Hi!
I'm looking for a 4bay NAS to
1) store and edit my photos on
2) run Plex, got a modest collection of movies, a bit of music and audiobooks

The Synology 920+ and 923+ are out because of their comparatively worse connections (and lack of GPU in the 923, I will be using hardware acceleration via PlexPass)

The 4 bay Lockerstor 2 and the ts464 cost the same in my region, and have very similar specs as far as I can tell.
The asustor is metal and hence a little louder, but has more m.2 slots, looks less appealing, but has that LCD screen.

I don't care about surveillance nor AI-anything.

Which way would you recommend I go?

Hi,

I am looking at getting an m.2 SSD for my Asus E410K laptop as it's existing (only 60gb) is almost full simply from the laptop and os alone.

I need something that will allow me to run VMware workstation player on it and a few other cyber security based programs and applications aswell, data recovery etc.

Are most m.2 ssd cross compatible with all devices?

This is the one I am currently looking at purchasing:
https://www.amazon.com/SAMSUNG-MZ-V8V1T0B-AM-980-SSD/dp/B08V83JZH4/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=m.2%2Bssd&qid=1670116610&sr=8-1&th=1

I am planning building my own "NAS" with UnRAID (using an SSD write cache) and is trying to figure out what will be the most quiet disk configuration as I am forced to have the "NAS" in a room used for other things.
I have looked at some of your noice tests but have a hard time drawing conclusions from it.
As I will use a write cache I do not care much about the noice when the disk are writing and I expect my reads to be sporadic (mostly when watching Plex or doing backups) so idle noice is what I am most conserned with.
I am also trying to figure out if a smaller number of large drives (say initially 3 x 20 TB with one as parity) or several smaller (say 5 x 10 TB) will make more noice as larger typical "enterprise" drives are mentioned as making more noice?!
I am not in need for any enterprise features like encryption.
In particular drives that say every minute makes some periodic noice evewn at idel would be very annoying I think...

Any thoughts?

Hello mate,
Thanks to your video I bought the latest QNAP with upgraded RAM kit and 2x Nvme ssd for caching. Would you consider doing an updated video on how to install NAS upgrades, and what order to do it in?

Also looking for tips on best practise security set up for QNAP that still enables remote access.

Thanks very much
Ariel from Australia

Hi I’m looking to buy a Synology Nas, need some advice on the best device for my needs. What I require is:

• Capable Of Running Plex With Transcoding

• Ability to create Virtual Machines

• Something Powerful

• Anything between 4-6 Bay Nas

• Ability to backup remotely to another offsite Synology Nas

• Multiple User Access

I hope you can help me pick the best synology nas for my above requirements. Look forward to hearing back from you. I’m a big fan of yours on YouTube.

Hi,
I am currently running a ds216J that i got second hand as i wanted to play around with a NAS to see what I can do. I have had this for 2 years now, I use it for a plex server which only contains and probably will only ever contain 1080p content for the foreseeable future, this is only and issue when i go to play the content on my phone and some TV's that I come into a can't transcode issue which can be quite an issue sometime preventing me from using plex. I also use it for general important documents to ensure they won’t be lost and for family photos which i use synology photos for currently. I want an upgrade as i currently have 2x 4Tb HDD running SHR and want the option to increase storage down the line without replacing any drives but more importantly i want something with some more power to be able to run docker containers to attempt to run a password manager, a few security cameras in house and to run some smart home devices and NFC triggers and a few other scrips. I would also want to be able to run this as a Minecraft server sometime, if possible, on hardware at this price. It will normally only be one person accessing it at once but maybe 2 plex streams at the same time. I have been looking at the DS920+ for some time now but with their new release of the ds923+ i am unsure what to pick as i have never used dockers contains or security cameras before as they are not supported on my current NAS so have no idea how many resources they require. so do not know if i should go for the DS923+ with its higher clock speed and therefore more powerful, or if i should go with the DS920+ as it has a IG for plex (but am unsure if that is even needed for 1080p content) or its additional CPU cores to help run do multiple applications at once. Also, to note I do not require crazy read and write speeds I am happy running it with a 1Gbe connecting assuming that connection can manage these things listed above simultaneously (for the most part). I have also been looking at the QNAP ts – 464 as it seems like a better choice compared to the DS920+ but come to the same issue of the clock speed and IG as before but also because of the software as I am used to DSM and use a lot of their apps and well as it is easy to use but the QNAP is without a doubt the best choice for me I am open to using it.
Any information and help you can give me towards making this choice would be much appreciated and thank you for the content you produce it is extremely informative.
Thanks,
Charlie

For this NAS configuration what is the best RAID choice?
NAS - TerraMaster F4-423 / 3 Seagate 8Gb/s hard drives

Hi, i would like to ask for advice for NAS option for raid 6 (backup/edit) for videos shot in prores raw. If 10gb ethernet is enough? thanks

Hi Rob,

Thank you so much for your NAS videos! They are unbelievably helpful. Still, I am torn on what system to consider for my photography business. I am new and growing in the Atlanta area @stephenguyphotography on Instagram, and would hope to have a NAS with which I could start now and grow over the next five years or more. While I don't do video much right now, I have clients who request it and anticipate more. So video will likely be important. I do travel and the ability to send my files to my NAS and edit them from that point, including videos, is important. So I'm torn on the system to purchase, seemingly between Synology and QNAP. My income from my day job is decent and I want a system that is great now and will grow with me over time. I'm drawn towards QNAP for its superior hardware, to Synology for its superior software, but ultimately, bandwidth may be king. I am not a coder (but my brother is and I have a sympathetic brain), so I might be open to some software headaches if QNAP is the way to go. Although I do not need it now, I am not opposed to looking at an 8 bay system. What are your thoughts? And thank you so much for your consideration. I really appreciate it.

Hello,
I posted up debating either the Synology 920+ or the 923+ ... because the 923+ is newer, it is probably the on that I am looking to get :/ 
I have looked at the Synology compatibility list for the 923+ for the Seagate Ironwolf Pro drives; however, they're not listed ... but the Seagate Ironwolf are ... 
Are the former not listed because they're doing testing and probably will be compatible (Seagate ST4000NE001 IronWolf Pro) , or are they actually not compatible?
I only assume they would be compatible because they are for the 920+ ... 

What are they key differences between Seagate IronWolf and the pro - all I can see is the RPM .. some say lower RPM is better than the 7200 ... but others say the pro HDD (whcih are 7200) have a long life expectancy ... 

(as I am completely unsure if I'm getting the right machine with the 923+; I'm not sure if this is a sign to ditch the 923+ and get the 920+) hehe 
I think the 923+ is the right move as it's newer and will cope with plex things ...

one thing I'd also like to ask is about 'media-side' transcoding?
I recall in a video NASCompares (?Robbie) says that you can buy a 'lifetime pass' which would help out a 923+ NAS if it were to struggle (presumably this would be transcoding to then send/stream to a device?) ... 

Say I didn't have the pass , so the NAS was relied on; would the 923+ struggle sending the stream to devices (say a TV / iphone) which is linked on the same LAN  -- or is the problem rooted with streaming / sending the data via the net?