Adding a NAS

[Jatco75]

All, I am looking to add a NAS to my home network. I am running a late 2013 iMac with El Capitan. Connected to this there is a Time Capsule, an airport express to extend the wifi and a 3rd gen Apple TV these are all connected via a small CAT5 network.

I would like to add a NAS that I can use as a media server and possible personal cloud to store both media, mainly iTunes associated and photos including GoPro footage as this is burning through my HDD quickly.

I have looked at the QNAP TS-212P as a budget starting point but have heard it's difficult to install

I am a novice to networking so please bear with me but all guidance gladly received.

 

[campyguy]

There are several great threads here in MR's forums, however, they're a bit "distributed" in the Mac Accessories, Apple TV & Home Theater, and ... Networking forums. I went with a 2012 Mac Mini Server with two DAS units and my GF is running a headless Win 7 PC with internal storage, but I still ask those questions...

My favorite recent posting on the web is pretty comprehensive and the comments offer lots of alternatives that you might find helpful and informative is here - I hope that helps a bit in addition to what's found here in MR:
http://9to5mac.com/2016/03/15/review-synology-nas/

 

[hobowankenobi]

Take a look at the latest from Synology. The is latest OS (DMS 6) looks pretty sexy and feature packed.

I have an older box running DMS 5.x, and it has been solid. Comes down to features, ease of use, and throughput needs. Note that the cheapest boxes typically have slower throughput....which is fine for small file transfers and backups, but may be inadequate for a media server.

 

[phrehdd]

Perhaps going to both Synology's and Qnap's site forums would be a better bet as they are very focused on the type of questions you ask. Also, your questions might be indirectly or already directly answered by others who raised similar questions.

Storage is storage with respect to any NAS or DAS for your movie files. Cloud service is not that difficult either other than making sure your router plays well with your NAS. - Look up direct port forwarding and the term "DMZ." (This relates to accessing your NAS from outside of your network where you want to go directly to your NAS and also protect your network at the same time.)

While I have had multiple Qnap offerings (my most used is a 5 bay), Synology certainly does bring something to the table and has a very large user/fan base. Another place to visit to see NAS would be smallnetbuilder site.

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/

 

[alembic]

I'll second the Synology recommendation. I have a 4-bay unit, DS412+. After getting it configured as a media/file server, it's been rock solid. I use it mainly to play FLAC files through a Sonos system and video files through a WD media player connected to my TV.

I also used it as a TimeMachine repository but migrated that function to a used Mac Mini. When that unit dies, I'll move it back to the Synology unit as well as set up CardDAV and CalDAV services.