NAS Question

[Jonr515]

I'm looking at upgrading my current NAS, WD Mycloud home. I don't like it.

I'm looking at this: https://www.amazon.com/Synology-bay...rds=synology+DS218&qid=1618169876&sr=8-3&th=1

It appears these drives are compatible, https://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Iron...jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

but I wanted to see if anyone had any experience with them or recommendations. I currently have 1 4TB disk that is less than 1/2 full. I was thinking about running 2 6tb drives, one for data other for back up. Any suggestions?

 

[deeddawg]

I've had Synology DS216j for a while now and have been happy with it. The 218 would be a 2018 model I believe. They don't update every part of the product line every year, so that may still be current. I've not looked.

Direct file access over the LAN can be a bit slow, but I use the cloudstationdrive to sync and thus the current files are local. Maybe different with newer model.

I'd suggest looking at QNAP as well.

Also I'd suggest looking at doing mirroring on the two drive NAS, as that provides data redundancy in the event of a drive failure. If you're only half filling a 4TB drive, then a pair of 6TB drives would be 1/3 full.

FYI - Synology has a community forum you might want to look for more info on the models and how they work. See https://community.synology.com/enu

Synology also publishes a list of compatible hard drives. Others may work, but this is the "official" list of what they'll help you wish. The community forum may help with other folks experiences. https://www.synology.com/en-us/compatibility

 

[bobcomer]

I LOVE Synology NAS's. Very reliable hardware and well updated for vulnerabilities, even the old versions of the NAS.

I haven't used either of these specific products though. I have a 5 bay NAS filled with 5TB WD drives. (RAID5)

If you're going to have 2 8T drives, I would mirror them (RAID1). I use RAID5 for my NAS. You don't want a failed drive for you to lose your backups...

 

[Jonr515]

Thank you for the links, it looks like the Iron Wolf Drives only come in 5600RPM so I don't think I'll like that. Ultimately I'd like to move my Lightroom Classic library to a NAS or at least a solid backup for browsing if I don't want to use my MB.

 

[filbert42]

Last July I replaced my old DS214play with a DS218+ with two Seagate Ironwolf pro 6tb drives, paired as Synology hybrid raid. I'm very happy with the DS range and Synology DSM software. The drives were listed as compatible on the Synology web site. As far as I am concerned, it all works very well.

 

[cmaier]

Synology is great. Been using them for years. I have two boxes from 2012 that still works great (and a more modern one from 2019 that also works great)

 

[velocityg4]

I've setup Synology for a few small businesses. I've never had to replace one or correct any issues with file sharing or network backup. The only thing I'm ever asked to do after setting up is change some sharing setting or user access priviliges. So, they just chug away with multiple users accessing them every day, year after year.

So, obviously I hate them. Too few billable hours. /jk

 

[bobnugget]

Definitely mirror the drives. I really like Synology kit and the time machine support is great. It’s one of those devices you set up once and only have to mess with when a drive fails.

absolutely mirror the disks as others have suggested - you are gambling with your data otherwise, and hard disks do fail.

 

[jerryk]

I am very happy with our Synology NAS, a 918+. You should enjoy yours.

After a while, we upgraded to the faster drives WD Red 7200 RPM. I am not sure if they are really faster than the slow RPM WD Reds we had before. We have 4-8 TB (or maybe 10TB) drives. The drives are relatively speedy, but it is still a rotational drive so don't expect SSD-like speeds regardless of drive RPMs. The 918+ has an SSD cache drive that we also have so that may be hiding any slow down due to RPM, but it still is not like having all SSD storage.

We have the drives set up in a Synology Raid which gives 3 drive capacities worth of usable space. Supposedly they can survive the loss of a drive, but we have not had any issues with the drives in over 2+ years, so I don't really know. We maxed out the RAM and I remember that only certain brands of RAM were supported.

We love the Synology NAS software. It works largely unattended and has never let us down. It works seamlessly with backups and file serving for Macs, Windows, and Linux clients.

The only issue I have is that I wish it were a little quieter. It is in the corner of my office and I can hear the drives sometimes.

 

[fivenotrump]

Thank you for the links, it looks like the Iron Wolf Drives only come in 5600RPM so I don't think I'll like that. Ultimately I'd like to move my Lightroom Classic library to a NAS or at least a solid backup for browsing if I don't want to use my MB.

IronWolf drives 8TB and up are 7200RPM, not sure about 6TB.

 

[Spindel]

I have a 4-bay Synology DS416 and for my home needs it's great.
I have 2 Raid 1 volumes set up on it (one 2x4TB WD Red and one 2x8TB WD Red).

I use it as a file server and have certain parts with stuff I would hate to loose set up to sync to an off site back up. I also do my Macs TM back up to it.

Read speeds I saturate the 1 Gbps connection to it, write speeds is more dependent on if there are a lot of small files or few large ones.

I also use it as a Plex server (no transcoding only direct stream) to both my ATVs, iPad, iPhones (I use MrMC on all units). Of course since it's direct stream it eats data if you are outside of a WiFi network but it works great.

 

[Michael Scrip]

Thank you for the links, it looks like the Iron Wolf Drives only come in 5600RPM so I don't think I'll like that.

I wouldn't worry about spindle speed or drive speed.

You'll be connecting to the NAS using a gigabit network... which is only around 100MB/s

The network is the bottleneck... not the drives.

Ultimately I'd like to move my Lightroom Classic library to a NAS or at least a solid backup for browsing if I don't want to use my MB.

Again... network speed might be a problem. While you can work in Lightroom from a NAS over a network... it might be slow browsing your library and making adjustments.

I run Lightroom from an external Samsung T5 SSD... it's very fast! But I only keep the current year's catalog on it. The rest of my photos are archived on my slower NAS.

I can open my previous catalogs from the NAS to grab an old photo... and it's not that bad. But it might not be great to work from a NAS fulltime.

Give it a try though. If you need to have a huge Lightroom catalog ready at your fingertips... the NAS is the only way to go.

 

[satcomer]

I am very happy with our Synology NAS, a 918+. You should enjoy yours.

After a while, we upgraded to the faster drives WD Red 7200 RPM. I am not sure if they are really faster than the slow RPM WD Reds we had before. We have 4-8 TB (or maybe 10TB) drives. The drives are relatively speedy, but it is still a rotational drive so don't expect SSD-like speeds regardless of drive RPMs. The 918+ has an SSD cache drive that we also have so that may be hiding any slow down due to RPM, but it still is not like having all SSD storage.

We have the drives set up in a Synology Raid which gives 3 drive capacities worth of usable space. Supposedly they can survive the loss of a drive, but we have not had any issues with the drives in over 2+ years, so I don't really know. We maxed out the RAM and I remember that only certain brands of RAM were supported.

We love the Synology NAS software. It works largely unattended and has never let us down. It works seamlessly with backups and file serving for Macs, Windows, and Linux clients.

The only issue I have is that I wish it were a little quieter. It is in the corner of my office and I can hear the drives sometimes.

You best part is maybe in future put a Synology 10Gb E10 card and upgrade your network as seen in this video:

 

[deeddawg]

I wouldn't worry about spindle speed or drive speed.

You'll be connecting to the NAS using a gigabit network... which is only around 100MB/s

The network is the bottleneck... not the drives.

Exactly. Speed and latency are a factor with typical consumer NAS devices/environments.

I'm looking at upgrading my current NAS, WD Mycloud home. I don't like it.

You don't really mention why you don't like the WD MyCloud Home, so a bit more description of what you don't like may be helpful in folks giving proper guidance to you.

Generally speaking, I wouldn't plan on using a NAS for stuff you need speedy access to in my experience (DJ216j), and NAS isn't best for stuff with a high degree of transactional reads & writes such as a Lightroom library. You might keep the library on the Macbook local drive and reference the external files for an inactive archive, but even then I'm not sure LR does network drives well.

If your goal is to move LR stuff off of your laptop, you'll have much better performance with a USB3 or Thunderbolt external drive or drive array. Use the NAS for backups and archives for which you don't need fast access.

 

[Arthur75]

The only issue I have is that I wish it were a little quieter. It is in the corner of my office and I can hear the drives sometimes.

I am also considering buying a synology NAS (probably a DS 420+ or DS 920+), and quietness is a key aspect for me, you hear only the drives, or are the fans also loud sometimes ?

 

[jerryk]

I am also considering buying a synology NAS (probably a DS 420+ or DS 920+), and quietness is a key aspect for me, you hear only the drives, or are the fans also loud sometimes ?

Drive noise is the only thing I ever hear from the NAS. Nothing from the fans.

Part of the issue is the drives stop when not in use. Then when the NAS is accessed. they spin up one by one. So you can hear drive 0 spin up, and then 5 seconds later drive 1 spins up, then ... . This happens every hour or so in our usage.

I could set the drives to always rotate, but that wastes a lot of electricity.

 

[jerryk]

You best part is maybe in future put a Synology 10Gb E10 card and upgrade your network as seen in this video:

I am not sure what upgrading the network buys me. I guess the I/O with NAS would be higher, but since it is primarily a backup/archive for us, speed is not critical.

And as far as upgrading the network in general, we are Cat 6 everywhere and our Ubiquiti switches and router are able to use fiber connection. But we are still limited by our internet connection (1 Gbps down, 40 Mbps up). Maybe one day we will have symmetrical multi-Gbps internet instead of cable.

 

[bobcomer]

I am also considering buying a synology NAS (probably a DS 420+ or DS 920+), and quietness is a key aspect for me, you hear only the drives, or are the fans also loud sometimes ?

Lack of quietness doesn't bother me, but the Synology NAS's can be set at 3 different levels. (quiet, normal, and full) I set mine to normal, but you probably want quiet. Note that it does mean they *might* run a little hot and might be throttle down in speed. That's mainly why I run 5600 drives in them, less heat than the 7200's. (at home -- at work where the NAS is in a computer room, the faster the better.)

So put the NAS in a closet?

 

[jerryk]

Lack of quietness doesn't bother me, but the Synology NAS's can be set at 3 different levels. (quiet, normal, and full) I set mine to normal, but you probably want quiet. Note that it does mean they *might* run a little hot and might be throttle down in speed. That's mainly why I run 5600 drives in them, less heat than the 7200's. (at home -- at work where the NAS is in a computer room, the faster the better.)

So put the NAS in a closet?

I have thought about moving the NAS somewhere else and might do that. Since we have Cat 6 everywhere maybe I should put it in the closet with the audio equipment for the living room this weekend. Thanks for the idea!

 

[cmaier]

I am also considering buying a synology NAS (probably a DS 420+ or DS 920+), and quietness is a key aspect for me, you hear only the drives, or are the fans also loud sometimes ?

I never hear anything but drives, even in my giant synology NAS's (2419 and two 3612s). The fan does have a "quiet" mode, as well.

 

[deeddawg]

I have thought about moving the NAS somewhere else and might do that. Since we have Cat 6 everywhere maybe I should put it in the closet with the audio equipment for the living room this weekend. Thanks for the idea!

That's kinda the magic of a NAS... it can sit elsewhere on your network.

 

[ascender]

I've just bought a two bay Synology for my Apple TV library a couple of days ago and have been very impressed with it. I've put a couple of 8TB drives in it as that's way more space than I need - a nice feature I didn't realise it supported is that I can also hook up my old external USB drive to it via the USB ports and use it as a scratch storage drive.

As its an entry level one its just 100Mbps ethernet, but that's way fast enough for what I need. Its just finishing its RAID setup and will then be banished to the attic. Since I've moved to all M1 machines, the noise of an external hard drive was bugging me as the Macs are utterly silent.

 

[David Hassholehoff]

I wouldn't worry about spindle speed or drive speed.

You'll be connecting to the NAS using a gigabit network... which is only around 100MB/s

The network is the bottleneck... not the drives.

That, plus it is likely the drives will be part of an array, meaning access to data will be faster as different sectors can be accessed at the same time from different physical drives.

If you have the time and some old hardware, consider just putting drives in an old machine and run FreeBSD with ZFS. By far the cheapest and most powerful option, but it takes time to set up.

 

[drsox]

I bought a 2 drive Synology to replace my 4 drive Netgear but then returned it. Why ? Because they are NOISY.

The form factor has no noise baffling front cover for the drives. The drives are mounted in a caddy and then slid into a housing. So any edge-on drive noise is mostly passed out the front. (The Netgear has a front door). Plus - the 2 drive units have smaller fans than my 4 drive Netgear - smaller fans = more noise for the same cooling. The noise was also at a higher frequency than the Netgear = more irritating.

The Synology UI was streets ahead of the Netgear UI - so I would switch back if I could. Unfortunately I can't run CAT6 ethernet around so can't distance the NAS from my work area. IMO the quietist NAS is the one in the attic.

Just my opinion after building quiet PCs for 10 years or so.

 

[shimpster]

I have have a DS1520+ populated with 5x8TB Seagate IronWolf Red NAS drives, and two 500gb NVME2 drives for read/wright cache, and I have the 4 1gb RJ45 connection bonded/link aggregated on the 16 port managed switch. So far I love it ?. I only ever hear the drives on occasion.