ASK NC

Hi folks,

I'm going to migrate my current DS1817+ to a new TVS-h874-i5-32G, because I need more CPU for 4k transcoding (Plex server) and for some virtual machines.
The idea is to have almost 100Tb space in the NAS, and a cold backup offline with the 10 10Tb hdd I'm using now in the DS1817+).

What I'm think is ... if for my scenario is better QTS or QuTS.

QuTS forces me to take 10 x 20Tb hdd, while with QTS I should start with 6 hdd, then add 2 hdd when needed. On the other hand the big advantage of manage quicker the swap of a faulty part is huge.
Media blocks (Music, Movies, Photos) won't take any advantage from ZTS features right? I won't use deduplication nor compression.
But what about VMs blocks? Better to use compression or not?
Last question: cache. Shall I have a very small cache to improve Plex database (not the movies themselves) and VMs? shall I say to Qnap "use caching only for that particular block"?

Firstly, you are correct that QuTS may be a better option for your needs as it is optimized for higher-end business workloads such as virtualization, which may be beneficial for your use case. However, it is important to note that QuTS supports fewer apps than QTS, so you will need to make sure the apps you require are available on QuTS before making your decision.

Regarding your question about ZFS features, media files such as music, movies, and photos won't benefit from ZFS's data reduction features like compression and deduplication. However, virtual machines and other data types that are highly compressible may benefit from ZFS's compression feature. The level of compression you choose will depend on the type of data and the performance requirements of the application, so you may need to experiment with different compression levels to find the right balance.

Regarding your question about caching, it's generally a good idea to have a cache to improve performance, especially for frequently accessed data like the Plex database and VMs. QNAP offers several types of caching, including SSD cache and read-write cache. For your use case, you may want to consider adding a small SSD cache for the Plex database and VMs, and configure the cache to only cache those specific blocks.

Overall, both QTS and QuTS have their own advantages and it's important to choose the right one based on your specific needs. QuTS may be a better option for higher-end workloads such as virtualization, but you will need to make sure the apps you require are available on QuTS. Also, you may want to experiment with ZFS's compression feature and consider adding an SSD cache for frequently accessed data.