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My cloud mirror or DS215j?

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Mattan

New Around Here
Hi,

I would like to buy a NAS for my home.
The most important point for me is the performance of file transfer, however, I know that once Ill have the NAS I will also want to use its advanced features.
I was planning to purchase My Cloud Mirror 4TB (Same as EX2) for ~250 USD, but then I found the Synology DS215j which seems to have a little bit lower READ performance but better WRITE performance and MUCH MORE features with the DiskStation Manager OS. The price of the Diskless version is 200 USD and 2 WD RED 2TB hard drives cost 92 USD each. That means the the Synology will cost 385 USD.
My question is - What do you think? Is the DS215J better? Is it worth the ~150 USD difference?

Thanks!
 
With your intended use ("I will also want to use it's advanced features"), the $150 is not an issue at all.

If stability or features are a requirement a true NAS (Synology or QNAP) is always the better option at this time.

If you want to use things like VM's in the future, consider QNAP for the higher end hardware you can obtain for the same (relative) price of a Synology model.
 
I recommend QNAP or SYnology. Definitely not "cloud" boxes from WD, Seagate, etc.
A 2 bay NAS will be fine.
VM's are nice but speed and RAM to do good VMs means much more expense in the NAS.
I'd get larger than 2TB. I just bought WD red 3TB for $89 at retail. If I wasn't so cheap, I would have gotten 4TB. (I bought to replace my 2TB pair).
 
Thanks for your responses.

Just to remind that we are talking about a low-end device from Synology (ds215j).
Does this device really good?
And again, If Im trying to fing a budget NAS, Is it worth almost doubling the price? (by the way, I can take the My Cloud Mirror 8TB and it will still cost a little less than the Synology with 4TB - half the size). There is a significant price difference.

Thanks again.
 
I can say that my DS212 has been problem free. Easy to admin.
I didn't see the need for a 4-bay, nor RAID.

Again, I'd avoid the mass-market NASes. You'll wind up with buyer's remorse.
 
Thanks for your responses.

Just to remind that we are talking about a low-end device from Synology (ds215j).
Does this device really good?
And again, If Im trying to fing a budget NAS, Is it worth almost doubling the price? (by the way, I can take the My Cloud Mirror 8TB and it will still cost a little less than the Synology with 4TB - half the size). There is a significant price difference.

Thanks again.


Now you're changing the intent of the first post. :)

I don't think there is a budget NAS. Your budget has to match first, then the options can be discussed.

The wannabes and the real NAS boxes are more than the hardware you can buy them initially with. Yes, 8TB is more than 4TB, but for double the price you can possibly upgrade to more than 8GB in a few years (economically) while having many, many more features available too. Not to mention reliability and support from a true NAS vendor (QNAP and Synology).

If you really think you'll be using the features a true NAS offers, the cost per year will be substantially less and the use you get from it will be exponentially more.

The MCM series is a multimedia sharing solution. A true NAS can be something much more.

I think this is a case of where paying more is getting more, rather than thinking they are equals and both are interchangeable options to consider.
 
Thank you very much guys!!!

Does someone know this particular model (ds215j)? Is it good and strong enough? I see it has only 800MHz CPU. Is it enough?

Since Im a newbie Ill ask - Which features a true NAS (such as Synology DS215j) has?
How long will it live (or when will I need to replace it)?
 
Last edited:
I have no experience with the model you ask about. But I know an 800MHz cpu is not enough (for me) for the life expectancy of that Synology model (I would expect over half a decade of use out of any current NAS from Synology or QNAP today and closer to a decade, actually).

The features that separate the offerings are:
  • Proven, in the field, designs and OS's over many decades.
  • Support for older models with newest OS's (depending on the specific chipset and platform the NAS runs on).
  • Support from user forums.
  • App support (though not anything I would base a recommendation on myself).
  • Although everything is mostly proprietary in this space, the two main players are the de facto standard and almost every issue that can crop up can be addressed without data loss - this is not true of the newcomers in any way shape or form.
  • Performance.
  • Features / benefits that actually work as they are marketed.
  • An easy method to upgrade capacity as needed (up to a limit, of course).
  • Ability to (possibly, depending on many factors) migrate a set of drives to a newer / better NAS box without a complete setup.
These are just a few of the reasons I would choose from the top two.

I would also consider a 4 Bay NAS with the fastest processor and most ram capacity possible too. Even if I just started using it as is with a single drive to begin with. Especially if the extra features and capabilities is something you will heavily use.

Directly comparing what something like the MCM and QNAP or Synology actually 'do' does not separate the men from the boys. To do that, you have to go below the surface of what the advertising promises and ask what will remain up and running a few years from now when unknown disasters strike.

If the boxes are to be used as just another place for backup file storage and very little else, they are both only as good as the drives inside (and we ignore the highly proprietary nature of the newcomers).

If depended on for any aspect more than just the above, I would rather spend more (even much more) today for the piece of mind that a proven solution offer for the next half decade or more.

Don't forget that to protect the data fully you have to protect the NAS too - a high quality UPS is highly recommended (and that will cost more than half of the MCM you were considering originally).

http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=11260AC4371&vpn=CP850PFCLCD&manufacture=CYBERPOWER


Am I getting you to spend too much yet? :)



Thank you very much!!!

Does someone know this particular model (ds215j)? Is it good and strong enough? I see it has only 800MHz CPU. Is it enough?

Since Im a newbie Ill ask - Which features a true NAS (such as Synology DS215j) has?
How long will it live (or when will I need to replace it)?
 
I have no experience with the model you ask about. But I know an 800MHz cpu is not enough (for me) for the life expectancy of that Synology model (I would expect over half a decade of use out of any current NAS from Synology or QNAP today and closer to a decade, actually).

The features that separate the offerings are:
  • Proven, in the field, designs and OS's over many decades.
  • Support for older models with newest OS's (depending on the specific chipset and platform the NAS runs on).
  • Support from user forums.
  • App support (though not anything I would base a recommendation on myself).
  • Although everything is mostly proprietary in this space, the two main players are the de facto standard and almost every issue that can crop up can be addressed without data loss - this is not true of the newcomers in any way shape or form.
  • Performance.
  • Features / benefits that actually work as they are marketed.
  • An easy method to upgrade capacity as needed (up to a limit, of course).
  • Ability to (possibly, depending on many factors) migrate a set of drives to a newer / better NAS box without a complete setup.
These are just a few of the reasons I would choose from the top two.

I would also consider a 4 Bay NAS with the fastest processor and most ram capacity possible too. Even if I just started using it as is with a single drive to begin with. Especially if the extra features and capabilities is something you will heavily use.

Directly comparing what something like the MCM and QNAP or Synology actually 'do' does not separate the men from the boys. To do that, you have to go below the surface of what the advertising promises and ask what will remain up and running a few years from now when unknown disasters strike.

If the boxes are to be used as just another place for backup file storage and very little else, they are both only as good as the drives inside (and we ignore the highly proprietary nature of the newcomers).

If depended on for any aspect more than just the above, I would rather spend more (even much more) today for the piece of mind that a proven solution offer for the next half decade or more.

Don't forget that to protect the data fully you have to protect the NAS too - a high quality UPS is highly recommended (and that will cost more than half of the MCM you were considering originally).

http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=11260AC4371&vpn=CP850PFCLCD&manufacture=CYBERPOWER


Am I getting you to spend too much yet? :)

I already have a UPS so I won't need to spend money on this...

I agree that it will be even better to get a 4 bay device with higher hardware, but unfortunatelly, this model is the highest price that I can spend on this project.
This synology has a dual core 800MHz CPU and Synology claims that the file transfer speed is 111 MBps read and 87MBps write which is good enough for me (if these are the speeds in reality) - https://www.synology.com/en-global/products/DS215j

The question is - How will the weak hardware affect? How will I "feel" it?

By the way, here is a short video about the differences between 214+, 214play and 215j
according to this video, the 215j is the worse but the performance are still better than the play. He said the in the 215j there are software limitations. How is it? Isn't it the same software for all DS products?

Another question - Doesnt Synology sell their NAS populated? I guess that the real reason that MCM is so cheap is that it comes populated. For example, the EX2 (which is the same) diskless cost 150$ (while diskless ds215j costs only 50$ more!). Mirror with 4TB costs 250. if youll reduce the price of the hard drives it leaves ~50$ for the hardware...
I guess that this is possible with WD because they are manufaturing the HDD.
 
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The same basic OS is used in all, yes. The capabilities of the various boxes discussed in the video depend on the cpu and the amount of ram they have though.

Truthfully, I would not buy nor ever recommend the DS215j for anyone for anything above basic backup. Much too little hardware as we're quickly heading into 2016 and expecting it to last into 2020 and beyond.

The performance is only better in the play when media transcoding is considered, in every other aspect, it is much, much worse (and it is better because it has hardware accelerated parts which the play doesn't).

As I have already alluded to and the reviewer (mostly) agrees with; more hardware is better than less in a NAS box that will be used and depended upon over the next few years.

I would check out the QNAP products you have access to. They offer a greater bang for the buck than Synology NAS's do, imo.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00L8GHOQ8/?tag=snbforums-20

Is an example of better than the DS215J with the capability of 8GB RAM, hardware transcoding and the ability to run a VM if needed. In addition to an extra Ethernet port and an HDMI port too.

If you can save for a little longer (weeks or months) to get a better long term (years or half decades) solution, that is what I recommend.

For a little more, you can take advantage of the same platform and benefits and also add two more drive bays to further ensure you can store your important files on the NAS for all to share as needed.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822107169

An extra hundred or so dollars today may save you from needing to buy this and the additional drives in addition to the NAS you'll already own by then too. Just something to keep in mind when committing to buying a NAS.

Easier, cheaper and more enjoyable to do it 'right' than do it 'fast'.
 
Double the LAN ports of the DS215J, same RAM but roughly twice as powerful cpu. Yes, this is a good entry level NAS buy. Not entirely sure, but the cpu should be between one and a half and twice as powerful as the DS too.

If this is really the time to buy and the budget you have today, this will make a great starter unit for you.


Thank you very much.

What about this device
http://m.newegg.com/Product/index?itemnumber=22-107-183

Do you think that I shouldn't buy it as well?
 
Thank you. Ill need to decide if Ill buy this product now or wait and buy a better item, as you suggested.
How is QNAP compared to Synology? How is their OS? Do all their products use the same software (as done with Synology, so even the cheapest product has the same features as the high end products)?
 
QNAP vs. Synology: very close. I elected Synology because of Time Backup and phone support that has been good but rarely needed (like 1 / yr). And they don't start with "how old is your product?"
 
QNAP and Synology seem to be very feature competitive and from a support / reliability angle, effectively the same too.

All their main NAS products use the same base O/S, respectively, but what features and options you can use on a specific device depends on it's specific hardware and number of bays too. For example, an i3 based platform with the capability of 8GB or more ram will offer more performance for a VM (in addition to being able to run more than a single VM). While a 2 Bay NAS vs. a 4 or more Bay NAS will differ in the kind of RAID setups you can use as well as being able to harness the combined capabilities of the multiple drives. The same with the ports offered. A single Ethernet port is vastly more inhibiting than a NAS box that offers two or more Ethernet ports (not to mention the 1GBe vs. 10GBe port speeds either).

So, in short, no. All products cannot offer all features.

But with at least two 1GBe Ethernet ports, an HDMI port, a few USB ports, 4 drive bays and the capability of user upgradeable ram to at least 4GB or more (for all the specified options listed here), then you can be fairly confident that any and all features that you may read about will be possible at some performance level of a NAS box so equipped.

Thank you. Ill need to decide if Ill buy this product now or wait and buy a better item, as you suggested.
How is QNAP compared to Synology? How is their OS? Do all their products use the same software (as done with Synology, so even the cheapest product has the same features as the high end products)?
 
Thank you all.
So I was a click away from buying this product (TS231) and then I've found out (Saw 2 different user reviews with the same issue) that the USB extension port is used for back and general USB purposes (UPS etc.), and if you attach an external HD you will not be able to access it through the network (it is only for back).
This is something that I really need, so I gave up and cancelled my order.

I think that this issue is for all QNAP products, which is so strange because Synology and even the cheap WD devices allow you access USB drives online.

BTW - This TS-231 has very few reviews, which is also strange.
 
Mattan,

Yes, this is by design. USB expansion on a true NAS is kind of silly. Much lower throughput than the LAN ports offer. You may as well directly connect it off your router instead.

USB on a NAS is for UPS control and backups to external drives, as you stated. Options for other uses may seem beneficial, but the complexity goes up (especially for security) while the performance goes down.

I think QNAP has it right, imo.
 
If you want/need to access your USB drive over the network, QNAP has a built-in file browser called File Station. Works very well in the rare cases I need to verify or look at files on my backup drive.
 

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