New QNAP buyer... TS-859

[dberladyn]

Hi everyone - I'm new here.

A few weeks ago I made a rather impulsive/quick decision and bought a QNAP TS-859. Initially I was happy until I found out that WD20EADS are no good for RAID. Since then I have been browsing different forums where it kind of hit me smack in the middle of my face. I could have built my own kickass NAS for the same price or even cheaper.

Now I keep telling myself the QNAP is prettier, it's smaller, it uses less power, someone else is responsible for updating the software.... when I think of all that I made the right decision. But then I think about 20 drive Server Cases, Debian or Unbuntu and URAID, more processing power, more readily available programs, an unrestricted linux file structure, PCI-E add on cards... I kind of go nut wondering whether I actually made the right decision.

I think I did because of my pros written in the last paragraph... but I guess I am looking for other peoples perspectives. The primary use will be movie/music storage/serving and computer backups. Secondary uses will be desigining websites, learing linux and programming.

What are your thoughts? If I built one I'd probaby be on the other side of the fence. I'd be posting saying I should have just bought a ready made.

PS. I do at times regret not getting the TS-809 instead of the TS-859.

~dberladyn

 

[dberladyn]

No replies? Well I guess it is a personal decision. No one can say what's right or wrong for me. I must say I am very happy with the QNAP. I just... well a part of me is now itching to build my own but I'm not going to worry about that unless I fill this box up and run out of space. Again, I am very happy with it.

Thanks for all the reads. Sorry it wasn't interesting enough to prompt you to reply, but it's all good.

Happy NASing everyone,
~dberladyn

 

[Abdo]

I am, trying to define which to buy?

859 or 809 of the Qnap
or DS1010 of the Synology….

Already I placed this doubts and I did not have no reply.

My use will be basically of Films and Musics in Flac.

With its ranks I was worried in buying model 859….

Thanks

 

[thiggins]

Don't take the lack of replies, personally. It's just that there are so many of these same posts, that people get burned out replying.

There is no perfect product, whether it is a NAS, router, car or whatever. There will always be something that you don't like about whatever you buy. And there will always be something better that appears shortly after you buy.

Build vs. buy is a matter of preference (and your tolerance for aggravation!).

 

[dberladyn]

Hi,

i'm happy with the 859. There hasn't been a single hiccup streaming files and I have yet to replace my CAt5 cable. I personally don't think we need more power for simply storing movies and music. I am not even certain I needed 16TB of storage but time will tell.

At this point in time I feel I bought the right product. If I built my own it would consume lots of power, it would be big and it would give me a lot of headaches. If I bought the 809... I'd have more power and be able to swap the CPU but it also doesn't have some of the features of the 859. Besides the 859 looks better.

I vote 859 but you're the one who has to be happy with it.

Dan

 

[Dennis Wood]

Yes, you could have built a cheaper unit, but what you're paying for really is the team of engineers, support folks etc. at QNAP that are responsible for the product you purchased. In particular, their very slick UI web interface makes everything very simple to set up. Another benefit is that if you have a problem, there's a pile of folks using the same hardware as you and therefore can provide a huge resource in terms of "support via google" as I love to say. Take all that into consideration and your expense should look a lot more reasonable I answer questions from time to time from our customers who question the cost of our products...my answer typically sounds like this one.

If you're interested in experimenting, don't mind spending cash, and have lots of time, then building your own is way more fun. In my case, we just need lots of online data and don't really have time to screw around. In fact, the odd time I've applied firmware updates and then had to sink hours into undoing buggy code simply drives me batty.

To qualify, I used to own my own business building custom PC's, then worked for 8 years for the federal govt as a systems analyst. I do like to build workstations (we run about 14 at Cinevate) but even then, I only build the special purpose ones (in my case, video editing, 3D projection PC's etc.) The rest are off the shelf. We use 4 NAS units in total. Two TS509s, one TS639 and a ReadyNAS Pro (fastest of the fleet). Other than updating the units to 4GB of RAM (aside from the 639), I haven't touched them.

Cheers,