Question Thinking about a NAS for home use ?

[Weathered]

I am completely new to this area. I am looking into getting a NAS for accessing files from any computer in the house and for backups. This will strictly be for home use, don't plan on accessing it outside the home network. Am considering the Synology DS423+ or maybe the DS224+. Figured get a 4 bay in case I need to expand in the future. For the hard drives, was thinking a couple of WD Red Plus 6 or 8tb drives. Always had good luck with WD in the past but mostly for desktop usage. Are their better drives out there for a NAS? I am not too concerned with noise as long as it doesn't sound like a jet engine.

Have 3 different computers with 3 different users and a couple of android phones. Mostly I want to use it for storage and to be able to access certain folders from any computer in the house. This will not be used every day, every week or even every month. Although depends on how easy it is to use, might get used more frequently than I think.

I know typically when using a NAS, you want to setup some type of raid. Never messed with raid before but have watched a few videos about setting up a NAS and looks fairly easy. Would I be crazy for setting up a NAS and not setting up some type of raid?

For the budget, the ds423+ is around $500 plus the drives. Wouldn't mind spending less than that but also don't mind spending that either. I know I could build a NAS, probably paying a premium for Synology but also want to keep it simple and don't have alot of time.

 

[kanewolf]

I am completely new to this area. I am looking into getting a NAS for accessing files from any computer in the house and for backups. This will strictly be for home use, don't plan on accessing it outside the home network. Am considering the Synology DS423+ or maybe the DS224+. Figured get a 4 bay in case I need to expand in the future. For the hard drives, was thinking a couple of WD Red Plus 6 or 8tb drives. Always had good luck with WD in the past but mostly for desktop usage. Are their better drives out there for a NAS? I am not too concerned with noise as long as it doesn't sound like a jet engine.

Have 3 different computers with 3 different users and a couple of android phones. Mostly I want to use it for storage and to be able to access certain folders from any computer in the house. This will not be used every day, every week or even every month. Although depends on how easy it is to use, might get used more frequently than I think.

I know typically when using a NAS, you want to setup some type of raid. Never messed with raid before but have watched a few videos about setting up a NAS and looks fairly easy. Would I be crazy for setting up a NAS and not setting up some type of raid?

For the budget, the ds423+ is around $500 plus the drives. Wouldn't mind spending less than that but also don't mind spending that either. I know I could build a NAS, probably paying a premium for Synology but also want to keep it simple and don't have alot of time.

The plus versions are much more expensive than the non-plus. Do you have a Windows domain? That is one benefit that the plus models have.
I have two 720+ units.
Buying "in case" is not the best option, IMO.
What is your actual usage, and how confident on your growth are you? Home use typically doesn't have a high growth curve.

 

[USAFRet]

I know typically when using a NAS, you want to setup some type of raid.

Not necessarily.
And if you do, don't depend on that for data security.

(I'm in the QNAP camp)

 

[Weathered]

The plus versions are much more expensive than the non-plus. Do you have a Windows domain? That is one benefit that the plus models have.
I have two 720+ units.
Buying "in case" is not the best option, IMO.
What is your actual usage, and how confident on your growth are you? Home use typically doesn't have a high growth curve.

Doesn't the plus models have better hardware? No I don't have a windows domain. Once I get initial transfer of all the files to the NAS done, there will not be large amounts of data being transferred.

Currently have around 2tbs of files and that is slowly growing over time, pretty slow I would say. Really I would be probably be more than fine with a 2 bay model.

Another question and this sounds silly in my head lol but I don't have any plans of accessing the file on the NAS outside of the home network. So if the NAS is plugged into the same switch or router that the internet is going through, what determines if it is using LAN or using internet bandwith? Is that done through the initial setup process?

 

[USAFRet]

Another question and this sounds silly in my head lol but I don't have any plans of accessing the file on the NAS outside of the home network. So if the NAS is plugged into the same switch or router that the internet is going through, what determines if it is using LAN or using internet bandwith? Is that done through the initial setup proces

NAS and PC connected to the same switch...the data only goes from PC to switch to NAS. Or the other way.
Stays within the LAN.

 

[kanewolf]

Doesn't the plus models have better hardware? No I don't have a windows domain. Once I get initial transfer of all the files to the NAS done, there will not be large amounts of data being transferred.

They have some things. SSD Cache, I believe is only on the plus models. But the limiting factor is generally the network. It is really a question about what your budget tolerance is.

Currently have around 2tbs of files and that is slowly growing over time, pretty slow I would say. Really I would be probably be more than fine with a 2 bay model.

Two 8TB disks (middle of the road today) would be 4X the data you have. That should last a long time.
Buying a 4 bay unit that you never fill, just wastes your money. Spinning disks have to be looked at seriously for replacement after about 5 years. You might want to replace the chassis at the same time.

 

[Weathered]

NAS and PC connected to the same switch...the data only goes from PC to switch to NAS. Or the other way.
Stays within the LAN.

Even if that switch is connected to the modem?

 

[kanewolf]

Even if that switch is connected to the modem?

Yes, even if connected to a router and internet. The switch knows the destination of the traffic and sends it to the proper devices. There is probably a little traffic that goes to the router at the start of traffic, but even that traffic stays on the LAN and doesn't cross the WAN firewall.

 

[Weathered]

I will look into a 2 bay model, maybe the DS224. While it may be nice to have the 4 bay model, in my situation, a 2 bay would be more than enough with a couple of 6 or 8tb drives. By the time I do need more than that, would be past time to upgrade I am sure.

If I get a 2 bay model and get 2 drives, do those drives need to be setup as one volume? Can they be used as 2 seperate drives?

For the hard drives, I was thinking a couple of wd red plus 8tb model WD80EFPX. One thing I noticed about that model is they are 5640 rpm. Seems most drives are 5400 or 7200 rpm. Why the different rpm?

Are there better drives? As long as they are NAS rated, is there really much of a difference? Just go with a brand that is on sale?

 

[USAFRet]

WD Red are fine. I have 4 of them.

In a home use NAS, RPM is mostly irrelevant.

 

[gggplaya]

So I remember when WD quietly switched their WD Red to SMR drives which caused a huge uproar. So much so that they added the WD RED PLUS lineup to slot in between the WD RED and WD RED PRO.

SMR drives will work and operate fine, but because the data overlaps, it causes performance penalties. Should mostly be used for archive purposes.

WD RED PLUS is the way to go depending on the cost difference, they're CMR drives, same as the PRO models.

Here's the article: https://www.anandtech.com/show/15878/western-digital-cleans-up-the-red-smr-nas-hdd-mess

 

[NedSmelly]

Are there better drives? As long as they are NAS rated, is there really much of a difference? Just go with a brand that is on sale?

Seagate IronWolf. Maybe not better, but not worse either. I bought 2 when they were cheap, and 2 WD Red CMRs when those were cheap. Running all 4 together in my 4-bay 😀

 

[kanewolf]

Seagate IronWolf. Maybe not better, but not worse either. I bought 2 when they were cheap, and 2 WD Red CMRs when those were cheap. Running all 4 together in my 4-bay 😀

A person will never buy enough drives to have a legitimate sample size. Look at the info from backblaze. They buy thousands. Legitimate sample size.

 

[OZJOHNNO]

Many a Person has decided to buy a 2 bay NAS and regretted it later. Once you have a NAS, you would be surprised as to how quickly you can fill the beast up. Buy at least a 4 bay NAS. A DS423+ will hold up to 72TB of data, but this dependan on what version of raid you want to run. In practical terms you will want to run at LEAST raid 5 on your NAS, in raid 5 you will have the capacity of 54TB of space to hold your data. In this configuration, if any hard drive on your NAS fails, you will still be able to access all of your data. In RAID 6, you will have up to 36TB of data you can keep on your NAS. In this configuration, you can have 2 drives fail on your NAS and your data will still be retained. Buy at least a 4 bay NAS (me personally, I have 2 NAS's, a DS923+ and a DS416 that I use as a backup for the NAS

 

[USAFRet]

In practical terms you will want to run at LEAST raid 5 on your NAS

Wrong.

RAID 5 is no longer recommended for large array sizes, due to the lengthy rebuild time.

In that NAS array, figure approx 1.5 hours per TB of data in it.
50TB data = 3 day rebuild.


And if you have a real backup, RAID is not really needed.

 

[NedSmelly]

A person will never buy enough drives to have a legitimate sample size. Look at the info from backblaze. They buy thousands. Legitimate sample size.

When you look closely at the Backblaze drive stats, there is a lot of granularity. Yes, Seagates have an overall higher Annualised Failure Rate (AFR) but Backblaze has a much larger Seagate sample size than their WD sample, and the WD sample doesn’t go older than 36 months.

If you only look at Seagate vs WD over 36 mths as of 2023, yes the relative AFR of Seagates is roughly double that of WD - but the absolute AFRs are all still below 1.5%.

Both brands have the same 36 month warranty.

 

[OZJOHNNO]

Hey there USAFRet
As for saying that many people regret buying a 2 bay NAS, I stand by it. You really should buy a 4 bay NAS, I use and recommend DS9xx series are expandable with up 108TB with the addition of an extension unit if you really need it.

I am a bit of a synology fan boy. Yes their machines are more expensive, with lower end CPUs But from what I have seen and heard from friends Synology is easier to set up, the web interface is awesome and there is a package you can install for just about every application you can think of (and some I have never thought of thinking about).

As for what I use my NAS for? Well I have 2 windows computers on my network backed up to it, I have also ripped my store bought Blu ray collection of nearly 150 Blue ray movies (a good quality rip runs between 6 and 10 GB depending on the movie), my Music collection, another 100 or so CD's, my 2 phones and I am a hobbiest photogragher. I back up my photos in RAW format and that uses a ton of room.

I guess my point is that You would be surprised as to how quickly you can fill the damn thing up. (your milage my vary)

As for Raid 5 taking longer to rebuild, yeah I guess so, but I figure to get the best R/W performance you would go raid 10 (with 4 discs mirrored AND stripped) The discussion of Rebuilding a data set brings me to my final point backup.

You are right, a NAS is not a backup I am a big fan of the ol' 3,2,1 method of backing up, ie 3 copies of the data, 2 onsite and 1 remote copy
I have one copy of my data on the NAS, one copy on a USB drive jacked into the back of the NAS, and I have a copy sync'd on my DS416 via hyper backup to a mates place a few km from me.

So should the fecal matter impact the rotary ventilation device, me and my data should be OK

OZ

 

[kanewolf]

As for saying that many people regret buying a 2 bay NAS, I stand by it. You really should buy a 4 bay NAS, I use and recommend DS9xx series are expandable with up 108TB with the addition of an extension unit if you really need it.

I will disagree. I do not regret buying two bay DS720+ units (I have two). If I ever wanted to expand them I could use the eSATA port. BUT, I don't think I ever will need to . I sized the disks appropriately on initial purchase. I will not exceed the space available before I choose to replace one of them. I had a DS409 and replaced it with a DS720+. Disks have gone from the 750GB that was in the DS409 to 14TB that are in the DS720.