Small domestic NAS suggestions

[bitchstewie]

Synology are nice boxes. There are always cheaper ways but one of those in RAID1/10 and you won't go too far wrong.

Just buy decent drives as those are the things that will fail.

[shtu]

TooMany2cvs said:

WiFi-to-USB print server?

Not quite the question you asked, but many of the Synology NAS also work fine as a print server.

[karona]

TooMany2cvs said:

Thanks, folks. That seems to be fairly conclusive.

While we're here, any suggestions for a WiFi-to-USB print server? Needs to work with an HP colour LJ 2025CP, and from Linux clients.

My router (TP Link WR842ND) has "Versatile USB Sharing" which can be configured as a USB print server, works perfectly with a Brother colour printer.

[The Moose]

chopper602 said:

I have the DS216Play. Pair of 3Tb drives and it sits under the telly (TV connects to router), can't tell it's on and gives excellent results even streaming more than one movie. After a few different varieties of NAS, this one is the most stable and gives excellent connectivity. I'd recommend it.

Interesting. QNAP do a box to sit under the TV that is totally fanless. I've never had a Synology box before - can you do the normal NAS stuff as well as the streaming video at the same time? If I've got the box sitting next to the TV, how do you connect the TV to the DS216Play directly if there isn't HDMI output?

[stemll]

The Moose said:

chopper602 said:

I have the DS216Play. Pair of 3Tb drives and it sits under the telly (TV connects to router), can't tell it's on and gives excellent results even streaming more than one movie. After a few different varieties of NAS, this one is the most stable and gives excellent connectivity. I'd recommend it.

Interesting. QNAP do a box to sit under the TV that is totally fanless. I've never had a Synology box before - can you do the normal NAS stuff as well as the streaming video at the same time? If I've got the box sitting next to the TV, how do you connect the TV to the DS216Play directly if there isn't HDMI output?

Depends on your TV but my Panasonic just sees my QNAP (as it did the Synology before it) as a DLNA media server on the network, navigate the folders and pick the MP4 you want to watch. And yes, can do other things at the same time. My Synology used to record the CCTV cameras at the same time as streaming to the TV and being the documents folder for the laptops. The QNAP could do this too but I don't have the cameras on it any more.

If I had to choose again, I'd pick Synology over QNAP. QNAPs seem to have better specs but the Synology software is better.

[anonymous-user]

+1 for synology especially as they are still providing OS updates and fixes for my boxes that are several years old, other manufacturers end of life the support quite quickly.

The other things to look at are the processor performance and apps, easy to upgrade disk space but not the processor. NAS boxes don't have enormous numbers of supported apps or programs like a pc or smartphone.

[mikef]

If small means physically small and discrete, I can recommend Synology's 414slim, which takes 4 2.5" drives. I originally used 4x 512GB SSDs which was silent but a bit expensive, now with 4x 1TB WD Red HDDs

For HDMI out, you need QNAP

[whoami]

gottans said:

+1 for synology especially as they are still providing OS updates and fixes for my boxes that are several years old, other manufacturers end of life the support quite quickly.

This is a key point in favour of Synology.

[mikeiow]

whoami said:

This is a key point in favour of Synology.

Are QNAP particularly bad at updates?

[TooMany2cvs]

The Synology's ordered. Thanks, guys.

[TooMany2cvs]

TooMany2cvs said:

The Synology's ordered. Thanks, guys.

And it's arrived, and is all set up. Very happy indeed with it. Thanks for the pointers.

[Too Late]

I know you bought a Synology device.

Another option to those out there is

Get yourself a MicrosServer Gen8 £100
http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/hpe-proliant-micro...

Buy 1 or 6 disks

Install Xpenology (http://xpenology.com/forum)

Have yourself a very powerful NAS using Synology's OS

[TooMany2cvs]

Too Late said:

I know you bought a Synology device.

Another option to those out there is

Get yourself a MicrosServer Gen8 £100
http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/hpe-proliant-micro...

Buy 1 or 6 disks

Install Xpenology (http://xpenology.com/forum)

Have yourself a very powerful NAS using Synology's OS

That would have seriously tempted me...

But the smallprint says that it has to be invoiced and delivered by today for the cashback.

[shtu]

Those are almost always on offer, give it a few days.

[Too Late]

shtu said:

Those are almost always on offer, give it a few days.

Yep.
They run all year. The cash back offer does change from time to time, if only by £5 or £20....

As with most out of the box NAS devices, they hold their money well. You could sell it on Fleabay and purchase an HP microserver.

I have 2, a Gen8 Microserver and an older N54L. They are fantastic boxes for the value and you get all the toys which come with the Synology Nas but running on Xpenology

[Too Late]

Another idea is chuck a decent graphics card in and you have yourselves a decent media center.

I only use it as a NAS device, with 12TB of available space.