12-06-2022, 12:30 PM
Dear Nas Compares Team,
First of all, thanks for all of the extensive reviews. They have been very informative for me. However I am still torn of what to do as I am about to properly start my NAS adventure for the home.
You say that the more details help with the recommendations so I'll start at the beginning.
I wasn't sure if I really needed a NAS but having been through many fights to rescue data (usually photos) off of failing laptops etc. I have ended up with a mess of data over the years having quickly made back ups and never finding the time to properly sort them). I spoke with a friend of mine who recommended I started thinking about redundancy and recommended a NAS (there was of coure more to that conversation liek me wanting to store videos etc. and being able to stream to my TV, Music to the Echo etc.). He had an old Synology DS114 knocking around which he said I could borrow to give it a whirl if working with a NAS is an option for me. I was conviced a private NAS is a good thing and ended up buying the unit off him for a small amount of Euros but of course with a one bay I am lacking the redundancy.
So far, my biggest success was getting a decent setup for me and my wife to backup our photos to the NAS and free up space on our phones via Synology Photos and then mirroring the photos onto an external drive as a backup. In the end I do however want to have a proper setup with shares, potentially a media server (or whatever the solution is to stream vids and music around the house and of course with our three kids getting bigger, getting phones, doing school work on their computers etc I want to make sure there is a clear clean setup and backup possibility and of course redundancy is a must.
Currently I would say the biggest use case of working directly off the NAS would be sorting through our masses of photos and creating photo books. I can't see the actual photo editing nor video editing being a big issue soon. Otherwise I think a classic "My documents" location for saving school work etc would be the other main use case.
As I said, on top of this, ideally I figure out later how best to manage my music collection so I can stream it in the house and also make my videos available to watch via whichever device I choose. I may also offer up some space for the in-laws who live in the same building but they won't be intensive users (might add another 2-3 users on top, more for pure back up though)
Having been happy with Synology (primarily because of DSM) I was looking now into the DS920+ or the DS923+ and although your reviews were a great help, I am still stuck.
With the 923 going towards Enterprise I am worried I am going away from what I need. I am also not quite sure how to judge the AMD vs Intel discussion when it comes to my use cases described above (maybe it doesn't even play a role). The 920 seems a great option but budget argument is not a deal breaker for me (only 100€ difference right now where I am looking) and I am also worried about the future readiness and DSM support of the 920.
For either units I would be filling them with 4x 4TB WD RED (WD40EFzX) with most likely a raid 5 Setup (12TB) or potentially a raid 6 (8GB). Not yet sure.
I work in IT, but on an application level rather than infrastructure so I am not at all a netzy which is why the DSM is favorable to me. However, I have had no other experience at all with other makes of NAS.
Please let me know if there is any other information I should provide, otherwise I can't wait to for any input you have to offer. Even if it is other considerations to take before making my decision.
Thanks, and keep up the good work.
Scott
p.s. lets also not forget I would then have the old 1Bay sitting around, what would you guys do with that? Pure backup? THANKS
First of all, thanks for all of the extensive reviews. They have been very informative for me. However I am still torn of what to do as I am about to properly start my NAS adventure for the home.
You say that the more details help with the recommendations so I'll start at the beginning.
I wasn't sure if I really needed a NAS but having been through many fights to rescue data (usually photos) off of failing laptops etc. I have ended up with a mess of data over the years having quickly made back ups and never finding the time to properly sort them). I spoke with a friend of mine who recommended I started thinking about redundancy and recommended a NAS (there was of coure more to that conversation liek me wanting to store videos etc. and being able to stream to my TV, Music to the Echo etc.). He had an old Synology DS114 knocking around which he said I could borrow to give it a whirl if working with a NAS is an option for me. I was conviced a private NAS is a good thing and ended up buying the unit off him for a small amount of Euros but of course with a one bay I am lacking the redundancy.
So far, my biggest success was getting a decent setup for me and my wife to backup our photos to the NAS and free up space on our phones via Synology Photos and then mirroring the photos onto an external drive as a backup. In the end I do however want to have a proper setup with shares, potentially a media server (or whatever the solution is to stream vids and music around the house and of course with our three kids getting bigger, getting phones, doing school work on their computers etc I want to make sure there is a clear clean setup and backup possibility and of course redundancy is a must.
Currently I would say the biggest use case of working directly off the NAS would be sorting through our masses of photos and creating photo books. I can't see the actual photo editing nor video editing being a big issue soon. Otherwise I think a classic "My documents" location for saving school work etc would be the other main use case.
As I said, on top of this, ideally I figure out later how best to manage my music collection so I can stream it in the house and also make my videos available to watch via whichever device I choose. I may also offer up some space for the in-laws who live in the same building but they won't be intensive users (might add another 2-3 users on top, more for pure back up though)
Having been happy with Synology (primarily because of DSM) I was looking now into the DS920+ or the DS923+ and although your reviews were a great help, I am still stuck.
With the 923 going towards Enterprise I am worried I am going away from what I need. I am also not quite sure how to judge the AMD vs Intel discussion when it comes to my use cases described above (maybe it doesn't even play a role). The 920 seems a great option but budget argument is not a deal breaker for me (only 100€ difference right now where I am looking) and I am also worried about the future readiness and DSM support of the 920.
For either units I would be filling them with 4x 4TB WD RED (WD40EFzX) with most likely a raid 5 Setup (12TB) or potentially a raid 6 (8GB). Not yet sure.
I work in IT, but on an application level rather than infrastructure so I am not at all a netzy which is why the DSM is favorable to me. However, I have had no other experience at all with other makes of NAS.
Please let me know if there is any other information I should provide, otherwise I can't wait to for any input you have to offer. Even if it is other considerations to take before making my decision.
Thanks, and keep up the good work.
Scott
p.s. lets also not forget I would then have the old 1Bay sitting around, what would you guys do with that? Pure backup? THANKS