Planning NAS replacement

[Mike-48]

I am wondering about expected lifetime of my Synology DS414. It was bought in mid-2014 and the disks replaced in mid-2020 with Seagate Ironwolf Pro drives. It is connected to a UPS and has run without trouble. But sooner or later it will fail.

I plan to stick with Synology, as I like the software environment, the hardware is good enough, and in my mid 70s, I don't have interest in learning the QNAP operating system, which I've read is more technical.

I use an attached USB drive for regularly scheduled backups. So data on the NAS is backed up either to the USB drive or to other local drives or both, or constitutes backups from other devices.

Given that I've spent my tech budget for 2021 already, and 2022 is probably the year for a new PC and new smartphone, maybe it's reasonable to use the DS414 until it fails, then get a replacement. Or would that be foolish?

Ideas? Suggestions?

 

[sfx2000]

It's getting up there - 8 years is a long time for any hardware.

I agree that if you are good with Synology, stay with them - much less to learn, and much easier to migrate.

DS420+ is around $500US from NewEgg and Amazon - that is for the diskless version, so you could move your drives over from the DS414 fairly easily.

Might consider pinging their pre-sales team, they're good at answering questions like this.

 

[dosborne]

I am wondering about expected lifetime of my Synology DS414. It was bought in mid-2014 and the disks replaced in mid-2020 with Seagate Ironwolf Pro drives. It is connected to a UPS and has run without trouble. But sooner or later it will fail.

Since you have backups, I wouldn't bother looking into a replacement until you need it. New and better models come out all the time. Your drives are essentially new. I'm still running a couple of D-Link Nas boxes that have to be 12+ years old now, along with the original drives and they are on 24/7. (Although I did salvage parts from a third unit to keep the other 2 running)

If you need more space, or speed, then you should consider a second NAS setup to supplement rather than replace, but, no point in spending the money util you need to. There will always be something similar or better available when you need it.

FWIW, the learning curve for qnap isn't a big deal. Most people just use the GUI for both qnap and Synology. They are "different" but essentially do the same thing, at least for average general use. Besides, for most people, you set it up once following the prompts, then it just works.

I've had my qnap ts-563 for a few years now and expect it to run for many more.

 

[Tech9]

Since you have backups, I wouldn't bother looking into a replacement until you need it.

I would do the same. Existing NAS may work for many more years. HDD's spinning 24/7 last longer. If it stops, there is a backup.

 

[Mike-48]

Thanks to all for comments. I think I'll replace the backup drive with a better one and try to get a few more years out of the DS414. As said, when I need a replacement, there may be something better and/or newer available.

 

[dosborne]

Replacing the drives with newer and possibly larger drives could add many useful years to the life of your NAS. I have an old TS-231P that although is terribly underpowered, only has 1 Ethernet port, etc is still extremely useful as a backup for my main NAS and I just ordered a couple 14TB drives for it. Unfortunately some of my other even older NAS boxes max out at 2TB drives, so have limited use, but I still run one as a document server.

 

[Mike-48]

Replacing the drives with newer and possibly larger drives could add many useful years to the life of your NAS.

That indeed was my thought when I put in 4 IronWolf Pro drives last year.

 

[dosborne]

That indeed was my thought when I put in 4 IronWolf Pro drives last year.

Sorry, I meant a similar upgrade down the road, say in another 3 or 4 years.

 

[ddaenen1]

i am also still running a Synology RS214 with 2 x 4TB WD HDD's in RAID1 that is 8+ years old. Whist too slow for Plex or other modern apps, it still works perfect as a no-frills fileserver and time-machine backup for the Macbooks which i all backup to onedrive.