Talk to me about NAS enclosures...

[Jayy]

At the moment, I have some 15TB of storage. 10 of that is on internal HDD's (2x3TBs + 4x1TBs) and the rest is a couple 2TB externals and a 1TB external.

The external drives aren't as reliable at all and there's the speed issue of USB2.0 and 3.0 over SATAlll.

I've been looking in to NAS enclosures and not really sure what's best to start with? I'm thinking a 2x2TB setup to get going. I've seen a few that offer wireless streaming when the PC is turned off as well.

I don't require any RAID configurations for them because the most part of the data is taken up by media in MKV format, averaging about 10gb per file.

I also have no need of running a media server PC.

So, who's got an actual NAS enclosure doing something similar?

[AlanC]

Not sure if it's what you had in mind, but I have a Synology DS212 with two 3GB drives in a RAID 1 array to provide safe backup. The device itself is completely self contained, and its operating system is accessed through a web browser and appears very much like the Windows or Mac OS desktop with a file manager to organise stuff, a control panel to configure it, etc. It's hooked up via gigabit Ethernet to an Apple AirPort Extreme so it's accessible on the network as a server, and it's plenty fast enough for streaming video.

Synology's devices may be more than you want because they're very versatile and can easily be set up o do all kinds of stuff: Windows or Mac file sharing, webDAV, web server, mail server, SQL database, full-on content management system, whatever.

The best thing I can say about it is that it's effectively invisible: it's there when I need it, and it never causes any trouble.

[Jayy]

Just had a look at the Synology stuff and it looks like the kind of thing I had in mind! They do some seriously expensive gear though!

Something like this is ideal I think.

https://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/12841211/art/synology/nas-diskstation-ds-413j-a.html?amp%3Bnopopup=1&gclid=CPWTxpr47bUCFUvHtAodWGIAoA#srcid=11270

4 x 4 HDDs ( 8TB or 16TB ) think 4TB drives are a liiiiitle pricey!

I like the way you can run it as a web server as well, very handy. Also like the way you can turn it in to cloud hosting with their integrated ezCloud.

What are their apps like? Do they actually work?

[t121anf]

Watch the transfer rates, my dlink was poor. I've since moved to a server with nas as backup.

[Islander]

Synology NAS boxes are very good. I've been using one of their basic models for about 6 years now and it hasn't missed a beat.

[AlanC]

Here's a comprehensive review of the DS412:

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/09/synology-ds-412-is-fast-fun-and-flexible/

I haven't used many of the apps, just the web server and I've had a play with WordPress and Python. They all worked exactly as you'd expect because it's basically a Linux box.

I mainly use it as a file server through AFP and webDAV (so iOS apps can access it directly) and for backups. The iOS client apps are a bit basic, but they work fine.

[Seb]

I run a little HP EX490 running WHSv1 and upgraded to a quad core CPU so physically the unit is pretty much right there with your average 4+ bay NAS. Whilst for the most part, it doesn't really offer anything that a decent high end NAS wouldn't already have. It's a cheaper option and thanks to the CPU upgrade it's an order of magnitude more powerful, enough so to transcode a raw BD25 image direct to any DNLA device of my choosing in real time.

If you've got your TV directly on your network it's something worth considering. I personally couldn't stomach having to have a console or pc running to watch a film now.
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2010 Triumph 1050 Sprint ST

[Jayy]

Cheers for the info fellas, I think it's the Synology DS412 that I will end up getting.

4 x 2TB drives will provide enough storage for me for a good while as my external 2TB drives are becoming unreliable and keep failing to be recognised via USB (plus it's slow as fook USB2.0).