Which Synology NAS

Jond · Nov 13, 2015

Hi,
Recently joined and my first post and yes I guess I'm a total computer noob but looking at buying a Synology NAS and baffled at all the choices. I want to do this fairly cheaply under $300 or less would be better and I see options in my price range but can't seem to figure out what sets them apart. A few questions, is diskless a good option? Is a diskless drive expandable? If a product is not listed as diskless does it mean I have to buy drives separately? Or is there also storage in the NAS hard drive? My storage needs aren't great I'm guessing 1 or 2 TB would be more than enough but I don't want to limit myself to future expansion. Any recs with model numbers I can find on Amazon would be greatly appreciated. Sorry if this is super basic and I did do research I guess my questions are so basic no one bothers to ask them. FYI the NAS will be streamed to a Sonos Connect and then output to a Yamamoto DAC.
Thanks,
Jon

Bruce B · Nov 13, 2015

If it's listed as "diskless", then you need to buy the hard drives separately. I have a 4-bay unit and a 6-bay unit. I put 6TB hard drives in them. The unit is inexpensive until you start buy Enterprise drives.
Once set up, they have been flawless for about 2-yr. now.
I think off the top of my head one of the units is called a DS-414?? something....

Jond · Nov 13, 2015

Bruce thanks for your reply that helps a lot! So looking at this model:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SSXQO9W/ref=psdc_13436301_t1_B00RX87LJK

If I read it right it comes with a 3 TB hard drive already? And then after that would it be expandable?

Jond · Nov 13, 2015

Another question sorry I just can't make sense of how these things are priced, at the bottom of the page there is a comparison chart, this NAS BC115j has a 3 TB hard drive and is $239.99 next to it on the chart is DS215j with 12 TB hard drive and its $199.99. So if storage capacity doesn't increase the price what does?

Bruce B · Nov 13, 2015

Jond said:
Bruce thanks for your reply that helps a lot! So looking at this model:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SSXQO9W/ref=psdc_13436301_t1_B00RX87LJK

If I read it right it comes with a 3 TB hard drive already? And then after that would it be expandable?

Yes, these come preconfigured with hard drives inside. Remember, if you configure a multi-disc system into any RAID array, you will not get the "advertised" capacity. Let's say a NAS comes with 4 x 6TB drives. You would figure that's 24TB... but nooooooo. Once you configure it for a redundant RAID array, you're looking around 16-18TB.

The biggest consumer hard drives I've found are 6TB.. I think. These are hundreds of $$. If something is advertised as 12TB for $199, you can guarantee that is the capacity but no drives are included!

Kal Rubinson · Nov 13, 2015

Jond said:
Bruce thanks for your reply that helps a lot! So looking at this model:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SSXQO9W/ref=psdc_13436301_t1_B00RX87LJK

If I read it right it comes with a 3 TB hard drive already? And then after that would it be expandable?

No. It is a 1 bay NAS and that 1 bay comes filled.

Kal Rubinson · Nov 13, 2015

Jond said:
Another question sorry I just can't make sense of how these things are priced, at the bottom of the page there is a comparison chart, this NAS BC115j has a 3 TB hard drive and is $239.99 next to it on the chart is DS215j with 12 TB hard drive and its $199.99. So if storage capacity doesn't increase the price what does?

I see that as a 2 bay NAS with 2 2 TB drives in it. Pricing is proportionate.

FrantzM · Nov 13, 2015

Jond said:
Another question sorry I just can't make sense of how these things are priced, at the bottom of the page there is a comparison chart, this NAS BC115j has a 3 TB hard drive and is $239.99 next to it on the chart is DS215j with 12 TB hard drive and its $199.99. So if storage capacity doesn't increase the price what does?

They're diskless for that price. You get a box and you have to provide the Hard Drives (Disks) a 6 TB is about $250 these days so ... 2 HDD will bring the price close to $700.

NAS differ in their internal software and Read/Write performance (also dependent on the HDD themselves) Most decent NAS will serve music with no problem. , you need reliability above all; so choose your disk carefully and a NAS that can do at least RAID 1. always use RAID 1 or RAID 5,6. RAID 1 is mirroring . It writes the data (music or whatever) on both discs simultaneously if one fails you have the other. When you replace the failed disk, data is copied to the new disk. RAID 5 is a little more convoluted and requires at least 3 disks but is usually implmented with at least 4 HDDD.. Total capacity is N-1 x size of the smaller disk. So if you use two 6 TB disks in RAID 1 your NAS remains 6 TB but with a back-up. If you use the same in a RAID 5 with 4 disks you will have (4-1) x 6 TB for a total of 18 TB... There are other version of RAID , you will often see RAID 0 which is also called JBOD (Just a Bunch Of Disks) RAID ) simply adds the capacity of all disks together so two 6 TB HDD in RAID 0 give a total capacity of 12 TB but if one disks fails (and they fail, they do fail!!) you lose everything. Not so with RAID 1 and 5 are the most common. For the purpose of Home listening just buy a 2 Bay NAS capable of RAID 1 and be done ... 6 TB can hold easily over 7000 CD in FLAC. I have over 3000 CD with liner notes , cover , etc they are hardly occupy 2.5 TB if that much ....

Jond · Nov 13, 2015

Ok thanks guys so if I'm understanding this right I'm best off with 2 bay station and get 2 hard drives? And sorry to be such a moron but what is RAID? And how do I set RAID array up? Is that just how I configure the 2 drives? As in one drive is the back up for the other? That would seem to be a safe way to do things. So now looking at (DS215j) http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OZ0CTAU/ref=psdc_13436301_t1_B00SSXQOHO it looks like the station is $217.34 and WD Red 3TB drive
http://www.amazon.com/Red-Desktop-H...xgy_147_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=08WM92NT97V8Z83Q67PE is $109.99 so basically that station and two of those drives would be $437.32 and with that bundle I can set up a RAID array? Am I getting close here? And should I change my nick to village idiot? Phew!

Jond · Nov 13, 2015

Ok so I see RAID is basically a backup system, I'm guessing its one of those things that once it's in front of me i.e. the NAS and drives are here, configuring it will be a fairly obvious? Or at least somewhat intuitive?

Bruce B · Nov 13, 2015

Jond said:
Ok so I see RAID is basically a backup system, I'm guessing its one of those things that once it's in front of me i.e. the NAS and drives are here, configuring it will be a fairly obvious? Or at least somewhat intuitive?

Synology does have their own software and RAID system. It's been rock solid for me the past few years. So yes, I'd do like Frantz said and get a box with at least 2 bays. Usually you can hot swap them if/when one goes bad.

Mike Lavigne · Nov 13, 2015

i have a CAPSv4 Pipeline CPU in my listening room directly connected to my dacs, fed by the NAS upstairs.

I use 2 separate NAS units; each 5 bay unit with -4- 6TB drives and one empty bay. they each are set up as RAID 5; the primary NAS is in my barn upstairs from my listening room, the back up NAS is in the main house. they are connected over a gigabyte network and overnight the back up NAS mirrors ('backs up') the main. this gives me security and high performance. and i have empty bays for expansion.

i also use my old main CPU as my ripping station separate from the other pieces of the network; which keeps a minimum of software on the other units.

it's all set up by my network engineer son.......so he needs to pay a minimum of attention.

Brian Walsh · Nov 13, 2015

A while ago I built a NAS with 3 redundant drives in the pool (RAID Z3), not just 1 which RAID 5 provides, plus internal green backup drives. It goes like stink and could easily support a medium size office.

Naturally yet another server for backup would provide additional redundancy.

Jond · Nov 14, 2015

Wow you people are serious about this stuff huh? Well excited to get things all set up and thanks to ya'll I think I know generally what I need, and more, so thanks to all who responded!

jfrech · Nov 14, 2015

Jond said:
Wow you people are serious about this stuff huh? Well excited to get things all set up and thanks to ya'll I think I know generally what I need, and more, so thanks to all who responded!

I just bought a Synology DS215+ and using OWC Mercury 6g Solid State Drives. Still in the process of setting it up. Not so easy...Getting the NAS up was pretty easy...but I still don't have it working with my dCS front end just yet...

Jond · Nov 15, 2015

Ok so one other question the Wifi here, downtown DC, is pretty trafficy, so dropouts are an issue especially on weekends. Wondering if a NAS like this that's I would assume fast and optimized for file playback would in a sense be easier for my Sonos to process? In a word could this improve overall performance in regards to dropouts?

jfrech · Nov 15, 2015

Jond said:
Ok so one other question the Wifi here, downtown DC, is pretty trafficy, so dropouts are an issue especially on weekends. Wondering if a NAS like this that's I would assume fast and optimized for file playback would in a sense be easier for my Sonos to process? In a word could this improve overall performance in regards to dropouts?

So the Synology wired vs what you have today via wifi? Should remove the dropouts for sure...and I bet sound better...but this last part is debatable and you'd have to let your ears decide...

Jond · Nov 15, 2015

Just to clarify the Synology won't be wired to my stereo, it will be wired to my modem/router via ethernet then streamed via Sonos. And soundwise I'm very happy with the sound now just mostly want better storage and streaming capabilities and fewer dropouts.

Davkj · Nov 15, 2015

Jond said:
Ok so I see RAID is basically a backup system, I'm guessing its one of those things that once it's in front of me i.e. the NAS and drives are here, configuring it will be a fairly obvious? Or at least somewhat intuitive?

Please don't look at RAID as a backup system. It is a method to provide redundancy - it can protect your data from disk failure (the number of failures depends on the RAID type and the number of disks in your array). If something catastrophic happens you can still lose all your data - you need to keep a separate backup in addition to your RAID array. Most of the Synology type systems will allow you to copy the data to a removable external drive; you should budget for at least one USB external drive that is large enough to hold the contents of your array. Store this drive somewhere safe and away from your RAID system. (A better solution is to have two or more drives and rotate them, that way you have backups from different points in time.) Another option may be cloud backup, where the contents of your array are copied to a secure backup site across the internet.

Jond · Dec 13, 2015

Ok so after a few delays I finally have a NAS on the way the Synology DS214play diskless with 2 bay and along with it 2 WD Red 4TB hard drives to be set up in a RAID configuration.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FWUQNDQ?redirect=true&ref_=ya_st_dp_summary

That's the link to the beastie as stated before the plan is to run it via lan into my modem/router, and then stream my music files via Sonos. Excited and a bit nervous about setting it up as I'm a total computer neophyte and agonized over this for the last month changing my mind about 50 times. I think I arrived at the right combo this unit seems geared towards user-friendliness and ease of use, but still will give me ample storage. Fingers crossed for setup!

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