true answer for me DS923+ vs TS-464

[Enquiries]

Hello.

Although I've been passionately following your content for a while, and I've made a lot of progress along the way thanks to your valuable advice, but after my last message (2 days ago) I find myself somewhere at the beginning again, desperately looking for an answer that is "right for me".. And here I'm packing up my whole confusion asking for your help. Please forgive my long message and I really hope you can help me out - Thanks for Everything

From Day1, my first NAS )WD-EX4) hasn't met any of my expectations (I still wish it was just a simple RAID1 DAS).. The research i've made back then clearly was not enough.. So, lately I started diving again into NAS world (mainly yours) and I ended up waiting for the 923+.

* I have always been a PC user (a "power"-user building, installing, maintaining, managing..). I still a PC user.. but I cannot forget how great it felt to just "let-go" those "power" messing-arounds and tuning-ups when I had my Macbook..
* With mobiles, I still deal (actually well) with some Android devices in the family, but as for me, I'm totaly 100% an iOS'.. It's that "let-go" again, and the solid reasons for being confident going with it.. It's that feeling that everything is just fine in there with no need to dig in.. It "feels" robust, secure, reliable and well-supported.. Suddenly I don't care anymore about the hardware specs.. At the end, It's the software that serves those hardware capabilities to the user (a huge advantage when they match!).. So it's the bottomline sleek and smooth "user-experience".. and since it's exclussive, it's an "easy" choise for me, even when it comes with a price of continuiously missing some feature/s..

I believe the above explains well why i've been easily convinced that my answer is one of the Synology systems, without the need to dive deeper into other aspects.. I'de really love it if it stayed that way, but the new 923+ has made it really hard for me!
It'll accept my Red+ HDDs, but not my 970Evo+ NVMes (maybe soon - maybe never), and I cannot be sure about any reasonably priced 3rd party RAM (even if it worked for now).. And as I had to dive deeper (as explained before), I find my self deeply dissappointed with those 1Gbps ports, and even worse, I was exposed to new aspects, features and models (that I may be needing actually) that were added to my confusion, resulting in even bigger mess and questions on what I really need!!! Sorry again for this huge message. This is why I REALLY need your help

1* SHR is exclussive to Synology and can be useful for future mixing of drives..

2* ECC RAM can help preventing some work-time errors..
    Is it exclussive to some Synology models?


3* File Systems..

      - EXT4 is for most of QNAP models (QTS)
        business-level and fast.. shines when larg number of drives..
        it sholud be lacking of Snapshots, but HOW snapshots is listed under those QNAP models specs?

      - BTRFS is for Synology models, a bit slower but recommended for theses "non-high" models..
        it has snapshots, drives pool and is SSD optimizations.
        but your video states "BTRFS (EXT4)" ? two file systems?

      - ZFS is the best.. higher buisniss-level, secure and fast..
        adds software protections like COW..
        can really shine with higher RAM and drives..
        is limited for some "higher" QNAP models (QuTS hero)..
        optional future support for "mid" models, will require initializing the drives..
        but your video states "ZFS (EXT4)" ? two file systems?


4 * RAID.. although all supported (depending on number of drives).
      but now i'm confused about RAID 5 or 6.. some says they're not recommended..
      they say you'de better proceed from RAID1 to RAID10..
      and although it's not exclussive for ZFS, why are RAID5/6/10 called ZRAID? or not?

5 * containers (dockers) + VM.. i had it determind before.. now i'm confused again..
      which file system and which CPU will perform better?
      and as we're here, what about Virtual Machines?
      and as i dived into this (never thought of this before),
      can i deploy my full-stack web projects in here instead of GCP?
      it usually contains a front in REACT (nodejs) and a back in JAVA11 with some DB like MySQL..
      this may be a game changer in my decision..

6*  BRAND/MODEL..
      not only that i'm looking for deciding what brand should I go with, but now I also questioning the model range..
      maybe I can benifit from a higher model rather than the 4bay "mid plus" range i've been questioning (646 / 923+)..
      in this case  can spend more.. but without your help i'm not sure what is "right" for my NAS needs??
      suddenly I read about the 1522+ not seeing any benifit for me that'll come out of it ..
      4 ports of 1Gbps?? 5th drive for RAID5/6 (see questioning that above)..??
      as for QNAP.. will it be the h474? i cannot find it.. not even the price of it..     


7 * my other NAS needs?
      a reliable secure NAS for all my files..
      especially when I'm on LAN.. i'de rather working on the NAS..
      knowing it's centralized.. mirrored.. available.. fast.. private..
      accessing that centralized place from multi devices..
      programming projects aceesed from PC/MAC..
      deployments (including containers an VM explained before..)
      browsing videos and photos REALLY FAST (especially when on LAN) from PC/MAC/iOS devices/Android-TV..
      streaming music to car Android system..
      backing up (and syncing) PC/MAC/iOS..
      somehow replacing my google/apple storage plan.. possible?
      iOS devices neds that storage plan mainly because of whatsapp backups


8 * if you still have power.. soon (can be delayed) i'll be using  switch/router containing MULTI_WAN + MULTI_GIG ..


SORRY for extremely long message..
Thanks for Everything

[ed]

Yes, choosing a NAS can be confusing. But it really breaks down to few things. What speed do you need and what functionality?
If you need a NAS for remote 4k video streaming, you need a graphics chip built in such as Celeron NAS. Or PCIe GGPU compatible NAS such as TVS-673A. Or Xeon based models.

If you do not need multimedia support of that kind then the only thing look at is the speed. Ryzen, Atom and Intel core i / Xeon CPU can offer 10gbe speeds. This will allow to narrow down choices quickly.

If you need different-size drive mixing Synology is the only decent brand out there that does it.

ECC RAM is not something you need for home. But if you run virtual machines, docker, web server, this is recommended.

If you go for Synology, BTRFS will enable you features like snapshots. Qnap can achieve the same with EXT4.

ZFS is quite an advanced file system. It also requires a lot of performance. So you need Xeon CPU. It does not allow drive mixing. You do not need this.

RAID5 vs RAID6 allow one or two drive failure. People often prefer RAID6 as a safer option.

By the sound of it, you will be OK with DS923+.

I hope this helps.

[kfad]

Thanks a lot for your answers.. Aprecciate the knowledge, time & efforts

I don't know how much really I need the Graphics power for my multimedia Use:

• Mainly Videos and Photos, taken by  family iPhones..
  
• AI will be used to organize the large amount of photos..
  
• Will be accessed (hopefully super fast) mainly by family iPhones..
  

> > >  please see my attached chart 923+ vs. 464   >       

> > >  please see my attached chart QNAP models   >       
             [ 6-Bay is appealing for RAID6 - price generally a bit over 4-Bay ]
             [ and some deals (x73A) even makes the 8-Bay appealing . . ]


I cannot think of a harder way just to conclude that i'm going QNAP!

• x64 is fine, 675 is weird, x72 (tx/x/) are irrelevant due to price and the new x74,
  
• the x74 is  t-h-e  best but appearantly with a high price (0 additional cost though),
  
• x73 is well balanced (especially 6/8-Bay)
  

But, with all of that in front of my eyes, I suddenly realize that (regardless the brand) I'm bothered the most about vulnerablity..

So, besides your notes/advice about the above, I'de be glad to hear also whether I can make the NAS:

1. exclussive to my LAN?
   
2. exclussive to specific devices within my LAN?
   
3. exclussive to my LAN except some web-server (VM/docker)?
   

and If any is possible, can I count on that not being exposed to the internet??

[ed]

Yes, people often think they need a graphics chip in order to access your multimedia. But most of the time people stream videos local on their TV or other WiFi connected device. You can use any NAS for this purpose. No transcoding is needed.
When you share access with your movies to your family, you will very likely need transcoding. But if you stick with particular NAS brand 1st party apps, you will be OK with any models that has graphics chip built in (most often Celeron CPU).
Qnap 64 series is really enough for home use and even small business environments. It has everything you may ever need.
Just like any other NAS, you need to secure it. Here is how https://nascompares.com/2022/10/21/qnap-...-your-nas/
t is all down to user accounts you create on your NAS.
Have an Admin account with very strong password (2-step if possible/ or SSH key). You never use this account, unless you need to configure OS etc.
You create limited user accounts for every person and app you install. This way, when account is hacked, hackers can not damage anything apart from that one folder user has access to.

I hope this helps.

[kfad]

Yes, people often think they need a graphics chip in order to access your multimedia. But most of the time people stream videos local on their TV or other WiFi connected device. You can use any NAS for this purpose. No transcoding is needed.
When you share access with your movies to your family, you will very likely need transcoding. But if you stick with particular NAS brand 1st party apps, you will be OK with any models that has graphics chip built in (most often Celeron CPU).
Qnap 64 series is really enough for home use and even small business environments. It has everything you may ever need.
Just like any other NAS, you need to secure it. Here is how https://nascompares.com/2022/10/21/qnap-...-your-nas/
t is all down to user accounts you create on your NAS.
Have an Admin account with very strong password (2-step if possible/ or SSH key). You never use this account, unless you need to configure OS etc.
You create limited user accounts for every person and app you install. This way, when account is hacked, hackers can not damage anything apart from that one folder user has access to.

I hope this helps.

thanks again.. can you please  answer my questions at the bottom:

can i make the NAS:

1. exclussive to my LAN ?
   
2. exclussive to specific devices within my LAN? [b]?[/b]
   
3. exclussive to my LAN except some web-server (VM/docker)? [b]?[/b]
   

and If any is possible, can I count on that not being exposed to the internet?? [b]?[b]?[/b][/b]