NAS that i can store my family photos and stream some plex.

[Enquiries]

Hey guys love your youtube chanel! Great Work!


I want to know your opinion. I have a 2 person household, and i would love to have a NAS that i can store my family photos and stream some plex. it just one user at time because my wife dont know how to use NASes. What synology model do you recomend me? Its worth to get DS220+ or will DS220J enough? or maybe DS218play?

HDD speaking my plan is ton get a 4TB now and another later. No RAID config needed cause i already implemented a 3.2.1 rule of my important documents.

[TribalHound]

If it was just data storage and backing up phones / tablets / PCs for the two of you, then the DS220J would suit you just fine. The fact that your wife doesn't know how they work is kind of not important, because she will expect you to know and configure her backups, use the media store for stuff she wants to watch and trust it to safekeep her photos.

You could argue you don't need Raid, but without it you have no recovery of the NAS, it's configuration, any scheduled / automated backups it runs, or the data it stores when that disc fails. I'd argue ALL NAS need Raid. Without it, it's just not worth the risk, since all HDDs fail eventually.

The fact you want Plex realistically rules out the DS220J and whilst the DS218play might cover your immediate needs, there really isn't any headroom for the future. Sure it'll probably cope with the volume of data you need it for, but the RAM isn't upgradeable and that Reltek CPU, well it just isn't the same as an Intel.

I'd advise going for the DS220+ - but watch this clip
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UMQZTwm...ASCompares
There's quite a few DS220+ specific videos on the channel.

At 2 years old, it's quite likely that this will be replaced before too long, but as a basic NAS for domestic use it packs a small punch. It's certainly worthy of your money as a lower level entry to Synology & NAS that you can learn a great deal from. Additionally, if you get hooked on NAS and decide to get a bigger one later, it'll double up as a very handy backup device for your Primary NAS or as a simple backup for all your other devices.

Hope this helps.