My First NAS.

[AStaUK]

I've recently had a hard drive fail on my home PC taking out my RAID0 (speed over reliability) setup which housed my email PST and a few other files/games.  Fortunately the data was backed up on a redundent external drive and could be recovered to my new hard drive with no loss of data.  I'd already been thinking about getting a NAS and this has now brought it back to the front of my mind.

 

The main aim for the NAS is to backup my documents/photos and email PST, preferably as an automated task.  And also to provide me a backup location for my games (mostly Steam/Origin).  Towards this end I have been looking at the Synology DS214 (with 2x WD Cavier Red 2TB in RAID1) , I've seen a few recomendations on here and elsewhere for Synology and the reviews are always good.

 

http://www.synology.com/products/product.php?product_name=DS214〈=enu

 

This is the first time I have used anything like this so had a few questions I was hoping the members on this forum might be able to help with them.  With DSM4.3 can you split the drive up so that each user has their own space not accessible to the other, can part of the drive be encrypted leaving the other untouched?  Will the DS214 do software transcoding of video files via the Digital Media Server (using DLNA) or is it only avialble with the newer DS214play edition?  How secure is the remote access through DSM4.3 can I seperate what can be remotely accessed from whats actually stored, I.E can I remote access photos leaving documents untouched (assuming seperate folders, partitions maybe)?

 

Thanks.

[Roger H. Veteran]

I'm sure it can do permissions based access but I don't know about encryption and such.

 

The DS214PLAY does transcoding, designed just for that purpose and was just released:

 

 

The company said that the DS214play is its first NAS to launch with dedicated hardware acceleration specifically intended for video transcoding. The DS214play can stream multiple 1080p video codecs while simultaneously handling " a variety of additional processor-heavy tasks".

The DS214play's hardware platform has a 1.6 GHz dual-core Intel Atom CE5335 "Berryville" CPU with integrated floating-point unit with 1 GB of RAM. Two hot-swappable bays support 2.5" or 3.5" solid state or hard drives that can be configured in JBOD, RAID 0, 1 and individual volumes.

Ports include one Gigabit Ethernet, one USB 2.0, two USB 3.0 and one eSATA. There is also an SD card slot for easy media transfer.

The DS214play runs DiskStation Manager 4.3 (DSM 4.3), which supports a full complement of media applications including Synology's Video, Audio and Photo Stations and DLNA media server. The play also supports all other DSM 4.3 features.

The Synology DS214play is now shipping outside the U.S. and will start here in the "next few weeks". MSRP is $369.99.

[AStaUK]

I know the DS214Play does transcoding in hardware which great for 1080P etc, but not sure if the DS214 could do transcoding in software.  I thought I had read somewhere it could, but can't find it now.

[Squuiid]

+1 if you can afford the extra cost of the DS214play when it arrives in the UK. Definitely worth going hardware decoding if you can.

Not out yet, but while I generally buy from Amazon, Dabs have great prices on the DS214 at the moment.

http://www.dabs.com/category/components-and-storage,hard-drives,nas---network-attached-storage/11272?q=ds214

 

Also, take a look at PLEX if you plan on using it for media.

http://www.plexapp.com/

[AStaUK]

+1 if you can afford the extra cost of the DS214play when it arrives in the UK. Definitely worth going hardware decoding if you can.

Not out yet, but while I generally buy from Amazon, Dabs have great prices on the DS214 at the moment.

http://www.dabs.com/category/components-and-storage,hard-drives,nas---network-attached-storage/11272?q=ds214

 

Also, take a look at PLEX if you plan on using it for media.

http://www.plexapp.com/

 

I've already found a very good deal for the DS214, the Play is probably a little more money than I want to spend right now with the release of the iPad Air as well.  http://www.scan.co.uk/products/synology-ds214-2-bay-25-35-sata-hdd-gigabit-lan-usb-30-20-wifi-ready-all-in-one-nas-server

 

I'll take a look at Plex, thanks.

[Roger H. Veteran]

I don't think any of these smaller NAS device have the CPU power to transcode stuff on the fly. HP MicroServers with faster CPUs do it but this thing only has Dual-Core 1Ghz CPU and 512MB of RAM. Maybe to 720p or something but i'll let people with actual knowledge comment on that instead of me speculating :p

[Starbuck84]

"With DSM4.3 can you split the drive up so that each user has their own space not accessible to the other, can part of the drive be encrypted leaving the other untouched?"

 

"Can I seperate what can be remotely accessed from whats actually stored, I.E can I remote access photos leaving documents untouched (assuming seperate folders, partitions maybe)?"

 

You can set up home folders per user. Also you can set the permissions per folder. You can also set to hide folder for users without permission. Don't know about the encryption part.

And yes, if you create a seperate user account for remote access, you can set up permissions for that user to only show the folders that user account has access to. So, in example, you are able to view your photos folder, but not your documents folder.

 

Hope this answers a little of your questions.

[AStaUK]

Thanks for the replies, I've got the information I was after and have ordered the NAS/Drive.

 

The encryption can be done on a per folder basis.  In terms of securing the remote access it looks like my best option will be to use a seperate user for folders I want to remotely access.  The media transcoding would have been nice, but not a must have feature.

[tsupersonic]

Yep, I can confirm with DSM 4.3, you can encrypt on a folder basis. I actually have a encrypted section that doesn't mount on boot (secure documents - tax, etc.). I stream media to my Xbox 360, and also stream to my tablet (Nexus 7). Synology has Android & iOS apps where you can stream audio/video, manage files, control the torrent client (Download Manager). I have the DS213, and it's an awesome product - I can't recommend Synology enough. Their products are very simple to setup and use. 

[AStaUK]

I received my DS214 with WD 3TB Red's this morning.  Initial setup was a doddle, create a username/password and allow it to download the latest version of the DSM software.  At the moment I'm trying to decide if to stay with the Synology Hybrid RAID setup or go with a plain RAID1 setup, as far as I can tell with two drives SHR isn't adding anything.

 

From a security perspective would it be better to partition the drive if I intend to setup remote access to my music/photo's? And then assign a specific user for remote access to that folder/partition.  Then use another partition/folder/user for my own personal files which will only be accessed on the internal network?