Replacing old QNAP and Drives

[Enquiries]

Bought a QNAP TS-863U in 2017 for personal use that mainly stores video files and surveillance camera recordings. It has 8x8TB storage in RAID6. 3 drives have been replaced since purchase. I have multiple pcs in my house running Kodi with a shared database for tracking watched videos via SMB. I want to be proactive and replace the system and upsize the drives while I'm doing it. Min 8x14TB, ideally higher (looking for some future proofing). Looking at HDD holiday deals for best $/TB. Beginner level here, so not sure which QNAP bests fits my needs and if I should move to QuTS Hero or stay QTS. Suggestions on new QNAP NAS?

[ed]

Thanks for reaching out! Replacing your QNAP TS-863U with a more modern and robust NAS is a great way to future-proof your setup. Here's what I recommend based on your requirements for storage, performance, and ease of use:

Recommended QNAP NAS Models
1. QNAP TVS-h874 (QuTS hero)
Why It’s Great:

Powered by Intel Core i5 or i7 processors, perfect for handling video file storage and serving SMB connections to your Kodi setup.
Runs QuTS Hero, a ZFS-based OS offering better data integrity, snapshots, and compression. Ideal for large-capacity drives and future-proofing.
Supports 8-bay configurations and scales up to 18TB or 20TB drives.
Best For: Users who want enhanced reliability, data protection, and advanced features like inline deduplication and compression.

2. QNAP TS-h1290FX (QuTS hero)
Why It’s Great:

Supports 12 bays, giving you room for future expansion beyond your 8 drives.
Designed for heavy workloads with AMD Ryzen 16-core CPUs, making it perfect for video storage and multi-user environments.
Runs QuTS Hero for advanced ZFS features.
Best For: Those wanting maximum scalability and performance for large file storage and high-speed data access.

3. QNAP TS-873A (QTS)
Why It’s Great:

Affordable 8-bay NAS with AMD Ryzen processors.
Runs QTS, a more traditional NAS OS that’s simpler than QuTS Hero and ideal for home users.
Provides solid performance for SMB connections and video streaming.
Best For: Users who prefer simplicity and don’t require the advanced features of ZFS but still want good performance and reliability.

Choosing Between QTS and QuTS Hero
QuTS Hero:

Better for large drives (14TB or more) due to ZFS’s data integrity features.
Built-in compression and deduplication can save storage space, especially for repetitive files.
Slightly higher learning curve but worth it for future-proofing and data reliability.
QTS:

Easier to use for beginners.
Works well for traditional home NAS tasks like file storage and streaming.
Ideal if you don’t need ZFS features.
Drive Recommendations
For your 8x14TB or higher requirement, consider these drives for best $/TB during holiday deals:

Seagate IronWolf Pro 16TB/18TB:

Designed for NAS use, with 24/7 reliability and 5-year warranties.
WD Red Pro 16TB/18TB:

Optimized for RAID setups and high-capacity workloads.
Toshiba N300 16TB/18TB:

Excellent value with high performance for NAS systems.
Budget Estimate
Here’s a rough breakdown for an 8-bay system with 14TB+ drives:

NAS:
TVS-h874: ~$2,800 (Core i5 model).
TS-873A: ~$1,400 (more affordable option).
Drives:
8x16TB Seagate IronWolf Pro: ~$3,600 (at ~$450 per drive during deals).
Total: ~$5,000–$6,500, depending on your chosen model and drive capacity.

Conclusion
The QNAP TVS-h874 running QuTS Hero is my top recommendation for its balance of performance, scalability, and data protection. If you prefer a simpler setup, the TS-873A with QTS is a cost-effective option. Pair either with high-capacity NAS drives, and you’ll have a future-proof solution ready to handle your video and surveillance ne

[crazyhands911]

Thank you for this great advice. I will certainly look into those first two options as well since they didn't come across my view in my initial research.
I had looked at the TS-873AeU a bit, but not just the TS-873A model.
I was kind of honing in on the TS-855eU, but I haven't made a purchase yet.
I currently have my TS-863U wall-mounted with a StarTech 2U mount in a room in my basement that is a bit of a narrow hallway/utility room, which is one reason why I was still looking at rackmounts.

I did however pickup 6 WD Red Pro 24TB drives from Western Digital's site (deal good only until 11/17/24). They have a buy two for $869 deal, with a max of 6 per customer. This looked to be a good $/TB deal.
Seagate does also have their 18TB Ironwolf Pros for $299 each, which was actually a better $/TB deal, but getting 8x18TB got me the same space (144TB) as 6x24TB, slightly less once in RAID6, but then I still have 2 bays open to further expand if ever needed to.

So, what I was looking at dong was getting the TS-855eU. I don't know if it is wise to go for -RP version (much harder to find). I was planning to upgrade the RAM with maybe 2x16GB ECC SODIMMS from Crucial (CT2K16G4SFRA32A). I thought about throwing some m.2 drives in there for caching, but I don't think I would actually gain any benefits from it, since I'm mainly just using it for video storage. Since I'm (currently at least) using Kodi for my media interface, I'm not transcoding on the NAS, so I don't think the GPU really helps me any from the TVS-874. I'm not sure how the performance compares between the Intel Atom vs an i5 or i7 is. The TS-855eU is $600 cheaper than the i5 TVS-874.