advice on short list--DS213j, NSA325 v2, TS220

[matt6789]

Thanks to the moderators and regulars for your help. Your posts on this forum saved me from making an uninformed decision, and maybe even a bad one.

I've been reading up on these units, including the manuals (at about 80pp each, except Zyxel at 320pp! ). I put to gether a list of ~$200 diskless units. This is to stay at about $400-450 with a pair of 2-3TB drives. I figure I will be adding another unit or replacing this purchase in a few years anyway. If I go over $400-450, I might as well go all the way with a 4-bay unit and plan to keep it awhile. I don't run a business, no there is no profit realization. Strictly home use for convenience. Most of the units advertise small office/10+ users, so they should be able to handle home stuff. My max load at any given time would be 3-4 users: 1 video or music stream and 2 accessing <5mb files. Definitely some remote use. A good, functioning app package for remote users (family viewing photos mostly) would make things easy and worth the extra $.

The difference in ranking isn't much between each unit. Each one of the top 3 has a different drawback: DS213j--no USB 3, NSA325--no iSCSI, TS220--performance?. The list below those 3 are the other units that were in the initial pool for perspective....and to help anyone else considering inexpensive units.

I'm leaning towards the QNAP TS220 or TS212P. Any thoughts and opinions about the short list is appreciated. Especially if you have/had one of these and plan to keep it or replace it.


RANK UNIT PRICE
#2x?* Synology DS213j $205 *is ranking close to the DS213+ or DS114(same cpu/speed/memory)?
+iSCSI
--USB 2

#33 Zyxel NSA 325 v.2 $175
--no iSCSI
+USB 3

#38 QNAP TS220 $230
#38?* QNAP TS212P $190 *same OS/cpu/speed/memory as TS220
+iSCSI
+USB 3
+ip-based access controls

 

[matt6789]

Here's the units I cut from the initial list I put together. Reasons include features and a decent app package for remote use, or price in the case of the DS 213+. I know there are some better units out there, but I am looking for a sub- $200 diskless unit, or the equivalent if none offered.



RANK-----UNIT-----Price

#?-----Seagate Business Storage-----$200
+iSCSI
+USB 3
--no app package(that I can find)
--? 700MHz processor

#21-----Synology DS 213+-----$300
+iSCSI
+USB 3

#34-----Lenovo ix4-300D-----$160 *it's 4-bay, but look at price/ranking!
--no iSCSI
--only 1 volume in configuration
+USB 3
+(2) ethernet ports
--can't turn FTP off if remote access allowed?

#36 Buffalo 421e $120
+send link to file for downloading
+can bypass Buffalo servers for remote access

#37-----Synology DS214se-----$170
--USB 2
--***not recommended for anything but storage per Syn. Tech Suport--See note (1) below

#42-----WD MyCloud ex2-----$200
+USB 3, iSCSI, print
--performance and capability not as expected


#43/44-----NetGear ReadyNAS 102/104-----$180/300
++snapshot backup/selective file restore
--no print (and no plans to add it per support)

#49-----Trendnet TN-200-----$120
+print
--lack of apps
--no iSCSI

#50-----Lenovo ix2-----$90
--USB 2




(1) Message from Synology support:

Hi Matthew,

I would not recommend the DS214se for anything but file storage. It is currently our least powerful unit so I would not expect smooth performance running applications on it either.

For anything with streaming I would recommend the DS214play or our plus models (excluding the DS214+) for their transcoding options. If you are only going to stream in DLNA, you can probably get by with a j model but do not expect that smooth of playback with 1080p videos.

Regards,



xxxxx xxxxx
Synology America Corp
Technical Support | 9 AM to 4 PM PST M-F

 

[stevech]

Opinion
Seagate - no. no-no. no.
Netgear - nah.
Buffalo - ditto.

Synology - pick the right-sized one.

Try demos on their web sites.
Focus on features and easy of admin.