Compare and contrast Synology 220+ vs 218play vs QNAP TS-233-US

[tigerdog]

Looking for current advice and experience with the above devices. The units are somewhat similarly priced and look comparable on the surface.
My requirements are pretty straightforward:

1. RAID1 with 2× 4TB drives
2. Flexible, functional DLNA server to feed flac and other to H.T. receiver and other network streaming DACs. No transcoding needed for audio or video.
3. windows shares (smb) with multiple accounts and permissions
4. simple-to-configure rsync or other backup to an identical NAS on a different IP subnet.
5. Ongoing technical support and active, knowledgeable user community.

I'm wondering at potential performance difference between the DS220+ with a dual core x86 CPU, and the 218 using a quad-core ARM. Is the Intel that much quicker?
I've read several "QNAP is for tweakers, Synology is for set-and-forget users" reviews, but I suspect the truth is more complex and the people here might know.

 

[Tech Junky]

They all do the same thing. Not needing to transcode makes it easy to go with the cheapest option.

If you're not making it available for outside access they all rank the same.

Intel is better for transcoding.

If all you're doing is streaming from them and moving files around that doesn't take a whole lot of horsepower. Just don't load them up with a ton of packages or add ons and you'll be fine.

 

[tigerdog]

How about ease of remote backup to another NAS (or cloud storage provider?)

 

[Tech Junky]

How about ease of remote backup to another NAS (or cloud storage provider?)

Depends on the provider. Cheaper probably to do raid 1 and swap a single disk periodically than to pay someone else off site. Or build a bigger array for more redundancy. If you went 6 disk raid 10 you have 3 sets and triple the speed. If you went with 4tb disks your usable would be 12tb and if you wanted to do a backup just hookup a 12tb disk to USB and make a backup. There's a ton of different ways to manage things based on needs and desires. If you're thinking cloud then skipping the local NAS might be more cost effective. Then you could have a big local drive that syncs to the cloud and restores from the cloud.

 

[tigerdog]

Everything on site = zero backup. I have a working, multiply-redundant, geographically diverse strategy that doesn't require paying a provider. I'm just interested to find out about comparative NAS features and ease of use.

 

[Tech Junky]

Everything on site = zero backup.

Hence rotating a spare disk either in the enclosure or through USB. Where you store it offline is up to you.

Anything that truly needs to be a "backup" isn't going to be the bulk of what people store anyway. Small enough to use free storage n google drive or the likes.

I would start with the cheapest on Amazon and that gives you 30 days to play with it and see if it meets your needs. If it doesn't then you return it and try the next one on you list and repeat if needed until you find the right one for what you want to do. Then you double check prices from other retailers and keep it or swap it for the cheaper price. I find recommendations for specific hardware to be somewhat unreliable and test them myself. Feedback is a general guideline of what's worth a shot to try or avoid.

 

[pbond]

Hence rotating a spare disk either in the enclosure or through USB. Where you store it offline is up to you.

OP - you can set up an rsync job to another Synology / any other rsync server using the Hyperbackup pkg on the Synology. As long as you can route to the other LAN / subnet - ie the target machine is visible from the source - this is straightforward to do.

Re a physical HDD backup strategy; I'd go with an external USB HDD rather than swapping a disk in & out of your RAID 1 array. Array's are not meant to be used this way - after removing a disk you're degarding the array which will need to be rebuilt; this is a fairly long and stressful process for the drives and is not meant to be done regularly as part of a backup strategy. Stick to a suitably large USB HDD (or two, and rotate one of them offite) and you'll be fine.

I'd echo @Tech Junky 's suggestion re getting a low end Syno for your uses. Though if prices are similar I'd get the DS220+ as it can also run docker if that would ever be of use in the future.

hth

 

[dosborne]

Cheaper probably to do raid 1 and swap a single disk periodically than to pay someone else off site.

Not a "solution" I would promote in any way particularly on these low end units. I follow the QNAP community as I have a couple units as well as a few other brands. Swapping out drives as a backup mechanism causes no shortage or errors and other issues (they aren't designed for that long-term). It is easy to connect NAS-to-NAS for pretty much any brand that supports rsync (using a VPN if remote!!) or many other built in options, stage to cloud then back to remote, or manually with a USB drive/dock.

I did a lot of comparison reading before I got mine ($5k so I wanted to be sure). At the time, QNAP offered a product closer to fit my needs (simple ones really) and seemed to have more flexibility. At the low end, I'd say there is little material difference but the admin GUI offerings are different and you should look up the benchmark for the models (many comparison sites, just Google it) to see how the hardware matches up.

 

[Centrifuge]

Just got a 220+ myself, in Synology's Raid 1 config. Great unit, having Docker is really helpful, I run Jellyfin on it. My backup plan is a USB backup disk for critical stuff. Here's some Raid and Backup advice.

Op- Yeah so the Media Server on Synology is adequate for a flac streamer, my Naim Mu-So has no problem detecting it on the network. The Audio Station on the Synology will also play locally on a device and has some rudimentary ability to get metadata from the net, or scrape your folders.
Also, for automatic backups you can do it by hand or, I use KDE Plasma, so there are some KDE apps, or Grsync, or terminal for automation. Don't forget to turn on the rsync service in the control center.