Best NAS Choice..Need Advice

[djtech2k]

I need a solid storage solution. I have 1 server that runs VM's for my lab network, which will be my primary use. I also have some other clients on the network, most over wireless, that will use some storage for just basic storage/backup.

I would like to have 4 drives at 2TB per drive. I am thinking RAID 5 to maximize storage space and performance.

I want to get the best performing and reliable NAS I can for the money I can spend. I am doing a lot of research on whats available, so I am hoping to get some solid advice here.

I am open to building a NAS or buying a pre-built unit. I have heard a lot about the Synology DS411J and I have been looking at the QNap ts-410-us.

The DS411j gets many good reviews, but the low RAM, low CPU, and single gig ethernet concern me about performance.

I am trying to keep the total cost (enclosure & drives) somewhere around $800-$1200 area.

Any suggestions/advice?

 

[stevech]

I can say this: I'm a new customer for DS212 which has a 1.6GHz CPU. I am very pleased with their DSM software and the NAS's gigE performance.

But I don't hammer the NAS with high volumes of transfers from multiple PCs. I'd think the majority of use cases don't press the capability - the 212's CPU use graphs show low utilization and with just a couple of PCs doing SMB shares, the traffic doesn't tax a gigE LAN. A couple of disk imaging backups and a copy of a 2GB file from NAS to PC or vice-versa don't overwhelm the thing. I chose the DS212 as I don't need / want RAID5. The '212 has USB3 which I wanted, to do NAS backups (instead of eSATA).

 

[djtech2k]

Thats cool. I have a friend that has the DS411j with 4 5400rpm drives in it and he raves about it. Slow drives and a single gig-e port makes me nervous.

I just know that I won't be buying storage for a while after this, so I want to maximize what I get for the money.

My main goal is to have good performing storage so I can do things like iSCSI and have enough storage to not worry about filling up all the time.

 

[travisco_nabisco]

I think either of the Synology or the QNAP devices you are looking at would fulfill your needs. I noticed that there is a DS411, not j that has a faster CPU and more RAM.

One other consideration the QNAP appears to support more ISCSI LUNs, up to 256 with multiple LUNs per target, is how they phrase it while the Synology only supports 10 LUNs.

 

[djtech2k]

Thats interesting point. On Newegg, it says the QNap is limited to 8 iSCSI targets. The Qnap site says 256. Strange....

I know the DS411j is limited to 10.

One thing that concerned me was the speed reviews on this site http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/nas/nas-charts/view. The QNap does not seem to rate well for speed according to this site, even with better specs.

 

[stevech]

Remembering that RAID is not a backup, I rated the USB3 in the DS212 as important - and as an alternative to eSATA- for doing those big backups.

 

[Ken_z71]

freenas ?

If you want to build one look into freenas go with either 0.7 or 0.7.5

You can build it out as crazy as you like dual LAN ports, multi drives, etc.

many suggest ZFS over raid as it is easier to replace a failed drive and / or upgrade drive size

 

[djtech2k]

I used freenas a few years back, but I dont think I am intersted in using it again. I dont have an extra machine to run it on and really do not want to build a whole computer.

 

[djtech2k]

ALthough its been a while, I have narrowed my NAS select to 2 choices...

QNAP TS-410-US Turbo NAS

Synology DS411j

Any opinions or advice between those 2?

 

[thiggins]

It's really a flip a coin choice and which one you personally prefer. Make sure you test drive the admin GUIs before you choose.

 

[JoeJoe]

I'd be happy with either of those ones you chose.
I have two QNAP, really happy with them.
The dual Ethernet ports on that Qnap NAS won't increase speed.

 

[djtech2k]

I think I have decided on the QNAP TS-410-US at newegg.com. The problem looks like this model is not available anywhere I look now. It says its discontinued. If thats true, is there a comparable model for the same price that I should consider? The 410 was around $330.