Qnap ts-412 turbo or Synology ds-411j?

[thedoc2671]

Hi there,

This is probably one of the most asked questions regarding budget NAS-systems accros the internet at this moment. I've been searching the net for the past 2 days to try and make a choice, but I still do not know what to pick. There is no direct comparison or any review that involves both directly. Hence I've found no answer to my question: which one is better?

I need a NAS for media streaming to my HTPC, laptop, iPad and for backup purposes. I also want to make sure I have the ability to stream the media directly to my TV in the future as my current LCD doesn't provide the option.

So far the I've found the following points that make me lean towards Qnap

- 1,2 Ghz Marvel processor in both devices
- 256MB RAM (vs 128MB in Synology)
- 2x eSATA (non in Synology)
- 2x LAN (1 in Synology)
- 4x USB (2 in Synology)
- a switch for fast direct copy form external hdd (no such option in Synolgoy)
- hot-swapabe (not possible with Synology)
- After sales?? (I think people prefer Synology due to better customer service)

I've found different data-transfer rates in different reviews. Not sure if I'm allowed to paste links to those reviews here, so I won't. But those are not much different from each other with write rates of 20Mb/sec to 35Mb/sec and read rates of up to 70Mb/sec.

I want to combine the NAS with 4x Seagate 2TB SATA-600 5900rpm 64MB Barracuda Green.

After the two day quest, I still can't make a dicision. Can someone help me?

- How important is the presence of eSATA, an extra LAN, 2 more USB connections and a swtich for fast direct copying on the Qnap?
- Does the 256MB RAM make a difference in performance?

Thanks a bunch for your replies.

(P.S. I've also posted this under General NAS Discussion, dear admin, please remove one of the two. Thanks)

 

[GregN]

Hi there,

This is probably one of the most asked questions regarding budget NAS-systems accros the internet at this moment. I've been searching the net for the past 2 days to try and make a choice, but I still do not know what to pick. There is no direct comparison or any review that involves both directly. Hence I've found no answer to my question: which one is better?

I need a NAS for media streaming to my HTPC, laptop, iPad and for backup purposes. I also want to make sure I have the ability to stream the media directly to my TV in the future as my current LCD doesn't provide the option.

So far the I've found the following points that make me lean towards Qnap

- 1,2 Ghz Marvel processor in both devices
- 256MB RAM (vs 128MB in Synology)
- 2x eSATA (non in Synology)
- 2x LAN (1 in Synology)
- 4x USB (2 in Synology)
- a switch for fast direct copy form external hdd (no such option in Synolgoy)
- hot-swapabe (not possible with Synology)
- After sales?? (I think people prefer Synology due to better customer service)

I've found different data-transfer rates in different reviews. Not sure if I'm allowed to paste links to those reviews here, so I won't. But those are not much different from each other with write rates of 20Mb/sec to 35Mb/sec and read rates of up to 70Mb/sec.

I want to combine the NAS with 4x Seagate 2TB SATA-600 5900rpm 64MB Barracuda Green.

After the two day quest, I still can't make a dicision. Can someone help me?

- How important is the presence of eSATA, an extra LAN, 2 more USB connections and a swtich for fast direct copying on the Qnap?
- Does the 256MB RAM make a difference in performance?

Thanks a bunch for your replies.

(P.S. I've also posted this under General NAS Discussion, dear admin, please remove one of the two. Thanks)

I like Root Beer, I prefer A&W but Barq's is fine with me. When I go to the supermarket and need sodas, I look at the price, which is on sale this week? I buy that one.

I don't think there is a wrong answer here, both are good products. The fact you can't decide means no one feature is compelling enough to you.

Have you looked at the Synology and the QNAP interface emulators? Like one better than the other?

I have a Thecus N5200, an old NAS, has two gig ports, never used the second one. Has a USB, used it once, but it wouldn't mount it the external drive write ( it was formatted as NTFS ), so I stopped using the USB. I used hot swap several times, once to replace a bad drive, then a bunch of times in sequence to upgrade the drives to a larger size.

So how are you going to use your NAS, will it sit in the corner collecting dust and serving storage, or will you be using the additional features it comes with really?

Which one is on sale?

 

[thedoc2671]

Thanks for the reply.

Well both are not on sale and cost about 300 euros. As you said, i will sit in a corner and serve as a storage/download server. You are right that both are not attractive enough to me, but I don't wanna spend more than 300 euro's for a NAS (ex. hdds).

I don't need the copy switch of the Qnap, neither I need the eSATA or extra USBs on it (for now). So that doesn't matter at all. The only thing that makes me wonder, is whether the 256MB ram om Qnap makes much difference, as Synology has 128. But then again I hear good stuff about Synology after sales and really bad things about Qnap. So yeah, I might just pick one, not care and hope to have made the right choice

 

[GregN]

I don't need the copy switch of the Qnap, neither I need the eSATA or extra USBs on it (for now). So that doesn't matter at all. The only thing that makes me wonder, is whether the 256MB ram om Qnap makes much difference, as Synology has 128. But then again I hear good stuff about Synology after sales and really bad things about Qnap. So yeah, I might just pick one, not care and hope to have made the right choice

I sneer at 128MB of core from a great height.

If the thing is working, what is there to support? ( besides you have SNB! )

With these two, they are both the right choice, no wrong choice, just more or less compelling feature sets ( for you ).

Here are the questions I would ask in making the decision:

What am I going to be using my NAS for? Backups ( mix of files sizes, but at off times ), Media drive ( Large files ), or Centralized Storage ( Mostly small files ) Look at the NASPT tests for your usage profile, one stand out from the other? Memory is for performance, look at the performance, not the amount of memory.

Does my choice support 3TB or greater drive sizes, does it have caps that will limit its future. Is there a hard limit on maximum storage?

Do the support forums seem to get quick responses? How many posts have Titles that are ALL CAPS?

Using it in a production environment, does it need to be running 7x24? (Hot Swappable vs Not )

Are there adjunct Apps I want to run on it, like a DLNA server? Am I limited in my choices?

Do I prefer one WebGUI or the other?



Sounds like you're leaning towards the Synology, so go forth and buy.

 

[normlan]

A few points i can think of:

- both brands provides good support and have active forums for discussions
- i think eSATA ports are only important if u want a way to add more (external & portable) disk space to your NAS in the future or you need to backup stuffs to an external drive (emergencies, offline backups etc)

this might also help http://www.nasreview.org/compare/QNAP-TS-412-US-vs-Synology-DS411J

 

[g_wall]

I have the same dilemma; Qnap ts-412 turbo or Synology ds-411j

I was looking at the comparison and noticed under 'Features' for the Synology, it didn't mention "Synology Hybrid RAID" http://forum.synology.com/wiki/index.php/What_is_Synology_Hybrid_RAID? (does 411j not support it? and if it does, how well does it work?) is that not the same as QNAP's "RAID migration/expansion, Change RAID configuration or upgrade to larger drives without reformatting"


my current setup is a D-link DNS 323 with 2x 1TB drives (RAID0) tucked away with all my other NTW gear in a closet, which I'll have to migrate over to a new NAS. I've been using it mostly to store movies and TV shows but recently been storing more sensitive date (family photos and home movies of the kids). I'v got 200GB left on it and also need proper redundancy


requirements of the new NAS are as follows

Hardware:
-4+ bays
-Ethernet (1000M)
-USB to support UPS
-eSATA (this is a maybe, see below)
-don't care about looks
-in the 300-400 price range
-solid warranty
-does anyone have RMA stats for both QNAP and Synology
-CPU and memory and through put are not of huge concern (as my crappy DNS323 has been able to handle streaming movies ok so far, so anything newer should be fine)



Features:
-redundancy is a MUST of course

-Scalability (I don't want to run into my current situation; no upgrade path to larger disks with out reformatting(or off loading the data). with the eSATA port is it possible to daisy chain multiple NASes and create a single volume, this would be a huge plus)

-stability (my DNS-323 has been great so far, set it up the first day, and probably haven't logged into it in years)

-manageability (hot swappable, expansion of disk size, migration of RAIDs) all without data loss.

-don't care that much for media server, bit torrent
-in-life support (don't want to find they stop doing firmware updates for my NAS 2yrs after I purchase it )


this is what I'd like my upgrade path to be:

1. purchase new NAS and 2 x 2TB drives
2. offload data from my D-link to a external usb 2TB drive
3. insert the 2x1TB drives into the new NAS and the 2x2TB drive (total of 4 ) run RAID 5 with 1 disk redundancy
4. after some time replace the 2x1TB drives with 2TB drives
5. return the 2x1TB drives back to the D-Link
6. and later down the road replace all drives with 3TB drives(and it might be staggered, 3x2TB and 1x3TB ) ... and then 4TB(you get the picture)


Can anyone tell me (that has had experience with both devices) if my requirements and upgrade path are achievable with both Qnap ts-412 and/or Synology ds-411j

Also the original poster(thedoc2671 ) what did you end up going with? thoughts?

 

[thiggins]

The Synology Hybrid RAID (SHR) feature depends on the OS version used. If a product supports DSM 3.0 or higher (and all current models do), then SHR is supported.

Any "online" RAID expansion method requires you replace one drive at a time and wait for the array to rebuild before you swap the next drive. During the rebuild, the entire array can be lost if there is a glitch.

The advantage of Synology's SHR is that it provides more usable storage from volumes that have mixed drive sizes.

 

[g_wall]

I also notice that the TS-412 is not listed in QNAP 'pro features' http://qnap.com/pro_features_RLM.asp is this correct?

 

[thiggins]

Features change often with different firmware revs and those articles are not updated.

You are best to look at the specs / data sheet for the particular product you are interested in. If you still don't have a definitive answer, ask QNAP sales or post in their forums.

That said, any models that can run current firmware support raid expansion and level migration.