DS212J or DS213... or neither?

[MasterofShakes]

So here what I want to do with the thing and I have two main concerns.

What I need it for

• Storage Drive for Desktop (wireless connection)
• Media Server for my SMP-N200 (wireless connection)
• Wireless backup drive
• Remote access files
• Possibly more things down the line..

Concerns
Unfortunately due to my living situation I cannot run an ethernet cable to neither my desktop or media player (sony smp-n200).

1. I want to be able to transfer my movies (mostly mkv 720p/1080p h.264 files ranging from 2GB-10GB) to my NAS wirelessly from my desktop. I don't expect redonkulous speeds but I'd hope for atleast 10MB/s. My router is a Asus N66U and on my desktop I have a TP-LINK TL-WDN4800 network adapter. Both are running on N and I must say are quite fast. Is this transfer speed unrealistic to expect??
   
2. Also, as far as streaming these files (mostly mkv 720p/1080p h.264 files ranging from 2GB-10GB) to my media player (sony smp-n200), will it be able to handle streaming 1080p without stuttering? If I we're to upgrade to say a WDTV Live would it be better?

Will the DS212J put my concerns to rest or would I need the extra power of the DS213 to perform as expected? Or are my wireless expectations to high?

Thank you all in advance! I'm pretty new to NAS so any input is highly appreciated =D.

 

[stevech]

Not a NAS issue... streaming video, no problem if the wifi signal is ideal. However, transferring 6GB movies as whole files is a job for gigE Ethernet cat5.

 

[MasterofShakes]

Well how slow are we talking here? I can live with 10MB/s if I have to. Also, do you think its worth the extra money to get the DS213 or the 212J? =O thank you kind sir for your reply.

 

[stevech]

Well how slow are we talking here? I can live with 10MB/s if I have to. Also, do you think its worth the extra money to get the DS213 or the 212J? =O thank you kind sir for your reply.

10MB notation means megaBytes/sec. That's 80Mbits/sec (Mbps). Upper case B by convention means bytes.
8 bits per byte.

In wireless, we talk of bits/sec. Quick note: in WiFi, you can see the current connection speed in your WiFi admin tools. It's in bits/sec - but it's the raw bit rate on WiFi. The net yield, after overhead, is about 60% of the raw bit rate.

So to get 80Mbps net yield, you need almost twice that on the WiFi raw bit rate. That rate, near 150Mbps, is possible only with 802.11n and an ideal signal strength, meaning your client device is within 10 feet or so.

So that's why I said that if you want to stream video, it's OK - if you arrange by design excellent signal strength - and that may take an access point (AP) if there is some distance and walls. See the Wireless section here. You could buy a pair of HomePlug devices. One near the WiFi router, but plugged into an power outlet that's not the signal-attenuation type. The other HomePlug device could go in the room where the laptop is used. The last few feet to the laptop can be, say, an 8 ft. cable from the HomePlug device which is in a wall AC outlet, to the laptop.

But transferring files via WiFi, if the files are multi-gigabyte, you'll be frustrated, versus an ethernet connection.

 

[MasterofShakes]

10MB notation means megaBytes/sec. That's 80Mbits/sec (Mbps). Upper case B by convention means bytes.
8 bits per byte.

In wireless, we talk of bits/sec. Quick note: in WiFi, you can see the current connection speed in your WiFi admin tools. It's in bits/sec - but it's the raw bit rate on WiFi. The net yield, after overhead, is about 60% of the raw bit rate.

So to get 80Mbps net yield, you need almost twice that on the WiFi raw bit rate. That rate, near 150Mbps, is possible only with 802.11n and an ideal signal strength, meaning your client device is within 10 feet or so.

So that's why I said that if you want to stream video, it's OK - if you arrange by design excellent signal strength - and that may take an access point (AP) if there is some distance and walls. See the Wireless section here. You could buy a pair of HomePlug devices. One near the WiFi router, but plugged into an power outlet that's not the signal-attenuation type. The other HomePlug device could go in the room where the laptop is used. The last few feet to the laptop can be, say, an 8 ft. cable from the HomePlug device which is in a wall AC outlet, to the laptop.

But transferring files via WiFi, if the files are multi-gigabyte, you'll be frustrated, versus an ethernet connection.

The stock firmware that the N66U comes with apprently doesn't have this statistic readily available.

I did a test to have an idea of what it could potentially be like but, I'm not sure it is really any indication of what is to come with either of these NAS devices. I shared a 6.9GB file from my desktop and plugged in my laptop to the router via ethernet. My laptop has a drive spinning at 5400 so I figured it'd be somewhat similar to a WD Red. Throughout the transfer it was hovering at ~11.5-12MB/s (92 Mbps - 96 Mbps). That's honestly a bit better than I hoped for.

However, can I expect a similar transfer rate with the DS212J or DS213? They obviously have significantly less CPU/RAM than my laptop does.

Thank you again so much, your advice is appreciated very much! =D

 

[stevech]

I can't say for sure on the xxxj models. Slightly slower CPUs, but transfer rates tend to be constrained by disk speeds and LAN speeds. WiFi is a thin pipe, if you will.

You won't see max transfer rates on routine file transfers... where you have lots of kilobyte or megabyte sized files. You'll need 100's of megabytes or some gibabytes, to see the max, on a gigE LAN.

Best I've seen, Windows 7 to/from NAS, is about 700-800 or so Mbps on the gigE LAN. Takes a pretty fast Windows PC to go like that- due to the overhead in NTFS and SMB.

 

[MasterofShakes]

Hmm, I may just run a long butt cat5 around my apartment even if it looks terrible. As far as streaming to my media streaming device (the smp-n200 possibly a WD TV live or samsung smart tv in the future) is it worth the extra dinero (specifically for 1080p files) to get the DS213?

Thanks again friend!