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Synology: Expanding storage / upgrading - options?

#1
Hi Robert,

big fan and love your youtube series on all things NAS!

I am currently rocking a Synology DS218 with one(!) 4TB Ironwolf. Main usage of the unit is the storage of my movies collection (by far most impact space wise), home videos and photographs. To watch the movies I actually use my Nvidia Shield as Plex server, so the performance of my Synology was never an issue (however before I got the Shield I had sometimes troubles with the playback of some formats on my DS218).

After one year of use my 4TB are almost full and I am thinking about upgrading.
I had several ideas but can't quite decide what would be the best one as I lack experience due to this being my first NAS.

Option A: buy another 4TB Ironwolf and run JBOD. Cheapest but no security (SHR would mean no gains in storage space) and in a year or so I will run out of space again.

Option B: buy two off 8TB and either use JBOD or SHR. If I decide to go for SHR I would have the security but "lose" 8TB and will have a similar situation as in Option A storage space wise (plus, what do I do with the old 4TB which is still perfectly fine?)

Option C: buy a DS920+/DS420j and 3x 4TB. A bit more expensive but I will have security and the cap will be 12TB storage, 4TB security and overall cost 600EUR for 420j and 800EUR for DS920+.

Option D: buy a DS920+/DS420j and 3x 8TB. Most expensive but I will have 20TB of space, 8TB security. I could replace the 4TB drive some time later and get to 24TB space/8TB security.

So in my eyes the only viable ones are Option C and Option D. The dilemma is as follows:

- does it make sence to get a new NAS and slowly transfer to 8TB drives on a new NAS? Or would buying additional 4TB instead of 8TB drives make more sense?
- Is there a strong reason to go for DS920+ instead of DS420j: pay 200 more quid and have more flexibility, performance and features (and have a possible replacement for if Shield starts acting up)?

I hope you can help, thanks!

Kind Regards
Max
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#2
There are a few options.You can move old 4TB drive to new NAS:4TB + 2x4TB = 8TB usable space [2x£110=£220 price per TB = £27.5]4TB + 2x8TB = 12TB usable space [2x£240=£480 price per TB = £40]3 x 8TB = 16TB usable space [3x£240=£720 price per TB = £45]DS420j is a very weak NAS. But if you use ShieldTV all its purpose is simple file storage.Accessing pictures would not be a problem. Choosing DS420+ would allow other things like Docker and virtual machines and much more. But it costs more.DS920+ is simply more expandable in comparison.I hope this helps.
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