If I had my time again - Synology (Good Firmware & Application support) although my current Thecus 7700PRO hasn't skipped a beat either.

Blade

P.S

1. Do not use WD Green drives (Crap).

2. Use RAID 6 (Minimum)

3. Synology DS1513 or Synology DS1813

Edited July 21, 201312 yr by BladeRnR

Hmmm ... Thinking of starting again

That's curious ... I would have described them as more of a home office solution ... I have a 4 bay Nv+ and the new 4 bay 10400 and they are built like tanks .... They are great value, but I would never describe them as cheap ... Have you had any actual experience with one Lonewolf?

Maybe lonewolf is more describing my netgear stora NAS chops . Very easy and certainly aimed at the new punter . Has 2 hdd slots for 2tb drives and very easy to swap load another - and it has a usb port to add another cheap external drive . Easy to turn the power of completely for certain days to save your hdds from running even when their shutdown automatically anyway . Ive had mine for ages now and very reliable .

If I were buying now yorac ; my stora is obsolete now ; at a reasonable price if upgrading again I would have a look at this qnap that has a good wrap it seems -

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=617&products_id=23301

1. Synology

2. Qnap

I have had WD 1tb and 2 tb greens for over 3 years and still chugging Hard drives are sensitive if they get dropped or shaken around during shipping you can kiss them good bye. If your writing data to them and power goes out you can also corrupt them. This is why i recommend a UPS time and time again

Food for thought Yorac

http://wiki.oppodigital.com/index.php?title=BDP-93_Media_Files_FAQ

No mention of Mkv DTS HD or True HD support and it clearly states it only supports 5.1 audio

I would consider a different option than the oppo unless those limitations are acceptable to you

1. Synology

2. Qnap

I have had WD 1tb and 2 tb greens for over 3 years and still chugging Hard drives are sensitive if they get dropped or shaken around during shipping you can kiss them good bye. If your writing data to them and power goes out you can also corrupt them. This is why i recommend a UPS time and time again

Food for thought Yorac

http://wiki.oppodigi...Media_Files_FAQ

No mention of Mkv DTS HD or True HD support and it clearly states it only supports 5.1 audio

I would consider a different option than the oppo unless those limitations are acceptable to you

Wow, that's a pretty good life span you got from them lol. Me and a few mates had the same green drives and they failed not long after....even on OCAU ppl reported so many problems with them. I had 3 other brand drives in my computer when there were any outages or any other behaviour and they didn't even fail....still chugging along lol. But the greens failed and slowed down drastically in there performance and drives clicking..........got them replaced under warranty and sold them off...thank god for that, never again! lol.

Yep, another reason why I mentioned to Yorac to get a media player instead...the oppo will not do DTS HDMA or True HD. Not sure on the new ones but pretty sure they don't.

Edited July 21, 201312 yr by buddhamus

Also yorac do you have another pc with a bluray drive so you can rip them and copy over to the Nas?

Yep, another reason why I mentioned to Yorac to get a media player instead...the oppo will not do DTS HDMA or True HD. Not sure on the new ones but pretty sure they don't.

Theres a lot who like mkvs bud for good reason though I like the flexibility of m2ts as well .Don't know how much Neil wants to save at the moment mate but if he converts to m2ts instead of mkv a 93 plays them lossless tracks and all Using the right program can give you chapters like mkv's if you need them that is A good media player doesn't need chapters anyway to search i found recently so compressed m2ts files are fine and If using fab you don't have problems with muxing subtitles with mkv's .

I Count myself lucky I don't have to rerip all my discs to a different container to be honest

HTPC makes a good point ; Ive used plextor external with a laptop but wasn't reliable compared to the pioneer I have now

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=658_789&products_id=19831

You probably can't go too far wrong with any of the QNAP, Synology, Netgear or even Lacie NAS drives for your first NAS. But I would steer away from the smaller "Home" NAS drives like the WD live, as they are a bit clunky.

Agree. Personally I have a QNAP 2 bay and its been fantastic. The benefits have mostly been with the downloading features rather than the storage capacity (which any NAS does by definition). A few thoughts:

1) Consider what you would do if you NAS (or drives) blow up - its a lot of data to lose. For a two bay, I'd go mirrored. For a 3 or more go RAID5 and then if one drive fails you've still likely got all your data intact. This setup offers good redundancy but still isn't an actual backup of your data - if its important you'll want it also stored elsewhere.

2) After a bit you might like to look into add on packages like sabnzb+ etc. The thing I like about my qnap is it runs most of my internet connected programs 24/7 with almost no power.

3) Moving stuff on your network/NAS by Ethernet is generally fine. If you've got a big data dump, then if you can plug a USB drive directly into the NAS and use the units web interface to transfer the files its a lot faster.

4) In deciding size, I'd recommend upping your decision (whatever it is) by one drive. Your NAS will accumulate data you never thought you needed and upgrading to a unit with more bays is much more costly (and painful) than shelling out for an extra bay at the outset. You can usually use only the number of harddrives you think you need. Its just good to have and extra bay available

Regards

Peter Gillespie

Okay thanks for all the feedback guys it really is appreciated, I have a Qosmio with a BR burner so no problems there, what I have gleaned so far is Synology seems to be the most user friendly, Matt had already given me the heads up about WD red drives so all good there, clearly I will need to look at a media player as I do want to pretty much have an all in one solution that sits in the HT room, therefore meaning my only issue is getting up to get a drink.

Seen a couple of deals below and would love some feedback, will chat at the GTG next week for sure so am open to as much feedback and advice as possible, also happy to build slowly, an example being that I can always get the NAS and a couple of HDD's and start the process of ripping, then add a media player afterwards, I just have in the back of my mind that with the recent fall in the dollar I probably don't want to wait to long before purchase........

http://www.mwave.com.au/product/sku-ab49267-nas_bundle_synology_diskstation_ds213air_nas_w_2x_wd_red_wd30efrx_3tb_hdd

http://www.mwave.com.au/product/sku-ab49438-nas_bundle_synology_ds213j_2bay_nas_w_2_x_wd_red_wd30efrx_35_3tb_hdd

Ahh if it plays m2ts that's pretty good with lossless audio. But I'd still want a media player which can play all files. I use a combination of iso's/mkv and m2ts files.

Another extremely happy Synology owner here. Currently running a DS1511+ with 5 x 2TB Seagate drives. Using the trunking feature to link both Gigabit Ethernet interfaces to my main switch (HP Procurve). Had it over 2 years, Synology continue to support it and provide firmware updates.

Planning to update to a new Synology in next 4 months - possibly DS1813+ or the DS2413+ and redeploy the DS1511+ elsewhere.

I've been using a QNAP TS212 for a couple 25 months , it easy to setup and I have HDDs mirrored (RAID 1).

You get regular updates and there are many services that can be run. ie: torrent, twonky media player etc

I've heard good things about Synology too.

I currently have a thecus with 10TB of storage. Perfect for pure data storage no fancy features of streaming media, DVR for cameras etc. recently picked up a couple Equilogic SAN/NAS devices from a client that was upgrading. They are commercial units and not really for home market, but couldn't pass up the offer as it provided me with over 30TB of disk space.....

If I was buying fresh I would go with synology or qnap. Netgear is fine for basic storage but not in the league of the others. Always buy the recommended hard drives the unit supports. Drive and firmware is quite critical in this. If funds permit I would fully populate the unit as even a slight difference in drive specs it can un balance the overall system operation.

I currently have three popcorn c200 units but haven't got them setup. Still sitting in the corner waiting to be configured. My question to others out there, storage is great but do you carve it up to smaller drives or one massive space?

Edited July 21, 201312 yr by ArthurK

Ahh if it plays m2ts that's pretty good with lossless audio. But I'd still want a media player which can play all files. I use a combination of iso's/mkv and m2ts files.

See where your coming from mate ; I have a tvix that covers my iso's flac avi mp4 etc. ad infinitum

Seen a couple of deals below and would love some feedback

Go for the wired one mate ;wifi can have issues with hi bitrate bd's .You will also find media players with hd bays or without so you can best judge what suits .Mine has a networked NAS as well as external hdd's hanging of it and an internal . Once I make up my mindset I stick with it Have a good look at dune very reliable if you can still get a 2d version ; the 3d models are taking over and the 2d ones can do full menus for iso's

Yorac ... seriously consider a Dune HD mate ... those of us that have them swear by them (not about them)

Netgear is fine for basic storage but not in the league of the others.

Just for full disclosure, this is based on personal experience?

Owning two WD Live Drives and two 4 bay Netgears I can assure you they are perfectly fine for duties other than basic storage and a league way above the WD's that are designed for this sort of streaming ... Synology would need to be better given the equivalent diskless box is 3-4 times the price tag.

The reality is this thread has covered all options:

Entry Level: WD Live single or Duo, QNap Duo, Buffalo Duo, Netgear Duo etc. fine to start but small if you want redundancy

Mid level: any of the four bay jobs should do ... but again, these will run dry in a short while as data accumulates terribly once you start.

Pro Setup: Synology is most likely the winner, but there are others and the reality is these machines are really intended as surrogates for Small Enterprise Servers ... so yes a different league, but all of them are fine for the relatively low resource requirements of media serving as opposed to multiple users in a small to medium office environment.

The one thing I would advise everyone to check BEFORE they buy is the drive capability of any unit they are considering as many of the cheaper units are limited to 2TB drives ... some have had firmware to accept 3TB, but IMHO you should only buy something that will take 4TB as these will soon become the sweet spot for storage.

Yes the WD Reds are the ducks nuts.

I do have 8 WD Greens that are still chugging along without any hassles (Four 2TB, two 3TB and a couple of 1 TB ones) - curiously the 3 I had go bad were all bought around 2 years ago and two of them were 1.5 TB.

If I think back 5-6 years there was a period where Seagate drives had horrid fail rates ... so I suspect it depends on who the manufacturing is outsourced to. I suspect WD started the RED branding because they realised they had stuffed the Green brand as far as consumer were concerned.

p.s.: if anyone was to whisper a Synology GB I reckon I would be on board.

Edited July 21, 201312 yr by Guest

Just for full disclosure, this is based on personal experience?

Owning two WD Live Drives and two 4 bay Netgears I can assure you they are perfectly fine for duties other than basic storage and a league way above the WD's that are designed for this sort of streaming ... Synology would need to be better given the equivalent diskless box is 3-4 times the price tag.

The reality is this thread has covered all options:

Entry Level: WD Live single or Duo, QNap Duo, Buffalo Duo, Netgear Duo etc. fine to start but small if you want redundancy

Mid level: any of the four bay jobs should do ... but again, these will run dry in a short while as data accumulates terribly once you start.

Pro Setup: Synology is most likely the winner, but there are others and the reality is these machines are really intended as surrogates for Small Enterprise Servers ... so yes a different league, but all of them are fine for the relatively low resource requirements of media serving as opposed to multiple users in a small to medium office environment.

The one thing I would advise everyone to check BEFORE they buy is the drive capability of any unit they are considering as many of the cheaper units are limited to 2TB drives ... some have had firmware to accept 3TB, but IMHO you should only buy something that will take 4TB as these will soon become the sweet spot for storage.

Yes the WD Reds are the ducks nuts.

I do have 8 WD Greens that are still chugging along without any hassles (Four 2TB, two 3TB and a couple of 1 TB ones) - curiously the 3 I had go bad were all bought around 2 years ago and two of them were 1.5 TB.

If I think back 5-6 years there was a period where Seagate drives had horrid fail rates ... so I suspect it depends on who the manufacturing is outsourced to. I suspect WD started the RED branding because they realised they had stuffed the Green brand as far as consumer were concerned.

p.s.: if anyone was to whisper a Synology GB I reckon I would be on board.

Funnily enough, I actually think it was the 1.5TB drive that I had and a 1TB drive that went, you must be right...they probably fixed it by now but back then the problem was widespread and didn't want to risk going with that particular drive again.

Go the RED drives for sure or the Hitachi, only drives I would use.

Okay thanks for all the feedback guys it really is appreciated, I have a Qosmio with a BR burner so no problems there, what I have gleaned so far is Synology seems to be the most user friendly, Matt had already given me the heads up about WD red drives so all good there, clearly I will need to look at a media player as I do want to pretty much have an all in one solution that sits in the HT room, therefore meaning my only issue is getting up to get a drink.

Seen a couple of deals below and would love some feedback, will chat at the GTG next week for sure so am open to as much feedback and advice as possible, also happy to build slowly, an example being that I can always get the NAS and a couple of HDD's and start the process of ripping, then add a media player afterwards, I just have in the back of my mind that with the recent fall in the dollar I probably don't want to wait to long before purchase........

http://www.mwave.com.au/product/sku-ab49267-nas_bundle_synology_diskstation_ds213air_nas_w_2x_wd_red_wd30efrx_3tb_hdd

http://www.mwave.com.au/product/sku-ab49438-nas_bundle_synology_ds213j_2bay_nas_w_2_x_wd_red_wd30efrx_35_3tb_hdd

Check out pc case gear, those are only 2 bay, you'll fill them up pretty damn quick. Being 2 bay you'll be running mirrored raid so only really getting storage capacity of one drive........3-4TB ATM. It's worth shelling out a bit more and getting worthy storage, otherwise just stick with networking your pc.

Cheers

Check out pc case gear, those are only 2 bay, you'll fill them up pretty damn quick. Being 2 bay you'll be running mirrored raid so only really getting storage capacity of one drive........3-4TB ATM. It's worth shelling out a bit more and getting worthy storage, otherwise just stick with networking your pc.

Cheers

This ^^^....no point in going a 2 storage system....go for at least 4 bays.

Edited July 21, 201312 yr by buddhamus

8 bay Synology @ $990 (disk less).

http://www.estore.com.au/product/syn000039

Just for full disclosure, this is based on personal experience?

Unfortunately yes it is from personal experience. I refuse to use them with any of our clients now. Too many issues with them especially with configuration drops and power supply failures. Between the netgear and dlink products I have given up on them.

As I said for the home market they might be fine but I wouldn't use them as a dedicated NAS there are other better out there especially in the QNAP and Synology products. This is my personal belief and experience if you have had a better experience then all is good. I am not criticising anyone's decision in buying a Netgear I just don't like the product. I am coming from an IT background and therefore will be more biased towards enterprise/business grade products and the synology can hold its own as an entry level based SAN/NAS.

I'm replacing my red 2tb's with these

Seagate NAS HDD 4TB, ST4000VN000

+1 to the Synology DS4211+

I've got one with 5 x 2Tb Sea crates ... works wonderfully with two redundant disks giving me 5.35Tb storage.

For the price of the extra 2Tb drive, it gave me piece of mind that I shouldn't lose anything if 1 hd failed.

As far as WD green drives go, I've only had one in my Beyonwiz DP-P2 that I bought in March, which has now failed completely. I can not get anything off of it, even when connected to a linux box.... dead as a dodo ... lost all of my V8 and F1 recordings since then.

As you can guess, won't touch them again with a 40 foot barge pole.

Unfortunately yes it is from personal experience. I refuse to use them with any of our clients now. Too many issues with them especially with configuration drops and power supply failures. Between the netgear and dlink products I have given up on them.

As I said for the home market they might be fine but I wouldn't use them as a dedicated NAS there are other better out there especially in the QNAP and Synology products. This is my personal belief and experience if you have had a better experience then all is good. I am not criticising anyone's decision in buying a Netgear I just don't like the product. I am coming from an IT background and therefore will be more biased towards enterprise/business grade products and the synology can hold its own as an entry level based SAN/NAS.

I have heard about power supply issues, but never had any, knock wood ... the older ones (nv+) are a real PIA to setup but this new one was a real breeze. Other than HT components, my network is wholly Netgear (GB Lan) and I have never had a problem.

I have heard about power supply issues, but never had any, knock wood ... the older ones (nv+) are a real PIA to setup but this new one was a real breeze. Other than HT components, my network is wholly Netgear (GB Lan) and I have never had a problem.

And here is where I have issues with companies like Netgear, they try to become jack of all trades and masters of none. I have no issues with their networking products its the fact they tried to get into all areas rather than focusing their energy in developing decent network products. They started to drop the ball when they diversified into multiple appliances and really spread themselves thin. Some of the netgear switching is up there with the entry level hp and cisco (Linksys) goods.