Aquiring First NAS ?

Hello,

I'm looking to buy a NAS.
After long consideration and watching some of your videos again I thought of buying the ds1621+, but... when I enquired about a NAS at a local store they said the ds620slim would be better suited because of the streaming software on it and the pricerange.

I don't know what to do, what to get. Maybe you could help with some advice.

What do I need it for:
- Picture library
- file server(documents, excell files, photoshop and aftereffects files/projects,...)
- we have a big dvd/bluray collection to ingest, family/vacation videos(possibly editing-if possible on NAS with the rpm restrictions 5400rpms)
- iTunes media storage. I want to use it to save the library on so I can access it by computer without needing to attach a external hdd to my laptop.
- We'd like the possibility to watch the videos on our flatscreen tv, tablets, laptop,... I looked at Plex. Looks good but the clerck at the store told me that synology has a streaming app of its own. on iOS it does not get a lot of points.

I watched your test video on the ds1621+ with 4K material. I don't know if we'd have video with 200Mbps bitrate.

about the storage capacity.
I was first looking at 4TB drives but that seems less and less an option if I count the load of ext drives I have at home. we already have around 6-7TB worth of matrial to store/transfer without the dvd/bluray collection. Are 'PRO' drives nescessary or are basic nas drives enough?

I looked at a 6 bay to use RAID6. I like the peace of mind of the security of 2 discs redundancy.

knowing all this. I'd love to hear your thoughts about this, because it has been a hell of two weeks looking into this.


best regards and really looking forward to your thoughts

Gunther Mertens
storage noob

Synology ds620slim is a fairly weak NAS compared to DS1621+. It is multimedia friendly and silent if filled with SSD drives, but you may consider instead of dual-core but quad-core version DS920+/DS1520+. You can also install SSD in these bigger HDD bays. Or WD Red slow spinning disks would be an option to reduce the noise.Either way, you can use any of these NAS including 1621+ to run an iTunes server and file server with a remote access option. Built-in transcoding chip on slim and 20+ series would allow remote streaming over the internet. But if you stream locally then any NAS will do the job.PRO drives last longer then regular NAS drives but they are much louder.RAID6 or SHR2 is a good option to protect your data.I hope this helps.