ASK NC

Hi ,

i love your videos and helped me so much but i need to ask about my first nas
because i am bit confused with a)model of nas for my needs and b)hdd's choice  


Can you please help me decide?

First of all i dont have data that if lost i will be destroyed BUT i dont
want to lose my data if possible so i am looking for a reasonable option for at least 4 bay NAS
so i can have one disk for parity for redundancy and be a bit future proof.
And maybe then a cloud backup option of some sensitive data like documents or some
photos i dont want to lose.


My NAS is to have it mainly for

1)photos to back up from my pc's and mobile (iphone)
2)Documents from work on my laptop
3)Big storage for movies and series so I can play them from my laptop or my
home pc localy through NAS (no plex just use the nas as a hard drive to play movies/series) on a pc.
4)Full Backup of my 2 pc's and my laptop (right now i use acronis twice a month if i
dont forget it ).

The amount of data I currently have is around 4.5 TB so i am thinking to start
with 2x 12TB WD Red Plus (lower noise from pro) since Gold are not supported officialy
from synology on 923+ or other models i checked.

Disks is another issue i would love to help me if possible since i trust WD  (WDDA is an issue but since i can
disable it its fine for me..) for years because I have disks 9 years old working fine and only once i lost a wd disk
years ago.
I was thinking for Gold but the compatibility issues with synology bothers me
since you get a Warning/Danger message all the time if disks are not supported am i right?

So if gold is not an option then red plus is the only way to go since pro is more noisy .
Sorry to say but i dont trust seagate and noisewise are more db's for my living room.

So any advice here would be helpful before i go out and buy disks!!!


So for the Nas unit i am considering Synology DS923+ even with an amd cpu, but 4gb of ram? seriously,
but since RAM KINGSTON KSM26SES8/8HD costs 29 euros will it be ok for the system or i will always have
a warning/danger message for the memory.

Other option is Synology DS1522+ since 8gb are ok and +1 bay for about 150euros
(the price i have for DS923+ from official reseller here is 708 euros for DS923+ and 858 euros for DS1522+)
is a better deal since RAM KINGSTON KSM26SES8/8HD costs here 29 euros for 923+? 
Another issue was the nvme cache and not a pool option for 1522 , after i found your video about it
if i understand correctly if i dont use Synology nvme its only for cache even in DS923+ .
So since i never gonna buy Synology nvme with that price, cache is the way for both ds923 & ds1522+.

My question here is if i use Samsung or Intel or any other nvme vendor will my SYnology work ok or i will
always have a Question mark or Danger/Warning message for the nvme?

And finally the big question because the hardware on Synology is always outdated and no 2.5gbe is it a
good choise or i should go with something else ?
The only issue with Qnap is security since they have better hardware but go online is a risk.
And if i go for synology should i get DS923+ with kingston memory upgrade to 8gb for 29 euros or go for
DS1522+ already with 8gb and +1 bay for 130 euros more is it worth it?.
DIY and unraid was a solution but i dont want another pc working all the time since electricity bill is a big issue for me.


Thank you for any advice and sorry for all those questions but since i am buying first time and you
are the only one i found on youtube with so nice video's explaining almost everything you are the
only one that i will follow your advice .

Cheers!

Any Celeron model is great for multimedia tasks, whether locally or remotely. However, Ryzen-based models are perfectly fine for local use, although remote access may be limited to 1080p videos.

The most popular choices for HDDs are WD Red Plus drives or IronWolf drives. Pro and Gold drives, while designed for enterprise use, tend to be very loud. Still, they offer a higher life expectancy. In my experience, even regular NAS drives at home can last up to 10 years. If you opt for Gold or other drives not on the compatibility list, you may receive a warning message in DSM, but they will still function.

For home use, 4GB of RAM is usually sufficient. Additional RAM is only necessary if you plan to run VMs or Docker. If needed, you can add extra RAM via the free slot on the NAS. However, adding more RAM without reason won't speed up the NAS, and third-party RAM won't trigger warning messages.

NVMe cache is only required for resource-intensive tasks like running a WWW, database server, VMs, or Docker. Regular media use does not require caching. You can use third-party RAM for cache. When choosing NVMe for caching, pay attention to reliability ratings such as DWPD/MTBF. Here are a few models and their ratings:

970 Pro - 0.66DWPD
Synology SNV3400 - 0.68DWPD
Seagate FireCuda 510 - 0.7 DWPD
Seagate IronWolf 525 - 0.7 DWPD
Seagate FireCuda 530 - 0.7 DWPD
Seagate PS5 Game drive - 0.7 DWPD
Seagate FireCuda 520 - 0.9 DWPD
WD Red SN700 - 1.0DWPD
Regarding 2.5gbe LAN, it is only useful if you have a 2.5g router and LAN port on other devices at home or the office. Otherwise, there's no point in having it. In such cases, you can use a USB 2.5gbe dongle to achieve the desired speed.

I decided to go for Synology 1522+ with 2x WD Red Plus 12TB .
One linux vm for sure will be used for now and 2 reolink cameras so i beleive i will be ok.

Something i forgot to ask if you see my post again is about surveillance is it wise to buy one  WD purple to create a
different volume for the cameras better than using the Main Nas volume with wd plus hdd's?

Thank you !!!