Synology For Me?


Recommended Posts

What brand/type should I get? If I can sell off my D-Link and ZyXel NAS's (I never liked them, they're too loud...) I can probably afford one ~$150-200.

 

I know, there's like 100 brands of Synology out there. All I would ever need is a 2-bay. I plan to put my 2x 640GB WD's in there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If its just for home use then the DS215j (this one is brand new so might have to wait a few weeks, I could find it on UK Amazon, but not US Amazon or Newegg. so you might have to do some searching/wait a little.

 

If you need one right this second the older versions DS213j or 214se would do (213 is older, but higher performing)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don't pay the Syn tax.... build your own NAS and get more bang for the buck. Much cheaper to buy a barebones system and put your own drives in it and have way better specs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don't pay the Syn tax.... build your own NAS and get more bang for the buck. Much cheaper to buy a barebones system and put your own drives in it and have way better specs.

 

If the requirement is for a 2 bay NAS without a view to expand then a NAS appliance is probably best.  They are more convenient and require very little attention once installed.  You are unlikely to build something as efficient for the same money.

 

However, I would agree that if longer term expansion is needed or you are a bit of a tweaker, then building something is the right thing to do.

 

PS - I don't have a Synology NAS, neither would I buy one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"2x 640GB WD's in there."

Is that a typo? 640GB really what would you do with so much space? ;) The 8TB drives are upon us and your thinking of putting in 640GB disks? They have to be OLD as the hills already? Where you also going to mirror that so only 640GB of space total?

Were these disks in your old ones - maybe the disks were loud and not the nas.. What is in a nas that would make noise, most of them are fanless, etc..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had these 640GB HDDs for 5-7 years. They're goos drives. I have them sitting around, why not?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So they have been sitting on a shelf all this time, or have they been powered on? All things fail - 7 years is a lot to ask of a HDD to be honest. But sure if they have been sitting on a self powered off. Other than I have more space than that in my bag in usb sticks ;) heheheh And they hey to be SLOW as all hell, are they even SATA? Make sure you get the correct connection for them if they are PATA drives.. Which if they are 7 years old quite possible are..

And that you could pick up a 2TB 6gb/s sata with ncq for like $80, sure why not use some 7 year old disks ;) Your not expecting these things to saturate your gig network are you ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They've been sitting on the shelf, unused. They are SATA.

 

I also have 5 PATA 20GB and 4 40GB PATA. Just what I collected all the years. Haven't used them for ages.

 

I don't need a 2TB drive. I'd rather live out the 640's.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don't pay the Syn tax.... build your own NAS and get more bang for the buck. Much cheaper to buy a barebones system and put your own drives in it and have way better specs.

for $150-200? probably not

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When you pay the "Syn" tax, you also get Synology's applications which quite frankly are damn good. So sure, you may pay a little more for a Synology, but is the ease of use and apps that 98% of NAS owners will need already being included for free worth it? I happen to think it is. Time is also money as they say, and the amount of time needed to set up a Synology NAS is much, much less than building one from scratch.

Again, their included apps are damn good as well. They have mobile versions of most of their apps as well, so you are also getting a bundle of apps in that price.

 

Do not get me wrong, if you have time to kill and like those sort of projects, awesome, I am all for doing things on your own, but this is one of those instances I actually do believe paying a bit more does pay off.

 

I have an older DS211j and now the DS214+. I also have 2 TB and 4TB respectively in both and I already am close to filling the one up entirely. So yeah, I would say 2TB is the minimum based on my own experience.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thing is when stuff like plex and media servers come into play than getting the right synology to do it will run you 700+ when I can build a system for 300 including the drives for the same.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thing is when stuff like plex and media servers come into play than getting the right synology to do it will run you 700+ when I can build a system for 300 including the drives for the same.

 

Not sure what you mean, my $250 Synology runs DLNA/DS Video/DS Audio just fine, there really is no need for Plex or any other type of Media Server IMHO

 

https://www.synology.com/en-us/dsm/5.1/multimedia

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If he's running Plex and stuff, sure, but that was never mentioned. At that point, you could just make an HTPC and share that. That's what I do.

Plex, Subsonic, Sickbeard, Kodi, etc..

That's running 24/7 and has a bunch of storage.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 
 
 
 

Not sure what you mean, my $250 Synology runs DLNA/DS Video/DS Audio just fine, there really is no need for Plex or any other type of Media Server IMHO

 

https://www.synology.com/en-us/dsm/5.1/multimedia

 

 

Does it transcode anything? transcoding is more CPU intense. straight up DLNA might not work with all players like roku, streaming sticks, appletv, etc. without a lot of issues media MUST be transcoded on those. Nobody reccomended the cheap synologies for my roku. Most AV enthusisasts do not recommend the cheap synologies.

 

This was the BARE MINUMUM recommended for roku players to stream 1080P and many on that site I duscussed it on said it was still bad with lots of stuttering and dropped frames and performance issues.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822108162

 

And that price is DISKLESS. Add another 300-400 for enough of those for a decent library. You're looking at 800-900 when I can build my own with better specs for 400 including the disks.

 

 

Also with Synology you have to buy special approved disks that work with those you can't just buy any disk and throw it in.

 

I was just about to buy one of those synology's myself but that's way too expensive and I can definitly do better.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

 
 
 
 

 

 

Does it transcode anything? transcoding is more CPU intense. straight up DLNA might not work with all players like roku, streaming sticks, appletv, etc. without a lot of issues media MUST be transcoded on those. Nobody reccomended the cheap synologies for my roku. Most AV enthusisasts do not recommend the cheap synologies.

 

This was the BARE MINUMUM recommended for roku players to stream 1080P and many on that site I duscussed it on said it was still bad with lots of stuttering and dropped frames and performance issues.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822108162

 

And that price is DISKLESS. Add another 300-400 for enough of those for a decent library. You're looking at 800-900 when I can build my own with better specs for 400 including the disks.

 

 

Also with Synology you have to buy special approved disks that work with those you can't just buy any disk and throw it in.

 

I was just about to buy one of those synology's myself but that's way too expensive and I can definitly do better.

 

 

I'd be interested what you can build for 400 including disks.  Especially given that you said in your post the disks would be 300-400.  So can yu list out the parts you would use for 0-100?

 

I'm not debating whether you can build something better.  I just want to know what you think you can build for that sort of money.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can buy a dell or HP prebuilt quad core system for 60 on CL that even might have a disk or two that exceeds the DS214play and has 4-6 bays for HDDs.

 

I quite often see ads for these cheap systems and I'm even gonna get another one next month for a backup PRTG server/imaging server.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not sure what you mean, my $250 Synology runs DLNA/DS Video/DS Audio just fine, there really is no need for Plex or any other type of Media Server IMHO

 

https://www.synology.com/en-us/dsm/5.1/multimedia

 

except they make life a whole lot easier when it comes to media centers, especially if you have two or more of them so it syncs all your media centrally.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd be interested what you can build for 400 including disks.  Especially given that you said in your post the disks would be 300-400.  So can yu list out the parts you would use for 0-100?

 

I'm not debating whether you can build something better.  I just want to know what you think you can build for that sort of money.

 

get a cheap shuttle barebones box. silent, nice and small and you can fit at least 2 disks in there depending on need for ODS could be more. with the new 4, 6 and 8 TB disks, you could also go with a single disk intel NUC unit, even smaller and with built in IR. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

get a cheap shuttle barebones box. silent, nice and small and you can fit at least 2 disks in there depending on need for ODS could be more. with the new 4, 6 and 8 TB disks, you could also go with a single disk intel NUC unit, even smaller and with built in IR. 

 

A Celeron NUC with 1.5TB of storage and 4GB RAM will probably set you back in the region 250+.  You can't put a bigger disk in a NUC because they aren't available in a size bigger than 2.5".

A barebones shuttle unit will cost you even more.

 

I still prefer personally going down the self-build route, but let's not kid ourselves, it's not cheap.

I can buy a dell or HP prebuilt quad core system for 60 on CL that even might have a disk or two that exceeds the DS214play and has 4-6 bays for HDDs.

 

I quite often see ads for these cheap systems and I'm even gonna get another one next month for a backup PRTG server/imaging server.

 

That's hardly building a system.... it wouldn't be power efficient and definitely wouldn't be quiet.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

you can get a shuttle like this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856101134&cm_re=XH61V_i3-_-56-101-134-_-Product for around 250 with a i3, less if you go for celeron or Pentium. the HDD is separate of course. 

 

Then you have a media server, media center and download server all in one with good quiet cooling. and they're power efficient, just tune your power setting and turn down min processor state and all that. more power efficient than a NAS and a media center. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I mean a full ATX system... usual desktop form factor. I see them on CL a lot and I even see 4 of them right now I wanna pick up but I gotta spend my spare cash on some house stuff so it will wait till jan or feb and a lot more of those show up around then anyways... people selling thier old systems since they got their new ones for x-mas :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.