Second NAS advice (well actually third)

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Second NAS advice (well actually third)

98
8
NAS
DS213J, DS918+
Operating system
  1. macOS
Mobile operating system
  1. iOS
I am looking to get a second local NAS device. I currently have a DS918+ local, and my old DS213j is at my parents house that I am using for backup. Currently I am backing up about 2TB of home movies/documents/pictures to Synology C2 and the remote DS213J. I have another 2TB of home movies that are go pro and 4k camcorder that are not backed up. I was going to get a spare usb drive or 2 and then rotate them out, but cost and convenience wise thought that a second local NAS may be easier to have backups automatically go to. Before spending money on a cheaper 2 bay and HD as just backup, am wondering about upgrading my DS918 and just using it as the backup NAS.

Current use case for DS918+ is a few docker (audiobookshelf, kavita, calibre-web, webdav for 1 user, Jellyfin, and synology photos/drive/files for 5-6 family members). 10TB of 16TB of data on this currently. I am very happy with the current performance of DS918+, but since finally getting JF (and the Reverse Proxy issues with DNS) straightened out, am hosting JF for family movies as well. The hardware encoding makes a significant difference when streaming (locally I use infuse and no problems, but everything gets transcoded remotely to family). Other than the DS920+ which doesn't seem like too much of a performance upgrade, is there any other NAS that has HW GPU acceleration for video? Any expected HW accelerated NAS coming down the road (it seems like everything is going more business and less media).

If not would I be better off using my old iMac 2017 or Mac mini as the JF server and just use the NAS as the actual storage device?

Budget is no unlimited, but willing to spend a few thousand to upgrade and get new HDs across the board if needed. Would love to get a 5 bay and demote the DS918 to storage but for the price I think I would be upset if the processor isn't up to transcoding. If that's the case I'll probably opt for a cheaper late model 2 bay and grab a few HD for backup.

Thanks and appreciate any suggestions.
 
is there any other NAS that has HW GPU acceleration for video?
At the moment no. The upcoming non-plus models and a few more plus models that still have to come (223 and 423) will probably be either on AMD or as well on Realtek as the non-plus 223 is.

What will happen with the rest of the lineup is still open (like 1823), and it is not clear if Syno will go back to Intel at all.

If you are looking for another 4bay transcoding capable NAS 918 or 920 as your only option atm.

If not would I be better off using my old iMac 2017 or Mac mini as the JF server and just use the NAS as the actual storage device?
Sure that would work as well just fine.

Budget is no unlimited, but willing to spend a few thousand to upgrade and get new HDs across the board if needed. Would love to get a 5 bay and demote the DS918 to storage but for the price I think I would be upset if the processor isn't up to transcoding. If that's the case I'll probably opt for a cheaper late model 2 bay and grab a few HD for backup.
The current 5 bay (1522+) is also AMD driven so no transcoding, but along 918+ and 920+ you could try and save a few € by maybe getting 720+ for your needs. It is as powerful as 920 (just less RAM), and will do the HW transcoding just as well.
 
At the moment no. The upcoming non-plus models and a few more plus models that still have to come (223 and 423) will probably be either on AMD or as well on Realtek as the non-plus 223 is.

What will happen with the rest of the lineup is still open (like 1823), and it is not clear if Syno will go back to Intel at all.

If you are looking for another 4bay transcoding capable NAS 918 or 920 as your only option atm.


Sure that would work as well just fine.


The current 5 bay (1522+) is also AMD driven so no transcoding, but along 918+ and 920+ you could try and save a few € by maybe getting 720+ for your needs. It is as powerful as 920 (just less RAM), and will do the HW transcoding just as well.
Ok thanks. Is a 720/920+ much more powerful than my current 918+? While I'm happy with 918+ performance, spending money on a 720/920+ for comparable performance that is still a 3 year old device is probably only worth it if I can get a deal.
 
Is a 720/920+ much more powerful than my current 918+?
No, it's not, as you already said. I just thought of going for a 2-bay version in case you want an appliance and not a mac (mini), but other than that, no, its nothing major in terms of performance.
 
is still a 3 year old device is probably only worth it if I can get a deal.
Basically what Rusty is saying ... The x20 series is the most recent line that supports GPU transcoding, and there is no indication that will change in the foreseeable future.

If transcoding is a must, you'll otherwise need to look outside Synology.
 
Basically what Rusty is saying ... The x20 series is the most recent line that supports GPU transcoding, and there is no indication that will change in the foreseeable future.

If transcoding is a must, you'll otherwise need to look outside Synology.
My upload speed is very limited so remote transcoding is only option. While something like a NUC would be an option, I already have a Mac running most of the time so I should probably start there. Also I like synology GUI and no interest in setting up a Linux box really.
 
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Though you're talking about Higher End NAS than mine, One thing that spans all NAS's that I encountered comes to memory...:

My First Synology NAS was a 215J... It did up to DSM 6.1 a fantastic job of doing exactly what I needed it to do!
At 6.2 and above my workload suffered, due to more resources needed to be channeled toward the OS... and there was no way of increasing Ram to help that situation.... My only option was reduce workload...

Cliff notes to the shortened version of what I discovered:

"It's Always Cheapest to go First Class"....

The longer you want to keep your next NAS operational..... The more important the above statement becomes!

I've tried Different HD Manufacturer's, and they are all pretty good, though my background with Broadcast devices makes my history with Seagate Support lean toward that MFG..... (even older drives!)
 
Though you're talking about Higher End NAS than mine, One thing that spans all NAS's that I encountered on a consumer NAS comes to memory...:

My First Synology NAS was a 215J... It did up to DSM 6.1 a fantastic job of doing exactly what I needed it to do!
At 6.2 and above my workload suffered, due to more resources needed to be channeled toward the OS... and there was no way of increasing Ram to help that situation.... My only option was reduce workload...

Cliff notes to the shortened version of what I discovered:

"It's Always Cheapest to go First Class"....

The longer you want to keep your next NAS operational..... The more important the above statement becomes!

I've tried Different HD Manufacturer's, and they are all pretty good, though my background with Broadcast devices makes my history with Seagate Support lean toward that MFG..... (even older drives!)
I agree. I think this is a bit of my apprehension about getting a new device (no HW encoding), but a 920 is 3 years old and same performance as a 918. Is a lot of money for something 3 or 5 years old that probably won't support software for as long as I would want for the expense.

I'd honestly consider a much more expensive synology, but it seems like having an intel core with quick sync is what you want for jellyfish. But again at that price point I may as well just use the Mac I have available
 
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The switch from Intel to AMD.... and loss of processor power for trans-coding.... Wonder if it's a knee-jerk reaction to the Atom Bug: needing a resistor addition? I've never seen a post indicating how much extra ram and AMD CPU Cores are needed to equate the loss of Transcoding within the Intel CPU, but it would certainly be an interesting read!!!

Maybe a trans-code shoot-out between a 720+ & 723+ with same Drives, RAM & M.2 cache? (both being GB ethernet)

How many more: X AMD CORES + X-RAM needed to = Intel CPU Transcoding.... ????
 
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How about general recommendations for backup. I have a DS213J (currently have just a 3 and 2TB drive and the 3TB crashed). I am looking to get a new backup NAS. Considering a 2 vs 4 bay.

What is best practicer for backup NAS on a 2 bay, setting them to mirrored raid, as JBOD and then doing a nightly backup from 1 drive to the 2nd, or have no redundancy on a 2 bay? If it makes more sense to go mirrored would a 4 bay in SHR 1 with say 4 10TB drives be a better option than a 2 bay with 2 20TB drives? I guess I'm looking for larger backup so I can have a local backup of all the files but would like to keep price as reasonable as possible.
 
now the question is update HD's in the 213J and which format
There is only one format choice... ext4
would I be better at getting a new device.
I cannot answer that. As for me, my backup NAS uses a JBOD array. I see no need for redundancy, as my primary NAS has redundancy, and I follow the 321 backup plan. I also see little need for DSM7 on this unit... But that's just me.
 
There is only one format choice... ext4

I cannot answer that. As for me, my backup NAS uses a JBOD array. I see no need for redundancy, as my primary NAS has redundancy, and I follow the 321 backup plan. I also see little need for DSM7 on this unit... But that's just me.
Thanks. I think I may be fine keeping the 213j and throwing 2 new 16 or 20TB in. This would give 32 or 40 TB of data which should serve me well for years and be a cheaper option.
 

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