Best NAS Brand

[BostonDan]

Hi - I'm looking to standardize on a single NAS brand and would appreciate feedback on which is the best long-term brand. I maintain 3 NAS boxes at home and plan to purchase a new NAS every 1-2 years, replacing the oldest NAS.

NAS-1: file server used for documents & ZIP files(up to 2GB),
NAS-2: Pictures/Movie files of family
NAS-3: Storage of archive documents & ZIP files from NAS-1

My requirements include:
1) good/best speed throughput for this price range.
2) under $300($400 Max) for each driveless NAS box.
3) Receiving notifications of failure(drive, fan, etc...)
4) Hot-swap functionality is not required. Even if it is present, I'd still shut the system down to replace a failed drive.
5) Ability to schedule/automate backups to USB Drive drives attached to the NAS.
6) Prefer RAID-1 over RAID-5. No Raid-0.

Currently, I own:
Intel SS4200-E - unhappy that it doesn't include automatic/scheduled backup functionality to an external drive
Netgear ReadyNAS Duo - unhappy with speed performance.
Dlink DNS-321 - really unhappy with speed.

I'm currently leaning towards Synology as the long-term plan solely because of the speed/functionality of the DS209. Appreciate any thoughts if Synology is the best long-term bet or if I should be looking at something else.

 

[claykin]

Without a crystal ball, no one can give you an accurate answer.

Synology and Qnap are good choices. Netgear Readynas is my personal favorite, but I completely understand your complaints about the Duo performance. Its expected that Netgear will soon have a new 2 bay NAS with higher performance.

For me the big pluses for Readynas are:

1) Warranty
2) After sales support
3) Quality of forum and participation by Netgear staff
4) Stability of OS/firmware
5) Best built-in backup solution of any NAS appliance brand.
6) They continue to support even their old products with firmware updates.

 

[thiggins]

Short answer: Synology or QNAP.

 

[BostonDan]

Thanks

Thanks Claykin & Tim,
Moving in the direction of Synology. Just needed someone else to say that I wasn't making a mistake.