Bye Bye Readynas - Synology next?

[Ravey Gravey Davy]

So the Ready Nas Duo is knackered.Will not react to factory reset and intermittently states corrupt root so I think it is time to go another route.

I am thinking Synology DS213J or 214 - are there any other "friendly" devices I should consider? (the Readynas was not friendly really)

There are currently no Apple or Sonos devices involved- streaming is done through Pure Sensia,laptop or BDP.

 

[bigboss]

I've got Synology. It's one of the most user friendly devices out there. Also look at QNAP. Andrew Everard has written a nice blog on setting QNAP up.

Whatever NAS you choose, I would highly recommend Western Digital red drives which are designed for NAS use.

 

[Ravey Gravey Davy]

Thanks BB- I'd forgotten about that blog. I've found a Qnap for a similar price and then I discovered this review (same model as I found) so it looks as though it's even easier than the Synology and with a better processing spec.Moves into first place now.

 

[bigboss]

I would keep both Synology and QNAP at the same level. Both are brilliant.

 

[Xanderzdad]

I would second the Synology as they provide a wide variety of quality 'apps' that are regularly updated. I'm not sure if QNAP offer such a good range.

 

[chrisr1718]

Just got myself a Synology DS213j with two WD red drives, setup is easy peasy. Copied everything over from my external hard drive, just drag & drop, and it was surprisingly quick over the network. Create folders for the family and mapped them so they can be accessed via Windows Explorer. All very simple, you don't have to be an IT expert!

 

[Feral]

I've been using the DS213J to stream flac rips of my collection to the SM6 wirelessly with no issues. very friendly and easy to set up, bought the drive speparately and just a matter of open the case and slot it in, couldn't be easier.

One note of caution. The DS213J uses a different processor to other models and although has floating point processing will not work with PLEX for transcoding video. I'm playing with a PI and XMBC to stream and transcode the video but in hindsight i might have considered a different nas. That said, there are a lot of features such as clould access, the ability to stream from your nas to your mobile device and a ton of other stuff i've not explored yet. I am very happy with the performance as far as music is concerned and also used andrews blog and invested in the bliss software which i found invaluable.

 

[Ravey Gravey Davy]

Is there anyone other than Andrew out there with a Qnap?

 

[scene]

Argh! My fellow readyNAS user - gone!

I must admit, if my readyNAS blows up I'll probably gor for a synology - want a 4 or 5 disk cabinet next time - one that takes at least 4TB disks as well.

Look forward to seeing how your search goes.

 

[Ravey Gravey Davy]

Argh! My fellow readyNAS user - gone!

I must admit, if my readyNAS blows up I'll probably gor for a synology - want a 4 or 5 disk cabinet next time - one that takes at least 4TB disks as well.

Look forward to seeing how your search goes.

Have you got a secondary usb backup ( As often said by the_lhc it is a storage device not a backup). If not,do it now. My issue on the ReadyNAS is a corrupt root isssue and you cannot necessarily retrieve the data on the disks.If yours is still working, you can still take out a 5 year warranty with Netgear which includes disks, and it costs £175 approx.

 

[kena]

Argh! My fellow readyNAS user - gone!

I must admit, if my readyNAS blows up I'll probably gor for a synology - want a 4 or 5 disk cabinet next time - one that takes at least 4TB disks as well.

Look forward to seeing how your search goes.

Have you got a secondary usb backup ( As often said by the_lhc it is a storage device not a backup). If not,do it now. My issue on the ReadyNAS is a corrupt root isssue and you cannot necessarily retrieve the data on the disks.If yours is still working, you can still take out a 5 year warranty with Netgear which includes disks, and it costs £175 approx.

I've a ReadyNas Duo Scene so your not alone.

Must do a current backup not done one for a bit, any inkling on what caused your root access prob?

 

[cheeseboy]

The DS213J uses a different processor to other models and although has floating point processing will not work with PLEX for transcoding video. I'm playing with a PI and XMBC to stream and transcode the video but in hindsight i might have considered a different nas.

if you're using XBMC you won't need to do any transcoding as XBMC plays pretty much all formats natively. You'd only need to transcode if you are streaming to say a PS3 where it has to be in a certain format.

 

[Amadeus1756]

I bought Synology because they have UK support.

 

[grimmers]

hi,

i have both a synology 214se and a qnap 212e,inatially the synology was the easyast to the set up and get up and running with dsm5, but over running for over a few weeks, the qnap has in it's favour better build quality and more apps,plus it comes with plex,the hardest thing was getting logitech media server to work with them, but i think that was down to my lack of knowledge about servers, indeed l.m.s is supported by both units.The synology is the one to buy if you want to set it up and forget it easyily and the qnap if you spend a extra few hours to getting it how you want things how you want them, and are a constant fidler, the only drawback with the qnap is the software runs very slow,this is my second qnap in 12 months and the software ran just as slow on the older one, but it looks like there will be an imminent software update for the qnap.I would wholehearterly agree with bigboss and others on this forum to use wd red drives in which ever nas unit you buy.

 

[MrBrickFish]

Ravey Gravey Davy,

I also use QNAP.... a TS-412, currently with 2 WD 3TB drives leaving 2 bays free, (the idea was that I would fill these as and when larger drives become mainstream).... Despite an IT background, I find hard to comment on NAS's.... the devil is in the detail... just looking at the ticks in boxes on the spec sheets, does not really tell you the detail of how well the features actually work. You have to live with the thing.

I'm generally happy with the QNAP, but feel I could do a lot more with it via the installable apps. Although without experience of other brands and models it is hard to comment upon or recommend.

Cheers

Sean

 

[Ravey Gravey Davy]

Thanks for all the input. I think the Synology 213j gets it for the extra £50 over the 214SE . There doesn't seem too much diffference in the software v the Qnap for my use so I might just take the plunge this afternoon- especially if Liverpool win- I will need retail therapy.