I currently have Channels running on my Synology DS224+ for both my pc backups and movie streaming. I want to put my movies on a different NAS and would like recommendations, one that is less costly than Synology.
Thanks
What are your storage requirements?
Do you want to run Channels DVR on this box?
Will this box be exclusively for Channels?
Have you considered a mini PC rather than a NAS?
Are you willing to run a Software based NAS on standard hardware?
Are you in an area where electricity is expensive?
Hello Morris,
Thank you for your response.
- Storage requirements - Currently running less that 2tb, but desire to convert more of my dvd disks.
- New system, whatever it will be will be exclusively for the OS, Channels recording, movies and series.
- Yes, I am looking at a mini-pc.
- Not sure what a software based NAS is? Although, I am fairly technical for a self taught person. I am 76, soon to be 77 and I know I am losing a step or two.
- Electric cost are lower than national average.
I would recommend a dell poweredge server. they are cheaper than synology but much more powerful they also last longer. for an os, I find xubuntu is faster than some of those other dedicated nas oses but still offers nas functionality through packages. I also like having a pcie nic as those can be swapped out when they fail and I find nics fail often especially the realtek junk you find in most mini pcs. I am running a t560 with 12x 24tb drives in a zfs array for redundancy but that is probably overkill for you so start with a cheaper dell server. For drives I like seagate baracudas, Unfortunately, the price on those jumped this year. my advice is to get them from newegg as they usually go on sale this time of year.
It sounds like your requirements are moderate. The simplest solution and least expensive would be to use a tower computer running an OS you are already know. For example Windows or Mac OS. A tower will allow you to add additional drives as needed. Storage reliability is important so you might want to look at RAID solutions which exist for Windows and I think Mac OS as well. There are software NAS solutions such as Unraid and TrueNAS both are popular with the members here yet will present a learning curve. Unraid has a moderate license fee while TrueNAS is free. A hardware NAS is also a possibility and any NAS software or hardware will allow you to address storage reliability using RAID. A lot of spinning hard drives can use a lot of electricity and generate heat which will increase your rooms cooling requirements though you might find you don't need heat in that room. Using SSDs will greatly reduce the electric requirement and are also silent, a real advantage for some. I don't know why Techpro2004 is having NIC failures, I have not seen one fail in many years.
Any questions please ask.
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Thank you for your response. I check the prices out and look at what is available on Amazon during Prime days.
Morris, Thanks for your recommendation. I think some type of pc solution is what is best for me. I will be look at the dell poweredge server capabilities and how it might fit into my needs.
Regards
Dale
Hi Dale,
Dell Poweredge Servers are designed for data center environments. They are very loud because of the fast fans and also do little to dampen hard drive noise. A tower PC with a number of drive bays would be a good compromise. What ever you get, add a UPS so that power events don't risk you data or equiptment.
Morris
I admit my t560 is loud but I also have a t150 and a few t30 servers that are whisper quiet. I would not recommend shopping on amazon for this unless you want to pay more. I would get the poweredge server from dell directly, the nic from cdw (I like the intel x550-t2 as it is very reliable) and the drives from newegg. but that is just my opinion. Also when buying the poweredge server I would recommend to upgrade the cpu to a xeon and not go with the basic pentium. Also, the more ram you get the more docker containers you can run. Not sure if you are planning on using zfs but that takes alot of ram also.
I used to run truenas but I found it to be more resource intensive than xubuntu also the instructions for unraid say to install it on a usb dive and I like to keep everything internal also the ui can be tough to see for those with vision issues. I find for me plain old xubuntu is best but I am skilled in linux. I also find nics fail faster in windows than linux or freebsd not sure why. Nics do fail especially when you pump a lot of data through them.
I second the need for a ups but that you can get on amazon or a microcenter if there is one in your area.
I also find leaving wsl running long term can make a windows system a little wonky and docker for windows uses wsl. It runs fine on linux though as that does not use wsl.
Thanks for the details.
Thanks appreciate your follow-up.