Setup advice for Synology DS923+ 4-Bay NAS - 4 x 12TB

[GrandCiel]

I ordered a Synology 48TB DS923+ 4-Bay NAS Enclosure Kit with Seagate NAS Drives (4 x 12TB) and could use some suggestions on how to set it up. While I am ignorant about NAS, how to set it up and what RAID I should use, I am not stupid. I’ll study and learn the terms but some suggestions to get pointed in the right direction would help. I imagine it won’t be too complex once I learn more.

I’ve never had a formal backup plan for my laptop. I used it to edit and submit on site and transfer the files to a desktop when I got back to my office. I have an M2 Max MacBook Pro on the way and 3 windows desktops. One is my main workstation, or may be second after I get the MacBook Pro, one is my wife’s and I have one in a basement office with my printer. My wife also has a Windows laptop. I’ll keep my mid 2017 MacBook Pro for casual use.

I would like to easily access files from both my desktops and laptops and my wife’s desktop and Windows laptop. She also has an iPad but she just uses it for family pictures and Netflix. My wife went back to college to complete a degree and wants to have copies of all her portfolio’s and work that would be catastrophic if lost. I could start using the Mac’s Time Machine backup but most important are that the files are backed up and accessible. I have burned all my music and CD's as FLAC, ALAC and MP3.

I am/was a professional photographer for many years with TB's of archived photos saved on the desk top HD’s. I have built my own editing workstations for many years but the last one was in December of 2016. I would keep copies of my most important folders on all 3 PC’s, some even on mirrored drives on the same PC and all the images I have submitted over the years are still in the cloud with several wire services. I’m not shooting professionally much anymore and starting to do some video along with photography, more as a hobby but still shoot a lot and the file sizes can be large. (Nikon Z 9). My main desktop has 2 ea. 1TB SSD’s and 4 ea. 6TB HD’s and there is a lot of data on them, not all of which I need to keep.

Thank you.

 

[dimme]

What role will the NAS be playing in your setup? Will a copy of all your files from all your computers be on the NAS?

I have a household with a few computers which my Mac mini server acts as a hub for all the devices, as NAS will do the same job. All my files, photos, music gets pushed to the server for backup to the cloud, and secondary hard disk. I like to follow the 3-2-1 backup rule. And of course all the files on the server are available to the computers in the house for what ever is needed.

Again not being a Synology user I can't speak from experience, but the reading I have doe the Synology hybrid raid looks to be a great way to setup your NAS. Just keep in mind a RAID is not a backup.

 

[GrandCiel]

It seems I’ll have a few days to decide on how to configure the number of storage pools and volumes. While B&H is usually good, they sent incompatible HDD’s. (Synology 48TB DS923+ 4-Bay NAS Enclosure Kit with Seagate NAS Drives (4 x 12TB)).

I tried to set up a storage pool after initializing the Synology DS923+ in storage manager but got an error message that the 4 ea. 12TB Seagate ST12000VN0008 - 2PH103 B&H sent with the bundle are not supported by the Synology DS923+. The DS 923+ supported Seagate IronWolf Series Model Number is ST12000VN0008 - 2YS101. I am thinking I will use Synology’s SHR Raid.

I don’t know why I would need more than one storage pool. I am considering at least two, possibly more volumes. One for my file sharing and one for Time Machine. With a 4TB SSD I would like to keep a Time Machine volume as small as I can. Suggestions are all over the place but I think 6TB’s would be enough for me. That will leave me with 30TB to play with on SHR Raid. Then I need to decide if I set up a volume for me, my wife and possibly one for music. I'm not sure it makes sense for separate volumes for videos, images and documents? I don’t know why folders wouldn’t work. I would like to keep things simple but flexibly manageable. Thanks.

 

[GrandCiel]

This is not turning out well. As far as I can tell, what B&H included in the kit are the current versions of the Seagate IronWolf ST12000VN0008. Synology lists - 2YS101 FW SC60 as supported but what I believe is the current version is - 2PH103 FW SC61 and it is not on the supported list. The ST12000VN0008 - 2PH103 FW SC61 is listed as compatible for other Synology NAS models. The Synology forum has posts for a number of similar issues. Almost as if Synology is suspending new testing of updated Seagate drives and pushing people to purchase Synology branded HDD's. Speculation on my part so far. This is a frustrating pain.

 

[Apple_Robert]

The error about the drive not being supported is no big deal. The support list has not tested every single drive. Synology is also pushing everyone towards their drives. I have 4 x 20TB Iron Wolf Pro drives in my Plex server and I got the same message. No problems here. I also got the same message with my DS 200+ Synology Iron Wolf Pro drives. Synology won't troubleshoot a nonsupported drive.

 

[GrandCiel]

The error about the drive not being supported is no big deal. The support list has not tested every single drive. Synology is also pushing everyone towards their drives. I have 4 x 20TB Iron Wolf Pro drives in my Plex server and I got the same message. No problems here. I also got the same message with my DS 200+ Synology Iron Wolf Pro drives. Synology won't troubleshoot a nonsupported drive.

It would be no big deal if I never needed support and as I understand Synology won't provide support unless the drives used are supported. I suppose I could still get warranty for Seagate if a drive fails but as someone new to NAS, I worry about not being able to work with Synology support for NAS issues. Thanks.

 

[hobowankenobi]

This is a fair question, and a direction I am saddened to see Synology go. It may bite them if folks look for alternative brands that support most major brand drives.

I have run many Synology boxes over the years, and never once had a drive incompatibility issue, having used pretty much every brand and many model drives...so I want to believe that level of functionality will continue.

OTOH, I certainly understand folks being turned off by the notion of flying without a net. The issue I would care about is not a failed drive, but a failed array or data loss caused by unsupported drives. My gut is that the odds of this would be the same as it has always been...but how can we know?

Bottom line: We users have to assess and accept some risk of the unknown...or not. As of today, I would accept the risk and use 3rd party drives, based on many years of reliability. But I would also do a bit of extra testing before fully committing to using the latest drive versions.

 

[satcomer]

Just when first booting up make sure you use great passwords and format using the synology format!

 

[convergent]

I would suggest watching a lot of videos and learning about the different options. I have had QNAP for years and just went to Synology.

First off, I would suggest making one big volume for everything and use RAID type SHR. This is an expandable raid and has some great features if you use their proprietary format. With a modern NAS for home use, there isn't a lot of need to create separate volumes. You can create separate shared folders for different purposes. Also, if you were to create 2 RAID volumes, you'd lose 1/3 of your available space.

For backing up the Macs, they have several options. Their Active Backup for Business is very robust. I haven't ventured into backing up my Macs on it yet as I have a ton of other stuff to get migrated. For Macs in the past, I've used the NAS Time Machine capability, then also used an external USB drive on the Mac doing nightly SuperDuper backups, because they are bootable. You could do Time Machine to the NAS, or you could use their Active Backup which does similar.

 

[Analog Kid]

I understand Synology won't provide support unless the drives used are supported.

If this turns out to be true, I've bought my last Synology box. I came to Synology from Drobo because of crap like this.

 

[hajime]

The error about the drive not being supported is no big deal. The support list has not tested every single drive. Synology is also pushing everyone towards their drives. I have 4 x 20TB Iron Wolf Pro drives in my Plex server and I got the same message. No problems here. I also got the same message with my DS 200+ Synology Iron Wolf Pro drives. Synology won't troubleshoot a nonsupported drive.

The trend that Synology is pushing people to use their expensive drives, ssd and ram or no support/warranty keeps me hesitating to buy their NAS. Am I worrying too much?

 

[hobowankenobi]

Time will tell. Synology has a big enough user base...I hope we will see shared info about drives working fine...even though they are "untested" offically.

For the time being, seems like existing hardware and OS could continue to work as expected, and could be safe for existing drive models.

Until I see reports of issues, I will be cautiously optimistic.

 

[Apple_Robert]

The trend that Synology is pushing people to use their expensive drives, ssd and ram or no support/warranty keeps me hesitating to buy their NAS. Am I worrying too much?

Yes, I think you are worrying too much. The drives in both of my NAS' are Seagate Iron Wolf Pro's. Said brand is on the list of supported drives, just not the exact size storage I have. That is the same scenario the OP ran into and then got worried.