Repeat of this previous deal:
Entry-level 2 Bay NAS
CPU Model Realtek RTD1296
512MB DDR4 non-ECC
USB 3.0 x 2
GigaLan x 1
Btrfs: No
Official Docker support: No
Surveillance Station: yes (including 2 Free License)
Can stack today with ShopBack or TopCashback offers.
Synology software is actually very good but I agree ide get the next NAS up in the range. Value series or Plus series.
If its just for backups, this would be fine.
I had this as budget streaming box. It's lasted me years. Still not dead, but upgraded to a new 4 bay.
Synology software is fine.
after using both QNAP and Synology, I would say QNAP system is actually better in many ways, just to name a few, allowing local ext HDD backup and restore, QNAP hosted free DyDNS service which Synology needs a thrid-party DyDNS
allowing local ext HDD backup and restore
How do you do this exactly? Plug the external drive into the QNAP usb port and open the QTS software? Where will the external drive appear in QTS?
Manually copy the files over? Or is there a backup scheduler?
Thanks. Looking to expand RAID1 to RAID5.
No. less than that. Check the following link,
https://www.synology.com/en-global/dsm/packages/ActiveBackup…
.
Some Add-ons, i.e. business oriented apps, are NOT available to low end models. Seems only works on intel/AMD CPU models, but not on ARM CPU models.. In other words, Not all following apps are available to DS220j.
https://www.synology.com/en-global/dsm/packages
ew… J model….
got one just for basic back up with my spare drives, cant trust any of the usb hdd enclosures…
I use mine for one Reolink camera as well as a backup target for my 920+
How do you have the reolink camera set up? Is there an app on the Synology and your camera connects via ethernet?
Currently using the reolink NVR but wondering if I could consilid everything
Yep I use the built in Synology Surveillance Station with a Reolink 520a - camera based person/vehicle detection works perfectly
I am currently running a core i3 micro pc with an external hdd as a pure file storage nas, no transcoding etc. I know this is underspecced, but I feel like this would do that fine and more efficiently?
Havent had a NAS for some time - how complex do they actually need to be?
I thought they were just a bunch of drives stored in a box that your network can access? Why spend anything more than this?
depends on use case, trying to transcode video with this would make for a frustrating viewing experience.
They run their own NAS operating system and you can install apps into them. They do more than just providing a network drive. Depending on what you want to run on them higher specs can be better.
A lot of higher end NAS are running 64bit x86 CPUs in them and you can run virtual machines on them, it's like a mini server in your house.
Most NAS these days also have HDMI output so you can use them as both your media server and your media player attached to the TV.
Go with anything that can at least handler containers / docker for density.
So for just providing a network drive, for holding 4k content within network, non transcoded, to media players, then this would be fine? It's just if you want to install apps, run docker etc that it'll be an issue?
@witheredcouch: it'll do all that fine. transcoding is where stuff gets tricky most of the time.
you can probably run a few apps (eg. torrenting/sonarr/radarr/plex) and not have issues.
@Laserface: Yeah, only software I would potentially run on it is Jdownloader or an equivalent download manager, and potentially backups of my desktop. Otherwise, just file storage, no transcoding.
Anything similar to this with NextCloud or TrueNas would be much more powerful.
You need to be somewhat tech-savvy, but there are tons of youtube tutorials on how to install and configure it.
More powerful, yes, but what about power efficiency? I just want something that will give me network storage, do not need to transcode or process anything on it other than just making a drive available on my network. I would assume this would be considerably more efficient than my current I3 6100T mini pc that I use.
I have tried that and with my Ac68u's it was just too unstable unfortunately. Seemed to be a bottleneck on 20GB+ video files.
I have this exact model, it consumes about 15W power with 8TB + 14TB hard disks. It's quite power efficient. I only use Kodi to play media without transcoding. I've also scheduled incremental backup at night time. For my use case, it's more than good enough for me.
Thanks, that is exactly my planned use-case (Though currently just 1*18tb drive) + maybe the 4TB storage drive that is currently crammed in my ITX desktop.
To clarify, do you mean the NAS or the PC?
Hey that's not bad! What about a micro form factor one? Do they hold HDD or only SDD?
What enclosure do you recommend for housing drives?
To be used as RAID 1 (mirroring) to backup important data ?
JOBD would be too dangerous as you could lose everything on both drive.
I think this concept is a better idea for most people, just wish they were more readily available and cheaper like those $80 external hdd is from office works and the like, storage included.
Then you could plug it into your router for NAS knowing the device will do the raid 1, if an internal 2.5" drive fails you swap it out.
Would be a no brainer.
Sorry, noob question, will this come with any storage? Or I have to buy separately? TiA!
No u'll have to put ur own drives in
Proper English please:
No you will have to put your own drives in
What have we come to? "u'll"……..???
I have an old HP Prodesk 600 G4 sitting in a draw somewhere. Could that be used as a Plex server?
Will this be sufficient for a office setup, storing and accessing data by 2 computers?
Currently using a 3.5" HDD in an ORICO enclosure, attached to Asus AC68U Router. Not streaming any media at the moment. Looking at setting up an automatic backup from phones for photos, etc.
Would having a dedicated NAS be any better than my current setup?
TIA
A dedicated NAS with multiple bays will give you the option to use RAID which provides some redundancy in case of drive failure. Or the extra bays will give you capacity to increase your storage space in future. It's also nice to have dedicated apps within the NAS OS for drive health checks, cloud storage, sync and backup, anti-virus, etc.
Just make sure you think about your future needs as this unit is very basic and could cost you more in the long run if you have to upgrade the NAS.
Thanks for the explanation.
Besides needing more storage and possibly security/redundancy. Which other future needs would arise for a NAS use? Genuine question.
Edit: The Asus configuration right now give me access via the AI Cloud app when I'm not connected through LAN. NAS would have similar capability but much more stable and better I guess?
Buy a NAS if you need Raid.
If you dont need raid buy a DAS.
Some of the things include security camera recording, media streaming, torrents, file backups with versioning, etc. Also need to consider if the controller in the USB HDD enclosure is reliable in the long run compared to a NAS.
very entry level hardware, you basically pay for synology software here..