I’m planning to get my first nas for uploading picture from iPhones, backing up PCs and I want to dabble in a plex media server or Minecraft server for my kids. Most seem to love synology software, and I keep looking at other prebuilt nas’s but I’m worried the software is too far behind synology. I really like the idea of more ram for the use of application like Minecraft servers or plex. I’ve been looking at $500 for the nas and $500 for hard drives and ram/cache upgrades.

Hello,
First of all, thank you for this amazing website. I would like to get a recommendation from you for NAS (currently biased towards Asustor AS6704T Lockerstor 4 Gen 2 but unsure of software experience). Budget: 1500$ with HDD/SSD
1. Plex Media Server (for 1080p, 4K media with native transcoding capability)
2. Photos / Videos / Documents backup from Google Photos (preferably with a smooth software experience that I can set and forget)
3. Capability to access media content above from anywhere in the world with a router VPN.
4. Relatively fast read/write speeds on NAS, along with redundancy and backups. Not sure if I need SSD write cache?
5. Surveillance / CCTV footage (not yet on Reolink, using "local" baby cameras but plan to switch to reolink soon)
6. Please suggest HDD/SSD and other upgrades (like should I upgrade RAM/NIC right off the bat?) as well to go with the above NAS recommendation. For HDD, I am currently biased towards Seagate Ironclad Pro (2x22TB)

Thanks

Hi! I would like to know what my best plan of action would be in this situation. I'm getting a NAS (Asustor AS7110T) to use strictly for multimedia. For example, I'd like to know if I have a volume for just movies and the volume gets full and I have to make another volume for more movies, filling up the hard drive and the movie collection bleeds over to another hard drive. Will I still be able to access the movies and will they be seen by a program like Plex Media Server if they're in multiple drives/volumes? I hope that makes sense. Thank you in advance for your help. I'm new to NAS and am trying to learn as much as I can so I don't make any beginner's mistakes.

Dear Nas Compares,

I have a Qnap TVS-871T setup in raid 5 over 10gbe for video editing.

On a recent power shortage my Qnap has failed & whilst it powers on it doesn't boot.

Could I purchase another Qnap 8 bay from yourself and add my existing drives?

Any help / guidance would be much appreciated.

Regards
Gary
07970 509894

Looking to buy a NAS unit used almost exclusively to store and play ripped UHD/BD .iso files (currently 81 UHD/ 164 BD and growing . I have Verizon FIOS 1GB internet and the NAS will be located in an upstairs office with an Apple Mac Book Pro laptop and the NAS will be connected to a Fios E3200 WiFi extender (only way I can get a hardwired connection). As of now, I will play ripped movies through the Plex app on my Apple TV 4K connected to my LG OLED. But very soon, I plan to get a dedicated digital movie player like the R_volution PlayerOne 8K media player for my home theater. Any reccos are greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I love all your videos by the way, I have watched all of your Synology DS1522+ videos and my head is spinning :-)

I'm a photographer and am considering the Synology DS1522+, I have a 10Gig network and want to max out the NAS, i.e. cache, ram, etc... to make sure I have all my work and photos backed up. Until now all I've use has been DAS and I have several 2 and 4 bay.

I also want to create a VM that is an exact copy of my current system, is that possible. This way, if my system ever fails, I can log into the VM and continue to work while I replace the hardware (bare metal restore) to later download the VM copy to the new hardware, is this possible?

I also want to secure it to prevent any kind of ransomware, currently I have 3 VLAN's in my network, this way my systems have a good level of protection.

Anyway, I've talked enough, can you help me with all this and what is your consultation fee? Thank you and wish you a great day.

DM

Hello, I am a teleradiologist planning to work remotely this summer. Thus, I need to purchase a travel router and 5G SIM card to connect my travel workstation so I can access the PACS etc. I see the router you recommend for travel came out in 2021. Are there any downsides to it being a few years old? Do you still stick by this rec? Thank you!

just about to spend my dough.

Wanting a NAS as a plex server only ...

If im ok with the QNAP software, is the TS262 better for transcoding 4K than the DS224+ ?

Hi,

After doing a lot of reading of your site I've decided to purchase my first NAS (DS1522+) but I'm not sure which UPS I should purchase to protect it. I don't plan to plug any other devices into the UPS so ideally want the cheapest possible option that will do the job - and perhaps has a replaceable battery. For the moment, the NAS will only have 2x 12tb Seagate Ironwolf drives installed but I want to have enough headroom for all 5 bays to be used eventually.

I'd greatly appreciate your advice!

Thanks,

Rishi

I'm looking for a NAS that will give me the most storage and best PLEX experience in my home and remotely on mobile devices / computers.

I'm assuming 3.5 HDD drives will get me the most storage. I think I'd like at least 4 bays. If I increase the number of bays, will I get other advantages, i.e. better processor, more RAM expandability, better software options, etc...?

I would like stable 4k playback. I've looked at some Synology, but heard the processor isn't the best for media on some models. Maybe others are perfect?

I'd like to RAID the drive bays with a reduncancy (or two). I'm also curious how far away from my router I can put a NAS drive and how I would put one in a separate room.

I've also heard it is a good idea to run the OS on a SSD drive and some NAS have both HDD and SSD drives. Is that correct and should I look for one of those models to run the OS and if so, will that affect the RAID options?

If there are options just above my budget, I'll consider them.