QNAP TS-410 or Synology 411j

[Chubby]

Hi All, I'm desperate for some helper choosing the right NAS for me to upgrade my WD My Book World Edition 2TB. I've narrowed down to the QNAP TS-410 or the Synology 411j based on them both being 4 bays under £300.

The usage is a home media environment across a 200mbps powerline (will be upgraded to 500mbps) serving WMV, m2t, mp3 files to a Win 7 Media center. It will also be used to store photos which will be backed up to a Amazon S3 account. Eventually I'll distribute the media to other extenders around the house either on wireless or cat 5.

For me the pros and cons are (apologies for any inaccuracies - I've been frying my brain with this for a week!).

TS-410 Pros

• 256MB Memory
• 2 x eSata for expansion
• 2 x Ethernet
• Hot Swap
• Good user base on the forums

TS-410 Cons

• 800Mhz Processor
• Old Model
• Not sure about power consumption as I can't find estimates with 4 drives
• Bad reputation for support
• Read 62 / Write 22 (compared to DS411j)

DS411j Pros

• 1.2Ghz Processor
• DSM is widely recognised as being great
• Good after sales support
• Read 82 / Write 38
• Reasonable power consumption figure
• Good user base on the forums
• New model
• Dunno why, but I just have a good feeling about synology products??

DS411j Cons

• 128MB Memory
• 0 x eSata
• 1 x Ethernet
• No Hot-Swap

There seems to be a difference in that the synology has better read / write performance, but the QNAP has better hardware features like ethernet and esata. That said the synology has 50% less memory but 50% more processor speed - how would that manifest itself in terms of usability.

Any help is greatly appreciated!!!

 

[ntepperman]

I'm going through a very similar process right now, so I'll share my thoughts.

I'll tell you that after a review of the QNAP 4-drive line, I was only prepared to look at the 419P+ or better: I felt that any of the 'lesser' products, including the TS-410, were left in the dust by similr products (including the DS411J).

Warranty:
- I believe Synology is 2 years, while QNAP is only 1 year. For me, the 1 year warranty was enough to disqualify QNAP from the running compared to the 2 year offerings (Synology, Thecus) and 3 year option (ReadyNAS).

UI:
- I read a review of a similar QNAP product that suggested the UI is dated compared to Synology & Netgear.

Other Products to Consider (Similar price range):
Thecus N0503

Other Products to Consider (Slightly more expensive):
Synology DS410
QNAP TS-419P

Other Products to Consider (More expensive)
ReadyNAS Ultra 4 (RNDU4000)
QNAP TS-419P+



Reviews:
TS-410:
http://www.wegotserved.com/2009/12/07/hands-on-qnap-ts-410-turbo-nas/5/

 

[Chubby]

Right, deep breath..........

From what I can make out - more RAM would afford you better concurrent usage - whereas more processor will give you better throughput (anyone feel free to jump in a correct).

For me the priority is to put in place something better than my WD My Book 2TB, currently only to service a single client and maybe more in the future concurrently. Ideally, I'd like expansion - but with the somewhat ambiguous capabilities of both boxes - I think I have to overlook that.

For example I've read that Synology will only expand with Synology Boxes - which start at £350+, and even then with the 411 don't fully support volume expansion. I think this means that you have a different set of shares - so why bother with an expensive expansion box - why not just buy another ds411j???

As for QNAP, I've read that they only work with Enclosures which have a certain chipset - the like of which doesn't seem to be available in the UK very easily.

(I'll update with the links to these statements when I get home later).

So, in light of this I'm leaning towards the DS411j - this won't work great with lots of clients, however for my current situation it looks like it'll allow me the capacity growth I want and allow me to dip into more functionality (DLNA streaming, surveillance, S3 backups) whilst offering better speeds than the QNAP TS-410, all still under £300.

By the time I outgrow this box (8TB - not RAIDED - just backing important stuff to S3) in a couple of years time, I expect the landscape to have shifted considerably as this is definitely a growth area and as people's data consumption grows, the companies will start to pitch more to the home market (like the DS411j).

 

[thiggins]

The biggest determinant of NAS performance is CPU. RAM is secondary and really only helps if you are dealing with small files. Keep in mind that using 200Mbps (HomePlug AV) powerline will limit you to ~ 40Mbps or 5 MB/s, much slower than the NASes you are paying a premium price for.

Why are you considering only QNAP and Synology? You pay a stiff premium for features you're probably not going to use.

And don't rely on RAID for backup. Backing up photos to the cloud is going to be expensive and slow.

Note that QNAP can back up to S3. Synology doesn't support any cloud backup (yet).

 

[Chubby]

The biggest determinant of NAS performance is CPU. RAM is secondary and really only helps if you are dealing with small files. Keep in mind that using 200Mbps (HomePlug AV) powerline will limit you to ~ 40Mbps or 5 MB/s, much slower than the NASes you are paying a premium price for.

I agree, however I do plan to upgrade to 500mbps powerlines in the near future to exploit the speeds the lower end NAS's can offer. I am even giving though to running cat5e / 6 cabling around the house. Your comment on CPU pushes me toward the synology.

Why are you considering only QNAP and Synology? You pay a stiff premium for features you're probably not going to use.

Good question, the reason I've narrowed down to those two manufacturers, is because they both have very helpful user bases - judging by their forums, with plenty of content already there. I had to narrow down early cause it is such a minefield - particularly as I don't have any experience in this field and they both seem to have good offerings under £300. It's like you don't know what you want in a NAS until you've owned a NAS - if you get my drift! I don't want a WHS so I've stayed away from the EasyStore 340, and the netgear NAS's have noisy fans reportedly. The Thecus range don't seem to have taken off much. Any other suggestions would be appreciated!

And don't rely on RAID for backup. Backing up photos to the cloud is going to be expensive and slow.

Absolutely - from reading around umpteen forums, this is driven home by the majority of users replying to threads on the subject. Hence my S3 strategy.

Note that QNAP can back up to S3. Synology doesn't support any cloud backup (yet).

The DS411j runs DSM 3.0 which seems to support S3 backups. Using the Amazon S3 calculator - 20GB of storage, with 20GB bandwidth in and out per month, 100000 put / list and 100000 get requests equates to $4.25 (3ish quid) - admittedly this is something I would need to play by ear, but the costs don't look too prohibitive.

 

[thiggins]

If you're willing to spend premium $, look at NETGEAR ReadyNASes too, then.

500 Mbps powerline still won't get you to 100 Mbps Ethernet performance.
500 Mbps Not! : TRENDnet TPL-401E2K 500 Mbps Powerline AV Adapter Kit Reviewed