Hi NAS Compares Team

I was trying to figure out how I will start with my first nass im dpi g photography and graphic design at the moment I only have 2Tb of data but it’s growing fast I was thinking of future proof mx business and get a 8 Bay
ds1825+ But I wasn’t sure with how many drives to start is it better to start with 4x16tb drives in SHR2 this ist mostly for archiving and maybe for editing photos not sure yet. But I wasn’t sure if it’s better to start with a SHR1 or SHR2 for the start also not sure if it’s a good idea to fill all bays at the start or only scale as I use up more space as I think filling all bays and not using the actual space will just wear down drives I’m mostly not even using. It really be great to hear your guys feedback on this topic and what you recommend. Not sure if I should go save with SHR2 where I can have two drive failures. I also will backup my archive to Backblaze.

Thanks guys looking forward to your response.

Hi! I have a QNAP TS-451+ NAS with four 8TB disks. The person that set it up was not very helpful. They set up Apple Time Machine to keep taking space forever and I don't want that. I have copied all of the actual data (not Time Machine) onto a separate external drive and either want to wipe the Time Machine data so I have space again (if I need to wipe it completely and start over that's OK). Then I want to set up a back up of my laptop as well as redundancies for the actual data on the NAS.

Please help! I know this is a powerful device and I hope if someone helps me set it up correctly I can use it to its full power.

Thanks!

I'm feeling a little overwhelmed by all of the options for a NAS.

I'm a freelance video editor. I've used G RAID drives in the past, but one just failed. Currently it's a RAID 10 setup at 18TB and I've been using smaller SSDs since. I am considering getting more SSDs and just backing up projects to dropbox when finished with them, or getting a NAS setup, but unsure which route to take. Any advice is much appreciated on which setup would work good for my situation.

I don't love the clunkyness of a big NAS station taking up space in my office, and for when I need to go on the road. But I'm open to options. I edit on a macbook pro, and have a caldigit hub to connect everything to.

I've seen SSD NAS setups, but don't know if that's a better option than spinning drives. I just need a solid solution moving forward.

Nic

Hi Robbie,

Thanks for all the work you do—your reviews have been a great help.

I’m seeing a repeatable issue on the Aoostar WTR MAX with two Samsung 980 PRO NVMe drives in a mirrored ZFS pair. When both drives are in the ×2 tray slots, one often drops and is marked REMOVED, leaving the mirror degraded. Moving a drive to the furthest ×1 slot seems to help, but this isn’t confirmed.

I’ve tried the Linux/Unraid PCIe power tweaks (nvme_core.default_ps_max_latency_us=0 pcie_aspm=off pcie_port_pm=off), but the issue remains. A friend with the same hardware sees the same behaviour. Aoostar say they will ship an updated M.2 bracket in November, hinting at a design fault, and also sent me an untested BIOS, which I avoided as they could not confirm its details—only that it targeted NVMe issues.

Since you reviewed this unit, could you check if this behaviour can be reproduced? I can share logs and steps if useful.

Your independent insight would be very helpful.

Kind regards,
Ben

Currently running:
Dell Optiplex 7050
Yottamaster DAS connected by USB 3.03 - 5 - 3TB drives
2.5GB network switch
Run Proxmox
ZFS for my NAS pool through Proxmox
Proxmox I run a container for SMB shares
I run Ubuntu as my Plex server and maybe some other Dockers.
Bottle neck is the USB connected DAS. I need to get to SATA ports on the mother board with a case that can support a minimum of 5 drives. I have 5 more 3TB drives I could use.

Use: Store extensive movues/TV shows library, Picture, and maybe offer cloud storage.

Plex is making changes and I wonder if I need to gear up my NAS to do hardware transcoding. Or do I split the two. A low energy NAS along with a Jellyfin/Plex server with a good video card for transcoding.

Other computers I have:
Lenovo IdeasCentre Mini with a i5 13th gen and 32GB of RAM
An older MacBook Air with an M1 chip

I would really appreciate some guidance.

Have Synology 416+ but with raid 1
Want to move to raid 5
Was using macrium reflect but they are changing to subscription model so decided to look at ways to get more secure backup and raid 5?
Have not used Synology backup function and do not want to get into a new Synology that is going to require subscription
Looked at 4 bay Synology terramaster qnap ugreen as author and two others. Ruled out Terra master when realized it was Chinese for security in Canada

Had ruled out qnap because of your comments on dated equipment and then late last night decided to search to see if they had any new releases and found the new product line.

Was nervous about ugreen but figured software changes would be easy to deal with if hardware options were better. Ruled out asustor because of noise and power consumption.

Will be scanning and uploading tons of family photos (guessing about a thousand in high resolution)going back to the 1800s so want great reliable storage Have never trusted.

Looking for a low power, quite plug and play solution NAS for home. Primarily for photo backup from Macbook & iPhone, some video & music but that isnt essential. PS I hate seaguls ;-). Big fan of your channel.

Hello, I have recently purchased and set up a Beelink Me Mini NAS running ZimoOS and 4x4tb m.2 cards in a RAID 5 configuration (12tb).
This is about as far as I’ve got and as far as my knowledge goes.
Would it be possible to pay for about 1 hrs one on one lesson to help me set up all the file bits etc. I’m currently adding my movies and plan to use Jellyfish for them.
I’m also adding all my files and definitely need help on how I set up all my files to sync between my Mac and the Beelink. Can I replace iCloud Drive?
Currently my Beelink is connected via Ethernet to my UniFi router and access to my Mac is over WiFi.

have you reviewed any DIY NAS motherboards that have an SFP+ adapter built in? I thought you held one up when you were reviewing a N100 DIY NAS, but I haven't seen a review on it, or I just cant find it.

I do fiber optic cabling and having a SFP+ port is just more flexible for me.

Hi Huys -

I have little out of the norm question for me and I'm just looking for the best direction here. With the latest plex issue that came down this week I have now decided to explore jellyfish. I have it set up and running locally on my Unraid set up on my MeMini (Thank you Robbie, you sold me the second I got done watching the video). It's working insanely well locally.

I would love to get my parents who are using plex right now onto this remotely. I've searched tons of videos so far when it comes to the set up using unraid and registered for a free domain.

My question is if I have Tailscale (which I do) can I just use that and have my parents connect via that if I set them up as a user in jellyfin and then they affectively connect up in a similar way as they do with plex now? I know I have to use the infuse app since they use an Apple TV but am I over simplifying this or could it possibly be that simple?

Thanks as always for your help on this.

Rob