Hi Nascompares,

I bought QNAP TS-464 weeks ago (this NAS was way over my budget, but I just love the hardware on this one)
Because of this, I can only buy M.2 ssd and RAM at the moment and use my 2 x External HD as storage via usb (all my files are here)
Could I get your advice on below?

I'm saving money to buy:
2 x M.2 NVme 2280
2 x 8GB RAM
4 X 10TB WD Red Plus

I'll mainly use it for Plex, photo sync, QuMagie, and personal storage.
For my purchase, I have options below:

Option 1:
2 x 8GB RAM
2 x M.2 NVme (500GB each)

Option 2:
2 x 8GB RAM
1 x M.2 NVme (1TB) - buy additional 1TB SSD later on.
Note: this 1TB is $18 cheaper than 2x 500GB

Option 3:
1 x M.2 NVme (500GB) - buy additional 500GB later on
1 x WD Blue 2TB 2.5" Internal SSD

Questions:
1. Is it possible to run QTS on just 1 M.2 NVme SSD? your article on this says that it requires two?
2. For my use-case, can I get away on just buying WD Blues instead? If I'm not going to do any heavy loads on this NAS?

Thanks a lot

Hey NC,

This might be a neat video idea.

Background:
I have a Synology DS2415+ (12-bay tower) that I had filled with 10 TB Ironwolf drives (minus 2x 1TB SSDs for cache). As is expected, I started having a few failures over the years, and Seagate's RMA policy is to send the next higher capacity drive that is available in stock. For two of the occurrences, they sent 12 TB Ironwolf drives. This got me thinking, I want to think long term about expansion as my needs have grown, but I wasn't necessarily at the 'upgrade platform' stage at the time. I stumbled upon a new hard drive vendor (might be a re-label) called Water Panther. Usually their prices are very good compared to Seagate or WD, however I see prices have normalized a bit across the board. Water Panther occasionally lists refurbished drives that have deep discounts.

I purchased 3 Water Panther DAS SATA drives, which claim to be compatible with NetApp disk shelves, Synology RS and RX series, etc. I can attest that my Synology 2015 DS platform with an ARM processor is happy with them (green checkmarks).

Semi recently, I did upgrade my platform temporarily to a 2021 Rack Station RS2421+ when they were brand new, only to discover the show-stopping drive lock; didn't even like my Ironwolfs (yes, I saw your videos on that topic). I did see a video recently regarding the slight loosening of restrictions on non-Synology drives.

If you think it is worth your time, could you do a video on Water Panther drives and how some of the new platforms handle them?

I absolutely love the management, applications and functionality of Synology. I'm anxious to upgrade to a platform with 10G+, a better processor and is rack mountable, but I don't know what to expect when I bring these drives over even with the loosening of restrictions.

Use Case:
Mostly home user, massive Plex collection, DS2415+ sitting next to a GPU backed Dell R720 running Proxmox. Since I don't trust Water Panther as much as IronWolf, I am using 2 drive fault tolerance and keeping a cold spare. With the price of the refurbs, I can't beat it. Anything critical is backed up to 2 cloud environments, anyway.

Hello, I am looking to buy a NAS server for my personal data and primarily to store/back up personal photos and videos instead of committing to a subscription-based solution through a large company such as Dropbox, Apple's iCloud etc. I have especially looked at some of the Synology models since I have been recommended them from a friend and they seem to be the overall best choice in regard to UI and reliability. In this regard, my primary concern is to be as "future proof" as possible (even though I know there ain't genuinely such thing as being completely future-proofed given that technology is being developed at an almost alarming rate?) while also having the ability to expand my storage in the future when/if needed. The NAS may also be capable of occasionally streaming music/movies if it won't make it too expensive.

Looking forward to hearing from you

Best regards, Victor Lorenzen

Hi Robbie, Hope you are well. As you may recall we have spoken in the past on a few occasions & I donated to your coffee pot etc..

I have a quick question re SSD speed etc..

In process of building 2 or 3 Desktop machines using AMD 5600G processor -PCIe 3 & motherboard is ASUS TUF B550M which has PCIe 4.0. So will I see benefit from Samsung Evo 980 Pro (speed (7000Mbits/s terms of Boot up speeds etc.. or should I use 970 EVO Plus (3500Mb/S read speed) . So the Board is PCIe 4 but the AMD processor is unfortunately PCIe 3. (We chose this chip as it has built in Graphics & is good value etc..)

I tried emailing ASUS & Samsung & it either went into a black whole or the ping pong one company would shift it to the other.

Point here is the mother board is PCIe4 & so is the Fast Samsung EVO 980 Pro 1 TB SSD NVMe - PCIe 3 is half the speed of PCIe4 so will I see benefit in boot up speed etc. if we buy the more expensive Samsung 980 Pro SSD NVMe.M.2 . when CPU is PCIe 3, - thanks

Look forward to your pearls of wisdom & then I will add to coffee pot etc.

Adrian

Hi please can you tell me can you mix a 16 terrabit ironwolf nas harddrive with a 16 terrabit ironwolf pro nas harddrive in a synology DS920?
The reason I ask is the pro is cheaper than the basic nas drive
Regards James

What Wifi 6 dongle can I use with the QNAP TS-453e? Well, when I get it, it's on backorder so I want to be ready when it comes. I have watched many of your videos before buying my first nas, thanks for being there. I am going to start out with two 8tb drives in a Raid5 configuration till I can add two more of the same. Plex is a definite, I will be waiting for the qnap ts-453e Plex vid. Then I will be learning to do other things on it, never had a server. Thanks for any info.

Hi guys,
What Nas do you advice to use with plex?

My budget is around 250-300€

Thanks for your help

Transportation company I run from home. Opened up a freight brokerage. Eventually move to an office. We dont do any videos/editing . I do want to put some of the apps on there to centralize it like quickbooks and other software. Most of what i store or paperwork files like 2 to 6 page packets, pics of Bill of ladings.
I know price can benefit you and actually be cheaper to step up a little than down grading. Refreshing myself with the storage area most of experience is routers firewall. So I of course can go with a good starter for now then thinking maybe a rack system later with growth. included is my number or anyway if you would like to speak if thats better. Appreciate the content and your help.

Tim

Hi Robbie and Eddie and everyone in the NASCompares Community

I recently bought a Hue Bridge, but as soon as I connect it to my router and network (wired connection) it breaks my Plex Media Server. For some reason it instantly disables the remote access.

I run my Plex Media Server on a DS1019+ - which before I got the Hue Bridge was working great.
I had to manually port forward the server - which I managed having very little idea what I was doing :-)
I am on Hyperoptic, with an IPV4 for a static IP address.

I had a look online for advice, but as I am nowhere near being a network savvy expert, I was really unsure how to fix it.

I would really appreciate some advice and instructions on how to fix this, please.

I'll happily buy coffees.

Kind regards,
Simon

I'm thinking of getting the Synology DS420+ but I'm a little worried about HDD and NVMe compatibility. Can I use any HDD and any NVMe? Is the compatibility list on synology site true to the letter or can I deviate?