Suggestion on a 2 drive NAS

[mahesh.mayani]

Suggestion on a 2 Bay/drive NAS

I am in the market to buy a 2 Bay NAS. Here are my requirements -

1. I am a newbie to NAS so i would like to get something that is not too complicated. Something that can work with my basic networking skills.

2. I would like to start at 1 TB, but want the flexibility to upgrade at a later time.

3. I would like the NAS to auto backup (scheduled) 2 laptops, one mac and one windows. Any change i make to my laptop data should automatically be updated to my NAS immediately.

4. Should be easy to remove the hard drive from the back if required. (Hot swappable?)

4. The NAS should be completely compatible with everything to do with Macs (itunes, time machine, AFP, SMB/CIFS, etc...)

5. It should have an itunes server, media server, upnp/dlna, FTP server, Print Server for wireless printing.

6. I would like the NAS to mirror the main hard disk to another hard disk within the NAS (RAID?).

7. I would like to store dvd movies on it and stream from it directly onto my TV (My plasma tv and dvd player have internet capability)

8. Store music files and access them directly from the NAS.

9. My wife has a photography business, so storing lots of pictures, custom created album files, custom created slide show files will be Key. Additionally she would like to give her customers access to the NAS to view the slide shows only.

10. Should be able to remotely access the NAS from anywhere.

11. Read and write speeds should be good; the NAS should not be noisy, should not be too bulky.

12. Budget is about $300 or so.

I have narrowed down to 3 -
1. Synology 209 or 210j (dont know the difference)
2. QNAP TS 210
3. Netgear ReadyNas Duo

Any suggestions, please let me know.

Thanks
MM

 

[claykin]

1. Feature set is the same when comparing 209 and 210j. 209 has better performance. See here for more details. http://www.synology.com/us/products/compare_spec.php

2. I suggest you look @ the Qnap TS219 as a more fair comparison to the Synology 209. The TS209 also has hot swappable disks. See here for more. http://www.qnap.com/images/products/comparison/Comparison_NAS.html

3. Readynas Duo will do everything you requested but bear in mind that its raw transfer performance is slower than the Qnap 219 or the Syno 209. A couple advantages of the Readynas Duo. A) Built in backup solution is more flexible and feature rich than any Syno or Qnap box. B) Readynas Remote allows easy (and secure) access to data stored on NAS when away from home/office.

All three vendors include client apps to backup PC data to the NAS. They all have weaknesses (such as no open file/locked file support). I would not recommend you make a NAS purchase decision based on the included client backup app. There's plenty of wonderful programs you can purchase for a low $ that will do a much better job backing up or doing continuous data protection. I.E. Syncback SE/Pro from www.2brightsparks.com is fabulous. For your Mac, use Time Machine. All 3 models support Time machine target.

 

[mahesh.mayani]

So, I've been doing quite a but of reading on the QNAP TS219 and Netgear ReadyNAS Duo. I cant seem to decide yet though.

Which one do you recommend? The QNAP TS 219 or the Netgear ReadyNas Duo. I am kinda cautious of my budget, so i dont want to go too high if i dont have to. So if Netgear is very close to the QNAP in performance i will go for the Netgear.

I would appreciate your suggestion.

On a separate note, I had heard that QNAP doesn't have good tech support here in the US. Has this been a problem?