Synology NAS solutions

[Lorax]

This is my first post to a forum, but I have been a long time follower of this site, its recommendations, reviews and forums. I have found the information here to be a tremendous resource and I wanted to commend Chris and the several contributors on this site for excellent work in the area.

 

I am curious on anyone's thoughts on some of the newer Synology NAS products available. I have thus far left my iTunes music library on my Macbook Pro, but recognize that I have clearly insufficient space. I have been holding out on obtaining a separate music server and NAS system, mainly as a result of not enough time away from work.

 

I recently ordered a MAC mini w 4GB RAM and am eager to receive it, however I know that I will require a NAS system to contain my library. I still need to do further research of the literature on a solid reliable NAS. I have been looking at some of the Thecus solutions and the newer Synology solutions. I am thinking that I would like a 5 bay NAS running a RAID 5 configuration.

 

I have been an analogue fan with 80% of my music on vinyl for a long time and have held out on the expenditure on a CD transport. I broke down and bought a QB-9 DAC about a year and a half ago, and have been very happy with its results.

 

My plan now is to have a dedicated music server (Mac mini) with ultimately a NAS library, both located remotely from my listening room.

 

Does anyone have further recommendations on the Synology or Thecus systems available, apart from the previous posts elsewhere? I did see Chris currently has the Synology 710+ in his possesion and am curious to hear his impressions on its reliability and simplicity of setup and management on a Mac platform.

 

Thank you,

Robert

 

[twelvebears]

I have had some experience of both Synology and Thecus systems, which different friends of mine have owned.

 

In terms of both performance and build quality, Thecus products are excellent and good value for money. However, they are quite noisey and generate quite a lot of heat. This can be a problem because the latter issue means that the obvious solution to the first (i.e. sticking it in a cupboard somewhere) is not really advisable. My friend had his in a hallway cupboard to deal with the noise (and a big cupboard at that) but had to leave the door open to stop overheating issues.

 

The other issue with Thecus is that they are aimed more at the enterprise/business market and so may be a bit of a technical challenge depending on your level of knowledge.

 

The Synology units look tempting in terms of price but seem to be both sluggish (particularly if asked to run any embedded apps like media servers etc) and not terribly well put together.

 

Another option which sits somewhere between the two would be the Netgear ReadyNAS, which are nicely made and rather easier to use.

 

Yet another choice, and one which I have gone with is the Drobo FS. Unfortunately it's not cheap but it is well made, quiet, performs pretty well and is basically idiot-proof from a useability point of view.

 

[mstieb]

I've only used one NAS in my system, the Synology DS210j.

In it I have twin WD 1.5 TB SATA drives.

Configuration is done via a browser interface.

For streaming music or video to a single device performance is adequate. Asking it to stream to one device while another is copying files to it shows its performance limitations.

 

It is important to remember that the drives you introduce into a NAS will in all likelihood require a reformat performed by the device firmware, based on the RAID or JBOD configuration you choose. In other words, move any data you intend to keep, if your re-purposing non-new drive(s) for duty in a NAS.

 

Colleagues at work are quite pleased with a more performant (read: pricier) unit like the QNAP Turbo NAS.

 

[Plink]

Btw, I agree Robert. Great site and very grateful that it exists.

 

[Ara]

Chris,

 

I'm sure you are busy coming back from RMAF, but just hoping to hear if your Synology review is upcoming soon. Running out of HD space and valued your opinion of course on my next NAS purchase!

 

Thanks.

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi Ara - I'm working on it :~|