Discussion
Looking to replace my ageing MybookLive with something a bit bigger and more capable. I want to sync files between 2 computers, share files with another user, backup files from 2 laptops and a desktop, backup from the NAS to a USB drive (or maybe cloud), store photos/video archives and run Plex or similar to stream to Google TV. Ability to access files from phone/tablet via internet when not at home looks like a nice feature but not essential as I currently use Dropbox for that.
Initial answer looks like a Synology DS220+ or QNAP TS-251D, but I can see the point in having 4 bays as I could buy with 2 now and when I upgrade I don't need to replace the existing drives, and then it seems worth spending the extra few quid for the Synology DS920+ or QNAP TS-453-Das the extra couple of cores make it a better choice for Plex if it needs to transcode.
I quite like the idea of the HDMI out on the QNAPs, but at the moment putting it by the TV would mean it being on a wireless bridge rather than ethernet. Reviews seem to suggest the Synology has a more user friendly interface, while the QNAPs can potentially do more but it's more complex to figure out how to do it. The Asustor 5304T seems to be similar spec and price and has HDMI out, but reviews say it's a bit noisy and the software isn't as well known as the Synology or QNAP
Has anyone used both QNAP and Synology to comment on the software differences?
Is 4 bay worth it? I'd be looking to buy with a pair of 8GB drives which should keep me going for a few years before I need to consider adding more.
Are there any other equivalent's worth looking at?
Initial answer looks like a Synology DS220+ or QNAP TS-251D, but I can see the point in having 4 bays as I could buy with 2 now and when I upgrade I don't need to replace the existing drives, and then it seems worth spending the extra few quid for the Synology DS920+ or QNAP TS-453-Das the extra couple of cores make it a better choice for Plex if it needs to transcode.
I quite like the idea of the HDMI out on the QNAPs, but at the moment putting it by the TV would mean it being on a wireless bridge rather than ethernet. Reviews seem to suggest the Synology has a more user friendly interface, while the QNAPs can potentially do more but it's more complex to figure out how to do it. The Asustor 5304T seems to be similar spec and price and has HDMI out, but reviews say it's a bit noisy and the software isn't as well known as the Synology or QNAP
Has anyone used both QNAP and Synology to comment on the software differences?
Is 4 bay worth it? I'd be looking to buy with a pair of 8GB drives which should keep me going for a few years before I need to consider adding more.
Are there any other equivalent's worth looking at?
If you're bothered about losing the data on the NAS, then you should consider a RAID setup, which will reduce your capacity and make 2-bays unviable.
I'm running RAID something, I have a Parity drive which has to be as big as the largest other drive, so I have 4Tb, 4TB, 3Tb, 2TB, the 4Tb Parity Drive means you can swap out a failed drive, or put a bigger one (up to 4Gb anyway) and it'll just rebuild the array for you with no loss. I'm left with 9Tb.
The other thing my array has is a Cache drive, which means it sits nicely with Deluge downloading files without having to spin the array disks. Once a day (or if full) the cache is written to the array. This is good for data security too as it limits the use of the array discs, reducing the chance of failure. If you let the OS control which files go where across your drives then they'll all be spinning if one is.
The Cache drive is an SSD for performance. I have all the services on the server running from Dockers that are on that drive, so again the array isn't kept spinning unless necessary and you get better performance.
I've been through most setup options over the years, though not NAS boxes so I don't know how they're configured, but I'm running UnRaid on a 10 year old HP Microserver and it's by far the best setup I've tried.
Currently I can open an app on my phone, search for a Film or TV series and it'll be in Plex when I get home and everything is kept up to date with new episodes automatically.
I'm running RAID something, I have a Parity drive which has to be as big as the largest other drive, so I have 4Tb, 4TB, 3Tb, 2TB, the 4Tb Parity Drive means you can swap out a failed drive, or put a bigger one (up to 4Gb anyway) and it'll just rebuild the array for you with no loss. I'm left with 9Tb.
The other thing my array has is a Cache drive, which means it sits nicely with Deluge downloading files without having to spin the array disks. Once a day (or if full) the cache is written to the array. This is good for data security too as it limits the use of the array discs, reducing the chance of failure. If you let the OS control which files go where across your drives then they'll all be spinning if one is.
The Cache drive is an SSD for performance. I have all the services on the server running from Dockers that are on that drive, so again the array isn't kept spinning unless necessary and you get better performance.
I've been through most setup options over the years, though not NAS boxes so I don't know how they're configured, but I'm running UnRaid on a 10 year old HP Microserver and it's by far the best setup I've tried.
Currently I can open an app on my phone, search for a Film or TV series and it'll be in Plex when I get home and everything is kept up to date with new episodes automatically.
Yeah I'd be planning to to use Raid (1 I assume with only 2 disks?). Both the Synology and Qnap are available a deal with a pair of 4TB drives. 4TB Raid would be enough for a while (current NAS is 2TB), although I hadn't thought about adding an extra drive for the stuff I'm less worried about, I have a 1TB drive lying about which I could presumably use for the syncing between devices role as I'd have copies of the files on my laptop and PC as well, and just use the Raid array for backups or archiving stuff that's not on the computers.
The Synology has the option to add a couple of M2 drives for Cache, I thought that was about speeding it up (probably not needed for my use), but using it to make the drives spin up less often makes sense.
The Synology has the option to add a couple of M2 drives for Cache, I thought that was about speeding it up (probably not needed for my use), but using it to make the drives spin up less often makes sense.
I upgraded from a QNAP 219P to a QNAP 451 partly due to capacity, though the former now has larger drives in it and is a back up for the latter (ever notice how hard it is to let go of old kit...) - the 451 I only have 3 bays filled with the view I could always add a fourth disk further down the line if I required the space.
As to the HDMI connection - mine has it and it was great. Bought a blue tooth connected Logitech keyboard and plugged it's sender in to a port on the back of the NAS - worked straight off. Catch is that YouTube started new licensing for their app with the result that the 'smaller guys' could no longer afford it so it was removed from the QNAP hdmi presented desktop (HD Station). Additionally you used to get two versions of Kobi, one vanilla, one QNAP branded/tweaked/renamed - now you just get the latter and it feels cut down. Still plays everything I throw at it and has no problems with subtitles, however it also feels a little like QNAP only spend minimal time on maintaining and developing it and the desktop. Also it has become rather slow, though that may also be down to the fact my NAS is now 6 years old and a 7 year old model.
You still get the ability to play video and music, or show photos from the QNAP native apps (Video Station, Music Station, Photo Station) and they work fine, though I can't remember how Video Station deal with embedded subtitles (where they are in the video file, not a separate file or pre-displayed in the video), in addition if you're using the security station you can also view your cameras through the TV. Available apps for the desktop are:
As to the HDMI connection - mine has it and it was great. Bought a blue tooth connected Logitech keyboard and plugged it's sender in to a port on the back of the NAS - worked straight off. Catch is that YouTube started new licensing for their app with the result that the 'smaller guys' could no longer afford it so it was removed from the QNAP hdmi presented desktop (HD Station). Additionally you used to get two versions of Kobi, one vanilla, one QNAP branded/tweaked/renamed - now you just get the latter and it feels cut down. Still plays everything I throw at it and has no problems with subtitles, however it also feels a little like QNAP only spend minimal time on maintaining and developing it and the desktop. Also it has become rather slow, though that may also be down to the fact my NAS is now 6 years old and a 7 year old model.
You still get the ability to play video and music, or show photos from the QNAP native apps (Video Station, Music Station, Photo Station) and they work fine, though I can't remember how Video Station deal with embedded subtitles (where they are in the video file, not a separate file or pre-displayed in the video), in addition if you're using the security station you can also view your cameras through the TV. Available apps for the desktop are:
For backup across devices I use Sync Back Free, but there's a few free options out there.
I have RAID looking after my media because it's not that important. I have a 2Tb drive in my PC that's there because I can't put it in the server My Documents are backed to that daily, with a few copies saved and there are copies on One Drive too. And because it's a pain installing games over the network, Game installations are synced there too so they're to hand.
Various programs on the PC also back their data up to the server, put those in their own network share and then sync it back to the PC too, or the other way, it doesn't matter. Outlook, Lightroom that sort of thing.
I have RAID looking after my media because it's not that important. I have a 2Tb drive in my PC that's there because I can't put it in the server My Documents are backed to that daily, with a few copies saved and there are copies on One Drive too. And because it's a pain installing games over the network, Game installations are synced there too so they're to hand.
Various programs on the PC also back their data up to the server, put those in their own network share and then sync it back to the PC too, or the other way, it doesn't matter. Outlook, Lightroom that sort of thing.
The QNAP's only about €40 cheaper with the same processor, so not much in it hardware wise other than the Synology's M2 slots vs the QNAP's PCIe slot and HDMI out.
Other software support sounds like a possible issue for the QNAP though. Can it run the Plex front end rather than just the server to play video's to the telly? I notice Skype on that screenshot, can it take a USB webcam and do video calls?
I like the idea of the QNAPs HDMI connection but can't get past the fact that everyone raves about the Synology software being brilliant
Other software support sounds like a possible issue for the QNAP though. Can it run the Plex front end rather than just the server to play video's to the telly? I notice Skype on that screenshot, can it take a USB webcam and do video calls?
I like the idea of the QNAPs HDMI connection but can't get past the fact that everyone raves about the Synology software being brilliant
I assume you are using https://tweakers.net/pricewatch/ for price info - they are usually the easiest way to find the best price in NL for stuff.
RizzoTheRat said:
Other software support sounds like a possible issue for the QNAP though. Can it run the Plex front end rather than just the server to play video's to the telly? I notice Skype on that screenshot, can it take a USB webcam and do video calls?
On Plex - I think Kobi can handle that, not sure as I'm not a Plex person - I suspect if you were inclined you could install the client on the NAS yourself, however then it's extra effort and may not work.On Facebook, Libre Office, and Skype - I always felt they were supplied because they could run, not because you would necessarily want to run them. I've not tried the Skype app so I do not know if it is message only or also allows video calls (can't remember how many USB ports mine has at the back).
RizzoTheRat said:
I wasn't but I am now 
Price seem to be pretty constant to be fair, cheapest seems to only be €3 cheaper than I'd seen.
It’s also useful just to see which sellers are reliable and who can deliver when etc. Their forums are also a mine of useful information (in Dutch) although they can be extremely heavy-handed if you dare stray off topic in any way! Price seem to be pretty constant to be fair, cheapest seems to only be €3 cheaper than I'd seen.
t itself so much I can’t even connect to it to find out what’s gone wrong. It is an (old) ds411j, mind.troc said:
It’s also useful just to see which sellers are reliable and who can deliver when etc. Their forums are also a mine of useful information (in Dutch) although they can be extremely heavy-handed if you dare stray off topic in any way!
I'll bear that in mind if I comment on anything
Cool Blue are doing bundles with a couple of drives at sensible prices at the momentMy new Synology DS920+ arrived last night, along with a couple of 4 TB WD Red drives. Really easy to install and setup, I can see why people rate the Synology software. I've gone for SHR as it means I can add another drive when it starts to fill up and I'll gain the full capacity, although this does mean I've tied myself in to Synology if it ever dies.
So far I've installed Drive Client on my PC and sync'd a couple of folders to it, set up a house shared folder, and installed Plex and left it cataloguing my library this morning. It looks like the USB Copy addon is what I want to back up the NAS to my USB drive, which I then keep at work for an off site backup.
What I haven't figured out yet, is Drive Client/Server a 2 way sync? ie if I sync a folder on my laptop and a folder on my PC to the same folder on the NAS, then update a file on the Laptop, will it get copied to the PC? I currently use Dropbox to do that so it's not essential but would be nice to have.
There's loads of available addons and I've not looked through them all yet, any other must haves or really useful stuff in there for the home user?
So far I've installed Drive Client on my PC and sync'd a couple of folders to it, set up a house shared folder, and installed Plex and left it cataloguing my library this morning. It looks like the USB Copy addon is what I want to back up the NAS to my USB drive, which I then keep at work for an off site backup.
What I haven't figured out yet, is Drive Client/Server a 2 way sync? ie if I sync a folder on my laptop and a folder on my PC to the same folder on the NAS, then update a file on the Laptop, will it get copied to the PC? I currently use Dropbox to do that so it's not essential but would be nice to have.
There's loads of available addons and I've not looked through them all yet, any other must haves or really useful stuff in there for the home user?
troc said:
Been using synology here for years. Very easy to use and had been stable and reliable. I have a ds1515+ Eieh 5 8TB drives in raid 5.
You realise that between this and my Home Theatre PC thread you have volunteered as my tech support guy 
RizzoTheRat said:
although this does mean I've tied myself in to Synology if it ever dies.
Actually I've generally noticed you tend to stick to the provider of your fist NAS unless you have a really bad experience. Familiarity in a market place where there are a reasonable number of solid players counts for a lot. Another thing I've noticed is the general lack of 'my make is better than your make' mentality you see in too many other things both within and out side of IT and gadgets.Gassing Station | Computers, Gadgets & Stuff | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff