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NAS or server?

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  1. #21

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    Synology units is well suited, in an Home-network, but there are others that have more features and robustness - of course costing more. I'm currently using a Buffalo NAS unit, but will upgrade to a more Enterprise-level soon.

    I replaced my RTN56U with the 66U - using Custom Firmware from Merlin.

    pin likes this.

  2. #22

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    Quote Originally Posted by protocl:
    Synology units is well suited, in an Home-network, but there are others that have more features and robustness - of course costing more. I'm currently using a Buffalo NAS unit, but will upgrade to a more Enterprise-level soon.

    I replaced my RTN56U with the 66U - using Custom Firmware from Merlin.
    I think I will only go for consumer level NAS, otherwise price wise I think it would make sense to go down the server route.

    I'm also looking at the RT-66U (also called the "Dark Knight"). For me its a toss up between the Dark Knight or the Linksys 4500.

  3. #23

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    Original Post Deleted
    Yea, the fan noise does bother me a-bit, while watching movies, but I work 60% of my time at work, I'm in the Server-closet.
    Most of the time, not all units are powered up at once, just the bottom unit is.

    Another approach: Self-build NAS, using FreeNas O.S. Complicated to setup(maybe for Consumers), but once it's running - very dependable. I set on up at work, to back-up all my Free an Paid Programs and such.

  4. #24

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    What do you guys think of the Netgear ReadyNAS Ultra 2 Plus: Amazon.com: NETGEAR ReadyNAS Ultra 2 Plus (Diskless) Network Attached Storage RNDP200U: Electronics

    Compared to the Synology DS212+?


  5. #25

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    Quote Originally Posted by pin:
    What do you guys think of the Netgear ReadyNAS Ultra 2 Plus: Amazon.com: NETGEAR ReadyNAS Ultra 2 Plus (Diskless) Network Attached Storage RNDP200U: Electronics

    Compared to the Synology DS212+?
    I'd go with the DS212+, just 'cause of the Chip an O.S.

  6. #26

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    Re Plex on the Readynas Ultra+, that is only an issue of if you are going to transcode. If the player is on an HTPC, which is what I intend to do, then no transcoding involved.

    So on Yahoo auctions, someone is offering the Synology DS411+ ii with 8TB storage for around HK$7.2 - 7.5k.

    There is another offer for a ReadyNas Pro 6 for HK$4k. Another offer is for the ReadyNas Duo for HK$1,100 (starting bid). Obviously with the last one I can't run PMS.

    Further thoughts?


  7. #27

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    I like synology because they are committed to updating the firmware. I'm not sure if other brands do the same.


  8. #28

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    I have been using two Synology CS406 for a whopping 6 years now, no problems at all.

    One of the Seagate hard drives died last year, they were a small fortune at the time I bought it but now you can get them for a few peanuts. And my photos are still intact (RAID5). I made a backup in read only mode before replacing the drive, just in case. But i didn't need it at the end. New HDD in, Synology started rebuilding, everything good again.

    The only complaint I have with NAS is that they are so damn slow. Even gigabit ethernet can be slow if you are transferring backups with dozens of gigabytes or HD videos (a simply iPhone HD video of a few minutes has a gigabyte these days). I know some of the newer models support port trunking (so you can combine two gigabit ethernet interfaces), but I think you'd also need the right router/switch for that. And it would only speed things up if you also have two NICs in your computer which you also trunk (so no go for notebook). There should be a NAS that has a USB 3 port or SATA port as sell, so that you can access the drive via that. But it seems not to exist. To be fair, a server would have the same limitations. The only thing I can think of would be a DAS attached to your main machine, which also serves as files server.

    Last edited by 100LL; 01-05-2012 at 08:03 PM.

  9. #29

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    You've got jumbo frames turned on, right?

    There seems to be some debate as to whether this helps with transfer speeds, but my own rough observations (looking at network throughput on TaskMan) give, iirc, at least a 50% improvement for simple filecopies.


  10. #30

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    I used to have Jumbo frames enabled at least on my old notebook, but looking at my Windows 7 setup now that I have been using for the past 2 years, I don't seem to have the option. Broadcom says not all NetXtreme network cards support Jumbo frames.

    Transferring a 5GB file with around 15MB/sec from CS406 to Windows right now. But even at double that would be no real improvement in my opinion. There needs to be something MUCH faster. I was looking already once, but didn't find anything. I guess I'll go with a DAS in the future or look at port trunking again. I really only use it for file storage. And I plan to use it for many years again when I switch over from my CS406.

    Last edited by 100LL; 01-05-2012 at 09:56 PM.