Advice required on the best performing 2 bay NAS £200 - £300

[HyperAdept]

Hello All, Hoping for some advice from the SNB community.

I am looking to buy a 2 bay NAS device primarily for streaming media around My home but also to use as personal cloud storage.

I do not require media transcoding as all the devices I will be streaming to have far more advanced on the fly media decoding inbuilt ( Nvidia Shield Pro Android TV ) - I simply require the fastest most robust all round file transfer performance available that will come as close as possible to saturating a Gigabit wired connection consistently.

I also do not require a multitude of Apps to run on the device either as I prefer to utilise client end applications and concentrate on simple data throughput.

I intend to set up a few NFS shares ( for media ) and simple shares running from a Macbook Pro and a windows PC.

I have a budget of £200 - £300 (Gbp)

I will be fitting My own Drives ( 2 x 3TB WD red NAS HDD)

I am looking for opinions and user input for the following devices, as well as suggestions of other NAS units I may have overlooked.

Western Digital Expert Series EX2100 (£189.99 and My current favourite choice)

QNAP TS-251+ ( almost identical Specs to TS-253 pro costs about £60 less - May be overkill for My needs)

QNAP TS-251 ( As above but with dual core - My #2 choice)

Synology DS215+

Synology DS216 ( Non play model )

Any input from the community would be greatly appreciated , especially from users with personal experience of any of the above NAS units, I have obviously already checked The SNB Nas rankings but would also like to hear from users own experiences with these Units as numbers often only tell part of the story.

TLDR - Recommend Me a NAS with Great I/O for between £200-£300 Gbp

Thanks

 

[L&LD]

I would recommend the QNAP models with as many drive bays, as much processor speed and ram capacity as you can afford. Even if you don't fill the drive bays or max out the ram, today.

Keep in mind that the drives you have will be wiped clean when put into almost any new NAS. Make sure you have a backup for the data they contain and that you'll have a USB drive large enough to continually backup the contents of your new NAS.

 

[HyperAdept]

I would recommend the QNAP models with as many drive bays, as much processor speed and ram capacity as you can afford. Even if you don't fill the drive bays or max out the ram, today.

Keep in mind that the drives you have will be wiped clean when put into almost any new NAS. Make sure you have a backup for the data they contain and that you'll have a USB drive large enough to continually backup the contents of your new NAS.

Hello L&LD and thanks for the swift reply and advice,

Qnap is certainly a brand I am looking into specifically the 251+ / 253 Pro / 251 / and the newer 253A .

As a bit of a NAS noob Can I enquire if having a faster CPU ( for example quad core ) and more ram will equate to faster data throughput , or would this be money I was spending without needing to ?

Looking at the NAS charts there doesn't seem to be a correlation between faster CPU speed and RAM and better I/O performance , and I don't require any kind of transcoding or media server features at all other than simple and speedy NTFS folder shares so would the money still be well spent ?

Not questioning Your good advice in any way just want to make sure that what I'll be spending My money on suits My requirements without going overkill on capability.

Thanks again

 

[L&LD]

Hello L&LD and thanks for the swift reply and advice,

Qnap is certainly a brand I am looking into specifically the 251+ / 253 Pro / 251 / and the newer 253A .

As a bit of a NAS noob Can I enquire if having a faster CPU ( for example quad core ) and more ram will equate to faster data throughput , or would this be money I was spending without needing to ?

Looking at the NAS charts there doesn't seem to be a correlation between faster CPU speed and RAM and better I/O performance , and I don't require any kind of transcoding or media server features at all other than simple and speedy NTFS folder shares so would the money still be well spent ?

Not questioning Your good advice in any way just want to make sure that what I'll be spending My money on suits My requirements without going overkill on capability.

Thanks again

No problem. Your questions are valid.

You're right that a faster processor or more ram today (and probably tomorrow) won't help with faster throughput, but keep in mind that this purchase will be something that you will be using into 2021 and beyond (with just the hdd's replaced).

For a little more money today, you will have a device that will be more useable in it's lifetime. Even in just a backup or background role for yourself or someone else.

Until that time though, your requirements and usage will change, as will the firmware that is released over that time frame. That is the biggest reason for me to spend a little more today on a product that will be in use for the better part of a decade or more.

Does that clear it up for you?

 

[HyperAdept]

No problem. Your questions are valid.

You're right that a faster processor or more ram today (and probably tomorrow) won't help with faster throughput, but keep in mind that this purchase will be something that you will be using into 2021 and beyond (with just the hdd's replaced).

For a little more money today, you will have a device that will be more useable in it's lifetime. Even in just a backup or background role for yourself or someone else.

Until that time though, your requirements and usage will change, as will the firmware that is released over that time frame. That is the biggest reason for me to spend a little more today on a product that will be in use for the better part of a decade or more.

Does that clear it up for you?

Makes sense , Good points well made - Thanks