Need advice NAS acquisition advice for NasNewb: home, 500 USD

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Need advice NAS acquisition advice for NasNewb: home, 500 USD

56
6
NAS
DS213J
Operating system
  1. Windows
Mobile operating system
  1. iOS
Usage type: home

Preferred form factor DS (DiskStation)

Number of bays: 4-bays

Do you have any existing drives that you plan on using? Yes

Prefered RAID array setup for this NAS: /

This NAS will be used for: backup, multimedia, surveillance, downloads (torrents, USENET, WebDAV, FTP, etc.)

Max budget for this setup: 500 USD

Number of users that will utilize this NAS: /

Any preferred network connectivity? /

Where will this NAS be used: LAN and over the Internet

Any special network requirements: /

Special cloud provider connectivity: Google Drive, OneDrive, other: Drop Box

Additional information:
Sorry to ask again, but now I have a better understanding of my needs. Considering DS418 vs DS920+. Coming from a DS213J. So far only using it as a file share. Working but kinda slow. I have rulled out 2 Bay. My inntial storage needs are 3TB ish, but will soon grow to 6 or 8TB (within 2-3 years.). I have acceptable older drives to start off with.

1) Mostly local netwrwork file share/access. I use 3 different workstations in my home/office on 3 different levels of a town house. Mostly 1080P short videos, creation, capture and editing will be done directly to/with the NAS. Also need to share finished 1080P videos via links sent email to clients.
2) Photography side hustle, manage photos high res raw files with AI indexing and/or Lightroom, share and catalog. Send links to customers for download and viewing of thier folder for thier event/project. QR code on business card for procpects to go to portfolio file/folder/share.
3) Backup 4 PCS 2 Windows 10 and 2 Mac.
4) Backup subset of most critical files to Dropbox, Google Drive and One Drive (a few folders/shares each).
5) Minimally streaming movies up to blue ray quality in the home on local lan.
6) Occasional streaming over internet connection to mobile device of content videos mostly 1080P (not movies). No expectation of needing 4K transcoding to mobile devices out of home office, but may do that on the local lan.

Internes speeds are Cox 100mbps down, 10mbps up Ping 15 ms on average.
Lan speed is only 1GBps.
No anticipaton of doing VMs, Web hosting or Email Server. While those things would be cool, I don't NEED them.
With holiday pricing possibley going on this may be a no brainer. But I don't want to pay for tech I just dont' need. Other things to spend money on.
I was originally concerned about DS418 being usupported in a couple years but then why pay $180 more for 920 now, maybe I'd be better off putting that 180 towards an upgrade in a few years and repurposign the 418 to back up. Your thoughts on which I should get would be greatly appreciated. Is there a burnign reason why the 418 should not be considered? Is the 920 way overkill? I dont' mention the 420 as it's only $50 cheaper than the 920 so why bother if I'm going upstream anyway. Thanks.
 
Is the 920 way overkill?
Not at all. Looking at your 1) and 2) points imho I would avoid 418. Any editing of a NAS will be a problem. Video and image editing would require fast drives, a faster NAS, and more than a 1G connection (LAN).

This will ofc depend on the size of your files and expected delivery on your end, but I do advise you to mind this requirement.

Even though you have no need for any "advance" elements as you stated, these are still low-power, low-CPU devices (including 920) so keep in mind that any intensive task with multiple users might also cause it to slow down.

So if you are on the fence between those 2 models, go for 920. Saying this, if this is not something that needs to be done right now, I would advise you to wait for the DS923+ model to come in a few months. Compared to the 920 it will cost the same as it is its replacement but will bring more horsepower, and an optional 10G (not included; requires an addon card) network adapter. Now I am saying this just in case editing off a NAS is a must-have feature that needs to run fast.

On that final note, you might consider also using SSDs in the NAS (or in some bays), to speed up your workflow when it comes to editing.

Just my 2c on the matter.

DS923+ will be a 4-bay version of DS1522+ so you can look it up as it is already on the market. My review of it is also here, with some practical tests (some are of no interest to you), so have a look if you think it will help out.

Regards
 
If you think you'll ever do media streaming that needs the NAS to do real time transcoding then this could be the reason to opt for the DS920+, and when looking to stream HEVC (H.265). In recent tests posted by NAS Compares there was a significant benefit to the DS920+ Intel CPU with embedded GPU vs the AMD CPU of the newer plus NAS without one. But if you see the tests of H.264 encoded media then there was no difference in load between Intel and AMD NAS.

That's just one of those things to think about, so if you see a really good price for a DS920+ then it could be worth getting. I wouldn't get the DS418 as it is so old now and a plus series will be much better. You may even find a secondhand DS918+. The idea of getting a cheaper NAS now and repurposing latter for backup has merit, but you do have to live through the period of using it as the main NAS so be sure it meets your immediate needs.

For the plus series from '20 onwards you will have a time-limited option in DSM to purchase an extended warranty to take it up to five years. That might make the in-warranty cost per year better than the two years you'll get with a new DS418.
 
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My $.02
Attempting to use NAS for VIDEO EDITING for consumer HD Video or above resolutions, on a home system: Will result in much pain and frustration... 'Dropped Frames' at the most inopportune times will be your nemenisis.... Archiving finished project Is useful, for NAS use.... BUT NOT for the edit..... This can include Higher NAS GB connections, if the infastructure to the computer is not good enough! It's gonna be 'the weakest link' that gets you!!!
The More Complex the format the source video material is, and the more complex the edit: The more bandwidth you'll need... and the greater the possibility that a problem will occur... If you use a low bandwidth NAS for video storage:
Video is Continuous Data Bandwidth... Computers & NAS's deal in Intermittent Data Bandwidth (pausing frequently to process other requests). SO, in order to do Video on a Computer, the Bandwidth needed FAR EXCEEDS the Normal Video Bandwidth needed to play by itself: Higher Bandwidth is Needed to be Fast enough to overcome times where computers are paused doing other tasks!... So each video piece needs more bandwidth than usual in order to play cleanly... (While all the background tasks are being done!).... Now think of how this would apply to multiple video layers in an edit! If computer pauses to process something else, and doesn't get back to video in time for image to move to next frame..... You get a "Dropped Frame"... So you do edit again, and next time the drop may occur at another point in time... and you go round and round trying to get video to play...

In ALL HONESTY THERE IS ONLY ONE SOLUTION: THROW MONEY AT IT, AND 'HOPE' THAT FIXES IT!!!

EDIT: Dropped Frames is a Generic Term, as is: "THROW MONEY AT IT" In order to Throw Money, you have to determine WHERE the dropped frames is occurring... Is it: Drive, Disk Controller, Computer, RAM Limitations, Computer's Display, Local Network on computer, NAS, Network connection to Computer from NAS, Other devices taking up bandwidth on existting Network, or combination of any of them? Determineing where to Throw the money, can at time be a crapshoot... REMEMBER: THE WEAKEST LINK WILL GET YOU!


If your Computer is recent and fast, has plenty of ram, and good display... and has the internal space -- and your disc controller can do it -- You'd be better off -- Successfully, and $$ with 2x SSD's as a Local Raid 0 that you just use for Temporary Video Storage on that computer system, for the video while you edit, which should suffice until the project is complete.... and then archive the finished results as a completed project.... freeing up your Raid 0 for the next project...
All this assumes that the System you are using -- has the horsepower -- to do the processing of both the Format you have selected to edit.. and the complexity of the edit you are doing....

My NAS's store redundant Archives of completed completed edits, & ISO's of DVD's and Blue Ray's I've authored for others... I leave the footage and Edit on Raid for a month or so after edit is complete, to allow for: "after delivery Revisions", and after a second confirmation from client that the project is finished, all source media, and support files are then deleted, freeing up space.... leaving only finished verified final product and ISO's (if made), stored on redundant NAS's..... So the finished project (Video, DVD, BR) could be created if the client needs another copy later on....

I'm doing this on two systems here for years: A Dell XPS Laptop (2x 1TB SSD's Via external esata raid 0 enclosure), and Supermicro Server with Hotswap chassis ( 2 Raid 0's: 2x 1TB Spinning drives and 2x 1TB SSD's). These Raid0's are in addition to their boot drives. Both have been successful with full SD, 720 or 1920x1080 Edits of any complexity, DVD & BR Authoring (at YUV Colorspace)... and 'simple' 4K edits. I'm using 718+ and 2x 720+'s for redundant Archive storage...

Again, My $.02 But the above works flawlessly...
 
This is so helpful Thanks everyone. I guess the 418 is off the table. I can modify my workflow to complete video edits locally and then save the current version of the NAS. I only have 1GB Lan now. That's a cheap upgrade to 2.5 but not there yet. Would link aggrigation help me leverate some of that speed if I upgrade the switch and PC ethernet card to 2.5? And unfortunately I do need to do this before end of the year so waiting for a 923 while appealing is just too far out.
 
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Viewed V7.2 post. Had not seen it until this afternoon.
Went back to mathematics.
A 100% increase in bandwidth (SMB Multichannel) is good, and I’m thinking a 100% increase would be adequate for most if not All SD video off NAS as source for video edit than 2.5Gb.

Unfortunately, it’s not 1996 any more….. (Year I helped a Station add 720P HD, Over The Air, the first HDTV Channel in Chicago)..

1920x1080 is on older phones. 4K is the norm, even on security cameras…8K is even appearing on gaming systems!

Though better than GB, 2GB Isn’t gonna fly for today’s video resolutions—off NAS—for editing. So though I’d like to test it, on paper it’s just NOT gonna Fly….. so why expend $$ for 2.5 Hardware to test what is mathematically already obsolete???

Please contact me when I can add 10GB adapter to my 720+ which might not be possible ….or when Synology will support Qnap’s 5Gb via USBV3 adapter.
Mathematically 5Gb is a hellavalot more theoretical as a solution than 2.0Gb is.

$.02
 
That would be interesting, but I need access from 3 computers on different floors of my home. So I was thinking 2x 1gb from Nas to 2.5gb switch, then from each PC a 2.5 gb ethernet card upgrade to that same 2.5gb switch. I suppose your idea would work with a DAS maybe.
 

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