What NAS for my use case?

[plissken]

5 hours ago, SoundSparks said:

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...

 

This is easily done and not too expensive. I use TP Link Omada 1350 Access Points (they have higher bandwidth options also) at $56 a pop. I now run 4 of them in my house to cover 4800 Sq foot (two floors) and I get ~ 38MB/s (300mbps for those that care) and sub 2ms ping rates. Stellar for throughput and latency.

 

Figure 1 AP per 1500 sq foot (44 foot diameter circle).  I just use the PoE function on my switch and have a single cable ran per.

 

TP-Link's 802.11K/V/R support is solid so if you have more than one AP they hand off and negotiate your client connections very well.

 

If anyone suggests a mesh system: Those are great if you need to extend wireless but can not get a wired run to where you need it. But most people fail to mention that you lose 1/2 your throughput.

 

NAS / Wifi AP's would go into a network switch along with your modem. So getting a PoE switch would be a good option. Since the NAS you listed can do 1-5GB wired copper Ethernet you could look at something like: https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Multi-Gigabit-Managed-Uplinks-MS510TXPP/dp/B075Q5T7NH.

 

Just keep in mind the the AP and end points are going to be the limiting factor so I think you would be fine with 1GBe PoE switching.

 

[plissken]

Good question. I would chat up both QNAP and Synology. 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.

[plissken]

2 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,

 

Yep. That is always a consideration. 5Ghz is going to be a better option and if you use something like what I posted with their controller then it can generally do a decent job of Spectrum Analysis and adjust accordingly.

[plissken]

1 hour ago, SoundSparks said:

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?

 

RAID is about continuity/uptime and backup is about reconstitution. If you are archiving your physical media then they are your backup. 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. *BTW you may hear someone say RAID is backup or a form of backup. This is patently false. Just FYI.

 

For people that I've setup Synology NAS it's how I handle it. Then just use the DropBox app and make sure to backup the critical folder.

[plissken]

1 hour ago, SoundSparks said:

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?

 

It's pretty easy. I would just hop on YouTube and search for a video on the unit you want in question. Most likely someone has documented it.

 

Just make sure the unit is unplugged and touch something that will ground you out before handling the RAM modules. They generally insert at a 45 degree angle and you flip them up to 90 degree. They are keyed so they can only fit one way.

[plissken]

1 hour ago, SoundSparks said:

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,

 

What you are looking at, theoretically, could do 1250MB/s with it's 10GBe port. My 38MB/s is what I get over my WiFi. For audio and HD video even my 38MB/s is way overkill.

 

 

1 hour ago, SoundSparks said:

What RAID level did you employ, please?

This depends on what you want to accomplish. RAID 5 is easy and strikes a good balance were you can have a single drive failure but not two concurrent.