Buying First NAS For Music Storage - Your Recommendation?

[ericuco]

I will also be implementing a NAS for the first time. My brother in law is a lead network engineer for a major corporation. He is advising me only to purchase a NAS with four drive capacity (he said 3 would work, but I don't think those are generally available). According to what he is telling me, I should be running raid 5, and with three drives, or more drives, I could effectively back things up commpletely. With two, I apparently cant. Four drive NAS units are all quite expensive. Any recommendations that would save me some money here?

 

I suggest you ask yourself how soon do you need to access your files if a drive fails. For corporations, I can see where they need immediate access to their data so your brother-in-law's advice is valid in a corporate setting. However, if the NAS is for home use, what if it takes a day or so to restore your data from a failed drive? Is that delay a problem?

 

I use a single-bay Synology NAS and then back up the drive to an external HDD that I keep off-site in a bank security box (storing at work, with a neighbor, etc. works as well). I am more worried about theft (someone breaks into my house) or disaster (e.g. fire). If my NAS drive fails, then yes it will take a few days to replace the failed drive, go to the bank to get the backup and restore the data.

 

I also have another local backup external HDD just to have third copy of my data that I could also use to restore the data.

[astropuppy]

I vacillated over what NAS to buy until I gave myself a headache. Looking at NAS as a long term purchase decision, I decided it would help if I had some actual experience running a NAS before plunking down any hard earned money.

 

I put a bunch of old disk drives in an old computer and installed Nas4Free. The install was a breeze, as I continue to fine tune my implementation I question the use of Raid of any kind. In my particular situation music and video is backed up to three places and important documents to four places: safe, bank and NAS. Additionally, documents are backed up onto a second disk in my main pc.

 

Just throwing out an option.

[OldAudioNut]

Anybody tried, or have experience, with the Synology 214+?

 

I, like several others, am considering moving from Mac Mini/Dedicated HD to a renderer (not sure yet which of Auralic/Aurender/Sonore etc.) and NAS. As I am a newbie to networks, i find I'm spending quite a bit of time pondering the design of the new system. The NAS will be wired via Ethernet to the renderer. I'm thinking 8-10 TB, not mirrored, with HD backup will last the rest of my life. Regarding the NAS, i'm leaning towards Synology 214+ for several reasons. Synology has been written about very positively on the CA forums. Another reason is that the 214+ has 2 ethernet ports. Several folks have commented that running the NAS through a switch leads to a lesser sound quality, and one person uses a QNAP NAS with 1 port connected directly with the renderer and the 2nd connected to the switch.

 

Seems simple to me (remember i don't really know what i'm doing yet). Anybody have experience trying this, and what are the details to be considered?

[davide256]

I'm very happy with the 214play. The USB3.0 or sata connector allows me to do easy external backups at high speed... in a 2 disk system its a must to

be able to backup externally at high speed. Combine that with Minimserver as part of the 214play app package and you should have a great experience with whatever renderer you use. And the Synology app software is a breeze to use once you understand menu navigation, very simple. Only quirk I've run into is after an auto update Minimserver doesn't restart automatically, about every 2 weeks I have to login and restart Minimserver after system auto update. No problems with 24x7 operation and stability.

[davide256]

BTW, the people that care about dual Ethernet ports should be using that to connect/improve their lan performance, not to connect 3 different devices. You connect to other devices through a switch or router... to connect physically to different devices would require the NAS to act as a switch. If they are complaining about a switch, its most likely because they scrimped on the switch they bought or had available. Switch vs router matters... its easier to setup a network if all devices are connected to their own router port. Using a switch shifts some of the network requirements onto the attached devices and they may not do what you need them to do without a manual to do custom setup

[OldAudioNut]

Hi Dave

 

Thanks for the information and reco, I'm definitely going with Synology. Only issue is whether the 214+ or 214play. Both are identical cost, and per their website seem to have similar (not identical) hardware specs. The 214play does seem to have some optimization for video/media streaming, but i'm not interested in that. Also the 214play has an sd reader, again not an issue. According to Minimserver site, minimserver can be installed on the 214+. Seems that with the 214+ the extra LAN port is available in case I wish to futz around with direct vs switched connection to the renderer.

 

best

 

Howard

[kumakuma]

Hi Dave

 

Thanks for the information and reco, I'm definitely going with Synology. Only issue is whether the 214+ or 214play. Both are identical cost, and per their website seem to have similar (not identical) hardware specs. The 214play does seem to have some optimization for video/media streaming, but i'm not interested in that. Also the 214play has an sd reader, again not an issue. According to Minimserver site, minimserver can be installed on the 214+. Seems that with the 214+ the extra LAN port is available in case I wish to futz around with direct vs switched connection to the renderer.

 

best

 

Howard

 

I recently bought a 214+ and I'm really happy with it. Minimserver works fine after you install Java.

[Music Matters]

I recently bought a 214+ and I'm really happy with it. Minimserver works fine after you install Java.

 

Can you tell me, is it possible in minimserver to select wich folders will be monitored or imported in library. For example I have Music folder, and four subfolders, and I would like to select only three of them? Because with Audio Station I can't find the way to do it.

[jtwrace]

Can you tell me, is it possible in minimserver to select wich folders will be monitored or imported in library. For example I have Music folder, and four subfolders, and I would like to select only three of them? Because with Audio Station I can't find the way to do it.

 

Not a problem.

[Music Matters]

Not a problem.

 

Thanks...

[TubeLover]

Well, after saving a bit more money to make sure I do this right, the first time, I'll be purchasing my first NAS within the next 30 days. After looking into everyone's recommendations here, and reading a lot of other, related information, I believe I am going to go with a Synology DS214play. Four bay models, and the requisite hard drives end up being just too pricey for my wallet. I would, of course, be pairing it with Western Digital Red hard drives. I have a couple last questions regarding the drives and capacity.

 

There are now both Western Digital Red drives, and Red Pro drives. The Pro's are substantially more expensive. Which do you recommend? I'm also going back and forth on what capacity drives to choose. I have a library of 3000 cd's to rip and store. After a great deal of thought, I am going to rip them in the AIFF format (thank you for making that choice a clear one, Barry Diament and others), to leave me the most options and purest files, long term. I will also likely end up with a maximum of probably 100, total, Hi Res files, 24/96 and/or 24/192 (and possibly some DSD's later on). Will 3 TB drives be sufficient, or should I go with 4tb?

 

My plan would be to have two 3/4 TB drives in the NAS, with an additional, external 3/4 TB backing them up. Any thoughts, or recommendations would be much appreciated.

 

JC

[baddog]

TubeLover -

 

Given your usage I would recommend the WD Red drives, the Pro drives are more suitable for enterprise use, and for your purpose would be unnecessary.

 

Given that the WD 3 TB Red drives are ~ $115 each and the WD 4 TB Red drives are ~ $165, thus about $100 more for a set of the 4TB drives, (plus however many you need for backup of the NAS) and considering that 3000 CDs are going to consume ~ 1.95 TB and 100 high resolution albums ~ 125 GB you will need at least 3TB in drive space.

 

Personally if it was me, I would go for the 4 TB drives, one never seems to have enough storage space, but the 3 TB drives should probably suffice based upon your criteria.

[kumakuma]

TubeLover -

 

Given your usage I would recommend the WD Red drives, the Pro drives are more suitable for enterprise use, and for your purpose would be unnecessary.

 

Given that the WD 3 TB Red drives are ~ $115 each and the WD 4 TB Red drives are ~ $165, thus about $100 more for a set of the 4TB drives, (plus however many you need for backup of the NAS) and considering that 3000 CDs are going to consume ~ 1.95 TB and 100 high resolution albums ~ 125 GB you will need at least 3TB in drive space.

 

Personally if it was me, I would go for the 4 TB drives, one never seems to have enough storage space, but the 3 TB drives should probably suffice based upon your criteria.

 

I agree with bplexico. Especially about getting 4 TB drives. You will thank us later.

[EuroChamp]

I bought a 4 bay synology and two discs first. Now, two years later I am happy about my decision.

At least go for the larger 4TB discs ... and WD Red's are perfect.

[KingCrimson]

I recently bought a 214+ and I'm really happy with it. Minimserver works fine after you install Java.

 

What are the differences between the 214+ and the 214 play? At least if used only to store music files? And do the differences justify the cost difference?

[kumakuma]

What are the differences between the 214+ and the 214 play? At least if used only to store music files? And do the differences justify the cost difference?

 

I think the main difference between the two is that the play has a dedicated hardware engine for transcoding video. Probably not something you need if it's going to be using it entirely for music.

[TubeLover]

What are the differences between the 214+ and the 214 play? At least if used only to store music files? And do the differences justify the cost difference?

 

I just finished researching these, as I'm about to jump in and purchase my first NAS. As kumakuma noted, the video transcoding is the only significant difference (and I read a number of comments suggesting that the feature doesn't work, or work correctly). As far as price difference, they seem to be virtually the same in terms of cost.

 

The Play model does have the newer Synology models look, which I prefer though.

 

JC

[davide256]

I just finished researching these, as I'm about to jump in and purchase my first NAS. As kumakuma noted, the video transcoding is the only significant difference (and I read a number of comments suggesting that the feature doesn't work, or work correctly). As far as price difference, they seem to be virtually the same in terms of cost.

 

The Play model does have the newer Synology models look, which I prefer though.

 

JC

 

Long experience with computers has taught me to always buy the fastest solution I can afford... software demand on CPU/memory to support newer features leaves the bottom feeder hardware solutions behind for acceptable performance. Looking at how frequently Synology updates OS and package software, I expect the same will apply

[TubeLover]

Long experience with computers has taught me to always buy the fastest solution I can afford... software demand on CPU/memory to support newer features leaves the bottom feeder hardware solutions behind for acceptable performance. Looking at how frequently Synology updates OS and package software, I expect the same will apply

 

I very much tend to agree. Although, in comparing the two, the 214 + has the Marvell Armada dual core XP MV78230 processor at 1.33ghz, while the 214play has the INTEL Atom CE5335 dual core at 1.6ghz. When I ran this by a friend who is a technology infrastructure engineer at a major corporation, he said to avoind the Atom like the plague, even though it is ostensibly faster.

 

JC

[SolarFlight]

I find QNap x51 and x53 to be interesting models.

[davide256]

I very much tend to agree. Although, in comparing the two, the 214 + has the Marvell Armada dual core XP MV78230 processor at 1.33ghz, while the 214play has the INTEL Atom CE5335 dual core at 1.6ghz. When I ran this by a friend who is a technology infrastructure engineer at a major corporation, he said to avoind the Atom like the plague, even though it is ostensibly faster.

 

JC

 

If you can afford the Xeon processor models, terrific. You won't see the Marvell chip used by Synology in their tier above the 214+, the "Small and Home Business" NAS models, only Atom variants. In my book that translates into Atom being included in their OS/app code development for longer than Marvell chips will be. Engineers tend to turn blinders to the fact that hardware isn't the only deciding factor in solution purchase.

[TubeLover]

If you can afford the Xeon processor models, terrific. You won't see the Marvell chip used by Synology in their tier above the 214+, the "Small and Home Business" NAS models, only Atom variants. In my book that translates into Atom being included in their OS/app code development for longer than Marvell chips will be. Engineers tend to turn blinders to the fact that hardware isn't the only deciding factor in solution purchase.

 

Dave, that's a well thought out perspective that I did not initially take into account. Thanks.

 

JC

[TubeLover]

Well, I finally pulled the trigger today, and made an entirely different choice after yet some more additional research earlier. I was all set to purchase the Synology DS214+ from B&H Photo. They had the best, or equalled the best prices I could find, and have always provided me with excellent service over the years, whether it was photo equipment, or other goods. In going through their Synology offerings, I noted that they offered Synology kits, which included, in most cases, Western Digital Red hard drives. These kits were offered at a nice savings over buying the NAS and the drives separately. When I saw the options, I also noticed their offerings of a couple higher series units. They had the 713+ available in two different kits, but oddly, not using the WD Red drives. When I called them (yes, they are open on Sunday) I spoke to a very helpful British gentleman who said they should be able to work something out. He left the line for about 3 minutes, came back, and said indeed they would be able to offer me a "custom" 713+ kit including the 2 x 4TB Red drives.

 

The reason I went with the 713+ was primarily because it offers an expansion bay, which I thought it would likely come in handy one day in the future, what with DSD, and other hi rez music, and my decision to rip everything in AIFF. It also offered a far faster processor, which is never a bad thing. In the end, it cost me about an extra $130.00 over the 214+ (actually only $100.00 over what I had expected to spend for the separate 214+ NAS and drives). Over the course of time, I expect the money will have been well spent. And what's a couple extra weeks on the ramen noodle diet anyway?

 

Thanks to everyone who offered advice or other assistance. It's greatly appreciated.

 

JC

[jerico]

I like Synology NAS units - and they have good software.

 

One nice additional feature is the backup function. You can plug some USB drives into the NAS and use the scheduler to periodically run full backups of the entire NAS or portions of it. I actually use two 1TB drives to staggered backups (each once per week, a few days apart). You can store one of the backups in your office or something too, as an emergency recovery.

 

Just a thought!

[TubeLover]

I like Synology NAS units - and they have good software.

 

One nice additional feature is the backup function. You can plug some USB drives into the NAS and use the scheduler to periodically run full backups of the entire NAS or portions of it. I actually use two 1TB drives to staggered backups (each once per week, a few days apart). You can store one of the backups in your office or something too, as an emergency recovery.

 

Just a thought!

 

That could be an extremely useful function, and I was not aware of it. Thanks jerico!

 

JC