Synology DS110j vs Buffalo LinkStation Pro LS-V1.0TL 1 TB

[sdeleeuw]

Until today I had my heart set on a Buffalo LinkStation Pro 1TB to replace the power hungry Dell Optiplex I'm using as a "file server". I felt like I've done a lot of research and just want peoples' opinions on what I should get...

While researching running Squeezebox server on the NAS, I noticed Synology actually has a supported (and constantly updated) Squeezecenter package for it. This just might sway my purchase.

Presently I've moved my domain controller/DNS to a dual core, gigagit laptop. Don't laugh, it's home use and has a battery backup built in. This laptop also runs the Squeezebox server software and points to the remote directory on the file server. Ultimately it would point to the remote directory on the NAS when I ditch the power hungry Dell file server. But if the NAS could run Squeezecenter that would be ideal....

Here are the points I'm weighing...

Buffalo LinkStation Pro LS-V1.0TL 1 TB - $169.99 at Newegg with 1TB hard drive included...
Synology Disk Station DS110j Diskless - $149.99 at Newegg plus $69.99 for a Seagate 1TB drive, total $219.98

Synology DS110j - Squeezecenter package built-in and supported, seems to be updated regularly
Buffalo LS-V1.0TL - Squeezecenter forum hack to install, up to 7.3.3, no new updates

So a $50 difference, but the Synology has a much richer feature set. The part where I get a little worried, I'm used to fast network transfer speeds. I have cat 6 cable, gigabit interfaces, and all computers are at least dual cores. I have a lot of 4gb plus video files, but also a lot of 5mb picture and music files. I checked out Smallnetbuilder's NAS speed comparison and the Buffalo is a good bit faster, probably due to its 1.6ghz processor vs the DS110j's 800mhz processor.

File copy read performance http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/nas/...-the-charts-buffalo-ls-v10tl-linkstation-pro-
Buffalo LinkStation Pro LS-V1.0TL 1 TB - 40.8 MB/s
DS110j - 28.7 MB/s

File copy write performance
Buffalo LinkStation Pro LS-V1.0TL 1 TB - 66.8 MB/s
DS110j - 49.5 MB/s

Also considerations are the fact that the Synology actually has power saving and WOL while the Buffalo doesn't...

Give me some opinions, I'm eager to hear everything....

 

[sdeleeuw]

Looks like I should throw in the DS111 for $209.99 without drive since that compares best performance-wise to the Buffalo... $169.99 for the Buffalo vs $279.98 for the Synology similarly equipped. The money would be worth it if the Squeezebox remote still runs fluidly with Squeezecenter on the NAS, I'm slightly worried about that though.

 

[thiggins]

Go for a Synology or QNAP. I run SqueezeCenter on an old QNAP TS109 Pro just fine. SqueezeCenter is also installed on a Synology DS109.

 

[sdeleeuw]

Thanks Tim,

Would it affect your opinion at all if the Linkstation Pro came with Squeezecenter installed in the firmware? The price point is good, and your tests show it to be pretty speedy. I like the Synology OS interface though and their Squeezecenter updates are regular.

 

[thiggins]

Would it affect your opinion at all if the Linkstation Pro came with Squeezecenter installed in the firmware? The price point is good, and your tests show it to be pretty speedy. I like the Synology OS interface though and their Squeezecenter updates are regular.

That certainly would be better, yes. But drive replacement with the Buffalos is difficult at best (drives aren't really considered user replaceable).

I wouldn't futz with SqueezeCenter updates. This may have changed, but with the QNAP, you had to replace the QNAP module and SqueezeCenter separately. I wrestled with it once and it was a pain. Maybe they've streamlined the process now and /or it's easier with Synology.

 

[sdeleeuw]

Based on your advice I bought a Synology DS111 and am waiting on it...

I found what was said to be a DS209 populated with 2 1TB drives on ebay. The guy listed it as a DS109, people noticed it had two drives, and he corrected to say it was a DS209. I snagged it for $190 thinking I got a smoking deal, but it showed up as a DS207, which only has 64mb of ram and can't run Squeezecenter. I had to send that back for a refund....