Non Media Server NAS

[Enquiries]

Hi. I am looking for my first ever NAS. Now at first i wanted to do a NAS with a PLEX/Jellyfin Media server. Then i realized i dont want to stream anything from my NAS and i just can store my movies and TV shows and can just watch them on my desktop. So i dont need PLEX/Jellyfin.

So currently my use cases would be :

1) Basic Storage: Documents, my 3D model/textures. Movies/TV Shows

2) Photos: A very important thing that made me want to buy a NAS was to get away from Google Photos. I dont want to delete anything on my or my parents' phones. I heard Synology has a great Photos app that works like Google Photos but saving on my NAS.


I dont think i need a TON of storage. My 3D stuff would be limited to a maximum of 2 TB and my media would be a further 1 TB. At most another Terabyte for photos and videos.

With that in mind, what should i get? Brand, 2 or 4 bays and CMR/SMR drives?

[ed]

Based on your use case, a 2-bay Synology NAS would be a good option for you. The Synology DS218+ or DS220+ are both good choices. Both of these models have the Synology Photo Station app that allows you to organize and view your photos, similar to Google Photos.

In terms of storage, you can start with 2x 4TB CMR drives, which will give you 8TB of total storage space. This should be enough to meet your storage needs for 3D models, movies, TV shows, photos, and videos.

You may also consider using a RAID configuration for data protection, such as RAID1, to ensure that your data is safe in case one of the drives fails.

In terms of brand, Synology and Qnap are well-established brands with good reputation, support and software ecosystem .