Synology NAS Recommendations - Purchase Larger Drives or 4-Bay NAS

Hosting
#1

I'm currently running Channels DVR on a Synology DS218+ with redundant 4TB WD RED drives. The drives are currently over 80% full. I'm trying to determine my next move to increase the capacity.

Based on the costs of drives, purchasing another 4TB WD RED is much more economical than buying dual 6TB/8TB/10TB drives. I'm thinking picking up a 4-bay Synology NAS and another 4TB drive running in RAID 5 for 8TB capacity.

I know the newer Synology 4-bay NAS disable the Intel transcoding capabilities which is something I want to maintain. If you had the option, which way would you go? Purchase two higher capacity drives? Purchase a new (obsolete) NAS with the transcoding capabilities? Specifically the Synology DS423+/DS920+.

I also am reading you can reenable the transcoding capabilities of the newer models.

#2

If you want to stay with Synology, then take advantage of Synology Hybrid RAID (SHR). This will allow you to have drives that are different sizes. In your new 4 bay NAS initially set it up with one 8TB drive configured for SHR. Now copy everything over to the new NAS. Your old NAS is still fully redundant, your new NAS has no redundancy at this time. Once everything is on the new drive, remove one drive from the old NAS and place it in the new nas and expand the array onto the including the 4TB drive. You still have a full copy of your data on the old NAS and it can continue to run channels to entertain you while all this copying and expansion takes place. When the expansion is complete your new NAS is redundant. Move channels to the new NAS. Then add the drive from the old NAS to the new NAS and expand the array. If you leave the 4th bay open, when you need more storage in the future, you can add another larger drive and expand onto it and then remove via software (evacuate) one of the smaller drives leaving a slot open for future expansion and always having redundancy in your array.

New model v old model. A newer model will provide longer support while the older one provides the hardware encoding you desire. An alternative to running Channels DVR on the NAS is to run it on a PC that has an Intel processor. Right now new computers are expensive due to component shortages yet you could use an old computer or laptop which will be the most energy efficient option. Windows, Linux or even Mac OS, whatever is your liking. Attach to your NAS via an SMB share and you get the advantage of the easy storage management and expansion of a NAS and Channels DVR running on a simple setup.

#3

I started with a Synology DS220+ with two 6TB drives, thinking that I'd never need that much space. Well, I outgrew that setup within the first year. As @Morris_Altman suggests, the Synology Hybrid Raid system offers the greatest flexibility and good redundancy as well.

As an upgrade, I purchased a DS920+ with two 20TB drives. When I first set it up, I made it an exact copy of my original file system and contents, and set the smaller NAS aside.

Eventually, I came to understand that there are some files which I cannot ever risk losing. This includes vital documents, and irreplaceable pictures and videos. I live in a high fire-risk area. Even with file system redundancy in my main NAS, there was the risk of losing everything in a catastrophic event. So, I moved the smaller NAS off-site, and use it to back up all of the most critical files. I keep a subset of these file folders synchronized between the two locations using Synology Drive ShareSync. As I add, edit, or delete these files on one NAS, they stay exactly the same on the other.

The newer, larger NAS hosts my Channels DVR system and media files. It also has my PLEX server for photos and music. After two additional years, I added a third 20TB drive, and now, two additional years have elapsed and I'm maxed out again. I still have room for another drive, and if needed, could even add more with a DX series expansion unit.

Regarding the hardware encoding. That was considered when I purchased these original Synology units. They are easily overwhelmed by intensive processing. I find that there is no chance of successfully running Prismcast. I am now looking at moving all of my containers and media server programs to a more powerful desktop or mini computer which can easily handle the video processing. This will leave the NAS systems for data and media storage, which is what they are really intended to do.