Synology - worth the extra over WD?

[roger06]

I currently stream from a WD MyBookWorld 1TB, which is now getting a bit old.

The Synology SD212 + a 2TB HD looks great, but at around £250, is it worth the extra for a 2TB WD MyBookLive at about £110?

I appreciate I can put an additional HD in the Synology but I don't need to. All my music is ripped to my MacBook Pro and then synced to the NAS. The MBP is also completely backed up by a separate USB hard drive. Additionally, I could (for now) also use the old NAS as a back up.

So would I gain anything else by getting the Synology? Overall I like WD products, the MyBookWorld has severed me well, although it is very slow to manage.

Thanks

 

[roger06]

Anyone?

 

[bigboss]

I have both: WD & Synology NAS. The main advantages of Synology I found were:

1) It's easy to set up & configure

2) I can listen to music or watch movies directly from Synology on my iPad using Synology's own DS audio & video apps.

3) I can access my Synology even when Im not at home, via the Internet. I've never tried this feature.

4) It's much faster.

5) It's easy to swap hard drives if one fails.

 

[roger06]

Thanks BigBoss

I'm not sure if I'd need those additional features, I've never wanted to access my current NAS out of the house in all the time I've had it for example. Given the 2TB WD is only £106 on Amazon currently, if it does fail it's only marginally more pricey than a 2TB HD anyway.

Being a bit of a techie nerd and having watched YouTube vids on the Synology interface I do like the look of it. But I'm never going to need things like different user accounts. I'm sure it is faster but my current WD MyBookWorld, which is said to be considerably slower than the MyBookLive is still quick enough for its media serving duties.

I think given the price different I'll go for the WD.

Thanks again...

 

[roger06]

Well I bought the WD MyBookLive in the end and have had it a couple of weeks.

It promises a lot, it's easy to set up and the web interface looks great. But it's soooo slow. There are processes running constantly which take nearly 100% of CPU. Read and write speeds are really slow, about 30 - 40% slower than the 3 year old MyBookWorld I'm trying to replace. I thought these processes were down to Twonky scanning but Twonky has finished indexing and still these processes are going mad.

Going to give it a few more days and I've logged a support ticket with WD but it's looking likely it's going back to Amazon for a refund and I'll have to save up for the Synology solution...

 

[AnotherJoe]

The performance of a MyBook Live and a DS212+ should roughly be the same with a transfer rate around 45MB/s

To confirm if Twonky is the problem - can u not turn Twonky off, and try connecting using Samba/NFS?

 

[AnotherJoe]

Getting a replacement will certainly show if its a duff box or a network related issue.

It should perform well (for the money).

 

[6th.replicant]

I'm probably going to get the lingo wrong, but here goes:

Does a Synology SD212 have a USB output, so it can input to a DAC's printer-type USB socket? :?

Ta

 

[roger06]

Hi Joe

I've suspected I'd been sold a duff unit due to its poor performance - the red failure light has come on tonight so it's going back to Amazon...

 

[roger06]

Getting a replacement will certainly show if its a duff box or a network related issue.

It should perform well (for the money).

Not going to risk another. Will bite the bullet and go for the Synology option...

 

[professorhat]

I'm probably going to get the lingo wrong, but here goes:

Does a Synology SD212 have a USB output, so it can input to a DAC's printer-type USB socket? :?

Ta

Yes, I believe you can. Accoring to the manual, the DS212j (which I assume is the model we're talking about), allows the following for the USB port:

1. Attach a USB hard disk to copy files to / from or share them on the network.

2. Attach a USB printer to share it on the network.

3. Attach a wireless dongle to allow wireless access of the NAS.

4. Connection of a UPS to ensure the NAS can power down cleanly in event of a power failure.

5. Attach an iPod Classic to play music from this.

6. Attach USB speakers for music playback.

7. Attach to a DAC and, if supported, you can even playback 24-bit audio by enabling high quality output for USB mode.

8. Connect a USB DTV dongle to live stream and record digital TV programmes.

There's also this post from November which indicates someone has a Synology DS710+ connected to a Cambridge Audio DacMagic Plus.

 

[bigboss]

4. Connection of a UPS to ensure the NAS can power down cleanly in event of a power failure.

I've been thinking about buying a UPS for my Synology. Which one would you recommend?

 

[professorhat]

I use one of these. I have the Mac, Synology NAS and my PVR plugged into the UPS sockets so they don't lose power in case of an outage and tests show it works well - I think I can get roughly 40 mins of power with just those things and the Synology is linked via USB and puts itself in freeze mode after 10 mins which ensures I don't get any corrupt files if power hasn't returned by then.

 

[AnotherJoe]

I have one of these with my PC+2NAS+PS3+Skybox+router plugged into it. (£180 on amazon).

http://www.cyberpowersystems.com/products/ups-systems/intelligent-lcd-ups/cp1350avrlcd.html?selectedTabId=overview&imageI=#tab-box

 

[roger06]

I use one of these. I have the Mac, Synology NAS and my PVR plugged into the UPS sockets so they don't lose power in case of an outage and tests show it works well - I think I can get roughly 40 mins of power with just those things and the Synology is linked via USB and puts itself in freeze mode after 10 mins which ensures I don't get any corrupt files if power hasn't returned by then.

I have one too. It was initally to protect my iMac as we kept getting power cuts. I would certainly recommend it. It's a bit of a beast but it was one of the only ones I found that used normal three pin plugs.

I have my router, NAS etc plugged in, not only to protect them but if we do get a power cut my internet connection at least keeps going long enough to check a few things like the power company's status page.

 

[roger06]

I ordered the Synology NAS today along with a WD 2TB 'Red' disc - I'll add another as funds allow.

An hour ago I dropped the WD NAS at an Amazon collection point shop and I've just had an email confirming the refund - amazing!

 

[6th.replicant]

I'm probably going to get the lingo wrong, but here goes:

Does a Synology SD212 have a USB output, so it can input to a DAC's printer-type USB socket? :?

Ta

Yes, I believe you can. ...

TY