I bought a Synology DS410 and like it but I'm not sure if it's the best thing for what I want to do. For some reason I thought I could run it in RAID 5 and back up my Mac Pro with it AND use it as a media server for my Mac Mini (Plex) and my WD Live TV. After the Time Machine backup was done I wasn't really sure where to direct Plex and my WD Live TV for the media. I never used Time Machine before and it seems great if backing up your data is what you want to do but I need folders for streaming.
I decided to scrap Time Machine and just do a RAID 5 setup with DLNA enabled so I was left with folders for Music, Video, and Photos. Ok, that's better but I'm almost thinking there's a cheaper solution.
That's where the Mercury Elite-AL Pro QX2 comes in. For almost half the price I could have an external RAID enclosure hooked up FW800 to my Mac Mini (on all the time) which could serve the files to my other computers and my WD Live TV. From my understanding FW800 and Gig Ethernet are comprable in speed so I wouldn't be losing much there if at all. The Synology has quite a few nice extras but I don't see myself really using them. I really just need a 4 bay external backup for my Mac Pro that can flawlessly serve up MKV Blu ray rips to my Mac Mini and my WD Live TV.
Please, no Drobo suggestions. I completely understand that they work great for some people but they're overpriced for their performance in my opinion
I decided to scrap Time Machine and just do a RAID 5 setup with DLNA enabled so I was left with folders for Music, Video, and Photos. Ok, that's better but I'm almost thinking there's a cheaper solution.
That's where the Mercury Elite-AL Pro QX2 comes in. For almost half the price I could have an external RAID enclosure hooked up FW800 to my Mac Mini (on all the time) which could serve the files to my other computers and my WD Live TV. From my understanding FW800 and Gig Ethernet are comprable in speed so I wouldn't be losing much there if at all. The Synology has quite a few nice extras but I don't see myself really using them. I really just need a 4 bay external backup for my Mac Pro that can flawlessly serve up MKV Blu ray rips to my Mac Mini and my WD Live TV.
Please, no Drobo suggestions. I completely understand that they work great for some people but they're overpriced for their performance in my opinion