New NAS

[GeorgeO]

I've had serious reliability issues with my ReadyNAS 4 Bay and have bought a Synology 2 Bay 213j diskless unit for $199 from Amazon, to use as an audio server. I'm following sam9s on this one. I've had an excellent earlier experience with ReadyNAS( over 4 years with Duo) but after this last experience which burnt me badly, I plan to build a PC server unit to back up my stuff in a way that doesnt use proprietory software that will not allow me to access my data in case of failure. I note that Synology has excellent reviews from users on Amazon.

 

[sam9s]

^^ For what it may count I ran my earlier Synology 212j, for like 7, 8 month at a stretch without any issues what so ever, with 413j I have that auto power down/up feature enabled, so it shuts down and restarts every second day between 2 AM to 5 AM.

 

[madbullram]

George: I am travelling in the same boat, had a discussion with Sam too on it. Even I thinking of building one than relying on these setup.

 

[Dushie]

Guys, your discussion is getting me interested too. I was reading Sam's thread on NAS, i am also looking out for a solution maybe for next year once i save some money. Currently i am using a Cube NAS that has 2 1.5 TB disk.

 

[dheerajjotwani]

I have been a big proponent... even though a silent one here of self built solutions. I would never stop underlining the wholesome experience it is. Have been doing so fpr over ten years now from tiny router based nas to more bigger 10disks one now.
I anyways can never be satisfied by an out of box till I tinker. Plus diy is usually more scalable and never completely useless in the end.

tapped on Note II cdma

 

[sam9s]

anyways can never be satisfied by an out of box till I tinker.

Thats the key word here, I am in the same boat .....but most of the people out there are the other way round. Open a device plug in and it should server the purpose, nothing more nothing less. I myself after having a DIY for like 3 NAS with experimenting with almost every NAS OS out there, actually finally settled for Synology as my permanent NAS solution, which BTW also pretty much satisfies my DIY hunger as you seriously can do a lot more than an avg user would, with their Home and small business product offering .... So in that sense it seriously covers a wide range of target audience.

 

[dheerajjotwani]

I feel you. Would you believe me if I said with every new purchase I feel this is final only to realise two months later, when I am done tinkering, to do it better or bigger or simply something else.

So far the hp n36l gave me maximum satisfaction first with gt210 to be a full htpc and nas running debian then only with open media vault as a dedicated nas tool I grew over disk space and number to find my next fix.

I just feel diy offers better flexibility at learning, usability and cost. But one needs be willing to dirty their hands and not lose patience.

tapped on Note II cdma

 

[GeorgeO]

Ram

Having used a box solution for about 5 years+, the truth is that they are good and compact,but if anything happens you are in trouble with no recourse. My plan is to get high quality components and build a unit next year for video and back up, to be powered on whenever needed, while keeping the Synology unit as an audio server. I suspct the cost may be a bit higher but I am not prepared to depend 100 percent on either. If anyone had asked me when I was using my Duo about NAS Vs diy I would have unhesitatingly said ReadyNAs, but now I'm open to diy.
My 2 cents.

 

[Raghav_K]

i use a custombuilt NAS, and they are always better than the prebuit ones in all aspects, especially expandability and customization, except power consumption.

the readymade ones have low standby power consumption in the range of 10-20 watts, but the one i made consumes 40-45w on standby and 50-60W on usage. Thats about one unit a day when running 24*7.

 

[sam9s]

^^ Nope "not always" that is a wrong statement, yes coz we invest so much time and effort on a DIY, it "HAS" to be good than pre built ones ....lol right!!! nope everything that a DIY can do a prebuilt can do as well, including easy expandability. Its just like saying an assembled PC is better than pre build one, or an assembled HTPC is better than a Media Player. Its not that easy neither is it so black or white. Both have their advantages and disadvantages and definitely a target audience or end user.

 

[Raghav_K]

^ we'll have to agree to disagree then. Prebuilts are not known for expandability, and by expandability i just dont mean swapping hard drives for bigger sized ones.

 

[sam9s]

well not sure about whch pre build NAS you are talking about but with synology and ready NAS, 4 bay 8 bay HDD enclosures are available that can be connected to your main unit via esata and act as regular bays. So yes expandability is pretty much there.

 

[Raghav_K]

^ as i said expandabality is not just hard drives!!!!

my custom build can be expanded any time to act as a HTPC, be an emergency backup pc, since it's running 24*7 be a media encoder (albeit slow), run the OS i want, upgrade individual parts, and as i said before, apart from power consumption, custom builds are better and they can do everything a NAS can and more! ANd cost less money to make, than an prebuilt nas. Thats the kind of expandability i'm talking about.

But i can understand why some people prefer pre built ones, it's like android vs iphone debate, and can go on and on, thats why i said agree to disagree

 

[sam9s]

Its more like assembled PC vs Branded PC, rather than iphone and Android, even though with your reasons it does not make a DIY any "better" than custom built, just different with different aspect and target audience. Take your example iphone and android, yes its can be an unending debate, but it does not make any one OS better than other. I am a true Android fan and just does not like ios at all. But I will never say Android is "better" than ios, coz it might be for me but its not for gazzllions others, its just that it flavours my taste buds more.

Same is the case here. and this is coming form a person who does DIYs like a passion, and used UNRAID (check my UNRAID NAS thread) like for more than a year before shifting to other NAS offerings.....

 

[GeorgeO]

Gentlemen

Different strokes for different folks, let's leave it that, shall we?

 

[sam9s]

^^ and I was speaking Spanish ..?

 

[GeorgeO]

Gracias, muchos gracias..

 

[Raghav_K]

well, it's better for me... If i had said it's the best i would be discriminating the pre built ones, but i chose better which means it's more desirable for me

Custom NAS - better than prebuilt,
Assembled PC - better than prebuilt,
and oh yeah, Android - better than iOS, though i own both devices.

Why choose one over the other? Because it's better for ME, and so i proclaim it as better without worrying about gazillion others!!!!! The gazillion can have their own opinion!

@ Mod: I rest my case!!!

 

[sam9s]

well, it's better for me... If i had said it's the best i would be discriminating the pre built ones, but i chose better which means it's more desirable for me

Custom NAS - better than prebuilt,
Assembled PC - better than prebuilt,
and oh yeah, Android - better than iOS, though i own both devices.

Why choose one over the other? Because it's better for ME, and so i proclaim it as better without worrying about gazillion others!!!!! The gazillion can have their own opinion!

@ Mod: I rest my case!!!

and with the Bold statements @Mods I rest my case as well...