to cloud companies, at least not very private data. And why keep adding to the profits of global megacorps to keep rehashing the same old crap year in year out just to keep their owners' social narrative intact?
If you're paranoid then yes, you can spend the funds. And yes if you don't have reliable NBN, then local storage would be great. And yes if you're a hippy and hate mega corporations and don't want to pay for anything in the cloud.
That said spending $$$ on a home server solution in my opinion does not make sense for most people as they'd not fall into any of the categories described above.
Btw, I'm not dissing your comment that this is a decent price. I'm just sharing my thoughts overall if the money and time spent on a NAS server in general is worth it. I replied to your comment as it's the top most post ;)
@Vietsoldier: but what are you paying per month for all of these services… so you get coverage of everything (because that's what you get with a plex set up once you know where to get everything) you're buying netflix, stan, foxtel now, kayo, optus sports, disney, apple, amazon (did I miss one?)… and if you like other sports outside of EPL, AFL, Cricket, A League and rugby you're buying NBA and NFL subs as well… the plex set up means you can do away with netflix, stan, foxtel now, disney, apple and amazon, those savings would be circa $100/month.
All good points however my NAS is mainly used to manage & store footage from my security cameras which would still cost an absolute fortune to store in the cloud at this point in time. Out of my usable 24TB capacity I only really use about 20% max for file storage and only because I have a NAS for the cameras. If it wasn't for the cameras then yes, I'd probably be totally cloud-based now.
That's a good use case for NAS local storage. I have surveillance cameras too and for me I use a dedicated NVR.
@Vietsoldier: Yeah, it's a very nice, very easy to use 'one-stop-shop' solution for multiple tasks. It's also compact, deathly quiet & cool which is streets ahead of the NVRs I've tested in the past as it allows for easier placement in nooks & crannys around the house. I have mine in a dedicated 'IT' cabinet up high in the Kitchen along with the modem, router, POE switch and a UPS. Wouldn't even know it's all there… silent, neat & tidy and dust-free.
I'm wondering if anyone else out there thinks that investing $1000+ (after hdd also) for these devices is a good idea,
You're barking up the wrong tree.
Anyone who knows NASs and has invested serious money into data storage doesn't give two sh*ts about cloud storage providers or streaming services. They're too unreliable, insecure, their T&Cs are extremely anti-consumer, Australia still has 3rd-world telecommunications infrastructure and any cloud storage plans that give you a decent storage quota (e.g. 10TB or more) cost stupid money per month/year.
With the money, would you not be better off paying for Netflix, Foxtel and Disney+ subscriptions for years to come rather than spend the money to fumble around with Plex servers and torrents?
Lol, "fumble". Oh no, I had to spend a few hours on the weekend to setup my NAS and home network instead of paying hundreds of dollars for years and years to access content that I might watch every couple of weeks when I get the time.
Not to mention, I'm paying for access to a library of predominantly garbage media that doesn't interest me in the least and that I'll never watch.
The hilarious thing about your statement is that my personal media library at home is infinitely more reliable and has better availability/uptime/latency/quality than anything out there including Netflix or Stan, and best of all, my access to all of my content doesn't depend on a corporation debiting my bank account each month nor depend on that corporation's continued existence.
If you're paranoid then yes, you can spend the funds. And yes if you don't have reliable NBN, then local storage would be great. And yes if you're a hippy and hate mega corporations and don't want to pay for anything in the cloud.
And if you're a complete numpty who is advocating wasting money on a bargain sharing site, instead of saving it, then yes you could waste hundreds of dollars per year in cloud storage and streaming subscription costs indefinitely instead of going with a solution that pays for itself in a year or two for most people.
It looks like you have some sort of burning prejudice against tech-savvy, computer literate folk and want everyone to exist in the same bubble you do where you can't be stuffed doing things for yourself and can't understand why anyone else would. In other words, a stock-standard, Aussie middle-class suburbanite who's favourite pastime is telling others how they should live and who believes a few corporations monopolising every market is a good trend, instead of the consumer having more choices and freedom.
I'm just sharing my thoughts overall if the money and time spent on a NAS server in general is worth it.
Your thoughts are garbage; you just wanted to rant at people who you seemingly don't understand and therefore feel the need to criticise.
@amar89 I like your passion, but it's misguided and unnecessarily emotive. You do realise that in advising people to have a think about their genuine need to buy a NAS I'm helping people save money?
I bet many people including yourself have a tonne of gear that is unused. Buying stuff you don't need is wasting money. For me, I recently had a tonne of spare HDDs at home and a 2 old unused NASs too. I realised I wasn't using it much now, so I sold my gear on Ebay. Seeing this deal made me realise I was not about to blow $1000 on a faster more powerful NAS even if it were a bargain. I have a desktop server at home now with a ssd in it and a single 8TB drive.
My key storage requirement are my family photos which I've lost in the past to failed hardware. I now upload all my photos to Google for free and no longer worry about losing this precious and irreplaceable data. Some may question if that's a good idea, but for me I like having my photos cloud accessible across all my devices.
I'm not saying that a NAS does not have its uses, however spending $1000+ I still stand by my opinion its not for most people, it's a niche requirement. And remember not having a NAS does not mean you can't do all the things described using the same computer/laptop people have at home already.
Which one is a better buy?
Synology
Spectacular price on the 918! Nice.
I think this is the cheapest price ever. The lowest I've seen is $595.40 in Feb.
Yea, Amazon CashRewards makes it $568.
Really? The cheapest I can find on Amazon right now is $721
I also am trying to figure out how this works.
ordered two
h***s That must be you. Why you need two?why not buy all of them
"The name's Move, Dick Move!"
good luck, based on the release period time frame, new model is around the corner
It's not. Synology just announced a new line-up of models at their latest conference and there was no 4-bay successor to the DS918+.
Good deal.
I got the Synology back in July for $628 and still haven't set it up.
Mine is from July LAST YEAR and the same :/
The problem was it's a POS for setting up directories that are only visible to certain users.
I got it the first time by luck (on a 2tb test drive), but the second time (my proper 4*12tb array) I had no joy. And all the research said it couldn't be done. Too fricking hard. I'd go the qnap for this alone.
Cheaper than upcoming '20% off' computer alliance deal.
I don't get the point of these for plex. Would appreciate it if someone could explain the advantage of this over just leaving a pc on. Is it a convenience thing or for people with no desktop towers?
I haven't had to use a computer in years! Setup the downloader tool to extract downloads, DLNA and shares are a breeze, don't worry about windows down time or performance issues. I dump torrents from my phone into a share for auto download using the DS apps. Apps also help catalogue your media.
Not sure how you dump torrents via phone. Magnet links doesn't work most of the time. The built-in downloader tool can't recognise those links. U less you save the. torrent files manually to a share folder open with DS app
I still prefer PC unless I schedule something overnight or in a queue
PC uses a bunch more power. Plus Sonarr and Radarr make it an awesome thing to have. Might not be for you, but I can attest that it is worth for me with my 900w behemoth.
You're comparing apples and oranges, though.
Personally, these are very tempting. But I use an old i3 with hand me down parts, in a large case. 14 drives without effort or premium.
Every usage scenario is different, of course. I don't run this 24/7. Maybe future versions.
Yeah but you'd be (profanity) with it to no end, especially compared to the Synology. They just work, and the software that comes with it is fantastic.
@Singu1arity: … But I haven't.
Anyone can find simple solutions/software to make it work.Same could be said comparing with Mac options. Simplicity can be broken handcuffs to some, a dream for others.
Again, apples & oranges… Both have good merit.
thinking of buying one for my photography business filing manager as well as sharing files to clients.
Other than this function, PLEX function, how do i find out the power of this unit and use it to the limit?
i am totally noob with NAS. Any advise gents? or anyone care to share where i could learn more to fully utilised this unit. Thank you
Yeah, me too. The passmark on this CPU is very very low 2112. It's OK if you're just watching locally. But if you have to stream and use transcoding, then I think this device would struggle?
Not entirely the case GrimCheaper. Mine can handle transcoding 1080P high bitrates quite easily. Haven't tried transcoding 4K anything but locally as I'm still stuck on cable kinda seems pointless trying when I'll be going from 40 odd Mbps to 2.4!
If you have a Plex pass, enable hardware transcoding and it'll do very well.
There are such mixed stories about ram compatibility with the 918+ though.
And official ram = $$$$ when it should only be $
As per serbpie above, since running a NAS (& especially the Synology 918) I've moved on from having bulky desktop PCs around the house and now just use mobile devices including phones, tablets and a work laptop. I use the 918 for multiple tasks too including a one-stop NVR for my security cameras. It's small, compact, uses far less energy than a PC and runs stupidly cool to boot… so much so that I'm now running all my IT gear including Modem, Router, 1500VA UPS, POE Switch and the 918 NAS in a small vented Kitchen cupboard, up high & out of the way.
What security cameras you run. im looking to add some POE ones. I know they have recommended list … but so many
I run five of these HIKVISION 4K 8MP DS-2CD2385FWD-I and they're brilliant. No BS, just rock solid 24/7 performance and run seamlessly with Surveillance Station on the 918+. I had the 'English Firmware' Chinese version previous to these but they were woeful as I kept getting hacked and couldn't update the firmware to solve it so I had to replace them. Best advice is not to be too stingy as the extra $10-$20 to get local Australian Firmware versions is very well worthwhile. Keep in mind that you need to purchase extra camera licenses for Surveillance Station to run more than 1-2 cameras and they're not cheap at about $80ea but once you've spent the money it's basically 'set & forget' perfection.
If you wait and time it all nicely you can take advantage of great eBay sales for both the cameras and the licenses. I bought my cameras from the seller in that link above but for around $160ea and I got my license pack from Hong Kong which was a risk but they emailed me pics of the codes within minutes of purchase so all good.
@SteveAndBelle: great 👍 good to know you can onBargain some extra licenses!
yeh I was looking at Hikvision cameras but there are soo many.
yes agree about getting the right firmware version!@SteveAndBelle: Any recommendations on poe switches?
Also any comments on blue iris vs surveillance station?Thanks!
@darkb: Yep, the cheapest you can find with the power & ports you need. You'll have no problem if you only want to run four cameras as 4-port POE swutches are very easy to find but I wanted five so had to get an 8-port. I ended up with a TP-Link TL-SG2210P as it was all there was at a reasonable price a couple of years ago but there are probably more around now. Be sure to check the power consumption of the cameras you choose then make sure your switch can provide the grunt before purchasing. My TP-link is fine with five cams but may struggle with more… but that's fine as I only need five anyway :)
@SteveAndBelle: Camera licences can also be bought from computer alliance on eBay during the sales - I noticed this the other day and was thinking I wish I had planned ahead.
Also be warned, they're tied to your NAS and can't be transferred once activated.@jace88: Cool! How much are they from CA? Also, not sure about the second part of your comment. I originally used them on a DIY Xpenology NAS years ago but then changed over to a Synology 918+ and had no problems activating the same old licences on that. Maybe it's a new rule for new licenses?!
@SteveAndBelle: Currently CA have it at $75 for 1, $449 for 8. 20% coupon coming up in a day > https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/485041
1 camera licence $75: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Synology-Camera-License-for-1-Ca…
8 camera licence $449: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Synology-Camera-License-for-8-Ca…I'll edit my comment for the 2nd bit as whilst I recall seeing a warning that it was tied to the NAS somewhere, I can't find anything to support that now since Synology says you can delete licences.
(looks like I'm too late to edit my comment)
@jace88: Yeah, best time to buy licenses for sure! Brings the price down to about what I paid from Honkers :) Lets hope they don't price hike!
@SteveAndBelle: I have the DS-2CD2355FWD-I and I spelt far they integrate flawlessly with SS. My main gripe is that in camera line crossing won't trigger an alert in SS so either stick to motion detection in SS or just rely on camera email for line crossing. Hopefully they'll update SS at some point.
@Drj55: Interesting info Drj55. I admit I don't use any Motion Detection in my setup as it's mainly for general monitoring plus when I trialled it years ago I just got non-stop alerts due to leaf & branch movement, shadows, insects, cobwebs and all sorts of false positives even after much fine-tuning. Different if the cameras were in controlled rooms & hallways of course but mine are all outside and exposed to far too many variables to create an accurate trigger. I thought I'd found a perfect config but because I had to pull the sensitivity down so far I then ended up missing things which was the final straw and when I decided to give up as I didn't really need that feature anyway :)
@SteveAndBelle: That's my exact experience with motion detection. In camera line crossing is excellent on the hikvision. But these type of alerts are called "smart events" and the Synology won't recongnise these as an alert. Therefore you can't use the intermittent recording and there won't be a notification mark on the recording to quick jump to. Not the end of the world but a bit disappointing when Hikivision is such a common camera and it must be a fairly simple bit of code to get it working.
I bought my first NAS just after building an uber expense H20 cooled rig with SLI… it has ~100hrs use :(.
The NAS is on 24/7 and my only dislike are the disk noises… in a closed Ikea cupboard.
Would appreciate it if someone could explain the advantage of this over just leaving a pc on. Is it a convenience thing or for people with no desktop towers?
A NAS will eat a spare desktop tower acting as a NAS/file server for breakfast in every conceivable metric: power consumption, total cost of ownership, MBTF, transfer speeds, physical footprint, hours of life wasted in configuring the thing, etc.
A Synology NAS's DiskStation Manager OS is literally no more complicated than setting up a name brand modem-router (like a TP-Link) for the average user and the initial set-up takes about 30 minutes of configuration. Conversely, they're also incredibly customisable for power users too.
The only people that don't get the appeal of NASs are those that haven't tried them yet.
I used to be incredibly stubborn on this topic too but now there's no way in hell I'm going back to tinkering around with unwieldy old towers to re-purpose them as makeshift file servers by spinning up FreeNAS or a Linux distro on them. It just requires way too much time, effort and maintainence to get everything running as it should.
Wait until you discover PFsense ;)
I've been using a macmini for years which is low power as well. And much prettier than a NAS.
Wonder how you install and RAID four hard drives in a mini?
@[Deactivated]: I have heard for the Mac mini you can buy this thing to hang off the back called a synology DS918+, and fill it up with four disks for heaps of storage in a raid config even! Easy p!
Seriously though, if you are just using it as a media server the Mac mini is a fantastic low power solution. As the storage runs out just grab a cheap external drive.
But it isn’t as fit for a variety of NAS services as a true NAS is. I would use it for a NAS if I had access to an old Mac mini lying around, otherwise if a purchase was involved I would get a true NAS.
A NAS will eat a spare desktop tower acting as a NAS/file server for breakfast in every conceivable metric
Definitely not every conceivable metric. I decided to build my own mini-ITX ryzen machine for $600 and will run Xpenology (Synology OS on thirdparty hardware) on a VM, while having leftover cores for gaming/homelab stuff etc. True that it takes a bit more time and effort to set up, but once you get past that hurdle it's well worth it for me to have a computer running Xpenology with option for SAS drives + easy expansion (no need for an expensive Synology expansion unit) over a dedicated NAS. It will probably cost more but better price/performance ratio.
If I wanted a barebones NAS computer I could have opted for a low-power celeron build with larger case for <$400.
The only people that don't get the appeal of NASs are those that haven't tried them yet.
I have a Synology NAS and I understand it's appeal, but instead of buying a newer faster one with more drive bays I opted to build my own computer for the reasons stated above.
That would be a very niche use case that a majority of NAS buyers would not require in the least.
Most users are just looking for a dumb file server to serve up media to local clients.
@Miami Mall Alien: True, your post has some facts and good points. I just didn't want others to be misled by the some of your points that I had quoted.
thinking of buying one for my photography business filing manager as well as sharing files to clients.
Other than this function, PLEX function, how do i find out the power of this unit and use it to the limit?
i am totally noob with NAS. Any advise gents? or anyone care to share where i could learn more to fully utilised this unit. Thank you
Transcodes 4K on the fly to lessor formats for increased support. Plex pass required.
Damn, nice price… though I've waited so long to get one, I wonder if I should just wait for a potential DS920.
Same boat as you.
with tech you could always wait and never buy! Unless there is a specific feature you are waiting for.
Yeah pretty much… though for me, my current NAS is still doing the job fine (albeit slowly, and less features), so it's more of a want rather than a need. (and I suspect the potential DS920 probably won't introduce anything mind-boggling compared to this one).
It's more just it feels that the DS918+ has been around for a while (it's 2 years old already) and given the historical cycle of Synology updates every 2 or so years, I'm not sure if it'll plummet in price in the near future. That being said I'm on a DS216j I bought in mid 2015 so 4 years of life and still going strong is testament to Synology.
I have a DS411+…. Apart from diskspace, what would the DS918+ give me roughly that would make a worthwhile upgrade? In other words, would I feel the processing difference for regular home usage over the past 8 years of hardware development? I have the itch to buy but not the justifications :)
The itch is the justification.
I can see you're not married. True Ozbargainer move.
For pure network storage you probably wouldn't but if you want to run applications on top of the Synology then you definitely would.
throughput in terms of megabytes/second would be significantly different. I've got a ds411j and 413j and they are slow as anything.
Well, it's out of stock for now, no more dilemma for me before going to bed tonight. Still have a 211j and wanting to upgrade for ages.
DS918+
0 available / 15 soldQNAP
9 available / 1 sold
:(
Mega tease, please update title OP, I can't report this for being sold out.
Excellent price for the Synology. Been waiting a long time for that price but lost my patience and bought it early.
Are most people getting the DS918+ for streaming/plex. I want this so bad, but can't justify it when I use it purely for storage and that's it.
That's my main use… Fantastic for Plex.
If just for storage maybe the My Cloud may be an easier option.
Storage, backups, time machine destination,…
One thing I'd note is the lesser models with the ARM CPUs and less RAM can be a bit slow to navigate/use which can be frustrating. Whilst I'm still happy with my DS216j which was relatively cheap, it does feel a bit slow and running multiple applications on it is an exercise in self control and patience.
Yeah I have a DS213J, but I want more space and faster navigation.
I have tried many alternate solutions like RN 102, old laptops etc for plex, but they haven’t been painless processes.
The capability of adding many drives comes with desktop only, I’m aiming to upgrade my desktop from i7 2nd gen to the latest one and use the old desktop for plex. It is still able to support 6 HD and few external and works like a charm.
By saying this, there are lot of play users in this forum,
Should we think about sharing media..lolFor what it's worth, Synology and QNAP are both excellent brands and support their NASes for a long time with updates.
Good price for 918+ but all gone.
I have a semi old TS-469 QNAP and works like a happy rocking chap :) ,
Never had a Synology so can't comment on all people claiming it's better!Is synology better than DIY nas?
Current running unraid on hp Ml10v2 7xhdd, Haswell Xeon, 16gb ecc ram. 2 ssd cache.
that really depends on your priorities, use case and values.
A good detailed comparison between the two units.
https://nascompares.com/2019/09/18/synology-ds918-nas-vs-qna…
I have the QNAP TS-453BE and it's been great for both streaming and security cameras.
I was also able to upgrade the ram to 16GB using x 2 Crucial 8GB DDR3 1600MHz CL11 SODIMM RAM.
Centrecom have them at $65 each which works out to $130.00 for a nice upgrade.something that review misses is that you can also stick 2 M2 drives in the Synology 918+ and use those as cache drives
Thank you for your comments. I bought the same ram and was able to successfully upgrade the ram.
Just finished work and missed the 918s.. I just got the approval from the commander-in-chief yesterday after agreed to cancel google one 2Tb subscription and approving her disco sport or tig allspace.
For a second there I thought you worked for the military. lol!
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Nice price. :)