2 bays SOHO NAS

[About:blank]

Hello SNB community,

I'm looking for a NAS for a SOHO environment.

The NAS will be primarily used to archive and share documents in the local network, and as a secondary use a media repository. I don't know if I need it to be able to stream, but I guess that it wouldn't hurt either (maybe for Plex or similar platform in the future, but to no more than two devices simultaneously).

My initial plan was to go the DIY route, but I don't have the time or energy at the moment to really invest in this as much as I'd like, so I thought seeking a turnkey solution.

I initially considered a 4-bay solution for its expendability and more efficient redundancy option (than RAID1), but I see that the jump in price between a 2-bay and 4-bay solution is quite significant, and if to be honest, I'm not sure if it worth the upfront investment when I'm not even sure that I'll need it.
If I'll need to expend beyond 2-3 drives I'll probably go the DIY way route anyway as it offers more control and possibly flexibility (but might also change my mind later on).

I don't have a huge amount of data, so I'm hopeing to be able to pull this off with two 3TB drives, maybe as one logical drive, maybe in RAID1. My ideal scenarios is to be able to use two drives in RAID1 to store all the data.

I'm not in the USA so the most relevant options for me are QNAP, Synology, and WD MyCloud EX2. The EX2 caught my attention because it seemed to do all that I need in a rather affordable price. I also heard that it is quite (which I prefer), but when researching the subject I learned that while it will probably do whatever I need from it, it is also under powered and a little more restricted compared to similar-ish models from QNAP and Synology, and that makes it price tag a little less attractive. If to conclude, I'm looking for a NAS that gives to a very good value for money

QNAP and Synology models quite confuse me, and I thought to reach out to the SNB community for help.

Should I go with the EX2? Is there is a better option from QNAP and Synology (even if it costs some more) that is more powerful, but also quite and relatively energy efficient?

I would appreciate any advice.

Thank you.

 

[L&LD]

For a two bay NAS I would recommend you try the TS-220 with 2x 3TB WD RED HDD's.

Very dependable, with many and more of the options you asked for.

RAID1 would be fine if this is mirroring another drive with the exact same data... (either a desktop or laptop computer, for example) or, if you buy an additional external USB drive for exclusive backup duties for the NAS. Otherwise, I would recommend running the drives independently and using one for manual backup purposes.

 

[TonyH]

Hi,
I am using Synology DS713+, it can have accompanying extension box for more storage when time comes for that. Look into it.

 

[About:blank]

Thank you for the quick replies.

As far as I can tell (but I'll need to verify) the TS-220 is not available in my area, but the TS-221 is. They seem very similar, although I read on SNB that the TS-221 is a little disappointing in comparison.

Is the Synology 213J more or less the equivalent of the TS-220?


The Synology DS713+ seems like a great device, but maybe a bit overkill for me. I wasn't planning on spending that much on a 2-bay NAS, to be honest. I'm sure that there is a reason for that price, but will have to investigate some more to see if I can justify it based on my needs.

By the way, and sorry for the basic questions, but is there any limitations to the single disk capacity support with this devices? I mean in the firmware/software level (that hopefully can be updated to support larger capacities, up to 6TB I guess), and do they get software updates when a new software version is released (e.g. DSM for Synology)?

 

[stevech]

I've been pleased with my Synology DS212. I use two volumes, two drives, no RAID. One uses Time Backup on the other.

 

[woreirsis77]

Is the Synology 213J more or less the equivalent of the TS-220?


The Synology DS713+ seems like a great device, but maybe a bit overkill for me. I wasn't planning on spending that much on a 2-bay NAS, to be honest. I'm sure that there is a reason for that price, but will have to investigate some more to see if I can justify it based on my needs.

 

[stevech]

Is the Synology 213J more or less the equivalent of the TS-220?


The Synology DS713+ seems like a great device, but maybe a bit overkill for me. I wasn't planning on spending that much on a 2-bay NAS, to be honest. I'm sure that there is a reason for that price, but will have to investigate some more to see if I can justify it based on my needs.

sounds like you want to avoid the overkill 5 bay RAID NAS.

Sermon: RAID is not a backup.