PREPURCHASE QUESTIONS

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I have been investigating an updated replacement for an EOL NetGear RN422 initially acquired back in 2019 !

With basic specs of Intel® Atom C3338 Dual Core Processor, 2GB DDR4, Drive Bays 2

No further explanation warranted lol !

 

The two units I put to scrutiny are the Asustor 5404T and the QNAP TS-464 after much scrutiny I decided upon the QNAP TS-464 based on my use case and what appears to be a vastly larger amount of peer based user community resources – albeit understanding the configuration terminology etc. may be a steeper hill to climb !

I am posting this plethora of questions for one simple reason I rest firmly in the school of “Fail to Plan …Plan to Fail” !

 

The hardware configuration I plan on assembling consist of the following and I plan to use the NAS as both a media server for locally stored media files hopefully via Jelly Fin and for serving files for primarily PDF’s MS Office .docx, .pptx, .xlsx etc.

Ø  QNAP TS-464 4-Bay vendor states pre-configured with 8GB of RAM and QTS 5.0.1 Operating System pre-installed , Intel Celeron N5095

Ø  Crucial RAM 16GB Kit (2x8GB)

Ø  Seagate IronWolf Pro 10Tb NAS Internal Hard Drive HDD x 2

Ø  Western Digital 2TB WD Red SN700 NVMe M.2 SSD x 2

 

HERE ARE MY QUESTIONS STATED AS SUCCINCTLY AS POSSIBLE

I have studied to the point of information overload on what might be the best way to configure the drives. In regard to storage pools, volumes thick, thin, static etc. Note I have little to no desire to use caching as I see very little benefit from it due to its primary focus on serving up small files quicker etc.

I am looking for suggestions/advice on QNAP ecosystem configuration/provisioning  based on my stated use?

 

Since the retailer of the QNAP TS-464 is an unpopulated enclosure and the vendor proclaims the OS QTS 5.0.1 is pre-installed this begs to question were exactly is it installed? When I upgrade the memory to 16 GB and install the new drives will I have to reinstall the OS ? or is the OS installed on the 4GB Flash Memory simply requiring me boot it up and add the drives once the OS has loaded ? If the latter is the case is there a wy I can force th OS to load to the NVME’s to use them for the smoother /faster operational speed they might bring to the table ?

 

Is the hardware I have chosen the best use of $$$ seeing my minimalist understanding of what the two NVME’s will bring to the table in terms of daily use would I be better off expanding the HDD capacity to 4 x Seagate IronWolf Pro 10Tb NAS Internal Hard Drives configured in a RAID 5 configuration were I could gain the additional storage/file hosting of 30Tb and utilizing one 10Tb to store parity information while dropping the NVME’s ? Thereby creating and environment with good balance between data protection, increased practical useable capacity, and speed ? I have had very good luck with the Seagate IronWolf PRO’s to date !

 

Thanks in advance for reading my unbelievably lengthy post !

Hey Z1R, you're definitely not alone in getting deep into NAS rabbit holes—planning ahead like this is 100% the way to avoid regrets down the line. You've already done a ton of research and are asking all the right questions, so let's break this down step-by-step and make sure you're getting the most out of your QNAP TS-464 setup.

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✅ YOUR USE CASE
You're planning to:

• Use Jellyfin as a local media server.
  
• Host and serve documents (PDF, DOCX, XLSX, PPTX)—general file sharing.
  
• No need for caching or heavy VM/Container use.
  

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? 1. Is QTS Preinstalled? Where Is It?
Yes, QTS is stored in a dedicated internal 4GB DOM (Disk on Module) inside the QNAP unit. It’s not installed on any drive you add.

So when you add your drives and power up for the first time, QNAP will boot into QTS and guide you through setting up volumes and storage pools.

• No need to reinstall anything manually.
  
• When you upgrade RAM and add disks, QTS will still boot normally from the internal flash.
  

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⚙️ 2. Should You Install QTS on the NVMe Drives?
Short answer: No, and you can't.
QNAP doesn't let you install the OS directly on NVMe SSDs. The system always boots from the internal flash module. However:

• You can use NVMe drives for:
  • Read/Write Cache (not your priority)
    
  • Storage Pool (this could make sense if you want a super-fast space for things like Jellyfin metadata, small files, or temp files)
    
  • System volume (apps and containers) – optional.
    

If you're not going to run multiple containers, databases, or VMs, using NVMe for a dedicated pool is probably overkill for your use case.

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? 3. Best Drive Configuration Based on Your Needs
You’re torn between:

• Option A:
  • 2x 10TB IronWolf Pro (RAID 1)
    
  • 2x 2TB NVMe
    
• Option B:
  • 4x 10TB IronWolf Pro in RAID 5
    

? Recommendation: Go with Option B
Why?

• RAID 5 with 4x10TB = ~30TB usable and protection from 1-drive failure.
  
• Better overall value for a media server and general file serving.
  
• No wasted NVMe slots if you’re not using them for caching or intense app workloads.
  

You said it best: "good balance between data protection, increased practical usable capacity, and speed."
If later you need more performance or plan to host apps/containers, you can always add NVMe drives for storage pools or apps later on—TS-464 supports hot installation.

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? 4. Storage Pool & Volume Advice
Here's a simple config that works well:

• Create one Storage Pool using your RAID group.
  
• Create a Thick Volume for flexibility: allows snapshotting, space quotas, but doesn't suffer the overhead of thin volumes.
  
• Enable shared folders for your media and documents.
  

⚠️ Avoid “Static Volumes” unless you want to skip snapshots entirely and are going for maximum performance (usually not needed here).

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? 5. Final Tips

• Make sure to update QTS to the latest version after initial setup.
  
• RAM upgrade to 16GB is great – Jellyfin benefits from caching in RAM, and future-proofing is always good.
  
• Use the multimedia console to control indexing/scanning – disable things you don’t need.
  
• Consider external backup (USB drive, or cloud) for critical documents.
  

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? TL;DR Summary

Topic
RecommendationQTS Install
Stored in internal flash; no need to reinstall
NVMe SSDs
Not necessary for your use case – skip for now
Best Config
4x 10TB HDDs in RAID 5 = 30TB usable + protection
Volume Type
Thick Volume in a Storage Pool
Use Case Fit
Perfect for Jellyfin and document hosting
RAM Upgrade
Yes, 16GB is worth it
Caching
Not needed for your workload