Please help me choose a NAS. I've narrowed it down to these.

[theomni]

Hey everyone. Initially, about 2 years ago, I had bought the Shuttle OmniNas KD20 when I saw it on sale for $30 on black Friday. With it, I'm running two WD 3TB Red drives in Raid 1. The NAS has began to fail me and I feel like I've outgrown this entry level NAS.

My main purposes behind a NAS are:

1. Movies: I have an Intel NUC that acts as my HTPC (running Kodi/XBMC). The movies are saved in the NAS which is connected to my router using ethernet and it gets streamed wirelessly on AC band to the NUC. I've ran all kinds of files including .MKV of BluRay rips without a hitch or hiccup.
   
   
2. It also serves as a backup drive for 3 other people in my house, with me being the heaviest user out of all of them (storing camera RAW files, saving BluRay rips of movies I buy, etc.)
   

However, the current KD20 is failing at storage and backup. If more than one person connects at a time, the connection just hangs and windows explorer crashes. I have to restart the NAS as well as the PC in order to get it working again. One person in my house would also like to use NAS as a VM server, but this is low on the priority list.

I was wondering if you guys had any suggestions for a new NAS that will take care of this? I'm looking especially for a 4 bay NAS. The two that I have narrowed down to are QNAP TS-451 as well as Synology 415Play. Between the two, I was leaning a bit more towards the QNAP model. I was wondering if someone can help me sway in one direction or the other or perhaps offer some other suggestions? I'm trying to keep this around less than $600. I will even consider the Synology 415+ if it has more benefits than the others.

Thank you.

 

[thiggins]

Except for running VM, your requirements are basic. Most any NAS will do, including the ones you name.

If the VM need is serious, go with QNAP and get as much RAM as you can and four Ethernet ports.

 

[stevech]

Hey everyone. Initially, about 2 years ago, I had bought the Shuttle OmniNas KD20 when I saw it on sale for $30 on black Friday. With it, I'm running two WD 3TB Red drives in Raid 1. The NAS has began to fail me and I feel like I've outgrown this entry level NAS.

My main purposes behind a NAS are:

1. Movies: I have an Intel NUC that acts as my HTPC (running Kodi/XBMC). The movies are saved in the NAS which is connected to my router using ethernet and it gets streamed wirelessly on AC band to the NUC. I've ran all kinds of files including .MKV of BluRay rips without a hitch or hiccup.
   
   
2. It also serves as a backup drive for 3 other people in my house, with me being the heaviest user out of all of them (storing camera RAW files, saving BluRay rips of movies I buy, etc.)

However, the current KD20 is failing at storage and backup. If more than one person connects at a time, the connection just hangs and windows explorer crashes. I have to restart the NAS as well as the PC in order to get it working again. One person in my house would also like to use NAS as a VM server, but this is low on the priority list.

I was wondering if you guys had any suggestions for a new NAS that will take care of this? I'm looking especially for a 4 bay NAS. The two that I have narrowed down to are QNAP TS-451 as well as Synology 415Play. Between the two, I was leaning a bit more towards the QNAP model. I was wondering if someone can help me sway in one direction or the other or perhaps offer some other suggestions? I'm trying to keep this around less than $600. I will even consider the Synology 415+ if it has more benefits than the others.

Thank you.

Be sure to try Synology and QNAP's on-line demo of their NAS' OS and human factors.

 

[theomni]

Except for running VM, your requirements are basic. Most any NAS will do, including the ones you name.

If the VM need is serious, go with QNAP and get as much RAM as you can and four Ethernet ports.

Be sure to try Synology and QNAP's on-line demo of their NAS' OS and human factors.

Thank you! I actually did just gave it a go this morning. I didn't find any major differences in the OS. I was able to use both of them adequately.

Quick question. I have some left over memory from my laptops. I have a spare 2x4gb kit and one 2x8gb kit that's being used by my laptop. I can either use the 8gb for the QNAP or I can use the 16gb kit. When doing its server work of streaming movies or having multiple users connected and transferring data, will the 16gb make any bit of difference?

 

[L&LD]

More RAM is always desirable, but it seems like 2x 4GB RAM is the max for that model.

SO-DIMM DDR3L-1333, 8GB Maximum

 

[stevech]

My advice, take it at that: For home use, don't overbuy. I preferred a 2 bay, with 2 volumes, one as a time backup of the other (versioning). Independent file systems. 4+TB drives are affordable today. I don't recommend RAID for small home NASes. 2-3 years ago I studied QNAP vs. Synology in depth and chose Synology. I've been pleased. But you'll likely do well with either.

And don't forget to have some big capacity USB3 drive for backups kept out of sight. I rate theft of hardware, human error (admin NAS), and malware as higher risks that drive failure.

 

[KenZ71]

If the data is worth saving once chances are you will want if the drive crashes. Likewise backup to the same device or storage in the same home is pointless if Fire, flood, theft or similar events make the primary data source unavailable.

 

[stevech]

USB3 drive for backups kept out of sight.