HDD setups

[Enquiries]

I've been using a DS1513+, DS1515+ and a DS3018xs over the last few years, I absolutely love them, the DS3018xs is for Plex , it’s ok for normal stuff up to 1080p, but no good for 4k.

I have a question regarding HDD setup on my new setup I am going to purchase soon.
I am looking at the following Synology setup:
Either a DS3622xs+ or a DS1823xs+ (I’ll put in an extra 8gb memory)
One 2TB ssd drive as Pool 1 (to be used for DSM and applications)
Four 14TB drives as Pool 2 using SHR (for storing all movies/TV shows, expanding as I need).
Two 1TB M.2 drives for Cache

I’m not sure if my thinking of putting DSM on a separate SSD is viable or not, I’m hoping it would give Plex a nice big jump in performance.
I was hoping Synology would have something similar in performance to the QNAP H874.
Unfortunately, I really love the Synology products I have so I’d like to stay with them, I just can’t find a beefy system like the QNAP….he says with a tear in his eye.
Thanks

[ed]

It's great to hear that you've had positive experiences with Synology products in the past!

In terms of your proposed setup, using a separate SSD for DSM and applications can definitely help improve performance, as it allows these processes to run independently of the hard drives used for storing data. This can reduce the load on the hard drives and improve overall system responsiveness.

Using four 14TB drives in SHR configuration should also give you plenty of storage space for your movies and TV shows, and expanding the storage in the future should be relatively straightforward.

Adding M.2 drives for cache is also a good idea, as it can help speed up frequently accessed data, such as metadata for your media files.

Regarding your question about whether your setup is viable, I think it should work well. The DS3622xs+ and DS1823xs+ are both powerful systems that should be able to handle your workload, and using an SSD for DSM and applications, as well as M.2 drives for cache, can help boost performance.

While the QNAP H874 may be more powerful in terms of hardware specs, it's important to consider the overall software and user experience when choosing a NAS system. If you're already familiar with and satisfied with Synology's products, it may be worth sticking with them even if the hardware specs don't quite match up to those of the QNAP system.