Hi everyone!!

I am looking for a NAS device to store home data and support remote work. My main needs are automatic backup, access from multiple devices, and high security. I am confused between brands like Synology and QNAP. Can the forum advise me which one is suitable for beginners? Also, do factors like number of hard drives, RAM, and CPU have a big impact on performance?

Thanks in advance!

I'm thinking of building/buying my first NAS. In addition I've been toying with the idea of setting up powerful (at that budget limit) local LLM for personal use-cases like file/photo management, automation and to start building small projects with AI. So my options are as below:

1. build a cheap low spec NAS + connect an RTX 3090 with my laptop via thunderbolt eGPU
2. Build a home server in a Jonsbo N5 or equivalent with powerful mobo, cpu, lots of ram and a powerful GPU and also include a bunch of SATA and NVME for the NAS combined
3. buy a NAS and buy a mini PC and hook to an eGPU dock if needed
4. buy the Zettlab D6 Ultra, and use their AI features and give up on a more powerful local AI for now.

Your help and recommendation would be really appreciated.

Many thanks
Elvis

I've been a Synology user (first NAS) for a few years. Purchased their low-end DS220J with two 2TB Iron Wolf HDDs. Have them raided (RAID 1) and an external 300MB external USB SSD attached (which I just use as a backup of my media folders). So I have 1.8TB of usable storage in the NAS, which is fine for the below that I've listed.

Need to move on since that NAS comes with only 512MB of RAM and not upgradeable. Tried installing Home Assistant, but no go. Simple movement within the DSM software drags, etc.

So I purchased a UGREEN 2-bay DXP2800 and a 16GB RAM card (which will replace the 8MB card that comes installed (only one RAM slot unfortunately)).

What I have and want going forward, in order of importance:

1. Raid 1 for the two drives
   
2. Backup of critical local device folders - I have 3 PCs running Linux (Synology uses the desktop app, Drive Sync). So maybe Syncthing? Or does the UGOS Sync & Backup up perform this?
   
3. Plex - current music, movies, etc. on DSM. Running Plexamp on my phone to listen to my library while away, so need remote access
   
4. Shared Contacts - Currently using Synology Contacts to centralize our contacts and their info to print out lists, etc. Seems a Docker app called Radicale that hosts a caldav server may be the way?
   

1. My first choice...use one for read caching and the other for installing maybe Plex or Docker in order to run faster, leaving data on the NAS?
   
2. Raid both and use for read-write caching?
   
3. Use both for extra storage? Which I doubt I'll need
   

I have a QNAP TS-251+. 6 yrs old. Original 1T WD Gold drives. 40k plus hours on drives and old QNAP technology.
-backup files, financial data, store movies, pictures, some music (not much), PLEX for home use and to share via internet with my kids. Also have one camera in place, planning for second - store recordings. My use isn't huge, but I want another six to seven years from a new NAS. I have 1 unused WD Gold 1T drive, two with data (mirrored set in the NAS). -two NVME's as new "drives"? or Sata SSDs? or WD Gold server level drives again? Would like to use my current drives until they die - or is that a bad idea? I have looked at Synology - old technology. QNAP - a little better hardware, used to the OS. UGREEN - too new, no PLEX support. Terramaster - still has software growing pains, but seems much better hardware for future proofing, but struggling software. I have built many PC's but no longer desire to spend hours messing with software configs. No self build

hi,
im following your chanel since i started my home lab (one of the first channels tbh)
i have a x570 (hero maximus) with only the pcix1 slot left and i wanted to add 10gbe.
i saw the owc card but its not avaliablr for me, so i have to ask, is it possible to add adapter to m.2 (1pcie lane) and on it m.2 to 10gbe adapter, will i get the full 10gbe with that configuration?
thanks!

I need to replace my aging Drobo 5D3, as it's showing signs of dying. It is attached to a MacMini via Thunderbolt 3. It hosts file shares and TimeMachine backups for other Macs in the house. It would be nice to find a product that has something like the Beyond RAID feature. Being able to hot swap HDs is a must. Thunderbolt 4 or newer be nice to future proof the enclosure. Must have on device hardware RAID 5, so looking at a four or five bay enclosure with one of the HDs being a hot spare.
I see you have old videos discussing migrations options for people with Drobo hardware, but since then, possibly some better options have been released.
Thanks for your help.

Hello!

Is my device bricked, and how can I go about getting it functioning again?

I was going through a reply to my previous query about connecting a UPS to both my TOS 6.0.577 NAS and PC (thanks for the VERY quick answer previously!) and wanted to reset the system configuration to redo the initial admin account, so I backed up my settings before instructing the NAS to reset its system configuration.

After the 5-minute countdown, it restarts and the front lights are on/active, but there's no network activity coming from the back lights or my network switch after it's done starting up. TNAS Finder can no longer locate my NAS, and I can't access or do anything with it otherwise besides power it down again. I powered it down and up again several times, and there's initial network activity (green/orange lights) before it just dies and sits there.

I have recently purchased a QNAP TS-262 with two WD Red 4TB drives but I am now thinking that should have also utilised the two PCIe slots on the motherboard.

I want to set these up to hold and run the QNAP apps for the NAS

I don’t to get the wrong ones.

Please could you advise which makes and models of NVMe M.2 SSD’s would be right for my model of NAS.

thank you in advance

Hi there, Robbie/Eddie!

Is there a way I could connect a CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD to BOTH my PC and my F4-424 Pro at the same time?

I recently got my NAS up and running, and it has options to detect a connected UPS and power itself down, but my UPS only has the one USB cable that's connected to my PC already. Is there such a thing as a USB-B to 2x USB-A cable that I could buy to connect both devices to my UPS at once, or do I need to use the convoluted NUT solutions I'm seeing online if TOS 6.0 even supports such a thing?

The only other plausible solution I can think of would be to move the NAS to my sister's PC in another room and connect it to the separate UPS she has while networking everything together.

I need to move my media (movies, photos, random files, home movies) files off of a hard drive on my wife's computer. We will be using this as a plex server and a place to store photos. We really need redundancy. I was looking at the QNAP TS-453E-8G-US 4 Bay unit. I selected QNAP since Synology units look under powered and you need to use proprietary drives and ram. Is this the correct choice? I have never had a NAS before so im looking for something fairly easy to use.