Pondering NAS for home - DS414, or wait?

[Rosco]

First off, forgive my the post length, I tend to do it ramble a bit, but I also like to think a well thought out post will receive well thought out response.

OK, so I'm new to modern NAS servers, but not to networking in general. Basically, a while back I saw reviews for WD's My Cloud, and after reading about all its nifty features, I remember thinking that'd be sweet, but it'd be nice if there was a model with RAID for redundancy. Low and behold, the EX4.

Once I actually began seriously researching it though, I found that it was relatively low-end, and that there are other comparable units capable of far more. I've been digging around for weeks, and I think I've more or less trimmed it down to Synology's DS414, but for a few nagging questions.

(Found this post very useful in my decisions: http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/nas/nas-features/31592-deciding-between-synology-vs-qnap )

"What do I want to use it for?" I originally wanted just a storage space, but now that I'm more familiar with the capabilities a NAS server might have, I'm inclined to use it for download management and media serving, and possibly hosting my website's domain somewhere down the line. My only physical requirement is that it's at least a 4-bay unit, and performance isn't primary concern since it's just a home unit, and I'm a patient man.

As far as media serving goes, it would be ideal to have a NAS capable of it, but it's not a 100% deal breaker. I can run various media servers from my PC, which is on almost all the time anyway. Just would be a nuisance when another device wants media, and my PC is in use for other reasons.

That brings me back to my catch twenty-two:

I'm currently trying to decide if I need the extra horse power of the DS412+ over the newer DS414, (the latter can't run Plex Media Server) but Synology also released fairly recently the DS214play, which has hardware transcoding capabilities. I'm curious if I should wait to see if they release a DS414play or DS414+ or something in the near future, or just bite the bullet and go with something for the current lineup. I can wait, but not forever...

Anyone familiar with Synology's usual release cycle?
Or have other suggestions for currently available solutions?

For interest's sake, I considered the following:
WD My Cloud EX4, Sentinel DX4000
Synology DS414, DS412+, DS1513+
QNAP TS-421, TS-469L/Pro, TS-569L/Pro
HP MicroServer
Drobo 5N

Thanks all for your insight!

 

[L&LD]

When I was in the same decision making stage as yourself, I chose QNAP (originally TS-469L and lately TS-670 Pro's).

That article is good, but it is also dated now. I think the feature set is very close between Synology and Qnap products with the QTS 4.1 Beta firmware (beta, but stable for me).

I always buy as much hardware (performance) as I can - the important features make comparable models between the two companies almost indistinguishable.

With your budget set, pick a time frame (let's say the best deal you can find in the next few weeks) in which you'll make a purchase decision and then stick with it. Doing anything else will only frustrate you and possibly make you miss a great deal waiting for one that may not come, or make you purchase a product that isn't proven yet and may be unstable for your intended use.

I do like the virtualization that the Qnap TS-x70 Pro offers - if you're even slightly interested in that area. I am not sure how Synology compares with Qnap on a feature by feature basis - but the base hardware (to me) indicates the level of usage I can expect from the unit before I outgrow it.

 

[Kris404]

I'd say wait for Intel EvanSport platform to mature (such as the one in DS214Play)

 

[Rosco]

That's really my point, which I suppose I kinda glazed over in all that.

I like the DS414 because it's newer, has a few simple additions like hardware encryption that the DS412+ doesn't have. However the DS412+ has much more horsepower. But it's old, relatively speaking.

I'm curious if anyone thinks Synology will release a new 4-bay unit based on said DS214play's Evenport SoC chipset. Plus or otherwise, I'd be willing to wait for that, since it'd bridge the gap between my two choices.

That said, I don't want to wait a whole year for a product refresh...

And thanks you guys for your input.

 

[stevech]

Never an ideal time!
In 2012, it was: Wait for the Atom CPU NASes.

For me, CPU speed is about 4th in the NAS feature priority list.

 

[Rosco]

Very true, there's always new toys. I go through the same hell everytime I want to upgrade my PC.

Just thinking now that the CE5300 Evanport Atom chips are starting to trickle out, maybe I should wait for a 4-bay one, rather than the 3 year old D2700 Cedarville Atom in the DS412+.

Been doing more reading, and it sounds like for third-party app support, an intel-based unit rather than ARM-based is the way to go.

 

[stevech]

Because I have a lot of data on my NAS, very important - finances, history, family photos, medical, I don't experiment with it. No 3rd party. Indeed, I haven't found anything I'd need from 3rd parties, as I don't look at the NAS as an app server.

I do have a myriad of backup methods and media, automated, in use.

 

[Rosco]

Also valid points.

I currently have a number of individual USB HDs plugged into my PC, which I never intended from the start. Data piles up though, and one drive became many. Not crucial data though, so I'm not too worried about it's "physical" safety. My important data is backed up in various geographic locations, so that's not my main concern for this device.

Figured it's time for a NAS that can serve my media, and to which I can hopefully allocate some of my PC's automated tasks too, such as checking for new downloads via RSS feeds and what not. From what I've been reading, seems like any NAS worth it's salt is capable of most of that, it's just a matter of how capable.

I'd like to be able to run Plex though, which seems like it requires a reasonable amount of horsepower.

So, I guess issue is ARM- vs Intel-based, which I'm leaning Intel-based, then it becomes D2700 vs CE5300 series. Search as I might, I can't seem to find any sort of definitive results regarding performance differences. Obviously, the CE5300 series has built in video transcoding hardware, and is newer and I would assume therefor based on more efficient technology... Hard to say for sure though.

Decisions...

I just get the feeling I'm going to feel like a dolt if I go grab a DS412+ only to have it replaced with a newer spiffier in a month or three. I don't need to have the top of the line, but I have this resistance to buying older products.

Thanks again for all your comments, by the way. I appreciate it.
(And again, sorry for rambling...)

 

[loopydoge]

I suppose this won't help your decision, but Synology announced the DS414play three weeks ago at CeBIT. The problem is that no release date or price has been announced yet. They don't even have data sheets available for it yet.

I'm kind of in the same boat with the DS414j. I like that it's black (as opposed to the white DS413j) and more importantly it has a USB 3.0 port.

 

[stevech]

My advice, for what it's worth, is not to over-spend $ on CPU speed.
Most NAS work is I/O bound.

 

[Rosco]

My recent reading has suggested that the new Atom SoC with the built-in transcoding requires specific software support, which is as of yet not wide spread.

Sounds like the D2700 is the way to go for now, without resorting to wads of cash for an i3 based unit.. which I won't be doing. If that was the case, I'd just build a small unit myself from scratch.

That DS414play is tempting though, especially of future-proofing is a concern. It's extended instruction set might not be supported now, but who's to say it won't be later, right?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E01ypTam1SE

Or a Bay Trail NAS...

 

[L&LD]

Just have to comment on building it yourself from scratch.

Although it seems tempting from a cost standpoint, there is no comparison to a full blown NAS. You can recreate the wheel; but it won't be as round, nor will it cost as little as you first think (especially in maintenance and configuration).

I used to think the same way (that it was simpler and cheaper build my own), but now I see it like building a car. Sure, I would be very proud of a car I built on my own. But it will not be comparable to anything I could have bought, even if it is faster, cheaper and actually road worthy for more than a few months out of the year.


Glad you have decided on your course of action though. Seems like a good plan going forward.

 

[Rosco]

After looking into DIY NAS components, it would seem you're right.

I did however come across these cute little Intel's NUC units, and other similar Mac Mini style computers. I figure I could set one up to act as my media server and automated task handler, and thus completely avoid the "NAS horsepower" issue entirely. Save a few bucks on the NAS, even if it gets eaten right up by the little server unit instead.

Although, by that token, would it be worth considering a DAS connected directly to such a server rather than a NAS? I would guess there wouldn't be much price difference, and since it's all running over the network one way or another, I doubt there'd be much performance boost, if at all. Maybe just for the server's media indexing?

Also, if I went with an i3 or i5 based server, I imagine I'd want to put Windows Server or even Linux on it, rather than run standard consumer Win 7 or 8. Or would performance between Win 7 and Win Server 2008/2012 not make much difference? It's been a looong time since I've played with Windows in a purely server environment.

 

[stevech]

On a DIY, it's hard/cannot get the features such as QNAP/Synology have, and clean/simple admin UI.

 

[Rosco]

Promise has these Pegasus thunderbolt DAS units that outwardly appear decent, though I don't know anything beyond that about them.

 

[stevech]

Promise has these Pegasus thunderbolt DAS units that outwardly appear decent, though I don't know anything beyond that about them.

Direct Attached (to only a Thunderbolt-capable Macintosh). Not a Network Attached Storage (NAS).

 

[Rosco]

Thunderbolt, designed by Intel, is widely used on Macs, but isn't Mac exclusive. There is PC hardware that can make use of it.

That wasn't my point though, a small windows server box connected directly to a DAS vs a NAS, was my though. I guess that goes back into DIY territory, but it wouldn't need to be a NAS if I had the little server with file shares on the network.

I guessing I would lose a lot if good NAS features, but there would also be capability to run other Windows applications. NAS is probably cheaper though.

 

[stevech]

I think a NAS should be a NAS, not a app server. For stability reasons.

I can see the value of a DAS for things like video editing. But how can we say a DAS is an alternative to a shared-use NAS?

 

[L&LD]

When it's shared by one user.

 

[Rosco]

For the record, there would be most likely only one person sharing media at any given time. Max two. Just me and the Mrs.

My thinking was that for my purposes, a DAS on a small server would do the same as a dedicated NAS, and cut down on a bit of network traffic.

Rather than a device sending requests to a media server, which then retrieves data over the network from a NAS, going direct to a DAS would be less network intensive, possibly improving serving speeds?

This wouldn't be an issue if the NAS was running media serving apps, but I'm getting the impression that NAS's just don't have the horsepower for that unless you buy super high end equipment.

At this point, I'm still leaning toward a DS414, or possibly waiting for the DS414play to come out. It sounds neat.