NAS (network attached storage) - What are you using?

Gadabout
Gadabout Posts: 1,072
edited January 2012 in Electronics
The new receiver that I picked up for the HT is DLNA certified. I figured I would add a NAS system to the house for back up, file storage and streaming. I'm considering the Synology DS212j.. I've always had good luck with Western Digital drives and
would probably start off with 2 - 1Tb drives. Only minor drawback I can see is USB 2.0 only this model.

So, what are you using? Something better out there for about the same price? Anyone have any experience with Synology products?

Scott
Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid. ..... Frank Zappa
Post edited by Gadabout on
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Comments

  • coolsax
    coolsax Posts: 1,824
    edited December 2011
    i use a Qnap TS 110 myself. its works great, but i don't have it set up currently for DLNA b/c my laptop recognizes it just on the network.
    Main 2ch -
    BlueSound Node->Ethereal optical cable->Peachtree Audio Nova 150->GoldenEar Triton 2+
    TT - Pro-ject Classic SB with Sumiko Bluepoint.

    TV 3.1 system -
    Denon 3500 -> Dynaudio Excite 32/22
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  • la9ers
    la9ers Posts: 117
    edited December 2011
    I use synology ds411 it has 4 bay drives and currenlty have 2 3tb hd and 2 2tb hd. i was considering going with the 2 bay ds211 but i future proof my synology.
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  • Syndil
    Syndil Posts: 1,582
    edited December 2011
    I would recommend against the DS212j or any NAS that has only 256MB of RAM. The amount of RAM a NAS has can severely limit the performance you will get from the NAS. I use and recommend the ReadyNAS Ultra series which has 1GB RAM, a faster CPU, USB 3.0 support, and it includes native support for Logitech's Squeezebox Server. Logitech does not officially support running Squeezebox Server on any NAS other than a ReadyNAS (AFAIK, unless they have expanded recently). Costs only slightly more than the DS212j but it shouldn't break the bank.

    RT-12, CS350-LS, PSW-300, Infinity Overture 1, Monoprice RC-65i
    Adcom GFA-545II, GFA-6000, Outlaw Audio 990, Netgear NeoTV
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  • howie777
    howie777 Posts: 357
    edited December 2011
    I have an older ReadyNAS NV+ and its OK. The Ultra are a better option these days. Careful about WD drives, I bought two 1.5 TB Green drives to find out they don't do well in a Raid configuration. If you do go ReadyNAS, they have a list of compatible drives to buy, don't stray.
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  • dkg999
    dkg999 Posts: 5,647
    edited December 2011
    QNAP TS-459 Pro, currently with 4 Samsung Spinpoint 1TB drives in it. It is able to run SqueezeBox Server if you so desire.
    DKG999
    HT System: LSi9, LSiCx2, LSiFX, LSi7, SVS 20-39 PC+, B&K 507.s2 AVR, B&K Ref 125.2, Tripplite LCR-2400, Cambridge 650BD, Signal Cable PC/SC, BJC IC, Samsung 55" LED

    Music System: Magnepan 1.6QR, SVS SB12+, ARC pre, Parasound HCA1500 vertically bi-amped, Jolida CDP, Pro-Ject RM5.1SE TT, Pro-Ject TubeBox SE phono pre, SBT, PS Audio DLIII DAC
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  • Marty913
    Marty913 Posts: 760
    edited December 2011
    I'm running a Netgear ReadyNAS NV+ (4 X 1TB). It's been up over 18 months without any issues. I'm using a video / music server that can see the NAS on the network so I'm not personally streaming from the ReadyNAS although it does support iTunes, Squeezebox, and any DLNA server. I agree that you need to be careful selecting a "green" drive for a RAID box as they can be problematic. I'm using standard Seagate's and haven't had any issues.
    Sony 60'' SXRD 1080p
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    TT = Audio Technica
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  • Gadabout
    Gadabout Posts: 1,072
    edited January 2012
    So after doing some more research, I have decided it would be better to go with 4 bay system. Still haven't decided which brand to use yet, but still reading all the product information.

    Are you guys ruining enterprise drives or desktop drives in your setups? I also might hold off on this for awhile, till the hard drive prices drop again.

    Scott
    Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid. ..... Frank Zappa
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  • mantis
    mantis Posts: 17,195
    edited January 2012
    I'm running a Apple Time Capsule with a internal 2tb drive then I have USB into it a 2TB and 750g drives for extra storage.
    Dan
    My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time.
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  • DMara
    DMara Posts: 1,434
    edited January 2012
    My Synology DS-1511+ arrived this afternoon. I'm running five Seagate Barracuda ST3000DM001 3TB hard drives. I go with SHR w/ 2-disk Redundancy (like a RAID 6) which leaves me with a little bit over 8TB of space. I also upgraded its RAM to 3GB.
    I decide to return the Sans Digital TR5UT+B plain RAID array because I want to run Logitech Media Server for my SB Touch on this Synology NAS instead of my computer. I'm really surprise how quiet this NAS is!!!
    Gears shared to both living room & bedroom:
    Integra DHC-80.3 / Oppo BDP-105 / DirecTV HR24 DVR /APC S15blk PC-UPS
    Living room:
    LSiM707's / LSiM706c / LSiM702 F/X's / dual JL Audio Fathom F113's / Parasound Halo A51 / Panasonic 65" TC-P65VT50
    Bedroom:
    Usher Dancer Mini 2 Diamond DMD's / Logitech SB Touch / W4S STP-SE / W4S DAC-2 / W4S ST-1000 / Samsung 52" LN52B750
    Other rooms:
    Audioengine AP4's / GLOW Audio Sub One / audio-gd NFB-3 DAC / Audioengine N22
    audio-gd NFB-10.2 / Denon AH-D7000
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  • la9ers
    la9ers Posts: 117
    edited January 2012
    DMara wrote: »
    My Synology DS-1511+ arrived this afternoon. I'm running five Seagate Barracuda ST3000DM001 3TB hard drives. I go with SHR w/ 2-disk Redundancy (like a RAID 6) which leaves me with a little bit over 8TB of space. I also upgraded its RAM to 3GB.
    I decide to return the Sans Digital TR5UT+B plain RAID array because I want to run Logitech Media Server for my SB Touch on this Synology NAS instead of my computer. I'm really surprise how quiet this NAS is!!!

    You cant go wrong with Synology, one of the best NAS out there...
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  • Syndil
    Syndil Posts: 1,582
    edited January 2012
    Gadabout wrote: »
    Are you guys ruining enterprise drives or desktop drives in your setups?

    Enterprise. The primary difference is the MTBF rating. This can be important for a NAS since it's usually spinning drives 24/7. They also usually have longer warranties.

    RT-12, CS350-LS, PSW-300, Infinity Overture 1, Monoprice RC-65i
    Adcom GFA-545II, GFA-6000, Outlaw Audio 990, Netgear NeoTV
    Denon DCM-460, DMD-1000, Sony BDP-360, Bravia KDL-40Z4100/S
    Monster AVL-300, HTS-2500 MKII
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  • Lietuvis91
    Lietuvis91 Posts: 908
    edited January 2012
    howie777 wrote: »
    Careful about WD drives, I bought two 1.5 TB Green drives to find out they don't do well in a Raid configuration. If you do go ReadyNAS, they have a list of compatible drives to buy, don't stray.

    Take note of his advise. Especially in WD lineup, the cheaper drives are NOT raid friendly, so make sure that whatever model you buy is designed to funtion in a raid configuration. Also, when you buy your drives, I personally would get one extra drive to have on hand in case one failed. Older model drives sometimes can be hard to find if nothing fails for a while, and then you also have to wait to receive it even when you do order a replacement. Just something to keep in mind.
    Living Room 7.1 HT Rig:

    M70 | CS2 | M60 | Atrium5 - Surr. | SUB - Emotiva ULTRA12 + Tara Labs sub cable | Pioneer Elite VSX-52 | Parasound HCAs 1000A | Sony BDP-S790 | Belkin PureAV PF60 | MIT Exp2 Wires

    Bedroom 5.0 HT Rig (Music/Movies/Gaming) :

    LSi9 | LsiC | Lsi/fx | Marantz SR7002 | NAD T955 | Sony BDP-S360 | Belkin PureAV PF30 | AQ Blue Racer II ICs & AQ Type 4 wires | PS3
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  • Gadabout
    Gadabout Posts: 1,072
    edited January 2012
    Just saw this yesterday while I was out reading reading stuff about storage. While not quite RAID, it looks like Windows 8 is doing something similar with Storage spaces:
    http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2012/01/05/virtualizing-storage-for-scale-resiliency-and-efficiency.aspx

    It's a bit of a long read, but is pretty interesting. If you don't want to read the whole thing, skim it and then go to the Q & A section.


    Another little interesting tidbit I found was the HP's Proliant Microserver. Not quite the same as a NAS either and you would have do all the setup yourself, but windows home server is about $42. I guess it would depend on if you can / or want to do the setup work yourself and also forgo all the software that comes with the NAS enclosures. I'm also not sure how reliable HP is with this stuff either.

    Just thought I would post the stuff in case someone else wants to read about it.
    Scott
    Scott
    Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid. ..... Frank Zappa
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  • Gadabout
    Gadabout Posts: 1,072
    edited January 2012
    Lietuvis91 wrote: »
    Take note of his advise. Especially in WD lineup, the cheaper drives are NOT raid friendly, so make sure that whatever model you buy is designed to funtion in a raid configuration. Also, when you buy your drives, I personally would get one extra drive to have on hand in case one failed. Older model drives sometimes can be hard to find if nothing fails for a while, and then you also have to wait to receive it even when you do order a replacement. Just something to keep in mind.

    When I do this, it will probably be a at least a 4 bay unit and I'll also start with at least 3 drives so I can use RAID 5 or whatever proprietary RAID the box company provides that is pseudo RAID 5. That way I'm protected from a drive failure as soon as it creates it's first volume.

    I also, probably won't be going with western digital, it seems they have been hardest hit by the flood and they take the longest to get back up and running. I'll make sure I use one of the drives listed on the compatibility charts for whatever I go with. Right now, I'm leaning toward synology still.

    The Seagate drives prices make them attractive. The only other hard drives I have really used other than WD, are the Hitachi drives. Never really had any issues with them. A long time ago, I had some issues with a couple maxtor drives. That has been so long ago, I'm not sure my bad experience should be relevant. Anyone have issues Seagate or prefer another company?

    This box is just going to be for home backup and storage. It will also store the FLAC files for streaming. I appreciate the input you guys have been providing.

    I also just noticed that typo in the previous post....
    Are you guys ruining enterprise drives or desktop drives in your setups? .... ruining should be running ...lol

    Scott
    Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid. ..... Frank Zappa
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  • Syndil
    Syndil Posts: 1,582
    edited January 2012
    Gadabout wrote: »
    Another little interesting tidbit I found was the HP's Proliant Microserver. Not quite the same as a NAS either and you would have do all the setup yourself, but windows home server is about $42. I guess it would depend on if you can / or want to do the setup work yourself and also forgo all the software that comes with the NAS enclosures. I'm also not sure how reliable HP is with this stuff either.

    Actually a NAS is indeed a small, limited server, just as this HP Microserver is, so really the distinction between the two is academic more than anything else. The main difference is that a NAS will run a Linux-based proprietary OS, while the HP runs Windows Home Server. Each has its advantages and disadvantages. The main disadvantage I can see with the HP Microserver is that the drives are not hot-swappable. The lack of that feature makes it a very poor NAS, and whether or not the other features that WHS provides over a Linux-based NAS is worth that sacrifice depends on the intended application.

    IMO Windows Home Server is Microsoft's answer to the Apple Time Machine. It provides an easy to configure, plug-and-play solution for backups and media sharing, but if you are comfortable setting those things up on your own, it doesn't really provide any extra features over a regular NAS.

    RT-12, CS350-LS, PSW-300, Infinity Overture 1, Monoprice RC-65i
    Adcom GFA-545II, GFA-6000, Outlaw Audio 990, Netgear NeoTV
    Denon DCM-460, DMD-1000, Sony BDP-360, Bravia KDL-40Z4100/S
    Monster AVL-300, HTS-2500 MKII
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  • gtaudio
    gtaudio Posts: 29
    edited January 2012
    Synology really is leading the market these days. I have an older Ready NAS NV+. Rock solid but slow even over gigabit. Synology is almost three times as fast based on real world large transfer files. Now the newer readyNAS would compete, my ReadyNAS is four years old and based in the old Sparc platform.
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  • Syndil
    Syndil Posts: 1,582
    edited January 2012
    Depends on which models specifically you are comparing. Synology has a lot of low-end stuff to avoid, especially the j-series and their paltry amounts of RAM. You really have to start with their + series to find models that will compete with a ReadyNAS Ultra. And when you do compare apples to apples, like say a Synology DS411+II to a ReadyNAS Ultra 4, the ReadyNAS usually wins out on both features and value.

    The DS411+II does not have hot-swappable drives, for instance, which IMO makes it a non-starter as a NAS.

    RT-12, CS350-LS, PSW-300, Infinity Overture 1, Monoprice RC-65i
    Adcom GFA-545II, GFA-6000, Outlaw Audio 990, Netgear NeoTV
    Denon DCM-460, DMD-1000, Sony BDP-360, Bravia KDL-40Z4100/S
    Monster AVL-300, HTS-2500 MKII
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