How To Buy A NAS: 2015 Edition

[PeterT]

In the article you talk about backup options for client machines.

A topic I'd find quite beneficial is a review of the diverse options available, hopefully including mention of which (if any) support de-duplication across multiple PC clients.

I was spoiled by having a WHS V1 server at home, which unfortunately had a h/w failure after a power outage and never came back, and I loved the way it handled backups.

 

[unmesh]

Fortunately, my HP WHS v1 still works but I wasn't aware it did de-duplication across client PCs. I thought that v1 does block level backups which would mean de-dup was not possible.

I've purchased a WHS 2011 licence but not had a reason to use it yet because I have sufficient capacity in non-AFT drives on the server and none of my clients have GPT-based hard drives as yet.

I continue to be amazed that there aren't OEM servers that backup Windows client PCs as invisibly as the HP and others of its generation did.

 

[PeterT]

I was under the impression that the deduplication was at the block level,. and was across ALL clients.

 

[ulaganath]

If you have enough budget go for qnap then netgear,seagate ,WD nas
Basically how de duplicate exists across client irrespective of clients each should have different spec and so as image/os backup need to be different. If you say common media used are same across clients which needs Dee duplication the backup path for those specific media needs to be same.

 

[stevech]

If you have enough budget go for qnap [rather] then [sic] netgear,seagate ,WD nas

I'll add: Avoid Seagate, WD, LG, Netgear, Buffalo, ASUS and some no-names and all the heavily marketed products from companies that have broad product lines - rather than QNAP and Synology who compete in the NAS market and not commodity LAN gear. Thecus too, though they don't seem to purse consumers/SMB/SOHO as much.

 

[iunlock]

I'll add: Avoid Seagate, WD, LG, Netgear, Buffalo, ASUS and some no-names and all the heavily marketed products from companies that have broad product lines - rather than QNAP and Synology who compete in the NAS market and not commodity LAN gear. Thecus too, though they don't seem to purse consumers/SMB/SOHO as much.

This brings up a great point.

What are your thoughts on the Asustor AS7004T NAS? The specs are beefy and from what I've seen they seem to be the best bank for buck. Intel Dual Core i3 running at 3.5GHz and expandable to 16GB. The only other NAS that can touch the Asustor AS7004T seems to be the QNAP TS470-Pro....

I'm needing to pick up another 4-Bay NAS asap and am looking at the Asustor AS7004T vs QNAP TS-470 PRO. What are your thoughts?

Any comments on the WD DL4100 (24TB) NAS? - Yes I know...intel Atom 1.7GHz and only expandable to 6GB, but for basic home use in steaming movies and such....well and for ~$1200 final cost for the 24TB ....worthy? Heck I can even get the 16TB WD DL4100 for ~$900....however....

My main goal was to get a NAS that would be somewhat future proof, but I threw that out the window a long time ago because at the end of the day, I'll just buy the latest and greatest anyway when it releases.

So I'm curious.....Asustor? Yay or Nay? Any owners in here?

 

[L&LD]

I would vote Nay.

When the hardware gets into the used car territory (and over, with appropriate drives and ram upgrades), I would go with the proven solution (QNAP TS-470 Pro) instead of even a great up and comer like Asustor.

Since you'll upgrade whenever you feel like it anyways, you may as well buy the overall best today.

 

[sfx2000]

Concur - even thought the 470 might be slight overkill - depends on how many users, alternately, it's little brothers, the 453Pro and TVS-463 are fairly stout performers.

QNAP, Synology, and ReadyNAS would be on the shortlist - just keep in mind that all vendors have cheap gear, and then they have good gear...

 

[iunlock]

I would vote Nay.

When the hardware gets into the used car territory (and over, with appropriate drives and ram upgrades), I would go with the proven solution (QNAP TS-470 Pro) instead of even a great up and comer like Asustor.

Since you'll upgrade whenever you feel like it anyways, you may as well buy the overall best today.

Thanks guys. I've narrowed it down to the TVS-471 (i3) and the TVS-671 (i3) or the (i5) Quad Core. I know the (i5) runs ~$1600, but that's okay. I'm liking the idea of having extra bays and with a Quad Core for my use. 10+ users with a lot of simultaneous streaming.

ps....the used car territory analogy is spot on. The Asustor does give off that feel...especially when you dive into their user interface...it's a Windows 95 old school nightmare that is a direct rip of QNAP's design.

Decision time....

 

[sfx2000]

Thanks guys. I've narrowed it down to the TVS-471 (i3) and the TVS-671 (i3) or the (i5) Quad Core. I know the (i5) runs ~$1600, but that's okay. I'm liking the idea of having extra bays and with a Quad Core for my use. 10+ users with a lot of simultaneous streaming.

Check to see with QNAP - QTS may limit the number of concurrent streams for DLNA - I know for the 453Pro, they'll support up to 5 concurrent streams - not sure about the others...

 

[iunlock]

Check to see with QNAP - QTS may limit the number of concurrent streams for DLNA - I know for the 453Pro, they'll support up to 5 concurrent streams - not sure about the others...

Thanks. Will do...I've went for the TVS-671 and it'll be here tomorrow, along with 6x 4TB WD Reds. Oh and 16GB of RAM will be here a day after tomorrow.

Pretty excited to get everything up and running.

 

[sfx2000]

hanks. Will do...I've went for the TVS-671 and it'll be here tomorrow, along with 6x 4TB WD Reds. Oh and 16GB of RAM will be here a day after tomorrow.

Pretty excited to get everything up and running.

There was another thread regarding the 471, which is similar - guy there seemed pretty happy with it.

Best of luck - let us know how things are going once you get it set up and sorted...

 

[iunlock]

There was another thread regarding the 471, which is similar - guy there seemed pretty happy with it.

Best of luck - let us know how things are going once you get it set up and sorted...

Will do! I've been hitting the refresh button on the tracking all day. I'm very eager as I plan to dive right into it. The table and tools are set.

Thanks for all your support as well...I appreciate your input.

Cheers!

 

[brvoltz]

I'm new here... I'm looking for a New NAS to replace my old solution (no RAID and need RAID). I need a solution that is RAID1 for now, and around 4T. I'm the only user of the device, and the 3D data files I'm storing are rather important (thus the move to RAID1) I'm so confused by the many offering on the market. I not using for anything but data storage, but auto backups would be nice of the 5 computers. I would also like to create private shares that pare password protected if possible.

Any suggestions? It seems most are going the way of QNAP or Synology, but with all the different options under the 2 bay, my poor head is spinning....

 

[stevech]

Get a 2 bay NAS from Synology or QNAP. Very comparable. Not complicated. Just a middle of the road 2bay.
I elected to NOT use RAID. RAID is not a backup. You have to have a big USB3 drive for backup.
I use a 2 bay with two independent volumes (two file systems). One is a time and file version backup of selected VIP folders on the other.
If a file system gets corrupted due to a power failure, NAS power supply or mainboard fault, OR HUMAN ERROR/oops, a RAID is of no help.,

RAID in a small NAS helps with drive failures but I rate that risk as much lower than theft, human error, malware, etc.

I chose the Synology DS212 a few years back and it has been problem free. There's a newer/better DS215 I suppose. I bought WD Red 3TB drives ($89 ea). QNAP has the same thing. Be sure to use the demos on their web sites.

 

[iunlock]

I'm new here... I'm looking for a New NAS to replace my old solution (no RAID and need RAID). I need a solution that is RAID1 for now, and around 4T. I'm the only user of the device, and the 3D data files I'm storing are rather important (thus the move to RAID1) I'm so confused by the many offering on the market. I not using for anything but data storage, but auto backups would be nice of the 5 computers. I would also like to create private shares that pare password protected if possible.

Any suggestions? It seems most are going the way of QNAP or Synology, but with all the different options under the 2 bay, my poor head is spinning....

Hey there, welcome. There are definitely a lot of choices. From what you've stated about your usage habits, there are a lot of options. QNAP would be my first pick, but that's just my opinion.

QNAP and Synology are very popular and there are many reasons why people recommend them. Picking one over the other is like choosing a Mercedes or a BMW. It's subjective.

I too would recommended playing with their online demos and see which one you like, although if you're just using it for storage it really doesn't matter too much?

The QNAP TS-231 is a great choice and the one I would get if my budget was around $200. Second in roughly that price range, would be the Synology DS214SE or DS215j. If your budget allows, I'd get the QNAP TS-251 with the Intel 2.41GHz Dual Core for around $320.

 

[brvoltz]

Many thanks for your suggestions... While I have Ripped a large collection of our DVDs, being able to pay the movies is a far second to file storage... The files I work with are 3D files which can range from 5mg to 500mb per file... These files are the ones that important to me... The DVD we have on a USB drive so it is portable...

 

[Shabbir Rao]

Well I think this question can not be answered accurately because when it is about buying anything requirement and usage comes first. So it all depends on your usage and requirement when we think about any NAS devices every device is good for a purpose. Like I think that QNAP is better with any third party back up software as compare to any other NAS device. So the most important point is that we need to think about exactly what we need and for that we need to consider all positive and negative aspects.

 

[kamina]

Well I think this question can not be answered accurately because when it is about buying anything requirement and usage comes first. So it all depends on your usage and requirement when we think about any NAS devices every device is good for a purpose. Like I think that QNAP is better with any third party back up software as compare to any other NAS device. So the most important point is that we need to think about exactly what we need and for that we need to consider all positive and negative aspects.

Saying QNAP is better with third party back up software compared to all other NAS devices would require something more to support it. It's still just a Samba mount whatever the NAS and there should be very little difference in such a scenario. I certainly don't notice any usability difference in this regard between my current Qnap and previous Synology, and even historical NAS devices I had before (apart from performance increasing generation over generation but that applies to all NAS devices).

Having opinions is fine, but without explaining the basis for them they are pretty useless.

 

[stevech]

Saying QNAP is better with third party back up software compared to all other NAS devices would require something more to support it. It's still just a Samba mount whatever the NAS and there should be very little difference in such a scenario. I certainly don't notice any usability difference in this regard between my current Qnap and previous Synology, and even historical NAS devices I had before (apart from performance increasing generation over generation but that applies to all NAS devices).

Having opinions is fine, but without explaining the basis for them they are pretty useless.

Yes, Shabbir Rao asserts that claim quite often here. How many people (any?) need 3rd party backup software? Risky. QNAP/Synology work hard to provide good backup software with many target device alternatives. I don't think it's prudent to put 3rd party software on a NAS whose main duty is to be reliable when used with what the vendor assures.

Perhaps he's confusing how those two vendors support backup to AWS, Azure, FTP and rsync servers, and others. A few people have tried Crashplan for Linux but it's provided as-is. Not needed.