1st time buying a NAS, in need of advices

[Chojo]

Hi everyone,
I would move from my parent house soon (in 2 weeks aprox.) and i'm looking to buy a NAS, but I'm in need of advice at the moment because I don't wanna overkill.

Here what i'm looking for:
+ Movie. I would like to store my Blu-Ray collection and have the ability to watch them on my TV (I guess I will need a smart TV for this? I also have a PS4 connected to my tv if that help.)
+ Music. I have very large library of musics files and I would like to have the ability to listen it on any device at my home
+ Files. I would like to have a hub for my files where me and my GF could put their files in it and use it with any device.
+ Backup. I would like to plug an external drive to it so I can have a second backup drive. I doesn't care about RAID 1, if my drive fail, I will simply buy another one and use my external backup to move the files to my new drive.
+ 4TB or more. At the moment, my currently PC have 3 TB amount of files, so I would my future NAS to be 4TB or more (furthermore, I would need WD red drive, right?)
+ Devices. We currently have 1 android and 1 blackberry phone, 1 tablet, 2 laptop, 1 desktop PC, 1 PS4, 1 printer (lolzy)
+ Quiet. I would really like it to be silent, if possible.

So my need are basics, yet for the movie part, the lag could be a problem I imagine? I've read that the new coming ReadyNAS 212 should be aimed for multimedia, should I grab something like that? For the price point, I like in Canada.

On another note, if you guyz would like to help me on the router part, I don't have a router yet, i'm in the process to buy one. My good friend told that my the Netgear R7000 is a wonderful product and its aswell highly rated here, so I'm probably going to buy this router. This information could be important if some NAS arent compatible with it?

Thank you in advance or your help

PS1: Sorry for my english, i'm a french canadian
PS2: For the admins, good choice picking xenForo as your forum platform. I own a xenForo forum too since XF release and its an awesome product, really.

 

[sfx2000]

I think any two disk NAS would meet most of your needs - depends on your budget of course... Netgear (ex-Infrant) ReadyNAS, QNAP, Synology, Asusstor all have great products that are either ARM based, or if wanting a bit more, their lower end x86-64 based products do some really good stuff...

Your PS4 is a DLNA client, so finding a NAS that can at least serve DLNA is a good thing (most do), but if you've got a wide variety of content (e.g. Rips in different formats) then the X86 NAS boxes can help there.

WD Reds are very well regarded.

 

[Chojo]

I think any two disk NAS would meet most of your needs - depends on your budget of course... Netgear (ex-Infrant) ReadyNAS, QNAP, Synology, Asusstor all have great products that are either ARM based, or if wanting a bit more, their lower end x86-64 based products do some really good stuff...

Your PS4 is a DLNA client, so finding a NAS that can at least serve DLNA is a good thing (most do), but if you've got a wide variety of content (e.g. Rips in different formats) then the X86 NAS boxes can help there.

WD Reds are very well regarded.

Thanks for your reply.

Currently, my only reference is the SNB's NAS ranker. With that tool, Asustor are 1st and 2nd, but everyone here seems to praise so much QNAP or Synology, why? Should I grab an Asustor AS5102T (1st overall), AS5002T (1st video), QNAP TS-253 (1st video) or the Ready NAS 212?

Pardon me, i'm very noob in this field, so I have a hard time deciding one that will be the best price/quality for what I want to buy. My budget is under $500 diskless.

 

[sfx2000]

Thanks for your reply.

Currently, my only reference is the SNB's NAS ranker. With that tool, Asustor are 1st and 2nd, but everyone here seems to praise so much QNAP or Synology, why? Should I grab an Asustor AS5102T (1st overall), AS5002T (1st video), QNAP TS-253 (1st video) or the Ready NAS 212?

Pardon me, i'm very noob in this field, so I have a hard time deciding one that will be the best price/quality for what I want to buy. My budget is under $500 diskless.

You'll see a lot of feedback on QNAP and Synology on the boards here, as that's what many have - doesn't mean that the others are better/worse - they're all pretty close in performance and price...

 

[stevech]

SNB's ranker, IMO, weighs throughput too much. NASes have to have the features you want and ease of administration. Due to overhead in file systems in PCs and the like, beyond the control of NASes, a roaring super speed transfer of a GByte file just isn't real world.

Merit in features and admin-ease is why QNAP and Synology are successful.
Asustor is a noob to NASes. I'd let the bugs die off and the USER reviews find concensus on that vendor. This might take a year. (I read that Asustor is legally independent of Asus per se).

 

[Chojo]

SNB's ranker, IMO, weighs throughput too much. NASes have to have the features you want and ease of administration. Due to overhead in file systems in PCs and the like, beyond the control of NASes, a roaring super speed transfer of a GByte file just isn't real world.

Merit in features and admin-ease is why QNAP and Synology are successful.
Asustor is a noob to NASes. I'd let the bugs die off and the USER reviews find concensus on that vendor. This might take a year. (I read that Asustor is legally independent of Asus per se).

Thank you for your input.

I kinda agree that the admin-ease is a terribly important point, do you know if Asustor, Netgear, QNAP and Synology all have a demo interface so I can test it out?

Also, do you have a good 2 bay Synology to propose me as I don't see one in the SNB's ranker?

 

[Chojo]

A friend of mine told me that a stand-alone NAS is overkill for what I try to do. He says that id rather go with a external hard drive plugged in a router like the Netgear R7000 and share via DLNA my bluray movie to my PS4 Media Center. Is this true? What are the benefit of a stand-alone NAS vs a usb drive plugged in a router?

Thanks

 

[stevech]

Drive plugged into a router is OK for very light duty. Very. These are slow as molasses in January on the north side of the tree. And quirky.
Just files.
Kind of like a Fiat.

But cheap to try.

 

[L&LD]

A stand alone NAS (QNAP, Synology) will outlive any router by a huge factor without loosing performance as time goes on. It will also consistently deliver much more performance than a USB attached drive (to a router) will. It will be stable and dependable (barring hdd errors). Not something that can be said of almost any current router today. This is because it will probably have a more powerful cpu than the router you're considering today and will be able to use protocols that have less overhead than the limits imposed by USB storage (vs. TCP) and which also depends on a fast cpu to achieve high performance levels.

The benefits of a usb drive plugged into the router is that it is cheap. But, you'll get what you pay for.

If you have the money to buy a proper NAS today, you will not regret it in the long term.

There is no such thing as overkill. There is only spending appropriately for the task you want to do with the least headaches for as long term as possible.

 

[KenZ71]

I like the diy of NAS4Free almost any old PC / server will work. Drive don't matter much either.

All my stuff I've found on ebay when it was already a few years old and much more affordable. Just my viewpoint.

 

[TonyH]

Thank you for your input.

I kinda agree that the admin-ease is a terribly important point, do you know if Asustor, Netgear, QNAP and Synology all have a demo interface so I can test it out?

Also, do you have a good 2 bay Synology to propose me as I don't see one in the SNB's ranker?

I got Synology DS713+ couple years ago. One sway factor was it can have extension cabinet when more storage capacity is needed. So far running fine. I use my router as a router only. When you
start using NAS, sticking with good back up plan is very important when unexpected strikes.

 

[sfx2000]

A friend of mine told me that a stand-alone NAS is overkill for what I try to do. He says that id rather go with a external hard drive plugged in a router like the Netgear R7000 and share via DLNA my bluray movie to my PS4 Media Center. Is this true?

One option would be to give that a go - if it's useful, then consider that a NAS has much more functionality, no matter what vendor, as compared to a router based Shared Disk - NAS are much more focused - features and performance, along with stability.

The USB shared drive - it's a value added feature for most Router/AP's - doesn't cost them much to drop in a USB port and some software... even a single bay ARM NAS box (starter NAS, perhaps?) will do better than a router based USB drive, esp. looking at your requirements in the original post.

 

[Chojo]

So I have searched around the web and found those models with their price (in CAD)

ReadyNas 202 - $214
Synology DS215j - $264
Asustor AS5002T - $369
Synology DS214play - $397
QNAP TS-251 - $412
ReadyNas 212 (tomorow is release day) - $430
Asustor AS5102T - $469
Qnap T-253 Pro - $530 (x86 + 1st in video on SNB rank)
Synology DS216 - *wait for it to be released*

In term of what I try to acheive with my Blu-Ray collection and my PS4, what would your 1st and 2nd pick guys? Other pick can be welcome since I probably doesn't know them all.

 

[Goofie Newfie]

Synology. Have installed them for countless clients. Their os is solid and actually quite incredible for a Web based one and reliable.

Sent from my SM-G925W8 using Tapatalk

 

[L&LD]

QNAP or Synology with the most potent cpu and most ram capacity potential. These two are already leading everything else in terms of reliability, stability, performance and features and almost guaranteed firmware upgrades for at least major and minor security issues for the next few years.

The others are not in the running even at half the price.

If your budget can buy you an i3 or higher end model with 4 drive bays or more, consider populating only two or three of them initially to get the better platform.

Keep in mind it will be in use for the next decade or more at some level or another.

 

[Chojo]

An i3 4 bay NAS gonna cost me an arm and a leg. Future proofing is important but i want to respect my around 500 budget.

 

[L&LD]

An i3 4 bay NAS gonna cost me an arm and a leg. Future proofing is important but i want to respect my around 500 budget.

It's not just a matter of future proofing. It is simply what I see as an obvious need for the goals as stated on your first post. Respect the budget, but it can't magically, by itself, create a product with your needs taken care of as indicated.

 

[stevech]

For the sake of cost, can't the OP use a low end NAS without a hot CPU and without transcoding hardware... and just DLNA or SMB stream file data to a Roku box or XBox, or a smart TV that can transcode (if there are such).

I did that for years, with Sage TV and their HDTV box that used enthernet + HDMI. (Alas, Google bought and flushed Sage TV).

 

[Chojo]

It's not just a matter of future proofing. It is simply what I see as an obvious need for the goals as stated on your first post. Respect the budget, but it can't magically, by itself, create a product with your needs taken care of as indicated.

Like @stevech said, I could use my PS4 as a HTPC, stream via DLNA my blu-ray to my PS4 and plug my PS4 to my TV. Could this work with an under $500 NAS? If I do that, my PS4 will decode my blu-ray right or i'm delusional?

 

[L&LD]

Like @stevech said, I could use my PS4 as a HTPC, stream via DLNA my blu-ray to my PS4 and plug my PS4 to my TV. Could this work with an under $500 NAS? If I do that, my PS4 will decode my blu-ray right or i'm delusional?

A quick search for streaming blu ray makes it seem like an iffy situation. The problem I see is that if it does happen to work with a specific firmware version and your other various hardware today, it might not tomorrow.

That is why I suggest buying what you know will work for a reasonable period into the future, not what 'should' work based on smiles, wishes and the whims of fate.