In-home Cloud Storage?

By game_over
in Smart Home, Network & Security

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Grand Master

game_over

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I'm becoming increasingly concerned that I am not doing enough to keep my data backed up so have been looking at some in-house / personal cloud storage.

 

I would previously use my gaming/HTPC to copy files but as of late spending less time gaming and watching TV shows the HTPC is never switched on it's becoming more and more of a chore keeping things backed up. I would definitely benefit from having a centralised device I can throw everything on.

 

I am looking for something that;

- That can be left on and forgotten about, no loud fans or over heating.

- Is small, 2 drives max, unless it's really compact

- Is cloud enabled, allowing me to access files away from home

- Is relatively fast - I don't want to send thousands on the most powerful device that ever was, but something that is powerful enough to comfortable handle;

- Downloading torrents

- Streaming media (Plex server)

- Is able to backup a PC and a Mac

 

 

Finally, something that has some sort of mobile backup, something basic like installing iOS app and manually/automatically backing up photo library. One major concern I have now is that my partner is taking a lot of photos and videos of our children but we're not backing them up properly.. she doesn't have or use a PC so we're relying on Apples cloud photo library, I would love to give her a way she can backup stuff and remove them from her phone but still view them from the app and feel comfortable that we have a local in-house copy.

 

Any suggestions? Thanks

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Grand Master

dipsylalapo Supervisor

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If you don't mind playing around with a system a little bit I'd highly recommend the HP Gen8 Microserver - http://www.ebuyer.com/722189-hpe-proliant-gen8-g1610t-819185-421-4gb-ram-microserver-819185-421

 

Also a bargain at £112 (after cashback)

 

Not as easy to set up as an off the shelf NAS from QNAP or Synology but can be more powerful and flexible. You can even stick Windows on it and just have it sat in the corner and does all of that.

 

Will have to check if it can take photos from your mobile and back them up to the server. 

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Grand Master

game_over

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7 hours ago, BudMan said:

This sounds like pretty much every nas on the market..  What is your budget for this item, how much space do you think need/want?

 

https://www.qnap.com/i/useng/product/items_by_series.php?CA=3

I spent some time looking at QNAP today, it looks like they'll do everything I need but struggling to pick the right one, especially when compared with Synology. I think the TS-253A is my favourite, it's a little more expensive than i'd hoped but seems to cover everything I need and has had consistently good reviews... but without playing around with any it's difficult to settle on a model.

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Grand Master

+Fahim S. MVC

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On 5 July 2016 at 11:17 PM, game_over said:

I spent some time looking at QNAP today, it looks like they'll do everything I need but struggling to pick the right one, especially when compared with Synology. I think the TS-253A is my favourite, it's a little more expensive than i'd hoped but seems to cover everything I need and has had consistently good reviews... but without playing around with any it's difficult to settle on a model.

The 253 has HDMI output.  Do you really need that? You won't be getting that feature for free and you may want to spend your money on other features.

 

There are the Synology and Thecus to consider if you want a NAS-in-a-box.  In my experience, the majority of the "I vote Synology" (no offence intended @xendrome) have never tried anything else so I would take their advice as a pinch of salt.

 

I would roll my own (I have 2 Gen7 HP Microservers), but that is the sort of person I am.  It is however, far easier than you would think.  (I also have a QNAP device)

 

PS - It's not a cloud....

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Grand Master

+BudMan MVC

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I am with Fahim on the diy option, I run my storage on a older N40L microserver as a VM with ram mapping to the disks.. Speeds are fine, I see 100MBps download, etc.  I run whatever else I want as a vm on the same box.. Doesn't have to be running on the same vm that is my storage, etc.  Doing such a thing gives you way more options then any off the shelf "nas" is going to give you.. 

 

I to think that you will find many people that chim in with 1 nas or the other have not tried other ones, etc. I can tell you from all the reading I have done that qnap beats synology all the time.  I can tell you if I was going to actually buy a off the shelf nas that it would be a qnap not a synology.  That being said - there is nothing wrong with synology, I am fairly confident that it does what it says it does, and you would prob love it.  I do not have personal experience comparing model X of qnap vs model Y of synology, etc.  So can not say for sure either way which is better.  And believe that is the point Fahim is wanting to make... Just because you get people chiming in +1 on something doesn't always mean its the best thing to purchase quite often they have it or that brand are happy with it.  Doesn't mean its actually the best possible choice, etc.

 

There are plenty of ways to skin this cat..  You can buy it off the shelf, you can get are router that some of the functionality built in off a usb connection (yeah that will scream in moving files) or you could build your own box to do all of it you want or some of it, etc.

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Grand Master

game_over

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4 hours ago, Fahim S. said:

The 253 has HDMI output.  Do you really need that? You won't be getting that feature for free and you may want to spend your money on other features.

 

There are the Synology and Thecus to consider if you want a NAS-in-a-box.  In my experience, the majority of the "I vote Synology" (no offence intended @xendrome) have never tried anything else so I would take their advice as a pinch of salt.

 

I would roll my own (I have 2 Gen7 HP Microservers), but that is the sort of person I am.  It is however, far easier than you would think.  (I also have a QNAP device)

 

PS - It's not a cloud....

 No I don't need HDMI, i don't think i'd be using that, however it's still cheaper than a comparable Synology. The nearest Synology (DS716+II) is more expensive, but does less stuff and has less features.

 

I like the idea of DIY, I would be saving a significant amount if I went with one of those HP Microservers,.. however the power usage of the NAS is what is pulling me towards an off the shelf. I have a HTPC with enough storage to run as a NAS but it it's not viable to leave it on 24/7.

 

 

 

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Grand Master

+BudMan MVC

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how much juice do you think these little hp microsevers draw? Can tell you my N40L only draws like 50-55 watts.. That is with 4 disks in it.. So fully populated..  And like 7 vms running 24/7

 

You do understand just because something power supply is rated for say 600 watts doesn't mean that is what it actually draws..  Grab yourself a little killawatt meter, and know for sure.. Leave it plugged into the meter for a day/week and get what your drawing over a period of time, etc.

 

50 watts is like 15 cents a day 24/7 or less than $5 a month..

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Grand Master

+Fahim S. MVC

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20 hours ago, game_over said:

 No I don't need HDMI, i don't think i'd be using that, however it's still cheaper than a comparable Synology. The nearest Synology (DS716+II) is more expensive, but does less stuff and has less features.

 

I like the idea of DIY, I would be saving a significant amount if I went with one of those HP Microservers,.. however the power usage of the NAS is what is pulling me towards an off the shelf. I have a HTPC with enough storage to run as a NAS but it it's not viable to leave it on 24/7.

 

 

 

Sorry - I re-read my message.  I meant to say there are Synology, QNap and Thecus to consider as good NAS-in-a-box solutions.  I like QNap but don't have enough experience with the other two to say which is best.  The QNap unit I have is coming on 7 years old, it's a single bay unit and has performed like a champion although it was long ago relegated to downloading duty.

 

As for the HDMI output question, the reason I asked is because you could get TS251 (rather the TS251+).  The 'plus' variant only has a HDMI port (and the associated video electronics) in addition to what the non-plus variant has, but the non-plus variant also has a faster processor (better for transcoding media) and costs £60 or so less.

 

Personally if you were to go QNap, and you have no intention of connecting your NAS to your TV, the TS-251 is a no-brainer.

 

I have to concur with @BudMan that power draw on Microservers is pretty low, although I have never measured it.  I have one to perform virtualisation duty and one which is dedicated to NAS duties (using FreeNAS, including a Plex Media Server plug-in for serving media).

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+BudMan MVC

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To the power draw question.. Anyone at all interested in power draw of anything should have one of these..

 

http://www.p3international.com/products/p4400.html

 

The new EZ model has really cool new features,  might be time to add that to my tool belt, the edge looks pretty slick too.. 

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Grand Master

game_over

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46 minutes ago, Fahim S. said:

Sorry - I re-read my message.  I meant to say there are Synology, QNap and Thecus to consider as good NAS-in-a-box solutions.  I like QNap but don't have enough experience with the other two to say which is best.  The QNap unit I have is coming on 7 years old, it's a single bay unit and has performed like a champion although it was long ago relegated to downloading duty.

 

As for the HDMI output question, the reason I asked is because you could get TS251 (rather the TS251+).  The 'plus' variant only has a HDMI port (and the associated video electronics) in addition to what the non-plus variant has, but the non-plus variant also has a faster processor (better for transcoding media) and costs £60 or so less.

 

Personally if you were to go QNap, and you have no intention of connecting your NAS to your TV, the TS-251 is a no-brainer.

 

I have to concur with @BudMan that power draw on Microservers is pretty low, although I have never measured it.  I have one to perform virtualisation duty and one which is dedicated to NAS duties (using FreeNAS, including a Plex Media Server plug-in for serving media).

Thanks for this, I was just about to go for the TS253A but you are absolutely right there is no need if I don't need dual HDMI... The difference between the TS 251 and 251+ is the PLUS has a quad core rather than a dual core. The 251/+ is also quieter which is a big plus for me. It has less RAM but it can be upgraded for cheap.

 

I'm not sure why I overlooked it.

 

I'm leaning towards this than a DIY build. Much easier and quicker to get up and running.

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Grand Master

patseguin Global Moderator

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Synology is the best. Great UI and extremely easy setup. I have a DS1511+ with an expansion module with a total of 25TB of storage. All my blu rays are ripped to it and backups of all my machines.

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+Fahim S. MVC

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17 minutes ago, patseguin said:

Synology is the best. Great UI and extremely easy setup. I have a DS1511+ with an expansion module with a total of 25TB of storage. All my blu rays are ripped to it and backups of all my machines.

* facepalm *

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Grand Master

+Fahim S. MVC

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4 hours ago, patseguin said:

?

Read the whole thread. Also tell us which NAS you have actually seriously compared the Synology to that justifies your claim that it is "best". 

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+BudMan MVC

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^ exactly... Here is a comparison of the ts 251+ and the DS216+

 

http://www.pcauthority.com.au/Feature/418094,head-to-head-synology-ds216-versus-qnap-ts-251-2-bay-nas.aspx/2

Head-to-Head: Synology DS216+ versus QNAP TS-251+ 2-bay NAS

 

So in terms of hardware and performance, the TS-251+ obviously has the advantage. We’re still not quite as impressed in the interface – even though it appears to basically mirror Synology’s, it’s not quite as polished. However, when it comes to sheer performance and extra hardware features, the QNAP leads by a long way.

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Grand Master

game_over

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I went with the TS-251+ and couldn't be happier with it. I upgraded to 8GB RAM and it handles everything I throw at it. It's running a few VMs, provides backup for all my devices and plays media from plex no problem at all.

 

It's true the interface is not quite as nice as Synology, it's very functional but looks dated. .. too many drop shadows, it feels old.

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