2-bay NAS, what's my best option?

[namurt]

My use case scenario is as follows:

• NAS will primarily be used to house media (mostly video and some music) for playback on tablets, PCs and boxee (the latter gets the most use and is basically my version of an htpc)
  
  
• Not terribly concerned about backup, but am considering running either RAID1 (I know this isn't technically backup!) or RAID0 with backup to external (via connected USB drive)
  
  
• Referring to the previous point, would probably rather maximize storage space on the NAS itself since I'm not storing any critical files (so this would mean I'd have to get an external equal to the capacity of both drives together that I install in the NAS, correct?)
  
  
• Would prefer to have enough performance to be able to run Plex right on the NAS (old NAS, which just crapped out, was too weak and had to run Plex server locally on PC)

Should I just follow the NAS rankings or is there something else to consider? Probably going to populate the NAS with WD Red drives, either 3TB or 4TB. I'm trying to watch my budget as much as possible. I don't need a ton of bells and whistles as my use case is a pretty basic SOHO type scenario. I do want to perform backup, but I want to do it as cheaply as possible. Even though I'm not storing critical files, after the failure of my current NAS, re-ripping all those movies is going to take a while and be a major PITA!

 

[stevech]

I recommend either Synology or QNAP.
I have a 2 bay setup as non-RAID, two volumes.
With lots of inter-drive backups and a USB3 backup and more.

 

[thiggins]

Your needs are very basic, aside from wanting to run Plex right on the NAS. Besides QNAP, Synology and ASUSTOR, the Seagate Personal Cloud 2-bay is an option. We reviewed the single bay and will have the 2-bay review up soon. Not a bad, simple NAS with plenty of performance for what you want and it also runs Plex as an add-in app.
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/nas/nas-reviews/32655-seagate-personal-cloud-reviewed

 

[Trexx]

In terms of your media serving, are you looking to do real-time Video Transcoding (converting a video on the fly to a compatible format for say tablet playback) or will you preconvert the files into multiple formats? Do you have a budget range that you are waiting to stay in?

 

[namurt]

Your needs are very basic, aside from wanting to run Plex right on the NAS. Besides QNAP, Synology and ASUSTOR, the Seagate Personal Cloud 2-bay is an option. We reviewed the single bay and will have the 2-bay review up soon. Not a bad, simple NAS with plenty of performance for what you want and it also runs Plex as an add-in app.
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/nas/nas-reviews/32655-seagate-personal-cloud-reviewed

Please see below for updated comments in response to Trexx's post. Would your opinion of the Seagate PC change based on this added information?

In terms of your media serving, are you looking to do real-time Video Transcoding (converting a video on the fly to a compatible format for say tablet playback) or will you preconvert the files into multiple formats? Do you have a budget range that you are waiting to stay in?

Excellent question regarding transcoding! I should have included that in my original post. Yes, I would like to be able to do real-time transcoding.

My budget is $550-600 USD (for both NAS and drives if I get a diskless unit).

I read SNB's review of the QNAP TS-251 Turbo NAS and was quite impressed. I don't know if this unit would be overkill for my use case, though. I'm intrigued by the possibility of virtualization (not now but for down the road) and believe this unit would be able to handle all transcoding without issue. Please correct me if I'm wrong? I also like that I can load XMBC on it. I'm wondering if there's longevity in the TS-251 because I don't need all that power just yet, but someday my boxee is going to kick the bucket, and then I'll be looking to use my NAS as a full-fledged media server as opposed to just a file server.

 

[thiggins]

If real-time transcoding is a must, go for Synology and get the most powerful Intel based model you can afford.

I will say I've just been playing with a 2-bay Seagate Personal Cloud running Plex. Viewing 1080p trailers on a Roku Streaming stick looked pretty good. But when the transcoder was running, the Seagate CPU was pegging at 100% and files hung during play.

 

[namurt]

If real-time transcoding is a must, go for Synology and get the most powerful Intel based model you can afford.

I will say I've just been playing with a 2-bay Seagate Personal Cloud running Plex. Viewing 1080p trailers on a Roku Streaming stick looked pretty good. But when the transcoder was running, the Seagate CPU was pegging at 100% and files hung during play.

Synology over QNAP (or even Asustor) because... ??? Not that I don't trust a guru such as yourself, I'm just curious.

 

[stevech]

Transcode in batch mode on a hot PC, not a NAS.

 

[thiggins]

Synology over QNAP (or even Asustor) because... ??? Not that I don't trust a guru such as yourself, I'm just curious.

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/nas/nas-features/32517-deciding-between-synology-a-qnap-take-2

 

[TonyH]

Synology over QNAP (or even Asustor) because... ??? Not that I don't trust a guru such as yourself, I'm just curious.

I am getting by nicely with Synology DS713+(has expansion cabinet) doing similar things you intend to do.
Peace in the family most of time, LOL!

 

[Trexx]

Please see below for updated comments in response to Trexx's post. Would your opinion of the Seagate PC change based on this added information?


Excellent question regarding transcoding! I should have included that in my original post. Yes, I would like to be able to do real-time transcoding.

My budget is $550-600 USD (for both NAS and drives if I get a diskless unit).

I read SNB's review of the QNAP TS-251 Turbo NAS and was quite impressed. I don't know if this unit would be overkill for my use case, though. I'm intrigued by the possibility of virtualization (not now but for down the road) and believe this unit would be able to handle all transcoding without issue. Please correct me if I'm wrong? I also like that I can load XMBC on it. I'm wondering if there's longevity in the TS-251 because I don't need all that power just yet, but someday my boxee is going to kick the bucket, and then I'll be looking to use my NAS as a full-fledged media server as opposed to just a file server.

You could start with a TS-251 and add an expansion chassis to it later (for up to 8 additional drives) via the USB3 port.

I had a Boxee box in the past, and replaced it with a FireTV. Since getting the QNAP, I don't use the FireTV much. I run XBMC/KODI into the TV via HDMI. I use Plex to stream from it to my iPad/iPhone when I am away.

In terms of QNAP vs. Synology. I have used both, and here is what I would tell you. You get more HW for the $$$ with QNAP (TS-251 has newer gen CPU vs. DS-713+ for example). TS-251 will do real-time trancoding up to 1080p vs. 720p on DS-713+.

SW wise they are similar in functionality. Somethings QNAP does better, somethings Synology does better. Synology has the edge in IOS mobile right now, although supposedly QNAP is going to work to improve there. You can still do the majority of the same things on QNAP mobile, just not as pretty of an interface for some of them.

When I ended up getting my TS-453Pro over a comparable Synology it boiled down to SW can always be fixed over time, HW you are stuck with. I wanted the HDMI output and Virtualization capabilities which Synology doesn't offer on any model.

 

[stevech]

the review cited above as
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/nas/nas-features/32517-deciding-between-synology-a-qnap-take-2
is rather old, in this fast-moving market.
And it's not very factually objective, IMO. E.g., both QNAP and Synology work hard to have a good video archiving and replay capability - for small businesses with a low camera count (as compared to Pelco, Axis, and others in the enterprise/campus markets).

But as to reviews, understandably, SNB can't do these as often as every 6 months!

 

[thiggins]

the review cited above as
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/nas/nas-features/32517-deciding-between-synology-a-qnap-take-2
is rather old, in this fast-moving market.
And it's not very factually objective, IMO. E.g., both QNAP and Synology work hard to have a good video archiving and replay capability - for small businesses with a low camera count (as compared to Pelco, Axis, and others in the enterprise/campus markets).

But as to reviews, understandably, SNB can't do these as often as every 6 months!

The article is not THAT old, Steve. And it's as objective as we can make it and was based on reviews of both companies' current OSes.

That said, we did not look closely at video surveillance features. But for video serving/playback/transcoding that is the OP's focus, Synology definitely had the edge. Maybe QNAP has improved since then. But their solution was a mess. Too many conflicting apps and no on-the-fly transcoding, only batch.

 

[thiggins]

namurt: update to my earlier post on Seagate Personal Cloud. The Marvell ARM processor does not support trancoding in Plex. See the review for more info
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/nas/nas-reviews/32699-seagate-personal-cloud-2-bay-reviewed

Again, if on-the-fly transcoding is a must, get a NAS with the most powerful Intel CPU you can afford.

 

[stevech]

try to transcode in batch, on a hot PC.
Transcoding on a NAS is very likely to be disappointing (dropped frame rate) even if you get a $2000 multi-core CPU. It can't be similar to a dedicated PC.