Help Me Find a NAS

Waffles on 10/11/2024 - 08:46
Last edited 10/11/2024 - 10:54 by 1 other user

I recently bought an N100 to do some home server tasks including taking over my always on desktop that is providing Plex.

I had planned to use a USB enclosure to connect a NAS HD but the enclosure seems pretty flakey.

Instead I'm now thinking it's time to add a NAS and then make the drive available more broadly on the network as well as RAID them etc.

I'm trying to find a good NAS that isn't crazy expensive but can do a bit of the heavy lifting. Assumed requirements beyond basic nas are

  1. Can support my 3 IP cameras so I can bin a hikvisiom NVR (I read somewhere that Synology only supports 2 unless you have a lot of ram)
  2. Has 2.5 GB ethernet for when I go up from 1gb
  3. Has an NVME cache as that seems well worth it.
  4. Has lots of fun/useful features but doesn't need to do anything crazy assuming the N100 can handle it.
  5. Probably only needs 2 bays as I don't need/can't afford heaps of redundant storage

I've looked at Synology DS-224+ and QNAP TS-233 but they didn't seem to fit the bill. It's hard without having used the software to get a sense of how good they'll be so please help me out!

Computing NAS

Comments

  • CyberMurning on 10/11/2024 - 08:55
    +1

    didn't seem to fit the bill.
    Which bill that you see doesnt fit?

    • Waffles on 10/11/2024 - 09:21

      As far as I can tell neither has a cache, neither has 2.5GbE As mentioned I heard that synology limits IP camera streams…

      • CyberMurning on 10/11/2024 - 11:25
        +1

        See below…
        Surely less than 5 years old synology can handle 3 cams.
        You just need to buy more licence

        As below said you probably dont need cache or 2.5 because if you do need you wont be asking those questions.

        Lots of funs need more details but i can tell you synology is more fun than qnap or other cheap nas. What fun? I wont spoil them :)

        Yeah thats what 99pct people say i need 2 bays only then 6 months later oh crap i should have bought 4! And maybe youll post another thread asking which 4 bays is good…
        Just get 4 and be happy.

  • bondi on 10/11/2024 - 09:56

    You need to spend more to be able to use the latest technology. There is no free lunch. Get 4 bays for expansion data usage for the next five years. Each DS model has two camera licenses for free; you could buy another DVR set for 4 more licenses. Buying extra NVMe caches is not necessary, and the 2.5Gb port you don’t need.

    • Waffles on 10/11/2024 - 10:02

      so what model would you recommend here?

      • bondi on 10/11/2024 - 10:45
        -2

        What is your budget? How much will you be spending? There are a few DS models that might be fitting for you in Synology, as I said 4 bays is your DS model, go and study the individual 4 bay models. I don’t like the attitude when you beg for something for free.

        • Waffles on 10/11/2024 - 10:50

          I guess i was hoping more for people's thoughts and experiences on synology versus qnap, ugreen etc. If you think "synology 4 bay nas" then that would at least pin down my research to a handful of models over literally hundreds with pros and cons

          thanks anyway

          • rumblytangara on 10/11/2024 - 10:56

            @Waffles:

            I guess i was hoping more for people's thoughts and experiences on synology versus qnap, ugreen etc.

            From a holistic ownership perspective of UI polish it's simply synology >qnap>>>anything else

            Probably only needs 2 bays as I don't need/can't afford heaps of redundant storage

            If you are talking 2 bays, that's extremely entry level which makes it likely that the environment doesn't need or cannot make good use of stuff like SSD caching or 2.5Gbe interfaces. You're basically going to be running a mirrored pair and all the caching in the world isn't going to matter- you're asking for a turbo V6 in VW Polo.

            • Waffles on 10/11/2024 - 12:29

              @rumblytangara: i think i didnt really consider the number of bays to match the performance but yes, I see the point.

  • this is us on 10/11/2024 - 10:09
    +1

    Synology software is very intuitive and easy to use.
    I have the 923+ which I really like. My music are kept there, I play through Plexamp (lifetime subscription bought many years ago).
    I also have backup set-up for photos and files, and use Cryptomator for my documents, which are encrypted before syncing with another cloud provider.
    I have replaced a lot of my Google things with Synology apps.
    I do have videos too, and the fact that this model doesn't have hardware decoder hasn't been a problem. If that's important for you, check alternatives.
    I don't use the camera/recording integration.

    • Waffles on 10/11/2024 - 10:52

      Thanks!

    • cevad on 10/11/2024 - 11:04

      Second this for your use case - the 10Gbe upgrade is only $210 (compared to ~$250 for my DS1821+), but if you don't want to do this, if you are technically minded you can use a USB 2.5Gbe adaptor (I do this on my DS918+, which doesn't have a network upgrade port - it works well).

      I would recommending populating 3 drive slots at a minimum, that way you can use SHR-1 (RAID 5) and have 1 drive redundancy. You could populate the forth slot later when you need to expand your storage.

  • 7ekn00 on 10/11/2024 - 13:44
    +2

    B650 board $150
    AMD 5600G $150
    RAM $100
    Tower for drives $100
    PSU $100

    Far cheaper, more powerful, flexible and expandable than any NAS you will find … although mine idles at 27W (some new NASes can get down to 15W idle, but some older ones, like a DS412+ idle at 30-40W)

    • Waffles on 10/11/2024 - 18:36

      Interesting, I had considered this but was worried it would be too much fuss. What OS would you use there? Unraid or something?

      • mooseca on 10/11/2024 - 19:12

        I went this route a few years ago and am running the same setup as suggested (B450 board 32gb ram). I went for a dearer case so I could add more drives (fractal design node 804). I use truenas scale for OS.

    • Waffles on 10/11/2024 - 18:44

      far as i can tell B650 if Zen 5, so you're thinking a B550 or am I missing something?

      • 7ekn00 on 10/11/2024 - 18:51

        B650 boards (pick one with features needed): https://www.pccasegear.com/category/138_2220/motherboards/am…

        Edit You are right, sorry, my last project was a Zen 5 CPU on B650 headless, but yes, for 5600G use a B550: https://www.pccasegear.com/category/138_2023/motherboards/am…

        I used the A-Pro for my build a couple years ago: https://www.pccasegear.com/products/66484/msi-b550m-a-pro-mo…

        (just find on a cheaper site)

        As for OS, I have had it running many things (Windows, UNRaid, Linux, TrueNAS, OMV, etc) …

        I settled on Windows (better power control and app compatibility), but can run TrueNAS in a VM for ZFS, etc

        • Waffles on 10/11/2024 - 19:05

          so maybe something like this? https://pcpartpicker.com/list/jsTbt3

          I've never built smaller than ATX before…

          • 7ekn00 on 10/11/2024 - 19:10

            @Waffles: Yeah, but that is in US prices and keep in mind the number of drives you might want to expand too with the case …

            I jerry rigged a 10 x 3.5in bay caddy inside an ATX case (from a few CoolMaster 5 bay 3.5in caddies from old cases)!

            • Waffles on 10/11/2024 - 20:18

              @7ekn00: Thanks yeah I just meant the parts. I would rather not have a massive case but for half the price and double the power I understand it's a tradeoff

        • Waffles on 19/11/2024 - 14:57

          On OS i decided the easiest thing was to just get another 8TB ironwolf to match the existing one as a raid mirror. Do you do raid in windows? Web seems to suggest I shouldn't but I still don't see the standalone NAS as worth it.

          • 7ekn00 on 19/11/2024 - 15:02

            @Waffles: I just pool (via Storage Spaces in Windows Config) … my data is backed up, so RAID is pointless ;)

            RAID really only useful if you require fast access to the data you are storing, if you have the time to replace the drive and copy the data back too it, then RAID kind of pointless :P

            Here is how to do it via Storage Spaces in Windows 11: https://recoverhdd.com/blog/creating-software-raid-in-window…

  • rumblytangara on 10/11/2024 - 14:06
    +1

    I've looked at Synology DS-224+ and QNAP TS-233 but they didn't seem to fit the bill. It's hard without having used the software to get a sense of how good they'll be so please help me out!

    https://demo.synology.com/en-us

    QNAP probably has similar demos

    • Waffles on 10/11/2024 - 18:35

      I didn't know this existed, thanks!

  • GSDan on 10/11/2024 - 16:41
    +1

    I'd recommend Synology, it's pretty plug and play. There's cheaper options if you want to put more work in/don't mind a less polished UX.

    Two other things to add -

    • The number of IP cameras supported on Synology's software is less of a hardware issue, and more of a licensing one. You get two camera licenses included for free, and pay to add more on.
    • The way you're talking about Plex and hardware requirements makes me think that a 2 bay won't last you long. Buying a second NAS will be much more painful in the long run than getting one with a spare bay or two now and just slapping an extra drive in there when needed. It also makes a drive failure much more manageable, and you'll be able to get better read speeds if you do add more drives.

    I had great luck buying pre-owned through FB Marketplace. Might be worth a look.

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