Simple NAS for use internally in a small office.

[Cloud200]

Hi, I don't have much experience with SOHO gear when it comes to NAS devices so I figured it would be good to ask for advice.

Family friend is looking for a new NAS for exactly 3 usage scenarios:

FTP connection from an MFC printer to dump faxes and scans into.
SMB file dump for sharing between 3 PCs. For the most part this is just excel, word and acrobat files.
Backups of the 3 computers.

Nice but not critical features:
Backups of the NAS to an external USB HDD connected to the NAS.
Hot Swap HDDs that where a failed drive can be replaced without unscrewing the case.
Raid volume expansion, starting off with 2x 1TB drives and going to 2x 4TB drives without wiping the data.

Speed is not the primary concern here. Simplicity and reliability is. If the manufacturer has a significantly longer than usual warranty(3+ years) (and the tech support is competent) that is a plus. If the manufacturer has a history of releasing buggy firmware updates, then that is a huge detraction.



Thank you!

 

[stevech]

I chose a DS212 configured as two volumes. Running 2 years now. No problems. I don't take new software releases until it is mature.

 

[thiggins]

There are many two-bay NASes below $200 that would suit you just fine. You'll have a hard time finding 3+ year warranty. 1yr is typical.

Diskless Synology DS214se for $153 would fit you just fine if you were able to give on hot-swap requirement.

Diskless NETGEAR ReadyNAS 102 for $170 has hot-swappable bays.

 

[stevech]

Hot swap in a small NAS ... I don't think it's necessary or used enough to justify higher cost.

Opinion: Netgear NASes didn't rank well in my assessment. No one would argue that their customer support is among the worst.

 

[mdgm]

Hot swap allows you to replace a failed disk (or a working disk with e.g. a higher capacity disk) without needing to power off the NAS. It is important to clarify what this is for. Hot swap is NOT a form of backup. If you want to backup your data (which you should as no important data should be stored on just one device), USB backups, another NAS etc. are things to consider.

Hot swap in a small NAS ... I don't think it's necessary or used enough to justify higher cost.

That comes down to personal preference. Personally I feel more comfortable replacing a failed disk while the NAS is on than needing to turn it off. If you do replace a failed disk while the NAS is off you should make sure the disk has no partitions on it.

Opinion: Netgear NASes didn't rank well in my assessment. No one would argue that their customer support is among the worst.

We back our 100 series (e.g. RN102) NAS products with a 3 year limited warranty and the rest of our current NAS product line with a 5 year limited warranty.

Our customers tend to see a NAS purchase as a long term purchase and want the peace of mind that comes with a longer warranty.

We have a range of support options available currently for the ReadyNAS:

Phone support - available for the first 90 days are purchase. Have the option to pay for additional phone support after the 90 days are up or could alternatively use the free email support.
Live Chat - now available for the lifetime of product ownership for new purchases of the 300 series and above (100 series is limited to the first 90 days after purchase)
Email Support - can still use this after the 90 days are up.

So in the case of the 100 series after the 90 days are up Email Support would be the way to go.

I do sometimes hear of cases where the customer was not informed of the Email Support option when they ring up after the 90 days.

There is also help available on our ReadyNAS forums as well as on other forums.

If you have suggestions for how we could improve our customer support please let me know and I will forward those onto our product management team.

 

[Cloud200]

There are many two-bay NASes below $200 that would suit you just fine. You'll have a hard time finding 3+ year warranty. 1yr is typical.

Diskless Synology DS214se for $153 would fit you just fine if you were able to give on hot-swap requirement.

Diskless NETGEAR ReadyNAS 102 for $170 has hot-swappable bays.

I found the netgear for ~$130 shipped but I am still going to go with the Synology.
The main reason is the support. What essentially amounts to 90 days of live support is simple not an option. The DS214se has 2 years.

What I will be doing with it is buying 2x 1TB drives for $110 shipped, and 1x 2TB drive for $70 shipped.

Total cost:
$155+
$110+
$70=
$335

Going to set two rules to back up the array to the USB drive on a nightly basis rotating the sets each week.
Ought to be enough.

Mind you, this was going from an external 2.5" USB drive shared from a laptop.

Thanks for the help!