Need NAS Recommendation

[Vulpix]

Good call. We understand after all a storage system is just a storage system. The value of an experience developer or system administrator is to accomplish more than just getting hassle over a storage system. It will be a waste to spend more of your value time on something so mundane, one would have achieved more in life if they are spend on more valuable subjects.

After all, isn't that what technology is meant to do? Automate tasks and free our valuable time for something more interesting?

I think the last few pages of the Synology thread got a bunch of system admins started to talk in alien language. Tried to read it up but got even more confused. I am guessing NASes can get as easy as you want it to be, or as complicated as you want it to be also.

 

[mrkiasu]

Don't need to buy from challenger, go Sim lim sq.

I did consider synology but at challenger the 600 odd bucks for a casing I'm looking at about 1k to build a 2-bay. My concern is after reading so many articles... Will a off the rack system be able to provide fast upload n download?

I'm a noob on such stuff so when the option to diy came with the promise of better performance I jump atit. David you mean after setting it up in diy n configured I still need to meddle with the controls? My understanding was that it will run on its own...

I wanted to try the buffalo link station but the 2 bay s sold out... But i understand also the transfer speed is quite slow?

 

[cupcorn]

I decided to go with Synology... but now I have another problem. Which one to choose?

I reckon 413 or 413j should be the choice and I'm biased towards 413 because for a little more its another monster.

I had a look at sim lim price list and was quite surprised by the price variations. Not sure how much it is in memory world though. Those low price in sls... are they "fakes"?

 

[davidktw]

I decided to go with Synology... but now I have another problem. Which one to choose?

I reckon 413 or 413j should be the choice and I'm biased towards 413 because for a little more its another monster.

I had a look at sim lim price list and was quite surprised by the price variations. Not sure how much it is in memory world though. Those low price in sls... are they "fakes"?

Synology Network Attached Storage - Compare Products

Where To Buy - Synology Inc. Network Attached Storage - NEW NAS Experience

There are parallel imports and also local distribution The choice is obvious

 

[cupcorn]

hmmm.... I suppose parallel imports are not illegal? They are just bought at lower price at other countries and resold here without the cost of overheads like showroom n stuff?

Does it affect the warranty?

The price difference is quite steep: One shop sells it (413) for $868 and another $668 and others in between!!!

I dunno about the electronics market, but I suppose most of the stuff from sls are PIs?

 

[davidktw]

hmmm.... I suppose parallel imports are not illegal? They are just bought at lower price at other countries and resold here without the cost of overheads like showroom n stuff?

Does it affect the warranty?

The price difference is quite steep: One shop sells it (413) for $868 and another $668 and others in between!!!

I dunno about the electronics market, but I suppose most of the stuff from sls are PIs?

They are not illegal, unless they are 水货。That aside, obviously no warranty, if not, what do you think the local distributors and resellers values are ?

Since Synology is from Taiwan, you will find your faulty system may need to be deliver all the way back to Taiwan for servicing if found cannot be serviced by the distributors, but at least the local distributors or resellers are going to help you do that.

Parallel imports, you will need to do it yourself, if it's sanction at all I'm not too sure about this, perhaps some others here whom got sets via parallel imports can advise.

As for the more expensive local distribution, it's the same for all products. No surprises.

 

[Vulpix]

I decided to go with Synology... but now I have another problem. Which one to choose?

I reckon 413 or 413j should be the choice and I'm biased towards 413 because for a little more its another monster.

I had a look at sim lim price list and was quite surprised by the price variations. Not sure how much it is in memory world though. Those low price in sls... are they "fakes"?

I still think the 413j is better because it's based on the marvell platform and not the powerpc. If you intend to find 3rd party packages, it's quite limited for powerpc.

 

[cupcorn]

I still think the 413j is better because it's based on the marvell platform and not the powerpc. If you intend to find 3rd party packages, it's quite limited for powerpc.

Thanks David for the clarification.

hi vulpix, can you enlighten what marvell and powerpc platform do?

Thank you very much!

 

[davidktw]

I still think the 413j is better because it's based on the marvell platform and not the powerpc. If you intend to find 3rd party packages, it's quite limited for powerpc.

Very subjective. The notion of better in your statement is only about 3rd party apps ? Is there anything else that makes 413j better ? If 3rd party apps are not of an issue, then immediately there is no obvious advantage to DS413j over DS413, isn't it ? In fact, just removing the 3rd party apps compatibility problem, immediately there are more advantages of DS413 vs DS413j such as faster processor, more memory, better and faster external interfaces, floating point H/W which will makes a good difference on images processing apps or scripts of your own via PHP etc.

Perhaps it would be more informative if you can help list out some prominent or popular 3rd party apps that can only be used in the ARMS chipset instead of the PPC chipset ? Will certainly help the enquirer make a better judgement.

Of course, it's all up to own's subjective requirement.

 

[Vulpix]

Thanks David for the clarification.

hi vulpix, can you enlighten what marvell and powerpc platform do?

Thank you very much!

Very subjective. The notion of better in your statement is only about 3rd party apps ? Is there anything else that makes 413j better ? If 3rd party apps are not of an issue, then immediately there is no obvious advantage to DS413j over DS413, isn't it ? In fact, just removing the 3rd party apps compatibility problem, immediately there are more advantages of DS413 vs DS413j such as faster processor, more memory, better and faster external interfaces, floating point H/W which will makes a good difference on images processing apps or scripts of your own via PHP etc.

Perhaps it would be more informative if you can help list out some prominent or popular 3rd party apps that can only be used in the ARMS chipset instead of the PPC chipset ? Will certainly help the enquirer make a better judgement.

Of course, it's all up to own's subjective requirement.

Well, it's a bit early for me now, but the one app I can think of is Plex. There is no Plex version for PPC platforms, and Marvell based ones are able to install it with ease along with the Intel ones. I can probably come up with a list later if I have the time.

Anyway, it's just my personal opinion. For me I rather just go with a 412+.

 

[cupcorn]

hahah eh you guys selling synology or what hahaha!!! So without plex on 413 I cannot do transcoding? Is there a real need for transcoding given that nowadays ipad/iphone/android plays almost all media types?

The 412+ is another 180+ bucks over the 413 which is another 200 bucks over the 413j :0

 

[davidktw]

hahah eh you guys selling synology or what hahaha!!! So without plex on 413 I cannot do transcoding? Is there a real need for transcoding given that nowadays ipad/iphone/android plays almost all media types?

The 412+ is another 180+ bucks over the 413 which is another 200 bucks over the 413j :0

Forget about transcoding on the Synology NAS. Even the DS1511+ will spike at near 100% for some file formats such as RVMB. Store your files as H.264 MP4 and there will be hardly any CPU load when play thru the Synology video player

Transcoding is already done via ffmpeg when playing through the latest version of the Synology video player web player today. You can play thru airplay on your Apple TV too.

 

[Vulpix]

Forget about transcoding on the Synology NAS. Even the DS1511+ will spike at near 100% for some file formats such as RVMB. Store your files as H.264 MP4 and there will be hardly any CPU load when play thru the Synology video player

Transcoding is already done via ffmpeg when playing through the latest version of the Synology video player web player today. You can play thru airplay on your Apple TV too.

Rmvb format should be destroyed in a nuclear disaster and never spoken about again. Anyway people use PLEX because it looks good and perfect for lazy people like me to manage media.

 

[cupcorn]

can I ask... if I get the DS413 with 2x3TB hdd, and want to expand later, is it a matter of simply inserting into the chasis the additional hdd, and the system will automatically do the rest?

I'm assuming I need a duplication protection (raid 1) of my files.

 

[xkiller213]

i have been running it a month already. if you need help i can configure for you or you can follow the links below

So far how's it? Any problems?

 

[davidktw]

can I ask... if I get the DS413 with 2x3TB hdd, and want to expand later, is it a matter of simply inserting into the chasis the additional hdd, and the system will automatically do the rest?

I'm assuming I need a duplication protection (raid 1) of my files.

With 2 disks, your only option for RAID is either RAID 0(stripping) or RAID 1(mirror). With 3 disks, it will be RAID 1(mirror) + hot spare or RAID 5. 4 disks - 2x RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 6, RAID 10, RAID 0

Besides RAID 5 and 6, all others cannot be expanded and still in the same form. If you started with RAID 1 of 2 disks, adding addition 1 disks will require RAID migration from 1 to 5. That will require a lengthy process of transforming all the data into RAID 5. It's going to be a lengthy process. Adding addition disks to existing RAID 5 require recovering/resilvering the new disk. It's lengthy in time too, but still retain to be RAID 5.

Adding a new harddisk will not have any effect. Changing the array is not an automatic procedure, but it's not difficult, just follow a quick clicking of options on the web console and the rest will be waiting time.

 

[xkiller213]

With 2 disks, your only option for RAID is either RAID 0(stripping) or RAID 1(mirror). With 3 disks, it will be RAID 1(mirror) + hot spare or RAID 5. 4 disks - 2x RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 6, RAID 10, RAID 0

Can I ask, if you're running RAID5 with 4 disks (or more, say 6), you'll still only get 1 disk failure protection?

 

[davidktw]

Can I ask, if you're running RAID5 with 4 disks (or more, say 6), you'll still only get 1 disk failure protection?

Yes, RAID 5 and RAID 1 only allow at most 1 disk failure. Only RAID 6 will give you 2 disks failure.

RAID 10(1+0), some have written 2 disks failure, is NOT TRUE FOR ALL CASES. Fail 2 disks on one side of the RAID 0 level and all is gone.

I have been using RAID 6 because my objective is data resiliency, not performance.

 

[Asure7]

So far all the 4-bay DAS i've seen, and the basic 4-bay NAS do not allow 2 X RAID1.
Once there are 4 Hdds, only RAID 0, 5 or 10 available (maybe RAID-6 for higher end NAS).

Is 2XRAID1 something unique to Synology?

 

[davidktw]

So far all the 4-bay DAS i've seen, and the basic 4-bay NAS do not allow 2 X RAID1.
Once there are 4 Hdds, only RAID 0, 5 or 10 available (maybe RAID-6 for higher end NAS).

Is 2XRAID1 something unique to Synology?

You should create 2 arrays. Each array only choose 2 hard disks, then you should be able to create 2 separate RAID 1 array. It is definitely not unique to Synology, unless the NAS you have encountered do not allow you to create multiple arrays. I have been using minimum SOHO or Enterprise level RAID controllers/solutions, I can't comment for entry tier systems like DLink or Buffalo solutions.