Recommend me a NAS?

i'm after a nas but i'm drowning in a sea of detail; i'd prefer to hear from some ppl with real world experience

so, here's what i want to be able to do:
Essential

• central storage point for all home media; music and video (not really photos)
• playing said media via windows laptops, ps4, android devices on internal network (plex? manufacturer's own sw?)
• backup/storage for raw files and working with raws in lightroom

not essential, just throwing it out there:

• possibly home security (cameras) accessible remotely
• possibly some form of basic home automation (does that even overlap into the nas space?)
• remote access of files (DIY dropbox)
• giving relatives remote access to family photos

will never be used for things like mail server, web server, stuff like that.

only needs to be a 2 bay setup, and obviously needs to have enough grunt for any necessary transcoding.

so, any recommendations? or any further info needed in order to make one?

TIA

 

This is the basic point of difference in models and the price you pay. The processor. (ARM will struggle, get a "proper" one like atom and it'll be fine) Otherwise, the "whatever company" software pretty much runs exactly the same stuff (the OS comes packed with the standard applications).
To serve files you don't need much. I have "old" boxes and they do that the same as the new ones. You can also run camera monitoring software without too much "grunt". The "old" nases can do that.
You don't need to transcode on the NAS either. Whatever playback program you use can do that.
If I were you, I'd grab an "old" unit second hand and then see what (if anything) it lacks and take it from there.
Otherwise, pick a price point and pick out anything at that price point, focusing on the processor. Ask for opinions on a particular model. Look up the downloadable applications for any you know you'd want, to make sure they run on it.
tl:dr they are much of a muchness, except for the processor

EDIT: oh, and even though you "need" a 2-bay, get more bays. After you have it, you'll fill it up and having more slots available means you don't need to ditch it for a new one.
If you go for a secondhand older model, check what size disks it can take. Older ones might be restricted to 2TB. You'll need a new model to handle huge disks.

 

Best to just build one yourself.

 

Make sure it's not a Netgear ReadyNAS. Mine is solid enough but firmware updates are problematic.

 

Any modern NAS will have firmware updates almost constantly due to the wide range of features they have and the upstream development/security patching of said FOSS projects they rely on.

 

I meant their firmware updates are flaky sometimes. I've had to SSH in to update twice in 3 years and I've had to rollback others.

 

My Synology which is coming up on 9 years has never ever skipped a beat.

 

Yeah, wish I'd got one

 

+1 building something, use freenas or rockstor if you're scared of the cli. hp microserver is cheap, probably suck for transcoding tho

i think most off the shelf nas's have some docker/container/jail equivalent which will let you run owncloud/zoneminder/home-assistant which should cover everything you've asked for

 

Synology 218 would cover those needs
https://www.synology.com/en-global/support/nas_selector

Syno life cycle support is outstanding
I have a 413j thats still getting the very latest features and updates

 

ive had several qnap nases .. no problems, quite like them

good for all the purposes listed, except the last two;
both the last two would tax your internet connection unless you have fast outgoing

suggest using actual dropbox and/or google drive and/or google photos

 

I concur, having had several years with mine now I would unhesitatingly buy one again.

 

yeah my current nas is a synology and its been good - just a pretty low end model is all

 

Another for Synology. Have a 414, never skipped a beat, I have 10 Synology NAS products in the field, most more than 4 years old, all still solid.

Z...

 

+1 Synology .... it's turned into the hub of the house and there's heaps of mobile apps. Last week while out, someone mentioned they forgot to record the footy and were blown away when I showed them DS Video on my phone and I set it to record there and then

 

de_kyal usb tv stick ? which one ?

 

Synology
never skipped a beat after setup.

Only regret is that I would buy one with a better processor so it would transcode.

 

Lots of Synology support here so I'll just pipe up to say that I also have QNAP and I prefer the QNAP interface, I find it set out better and easier to find things and how to do things than on the Synology(s). I can recommend either brand. Haven't had issues with either.

 

You forgot the most important detail for us to recommend ....

..Budget?


I'm a huge fan of Qnap.. Have a 16tb 4 bay and a 32tb 8 bay.. both with atoms which decode pretty much everything except h265.
Run a plex server on them both which is awesome.. Also hold my Kodi media library on it Makes life super easy.. especially as most newer TVs have Plex built in these days

 

I've got a digitalnow twin tuner in it ....its not on their compatibility list, but works fine