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A1MB1G

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 13, 2020
290
99
My current NAS, the Asustor AS5104-T has just died. I use it mostly for Plex to store all my movies and shows but I've been using the iMac as the actual Plex Media Server as it's far more powerful if there is any transcoding that is required. I now have to replace the NAS. I realize I can buy another Asustor NAS and just plug in the existing drives without any data loss.

However, I'm looking more longer term and I've always thought that Synology had way more users, support and a better UI. Can anyone comment or provide feedback? Not sure what direction to go in. I've been using three drives 6TB each in a RAID but looking at possibly moving towards a NAS that supports SSD drives like the Asustor AS6704T. Any suggestions/feedback would be appreciated.
 

Bigwaff

Contributor
Sep 20, 2013
2,736
1,830
Synology is solid product but they now use Realtek CPU’s in their consumer NAS products and require you purchase upgrade components directly from them, e.g. SSD, memory, which they mark up greatly. Future proofing with Synology has become $$$$.
 

A1MB1G

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 13, 2020
290
99
Synology is solid product but they now use Realtek CPU’s in their consumer NAS products and require you purchase upgrade components directly from them, e.g. SSD, memory, which they mark up greatly. Future proofing with Synology has become $$$$.
Thanks for the reply. I’ve decided to go with Asustor again and just ordered the AS6704T. Appreciate you chiming in.
 

ChrisA

macrumors G5
Jan 5, 2006
12,917
2,169
Redondo Beach, California
Synology is solid product but they now use Realtek CPU’s in their consumer NAS products and require you purchase upgrade components directly from them, e.g. SSD, memory, which they mark up greatly. Future proofing with Synology has become $$$$.
Yes, but you don't want one of those. Their better line of NAS uses AMD Ryzen R1600. The even higher end units use Intel Xeon.

One you might want is the DS923+ which uses the AMD Ryzen R1600. If you add some memory it is powerful enough to run Virtual machines and Docker images. Just be sure to buy one that has the "+" after the model number and it will be more than powerful enough to do transcoding and serve files at the same time.

Yes, Synology is like Apple's expensive but well-engineered. People say they are the "Apple of the NAS market." Their stuff is easy to use and lasts "forever".
 
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