Newbie Nas Advice

[Rahat]

Hi guys,

I have decided I want to buy the qnap ts251 with 4gb ram and 2 x 4tb hdds.

What I need from my nas is dlna streaming to ps4 and to android phones and iphone smart phones in my house and also outside LAN.

I want to be able to stream my music and movies from anywhere.

I just wanted to know what RAID to use? I was thinking Raid0 so I can use the full 8tb and have an 8tb external hdd connected for weekly backups?

That way can i simply replace a failed disk with a new one and reformat both disks and then restore backup from ext hdd?

Thanks

 

[Rahat]

Also how much data will music streaming from the qmusic app use outside my home network? I only have 2gb phone data.

 

[stevech]

In a 2-bay, No RAID is an option too. Two volumes. Independent file systems for protection.
I and others claim that with quality drives, disk failure is less likely these days than human error, file system corruption, etc.

No matter, remember that an external backup drive(s) is needed since RAID is not a backup - and theft is rather likely.

 

[L&LD]

Also how much data will music streaming from the qmusic app use outside my home network? I only have 2gb phone data.

Depends how much you use, of course.

If you stream a 2GB movie, your quota is done for the month (and more, as there will be overhead I'm sure, over and above the size of the movie file).

Keep in mind that for streaming to work effectively outside of your LAN, you need fast upload speeds on your home ISP.

 

[Rahat]

Yeh I was thinking of getting a single 6tb WD red and a 6tb external hard drive for backup. Will this setup work (a single drive rather than two)?

Also, lets say in the future I want to add another 6tb drive to add additional music when my other drive is full. Will the nas show two different music folders or integrate as one? Id want to have a full AtoZ of my music and movies rather than them showing on two independent drives.

I will definitely go for the no raid set up though, makes more sense to me.

 

[stevech]

I'd go for 2x3TB (mine were $89ea, WD red), rather than 6TB. Bleeding edge, $$$, hard to backup due to size, when it begins to fill.

 

[Rahat]

The 3tb WD Red drive costs £120 in the uk and the 6tb costs £190 so price wise 6tb is cheaper.

In terms of backing up, can I use a single external 6tb drive to back up both the 3tb drives?

Also, if I store movies on both 3tb drives, when using an app like qvideo or my ps4 will it show files seperately or as one volume?

 

[RMerlin]

I'd go for 2x3TB (mine were $89ea, WD red), rather than 6TB. Bleeding edge, $$$, hard to backup due to size, when it begins to fill.

I'd say that the 4 TB is probably the smart buy at the moment. That's what I bought myself this summer.

6 TB is definitely overpriced if you don't need that kind of capacity in the very near future.

QNAP supports inline capacity upgrades, so easily upgrading to a pair of 6 or 8 TB in a few years is possible.