What NAS to buy for €1000 including HDDs

Currently reading
What NAS to buy for €1000 including HDDs

13
4
NAS
DS1522+
Operating system
  1. Windows
Mobile operating system
  1. Android
Hi all,

i am a little bit stuck with buying a NAS, my first NAS actually.

My current situation is that i filled in a lot of gmail accounts with contant pictures, videos etc. This i need to lower down, and don’t want to pay for extra storage each year. So an NAS would be the solution.

I am looking for the following 3 Synology NASses.
  • DS920+ (benefits hardware transcoding PLEX, only with PLEX PASS. I will never buy subscription)
  • DS923+
  • DS1522+
The reason why i choose Synology is, because of the Software/security. Where QNAP is for the more professional users, knowing what they are doing. And the security is less on QNAP compared to Synology.

The other two are basically the same, but the DS1522+ is a 5-bay NAS where the DS923+ is a 4-bay NAS as his predecessor.

I will do the following with the NAS.
  • run some VM’s Server Datacenter 2022, maybe an local AD-DS to have.
  • backup our both external hard drives backup our smart devices like smartphones, tablets etc. (from google drive to our own cloud solution)
  • running some home-lab stuff like Pi-hole, HA etc would be great in docker
  • needs to be easy to setup, with synology connect you can use the apps like Synology Photos etc, and backup pictures directly to your NAS.
  • Download, ripping some movies and have the opportunity to watch it would be great.
  • Will add 4 UTP cameras in my house, so will need to buy two extra device licenses (heard that it is better working with extra vlan (different port on the NAS the software with the cameras? is this true??) so it will also be connected to the WWW.

of course this needs to be secured as well. this i will see some specific YouTube.

If i don’t buy the PLEX PASS i cannot use hardware transcoding anyway. So this basically removes one device from the list? or the DS920+ is still a great device to buy?

My budget is about 1000€ including drives at least 4. Here in Germany. I dont want an DIY system because, you never get the bells and whistles and the easiness what you get with an NAS. thank you in advance…
 
Where QNAP is for the more professional users
Not sure what that would be QNAP only but ok...

Welcome to the forum!

Well if Plex transcode is not something you are open to, or you don't need it, then I would say go for 923 or 1522 (if you want more bays). Also, those models have the option to run with a 10G card if you will ever need it in the future.

On the other hand if you want 920, it will and still is, a great NAS for years to come.
 
At the end i will not buy the lifetime Plex pass or the monthly plex pass.
And without that you will not have hardware transcoding.

I will move to an new house in the future where the internet is sucking like 25mb/s max download speed.
Will this impact any watching movies for example as well?

So the 923+ or the 1522+ will do the job, because all youtube videoas are only speaking about hardware transcoding what is missing at this point.

i will install some ST4000vn006 IronWolf HDD's at the beginning 4TB each 4 pieces. Is enough for now.
And this will be RAID-5 12TB storage, and 1 HDD failure drive.
 
Personally, I've never understood the need for "hardware transcoding". I'm currently watching a 4K movie, on my phone, streamed over WiFi from my NAS, using VLC media player. It plays perfectly! All my TV's have, either FireTV devices or Nvidia's Shield connected. They all play any media that they can see, without issue.

So unless you have some definite need for it, I wouldn't worry about it.
 
Last edited:
Indeed, there is a lot of discussion for hardware transcoding and I too was worried .
I am in the same position, searching to decide my next NAS (Santa is about to come...)

At the moment, I use Plex on a 220+ and all my devices use DirectPlay, no transcoding needed. I have a 4K capable Samsung smart TV, android TV box, PC, mobile phones and tablets all playing content on DirectPlay. I also stream to my brother and sister's smart TVs to their plex client and also DirectPlay is involved there.
So, definetely, hardware transcoding of course could be of concern for people in need to play content on any device available, but honestly almost any modern device supports newest high quality content so in most cases I believe hardware transcoding is of no use.

My first choice at the moment is DS1522+. Unfortunately I see there is shortage in my country (Greece) at the moment and only a few shops offering it available but at an unreasonable high price.
If nothing changes soon, I may have to go for a DS923+ and add some memory or make the step and go for a DS1621+ which I find available for surprisingly good prices, a little above DS1522+. It has also the advantage that almost any nas oriented hdd and nvme ssd is in the compatibility list.
 
Thank you, I made my decision. Since you both told it was working fine also without the plex pass. Eventually I will buy an Nvidia Shield pro as well. But it's not a main priority for the moment.

Have bought yesterday evening the DS1522+ with 4 drives of each 4TB ST4000VN006 IronWolf.

The 5th drive I will add later on maybe for cameras to store storage or for extra general storage.

For the moment 12TB with the 4th as failover is enough hopefully for now.

I paid 774€ for the DS1522+ is that ok price? Had a coupon of €50 and had points on eBay 250€ so total of a discount of 300€ total price was 877€
 
774€ was the discounted or the normal price of the DS1522+?
In Greece I find it (immediately available and no order) at prices a little below 1000€ diskless!
 
774€ was the discounted or the normal price of the DS1522+?
In Greece I find it (immediately available and no order) at prices a little below 1000€ diskless!
Yes 774€ without any discount. But the store had 50€ coupon. And I had 250€ worth of points.

So my total proce was 877€ including drives.

If you want the DS1522+ shipping to Greece is about 25€

And the coupon code is still valid . So it will be 727€ plus shipping about 25€ don't know. I will receive it this week
 

Create an account or login to comment

You must be a member in order to leave a comment

Create account

Create an account on our community. It's easy!

Log in

Already have an account? Log in here.

Similar threads

If you can afford the “luxury” of keeping one bay empty, then you can use DSM's drive “replace” feature...
Replies
10
Views
2,963
  • Locked
  • Sticky
Fill out the form with as much information as you can give so our members may help you out with your NAS...
Replies
0
Views
5,174
  • Solved
I confirm that RAM Crucial 16GB DDR4 2400 SO-DIMM (Model nr: CT16G4SFD824A ) and SSD Crucial P5, M.2, 1TB...
Replies
21
Views
5,514
Ds423 would be also a significant upgrade compare to the J model. While it’s not as fast as the plus...
Replies
3
Views
1,367
Personally, I would go for the ds223. The strongest of them all, and has Docker support as well. Saying...
Replies
5
Views
1,037
@Kaiatan I will offer my experience as another alternative... I too have a 220+ and currently running 2...
Replies
3
Views
1,650
If it's only data access and file manipulation, a new DS223 could be more than enough. If you want to...
Replies
1
Views
901

Welcome to SynoForum.com!

SynoForum.com is an unofficial Synology forum for NAS owners and enthusiasts.

Registration is free, easy and fast!

Back
Top