What NAS for my use case?

[SoundSparks]

Dear experts,

 

I have a dozen or so various DASD (Thunderbolt, USB) containing my media files (movies, pics, Hi-Rez music) to work (just to watch and listen, predominantly) with on my 24-inch iMac, which became just way too inconvenient, and am looking for a better solution.

 

I see QNAP NAS products are quite popular among the experts on this forum (please see “Running a Large Roon Library on a QNAP TVS-872XT” article by Chris, and the following fruitful discussion, for example).

 

I am not running any room correction or convolution, I don't stream, use local only library (files located on various DASD, all to be transferred to NAS), have a decent sized footprint (about 12TB of Hi-Rez files: I'm a huge fan of music and can't live without it), and I see my NAS working just like an external super configurable HDD.

 

Would you still recommend QNAP TVS-872XT 16GB (TVS-872XT-i5-16G) for my use case (I think 8 "traditional" drive bays that support 3.5/2.5 inch spinning or solid state drives should be enough for me to provide 90 - 100TB total storage capacity)? I have a gut feeling QNAP TVS-872XT might be an overkill, but we need to take into consideration possible up/downsampling and/or format conversions…

 

With possible redundancy, what RAID level would you recommend for such media library (level 5, perhaps, as Chris suggested)?

 

What HDD’s would you recommend, please? What is the “sweet spot” in terms HDD’s performance/price now?

 

Would it be beneficial for me to employ the M.2 solid state drives to use them for the QNAP OS and applications, if any? Would 2x500GB suffice? Should any RAID be employed (level 0, perhaps)?

 

Any special requirements for the cable to connect the router to NAS?

 

I will have to put this NAS only about 3 feet from my desk, and low noise level is definitely a factor here. The specs give the Sound Level at 24.2 db(A). Could somebody, please, provide me a real world example of how loud/quiet it is?

 

Any tutorials you would recommend me to study, please?

 

As you can clearly see, I am a newbie, and most definitely need your help, please, dear experts.

[SoundSparks]

15 hours ago, Kal Rubinson said:

None of this is an issue if you are running your programs (Roon, JRiver, Audirvana, etc.) on your iMac.  In that case, the NAS is "just like an external super configurable HDD."   You need to confirm this.

First of all, thank you very kindly for your most appreciated help, Kal!

Yes, this is the case indeed: I am running all my apps (Audirvana, VLC, DiskCatalogMaker) on my iMac, and, just in case it is important, I am using this Fibre+ Gateway 2.0 modem.

16 hours ago, Kal Rubinson said:

Hah!  This is an issue.  Unless you are going to use SSDs instead of spinning discs, I doubt you will be happy with this.

The cost of using All-SSDs is just way too high for me, unfortunately: will have to employ mechanical HDDs instead (or at least some combination of HDDs and SSDs). I was trying to make sense of multiple offerings from QNAP, but just drowned... One NAS looks particularly interesting: TS-h973AX-32G. It is a relatively compact Tower (7.19 × 8.84 × 8.82 inch), has just one fan (140mm, 12VDC), offers 9 (!) bays (5 x 3.5-inch + 4 x 2.5-inch), provides excellent connectivity options with 4 USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps) Ports. Am I "barking at the wrong tree" again, and this product is not an optimal choice for my use case? I am lost completely...

18 hours ago, Kal Rubinson said:

One of the biggest advantages in having a NAS is that it can be located remotely from the listening environment.

Trying to negotiate with the "boss" having a cable running from the storage room to the office (we live in a small condo)... Any way to establish wireless connection between QNAP NAS and my modem, I wonder...

[SoundSparks]

Thank you very kindly, dear experts!

If I can get my away establishing wired connection using readily available CAT-6a cable, I will go this route (superior throughput and latency), and if not, I will try to implement approach kindly outlined by @plissken.

Still a million dollar question remains: which NAS providing 90 - 100TB raw capacity would you, dear experts, recommend for my use case, please? IMHO, offering dual Thunderbolt 3 ports QNAP TVS-*72XT Series looks most attractive. Any alternatives from other manufacturers you could recommend to consider for my use case, please?

[SoundSparks]

Thank you very kindly, dear experts!

19 hours ago, Kal Rubinson said:

In my experience, it is not the fans that make much noise (most of the time); it is the spinning discs.  They make noise when they are accessed and, also, when they are doing "house-keeping" tasks.  How much and when?  Not predictable.  My NAS is about 3-4 feet from my desk, so I am sensitive to it. OTOH, my listening is done in another room, so I don't care.

 

 

13 hours ago, plissken said:

The issue you are going to get into is acoustical noise with 3.5" HD's if it's going to be in your listening area.

I will try to use the storage room for my NAS (wired connection), and if not, it will sit about 3-4 feet from my desk: so noise is definitely a consideration for me. I was thinking of some kind of soundproof enclosure to put the NAS into, but this, most probably, will not work because of possible NAS overheating ( 215 BTU/hr on Access and 117 BTU/hr while in Hibernation )...

4 hours ago, jcbenten said:

I like my QNAP.

Yes, QNAP TVS-*72XT Series looks most attractive, but Synology does offer some interesting opportunities as well (at a bit lower price point). Could you please help me to compare technical specs: QNAP TVS-672XT vs. Synology DS1621xs+ ? I am not knowledgeable enough, and do need expert advice here, please... Most importantly, in terms of reliability, which brand would you give your preference to, dear experts?

4 hours ago, jcbenten said:

From what I have read, NOT what I know, if one drive fails, you have a high probability of more failures.  Personally, unless your movies are critical, I would not RAID and just have backups.  Do you keep the discs??

This is something I have never heard before... Thank you for the warning! Some of the content is critical indeed, and I have no chance of getting my hands on it again. I would say we are talking of only about a few TB total here, and manual backup (i.e. without doing any RAID) of this content is certainly a possibility. Does this approach seem feasible, please?

 

5 hours ago, jcbenten said:

I would hate to rely on WiFi to stream a movie (streaming from your NAS). In a condo you will likely get interference issues, even if you run an obscure wifi channel.

This is my concern also, ergo, hard-wiring with CAT-6a cable would be my preference. Going to take the "boss" to a nice restaurant to negotiate the deal...

 

5 hours ago, jcbenten said:

Maximize the RAM.

Can a newbie like yours truly perform such complex "surgery"? I take it I will need 2 x 16GB modules. Any names you could recommend, please?

 

2 hours ago, ericuco said:

I would add you need to consider off-site backup as well to protect against theft and fire.

Yes, off-site backup for my critical content ($$$) for sure. Going to talk to my insurance folks about theft and fire.

[SoundSparks]

Thank you very kindly, dear experts!

In terms of NAS, QNAP TVS-872XT does fit the requirements perfectly. Just a bit "heavy" at ~ 2.2K... What max transfer speed can I possibly achieve? @plisskengets ~ 38MB/s, which is pretty good... I guess nothing beats Thunderbolt 3 DASD if higher throughput is required...

19 hours ago, plissken said:

If it's other critical data then simply setup a file structure where critical data is in its own folder and just that folder is backed up.

That is the plan!

 

19 hours ago, jcbenten said:

If you have the opportunity, just purchase already maxed.  If not available, usually the ram makers have a selection guide on their website and then hunt around for the best price.

I think even I can do the "surgery". Crucial offerings look pretty good.

 

18 hours ago, Kal Rubinson said:

I have had 4 QNAP NAS drives and over the years I have had single disc failure in just two of them.  I replaced each with a spare and recovered the storage in few hours with no work.

What RAID level did you employ, please?

[SoundSparks]

On 9/14/2021 at 12:29 PM, plissken said:

RAID 5 is easy and strikes a good balance were you can have a single drive failure but not two concurrent.

 

20 hours ago, Kal Rubinson said:

5

RAID 5 it is!

20 hours ago, Kal Rubinson said:

If my 8 bay NAS was 75% quieter, I could keep it in the room with me, too.

Definitely need to find a solution for this... I wonder if RAID DASD's (something like LaCie 6/12big where aluminum enclosure dissipates heat significantly better than plastic) are less noisy, and if they are, by how much...

[SoundSparks]

18 hours ago, Kal Rubinson said:

All the QNAP enclosures I've used are aluminum.  

Ergo, it's not a factor...😒