QNAP TS-212 Question

[Soap]

I am thinking of purchasing this unit as my first NAS solution (I can get this for about $200), but I have a question. I already have '2' 1TB drives I plan to use. I know that within the next year I will be wanting to upgrade to 3TB drives. Does this NAS give me the ability to perform a drive upgrade on the fly? This is a pretty big deal for me on my next purchase. If this NAS does not offer that solution can anyone offer me any options? Thank you.

My uses for this NAS will be to store pictures, music, and LOTS of H264 movies that I plan to stream via DLNA to my TV's in the home.

I should add that the other NAS device I am considering is the Synology DS212J (I can get this for about $250)

 

[stevech]

I am thinking of purchasing this unit as my first NAS solution (I can get this for about $200), but I have a question. I already have '2' 1TB drives I plan to use. I know that within the next year I will be wanting to upgrade to 3TB drives. Does this NAS give me the ability to perform a drive upgrade on the fly? This is a pretty big deal for me on my next purchase. If this NAS does not offer that solution can anyone offer me any options? Thank you.

My uses for this NAS will be to store pictures, music, and LOTS of H264 movies that I plan to stream via DLNA to my TV's in the home.

I should add that the other NAS device I am considering is the Synology DS212J (I can get this for about $250)

The "11j" products from synology and same priced products from QNAP are just 1.2 GHz. My thinking is that 1.6 GHz is needed.

 

[JoeJoe]

I am thinking of purchasing this unit as my first NAS solution (I can get this for about $200), but I have a question. I already have '2' 1TB drives I plan to use. I know that within the next year I will be wanting to upgrade to 3TB drives. Does this NAS give me the ability to perform a drive upgrade on the fly?

See the chart here: http://www.qnap.com/images/products/comparison/Comparison_2BayNAS.html

Online RAID Capacity Expansion is not supported on that model, if that is what you wanted, to use RAID1.

If you look on Newegg, they have open box NASes from QNAP quite a bit at sometimes almost half off. I got one of mine from there, same 2 year warranty. http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=50011165%2040000124&IsNodeId=1&name=Network%20Storage%20%28NAS%29&SpeTabStoreType=0&Order=PRICE&Pagesize=100 This link will show you all of what they off, click on 'open box'.

All of these 4 drive models have online RAID migration. http://www.qnap.com/images/products/comparison/Comparison_4BayNAS.html

If you have these drive now, look at the TS-410, it will do all you want.
I have a TS-419P (no longer made), its great, one of the best things I have bought. Also have the TS-219P+ as a back up.

I recommend that you get a 4 drive model, even the cheapest one.

 

[Soap]

I appreciate the replys guys. I think I am now going to go the way of a DIY build with FreeNAS. I actually have an HTPC I had built a few months ago which I now am not using and should be a good candidate. It was built to be quiet and be power friendly. It is a Core i3 2100T processor with 4GB ram. I can throw my '2' 2TB drives in it for now. (I think I mistakenly said I had 1TB drives in my OP) I might get a slightly bigger case though to allow for more drives as I move forward. That is something I never planned when I built it up as an HTPC. This seems like my cheapest option at this point.

 

[stevech]

I gave FreeNAS a try - and decided its user interface assumed I wanted to make FreeNAS a career rather than setup once and forget it. If your needs match, the fact FreeNAS doesn't have most of the apps that Synology/QNAP have may not be an issue.

 

[Soap]

Yea, I spent the day fighting with FreeNAS and scrapped that idea. Ordered a QNAP TS-219PII earlier today instead. Researching now possibly installing BOXEE on the PC I was going to use, since DLNA sucks so bad...

 

[stevech]

seen Kylo?

 

[JoeJoe]

The Twonky DLNA server on the QNAP works very well. I use this to watch avi/xvids on a PS3.

I use the samba network connection and watch MKVs on a boxee box, works great.