Qnap, Synology or Netgear

[LostNASbuyer]

I´ve decieded that it´s time to revamp the network at home. New wirelessN-router and a NAS box to replace, the current 802.11g router and old surplus PC that I use as a fileserver.

After reading a lot of test and reviews online, I zeroed in on Qnap´s 219p+ and Synology´s 211+ they seem more or less identical in features and hardware (cpu + ram). Then I came across the Netgear ReadyNAS ultra series, especially the ultra 2 plus, with dualcore cpu and 1gb ram. And "greed" set in (not moneywise), but with dualcore cpu and more ram, we´re close to Synologys 411+ (II?) pricewise and performance, but the 411 offers 4 drive bays, or what seems like an endless supply of diskspace

BUT, do you need it? Is it overkill?

My need is file and ftp server, an iTunes server, Torrent client, and I would like to use UpnP and DLNA once I find the perfect TV (ie. when the girlfriend OK´s, me rearranging half the livingroom) Remote Access would also be nice. And because the NAS box is always on, I would like it as silent at possible (test seems to indicate that Synology and Netgear Ultra has a slight edge on QNAP on that front?)

I´ll be using Seagate´s Barracuda Green ST 2000DL003 in the NAS box, and will they be able to use the faster CPU´s in an Ultra2+ or DS411+ or would the smart choise be to select an entrylevel NAS like the DS 211J??

ANY advice would be greatly appreciated, I´m going nuts weighing pro´s and con´s. I NEED to make a choise now, and buy the damn box

 

[thiggins]

Your needs are pretty basic. What you're paying for in this class of NAS for all three contenders is mainly file transfer performance and a lot of features you're not going to use. Speed comes primarily from the CPU. The big RAM helps mainly for write caching when dealing with small file sizes. It doesn't do anything for copying large files or streaming HD.

Unless you are copying a lot of big media files to and from the NAS frequently over Gigabit Ethernet, you'll never see the performance that you're paying a premium for.

 

[Mopar guy]

Hi, seen your post and I thought I would reply with my opinion. I went through the same deal trying to figure out what NAS I wanted/needed and finally ended up with the QNAP 219 Turbo NAS over the Synology. Here's a few of the reasons I chose it - Hot swappable drives, low power consumption, quiet, free firmware updates and not having to pay for certain functions, better support and community. I've had it up and running for about 2 months without any issues. I used 2 - Hitachi 5K3000 HDS5C3020ALA632 drives in mine and it performs very well. For a home system that I can store/backup everything to, I've been very happy with it and felt that anything bigger would be overkill. I'm still getting more features activated as I get more familiar with it.
Hope this helps.