How Do People Shop for NASes?

[thiggins]

When you go to buy a NAS, do you strictly shop by price? Or do you choose a level of protection first? There are basically three levels of protection:
None (single bay NASes)
RAID 1 (dual bay NASes)
RAID 5 and up (four-bay and higher NASes)

Do you care? Or are you strictly looking for price / performance?

 

[stevech]

Your list is missing protection by using 2+ volumes and optionally RAID. (e.g., 2 bay without RAID1). We all preach that RAID is not a backup.

I shopped by features, company focus on NASes not jack-of-all trades.

Then price within that company's product line.

 

[DaveS]

When you go to buy a NAS, do you strictly shop by price? Or do you choose a level of protection first? There are basically three levels of protection:
None (single bay NASes)
RAID 1 (dual bay NASes)
RAID 5 and up (four-bay and higher NASes)

Do you care? Or are you strictly looking for price / performance?

Being in the market for my first NAS device, here's my take:

First and foremost I look at the features. Price/performance doesn't mean anything if the device doesn't do what I want it to do. After that comes (in no particular order) ease-of-use, reputable support, and reliability. Once those questions have been answered then I consider price/performance.

Given how often I've seen "RAID is not backup" on the forums, I don't really understand why protection level would be major factor in the decision. Total capacity? Sure. Protection level? I dunno...

 

[NosniboR80]

Maybe these NASes shouldn't really be categorized. Test the devices and let the chips fall where they may. Consumers/readers will be able to make a decision about what device to buy based on throughput performance, capacity, price, and other features across all devices without hunting around in a bunch of different categories.

 

[stevech]

features vs. price vs. vendor assessment. That's my top-down view.

As long as the ideal speed is in the 30% ballback with the rest, I don't care, because rare is the day when it matters, due to so many other sources of overhead in PCs, head movement, etc.

 

[thiggins]

Thanks for the responses. So number of bays plays into the decision only in terms of capacity?

Yes, RAID is not backup. But that doesn't mean it has no value. It is definitely useful for uptime. You just can't rely on it as a sole means of backup.

I run RAID1 on my server so that when a drive fails, it will keep running. I also have offsite daily backups.

 

[thiggins]

Being in the market for my first NAS device, here's my take:

First and foremost I look at the features. Price/performance doesn't mean anything if the device doesn't do what I want it to do. After that comes (in no particular order) ease-of-use, reputable support, and reliability. Once those questions have been answered then I consider price/performance.

Given how often I've seen "RAID is not backup" on the forums, I don't really understand why protection level would be major factor in the decision. Total capacity? Sure. Protection level? I dunno...

so have you used the NAS Finder in your research? How do you judge ease of use and reliability?

ranker sort by price was added last week. We will be adding it to the charts also soon.

 

[DaveS]

So number of bays plays into the decision only in terms of capacity?

Not *only*, but *mostly*. It also affects my decision in terms of total cost per TB storage. I could spend $600 on a 2-bay RAID 1 NAS with a pair of 3 TB hard drives. That's ~$200/TB. Conversely I might spend $1100 on a 4-bay RAID 5 NAS with a full compliment of 3 TB hard drives, bringing the price down to ~$120/TB.

Yes, RAID is not backup. But that doesn't mean it has no value. It is definitely useful for uptime. You just can't rely on it as a sole means of backup.

I didn't mean to imply RAID has no value, just that I don't see the various protection levels as a major factor in the decision making process. As I understand it, (and ignoring RAID 0) RAID protects against disk failure. Aren't RAID 1 and RAID 5 essentially the same in terms of protection? They both protect against the failure of a single disk. In either case if multiple disks fail you have to pull out the backups.

Other RAID schemes can protect against more disk failures, but for practical purposes don't you have to get into 8+ bay systems before you have to start worrying about multiple disk failures? (Assuming, of course, that you have a spare HD on hand and don't leave your system degraded for weeks on end.)

so have you used the NAS Finder in your research? How do you judge ease of use and reliability?

Yep, I did use it. From a functional perspective I thought ease of use and reliability were top notch. It was fairly easy to figure out what each of the options did and they always worked correctly when I selected them.

I'd give it somewhat lower marks from the standpoint of usefulness because it didn't allow me to filter the results in a way that was most useful for me. Of course, I came here knowing very little about NASs and I may not be part of your intended audience for the ranker. If so, no worries--I don't expect you to spend your spare time creating something to satisfy my needs.

ranker sort by price was added last week. We will be adding it to the charts also soon.

It would be nice to have price and # of bays as filter options, not just sorting options.

 

[heehee62]

My primary concern is meeting my needs (i.e being able to have remote access to my videos/photos with thumbnail previews, automatic backup of all devices, being able access/view my avchd movie files even on non-compatible devices like iphone without downloading or converting, decent speed, etc.).

Second is money, so I usually pick the cheapest system that meets all of my needs.

I shop by doing research online. Being a newbie, this both gives me an idea of what equipment I can get and for what price as well as a better understanding of what a network system can do for me.

Since I have a better understanding of what a network system can do for me, I'm able to refine my needs (i.e. I now know I can put one NAS in my house and one in my sisters that can automatically backup each other. This way if there is a fire in my house, all the data is still in her house - so remote automatic backup became a need for me).

After researching, I usually tell a forum my needs and see if they agree on the storage system I selected for myself.

Then I buy from a place like Best Buy that let's me return stuff if I don't like it after I've tested it. I reiterate this process until I find what works for me. As you can see, I'm a picky person but I imagine most of us here are since we bother to spend the time to do at least some research.

 

[PrivateJoker]

So this is a trick question and you're testing us to see if our recommendations jive? You've shared all theory and no research.

I would start by checking to see between the most popular consumer NASes (QNAP, synology, Thecus, WHS, etc) which of them supports your very specific needs for photo thumbnails/library sharing and AVHCD support to the specific devices you plan to use. That and your budget should narrow it down pretty quick.

 

[stevech]

So this is a trick question and you're testing us to see if our recommendations jive? You've shared all theory and no research.

I would start by checking to see between the most popular consumer NASes (QNAP, synology, Thecus, WHS, etc) which of them supports your very specific needs for photo thumbnails/library sharing and AVHCD support to the specific devices you plan to use. That and your budget should narrow it down pretty quick.

One caution: The most popular of anything tends to be those with the most marketing B.S. I contend that this correlates to how crappy the product is. In NASes, so many stories about Drobo, ReadyNAS, LG, et al who buy their way on to retail shelves.

 

[PrivateJoker]

One caution: The most popular of anything tends to be those with the most marketing B.S. I contend that this correlates to how crappy the product is. In NASes, so many stories about Drobo, ReadyNAS, LG, et al who buy their way on to retail shelves.

That's a good point @stevech, the line between marketing claims and well reviewed by respected reviewers & informed users can be difficult to distinguish from afar. The brands I mentioned in that particular example are ones I would feel good about telling a friend or forum question poser to check out in good faith. I remember when the Drobo first came out, glad I never got one!

The AC router "war" going on now seems to mr to be a good example of mostly marketing claims and specs that very few people can speak objectively and sanely about (thankfully there are sites like this that demystify stuff quite a bit).