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Why not simply buy a RAID enclosure that doesn't come with disks and which allows you to buy the disks you prefer, and take them out whenever you want. Something like this from Synology.
Not as great as Time Capsule, but it's pretty easy. Synology has a module system that lets you select features and it downloads and installs the appropriate module. I selected Time Machine, selected a few options for size of partition, and I was done. My iMac treated the NAS like a time capsule.
If all you want is backup/restore, a Time Capsule is perfect. If you want a bit more functionality, such as general media streaming, general-purpose network drive, torrent management, etc. the Synology NAS is pretty good.
Here's a list: http://www.synology.com/en-us/dsm/app_packages/all_app
I'm probably going to be downvoted into oblivion for this, but my fileserver is a Synology DS1813+. I don't have the time or inclination to build and maintain a low-power fileserver, and so I just went with Synology. It also runs a basic (internal, not exposed to the outside internet) webserver, as well as mysql. Anything more complex generally runs elsewhere.
I have a Synology NAS and I really like it because of the web-based interface (they call it DSM). It has a nice bittorrent interface that makes it easy to add torrents remotely via web, or via an iphone app, or via a drop-box on my PC. I build all my own PCs at home and work but for NAS I love the plug-and-play of the Synology stuff.
I use the Synology DS211j. As you can see it has a 5-egg rating on Newegg. The real benefit of this device is the DiskStation Manager software it runs. This makes it easy to configure all kinds of modules like FTP, BitTorrent, Web Server, etc. It also has an excellent Web GUI that lets you get at your files from anywhere in the world.
I filled mine with Samsung Spinpoint F3 drives. The drive compatibility page is here. Synology makes devices with up to 10 HD bays so you can pick the one that fits for you. The "j" at the end of the model number is the "consumer" (most affordable) line. The processors in the j series are a little slower but you probably won't notice in a home environment.
I got one of these...
It's called <strong>SYNOLOGY</strong> and it works great! Easy to setup and even easier to maintain.
The latest version of their DMS (Desktop Management System) has been specifically redesigned to work with mobile and tablets.
If I was a small business this product could and should be my IT department!
Hello xxxxxxxxx,
Thank you for contacting Synology support.
From the current investigation, they are still using the old security hole to hack the DiskStation with old DSM:
http://www.synology.com/company/news/article/437
As you are in DSM5.0, this kind of hack can't work. But it's also recommended for securing the log on over Internet by this way:
http://www.synology.com/en-global/support/tutorials/478
Hope this helps.
Best Regards,
I've dealt with a similar problem and would highly recommend a Synology RS-2414+.
You can load it up with cheap 4TB SATA disks - in RAID6 you would have 40GB usable - and add an expansion unit to double it later if needed.
You can connect it to the PowerEdge via aggregated gigabit iSCSI. It has built-in monitoring and alerting that is much better than FreeNAS.
The DSM interface on these kicks ass. Also has a lot of VERY powerful features and third party applications that can be installed and configured with very few clicks.
I have a DS 1511+; It's a 5-bay unit and has support for adding two more external 5-bay expansion units should you ever run out of space.
They also have a special "Synology RAID" mode that will let you easily expand and upconvert your RAID settings on the fly without losing data.
Take a look at the Synology brand. I have the DS410.
I recently helped my sister set up a Synology 211J. I like their "Diskstation Manager", it has a really clean interface and tons of options buried in there.
Can't go wrong with Synology.
http://www.synology.com/en-us/
Also, RAID 0 isn't redundant. You'll regret that. Performance gains from RAID 0 are minimal in real world tests, so just don't do it. Go RAID 1, 5 or, if you really want that theoretical gain, 10.
I have had numerous NAS units over the years. Recently I stumbled upon Synology. Their units are amazing. I run all my backend stuff on there Sab, SB, Plex, works like a dream. I have the 8 bay version (DS1812+) but they have smaller options as well. I have 6 drives at the moment (4 x 2TB WD Green, and 2 x 3TB WD Red).
I know the DS1812+ isn't on the inexpensive side, but the smaller bay units are cheaper.
As does Synology. They also document and provide software for the linux cross-compilation environments needed to build software for the units: http://www.synology.com/en-uk/support/third_party_app_int
Edit: for whatever reason, synology appears to be more popular here on reddit, and even has it's own subreddit: /r/synology
I posted this a bit ago, but Synology CloudStation is entirely self hosted, but you have to have one of their ($299 minimum new, less used) Synology SAN devices. I've got a 412+ and I'm very happy with it and Cloud Station rocks, Linux, Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS support have all worked great for me (I don't have any windows phones, not sure if there's an app there)
Here, play with Synology's RAID calculator:
http://www.synology.com/en-us/support/RAID_calculator
EDIT: drag-and-drop disks into slots and choose the RAID type. Click on the green triangle at the top of each slot to remove the current disk.
I've had really good experiences with the Synology NAS devices. They do 2-bay NAS units with RAID (so that if a drive fails, your data is still safe) that are cheap enough for light users but still very, very powerful. Even their 4-bay NAS's are pretty cheap for what they are, and better value if you have a lot of data. Their software and apps are top notch, including good mobile apps, and setup is a breeze.
QNAP and Thecus are respected high-end brands. Lacie and Netgear both do medium-level stuff that is also fairly good quality.
I wouldn't try anything less than that if you want good cloud access. And if the data that is going on this NAS isn't backed up or mirrored anywhere else (which it should be anyway) then you will NEED to have RAID.
Also, if you're relying on the NAS for the people in the office to do their work, keep a spare hard drive ready and make sure alerts are set up correctly. On average 20% of hard drives fail within 3 years, regardless of brand, so a four-bay NAS has an 80% chance of a failed drive in its working life. Just bite the bullet and buy a spare now.
Comments:
ZFS for beginners powerpoint slides: http://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/slideshow-explaining-vdev-zpool-zil-and-l2arc-for-noobs.7775/
However, you really don't want to run a production FreeNAS/ZFS in a virtual machine: http://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/please-do-not-run-freenas-in-production-as-a-virtual-machine.12484/
A VM is fine for testing; it's not fine for production.
Yes, a virtual FreeNAS might work for some people, but, if your virtualized FreeNAS asplodes and destroys your data, the FreeNAS folks aren't likely to be sympathetic. You've been warned.
- If you want a more toaster-like experience, synology seems to be good. If you're a programmer, they even document how to cross-compile software for their NAS units: http://www.synology.com/en-uk/support/third_party_app_int
A quick google search shows that people do seem to be running SABnzbd and maybe sickbeard on some synology units. I have no idea how well they work, or if they even work at all, though.
As an IT professional who manages backup systems for about 30 of our clients I can tell you that the Drobo's should be avoided. They are relatively inexpensive but are prone to failure shortly after the warranty goes up, support is not great and their software interface is full of bugs and is rarely updated. The Synology units with Intel Atom processors are the way to go. They are fast, reliable and have the best interface, setup, and monitoring features. Synology support is also great. The one issue I have with them is that their documentation is not great but their sales/support guys will answer all of your questions. EDIT: The DS412+ is the way to go - http://www.synology.com/en-global/products/spec/DS412+
Files haring, printer sharing and media serving can be done by a NAS like this. Here is a demo of the user interface.
(I'm not in business with Synology, they just make highly recommended and inexpensive NAS devices.)
One of the biggest selling points is the Synology DSM. Which is pretty much a webOS (Not the tablet OS). It has a wide range of options that you can toy with it is also super easy to use, and it supports advance features too if you need it too.
Duel NICs (with some models) so it supports Link aggregation (bonding two or more NICs together).
Synology Hybrid RAID - RAID-5 done right. It can build and expand on current volumes. For instance, say you bought a 5-bay snynology. You had 3x2TB drives initially. You want to add storage in 6 months. Six months roll around and you buy two more 2TB drives and put them in the NAS. The NAS will add them to drive array. Also you could expand to 3TB (once syncing finishes) if you need it too.
The only problem I've heard with Synology is the first batch of products this year that came out. There was a bug in the firmware so they would cycle on reboot, it should be fixed now though.
I haven't tested the NFS yet so if anyone has any input they would like to share about NFS feel free to post it.
Here is a link to the DSM demo - http://www.synology.com/us/products/demo/index.php
I've setup, and manage a QNAP and a Synology at two different businesses.
Either one will do everything you are asking for, and then some.
Synology has a really cool interface; a decent little gui that you could easily use to manage your downloads with. The QNAP interface is kinda cumbersome.
check out a live demo here: http://www.synology.com/products/dsm_livedemo.php?lang=us
If you are only looking to do a single disk, the one you linked is perfect.
Add me to the Cat5/6 fan club. Having worked in the industry for 10 years now, I can't agree more. Cat5/6 can not only be used for networking, but also for telephone too (if you still have a home setup).
I'd also recommend contacting your local cable company to see what they would charge to run RG-6. While you can do it yourself, the cable company won't charge you more than cost + a small install fee. If you do want to run it yourself (DON'T USE STAPLES!), at least have them terminate the lines. Any connectors you get will be sub-par to what they use. Same goes for hiring a pro to cap the cat5/6
Also make sure you have a cat5/6 run to a central part of the house for a wireless router (don't forget power!). The easiest thing to do is have a run into the top of a coat closet.
Check out Monoprice for bulk Cat5/6. Also take a look at Synology's line of NAS/Media servers. I have the cheapest they offer and couldn't be happier.
TLDR: Run cat5/6 + coax everywhere and have the connectors professionally terminated.
What kind of data? And do you have any idea how much?
A Synology NAS (http://www.synology.com) might fit the bill instead of having to worry about server maintenance. You can also connect external drives to it for backups.
The only caveat is look at what Synology NAS model you buy. The lower-end models do not have the throughput to support as many cameras as you may like. For example, I have 11 IP cameras, yet my older Synology NAS could only support maybe four or five at the frame rate and resolution settings I want.
Synology's NVR selector will let you enter the number of cameras (and their settings) to recommend an appropriate model. Alternately, the spec sheet for each model will list the maximum number of cameras/frames per second at a given resolution. * http://www.synology.com/en-us/support/nvr_selector
Below is a complete hands-on review, although it's for the old version * http://www.networkcameracritic.com/?p=1762
I've also had trouble with Buffalo drives in the past.
So yes, there are many options available, but they're maybe not as cheap as you're looking for. Your best bet is a Synology, which are designed to do exactly what you're talking about.
There are a ton of choices, but the DS215+ is probably the one you want to look at closely. It's the entry level workgroup NAS & will do everything the Buffalo did, but faster & more stable.
The empty NAS will run you about $300-400, then add the cost of two HDDs of whatever size you need.
The DS214play and DS415play do certainly and the others will have limited transcoding ability. This chart will help figure out which is right for you.
Note one thing. Synology lost the rights to transcode DTS sound last year and removed this ability from their units. So any files you have that include DTS sound will need to be converted to Chromecast compatible formats like aac, which is a pain.
Check out synology's website. They have a wide variety of solutions involving 1, 2, 4, 5, 8 drives and up. I have a DSM1813+, which I love, but it's certainly not cheap. If you want something that is easy-to-setup and use, synology is a good choice.
However, note that you absolutely need to keep the synology up-to-date if you're exposing it to the internet, as synology is now popular enough that the bad guys have written a version of cryptolocker for it.
If price is an issue, a DIY solution is going to be cheaper, but you're going to need more knowledge to set it up and maintain it. For example, in the case of freenas and zfs, this is pretty much required reading. Also, if you need something low-power like a synology, the hardware isn't going to be cheap.
Also note that a NAS w/RAID is not backup. Lots of people have lost their NAS due to lightning, power failures, data corruption, and a host of other issues.
Synology is way beyond the QNAP in polish.
Before I start I had a QNAP and my friend bought Synology. I kept dogging him. He kept telling me Synology does this and that and I would say QNAP can do it too.
However now that I have a Synology I can tell its night and day better. QNAP apps are a joke.
First feature I like is the Cloud Station. Its basically a DropBox clone. They have clients for every OS including phones. You can easily give seperate users their own folders too. Synology had this since 2012. QNAP has something now called OwnCloud. I'm not sure its state today but it doesn't look easy
Synology has full iCal/calendar support. Synology Media streaming is years ahead of QNAP. Also has wonderful streaming apps for phones. You can share it easy too without any complicated Dynamic DNS crap. Just give your friend your Synology QuickConnect Name, User Name, and Password. They don't need to know domains, IPs, or anything. And you don't have to worry about ports.
Ohh and Synology UI is years ahead of QNAP too. The whole UI supports 4K and Retina displays. It also is built for touch and looks superb on an ipad.
You can try the Synology interface here
I can't go through all the features but the end of the day those are the ones I use the most.
I've owned QNAP and Synology. Here's my take: Synology is a better option as a whole compared to QNAP.
Synology's support (which is only fair) is better than QNAP (which is poor).
Synology's software (DSM) is much more refined, better maintained, more frequently updated, and better QC/QA processed than QNAP's software (QTS)
The PS3 can access content directly on the Synology via the built in Media Server feature (DLNA). The model of Synology NAS you has will determine what happens to certain video content. Additionally, the source video content format factors in, as the PS3 can play some content natively and others it cannot.
Here is some basic info from Synology: http://www.synology.com/en-us/support/faq/577
From what I can find online, PS3 can't playback MKV's natively so they need to be remixed or transcoded. If your source content will be MKV, then you are best going with a "play" model as it has a dedicated hardware transcoder. However, the catch here is that this transcoding in hardware is only done by the Synology Media Server. If you want to use Plex, then Plex cannot use the hardware transcoder. So keep that in mind.
If you really want to use Plex, then you have some challenges. You would want a Synology with the fasterst dual core processor available (which is currently an Atom 2.13ghz I believe) because Plex has to rely on the NAS CPU to transcode. However, even then, Atom CPU's are fairly poor for real-time transcoding, and even with the dual core Atom in the NAS, you will likely have problems with lag due to transcoding performance being poor. So if you really want Plex, you would want to transcode video ahead of time on your main computer and put that on your NAS.
It isn't, but its the luck of the draw with what gets upvoted around here. He cites 10 years as an IT manager, calls out other people for being wrong, and is wrong himself.
I did support for NAS units - they are just small computers essentially. I frequently had customers directly connect to the NAS as a troubleshooting step. Do you think I asked customers if they had a crossover cable? I'm laughing at the thought of it!
For example:
http://www.synology.com/en-global/support/faq/586
>you can try connecting your DiskStation to your computer directly to check if the slow performance is caused by your router or switch.
Just like this troubleshooting doesn't mention crossover cables, neither did I. Most of the time it worked as long as they didn't have an ancient computer.
The big and overarching question is this: Do you have any interest at all in running Plex and/or doing media transcoding on the device?
This question can best be answered by looking at this chart and determining what group you're in: http://www.synology.com/en-us/support/faq/577
Personally, I have a DS413j with 512MB of RAM. It's currently running Sickbeard, SABnzbd, Media/Audio/Cloud/Download Station, NFS, RADIUS Server, AV Essential, Python (to support Sickbeard/SAB), and also serves at a syslog server. Runs all of it fine, but if I had to do it over again I'd get something with transcoding potential since Plex is pretty ineffective on it, at least from what I've played around with it. To answer your question, I think 512MB should be enough for what you laid out, but more is always better for futureproofing, at least up to what your budget will allow.
Awesome stuff:
http://www.synology.com/en-global/support/hd/hd/Western%20Digital/6TB/hdd
"Brand / Model / Size / Class
Western Digital / WD60EFRX - 68MYMN0 / 6TB / NAS
- The batch number, 68MYMN0, for this particular hard drive has passed the hard drive compatibility test.
Applied Models : 15-series: DS415play 14-series: DS114, DS214, DS214+, DS214play, DS214se, DS414, DS414j, RS214, RS814, RS814+, RS814RP+ 13-series: DS1513+, DS1813+, DS213, DS213+, DS213air, DS213j, DS413, DS413j, DS713+, DX213, DX513 12-series: DS112, DS112+, DS112j, DS1512+, DS1812+, DS212, DS212+, DS212j, DS412+, DS712+, RS212, RS812, RS812+, RS812RP+ 11-series: DS111, DS1511+, DS211, DS211+, DS211j, DS411, DS411+, DS411+II, DS411j, RS411 10-series: DS1010+, DS110+, DS110j, DS210+, DS210j, DS410, DS410j, DS710+, DX510, RS810+, RS810RP+, RX410"
http://www.synology.com/en-global/support/download/DS413j
Latest OS is: Version : DSM 5.0-4493; Build Date : 2014-06-04
Release Notes & Changelog here: http://www.synology.com/en-global/releaseNote/model/DS413j
2FA is two-factor authentication. You can enable it on your Google account. When you log in to your account you'll also have to enter a code that will be sent to you, creating a second step to authenticate. You can read more here
a mirror RAID, or RAID 1, is two hard drives that write the same data to each other so if one drive fails you still have all your data. If you're tech-savy setting up a home network storage isn't too hard. I like Synology, they're easy to use and have a ton of features.
It sounds like if you're looking for something that's easily portable a cloud solution would be the best bet. You don't want to have to carry around a network storage lol.
I was looking for a similar thing about 6 months ago, and was looking up parts to build it. Someone then posted to a local board that they were selling a Synology Diskstation DS413j (4 bay NAS).
http://www.synology.com/en-us/products/overview/DS413j
Has very very low power draw, and is the perfect 4 bay network server. Software is fantastic and can do everything you could possibly want.
I would personally skip the whole 'build a low power system' in favor of purchasing a dedicated 2 or 4 bay NAS pre-built box. Seriously - it will save you a ton of hassle and time (unless you really want to spend the time doing a big manual project like that).
I ended up spending $100 for the box, and $450 for 4 drives to fill it.
Here is the power draw: 31.56W (Access) 7.68W (HDD Hibernation)
You didn't indicate what your budget is, but I might suggest something like a Synology. Synology has a great web interface for managing the device, supports things like RAID (and abstracts it to make it easy to manage), has plugins for things like couchpotato, sabnzbd, etc to run directly on the device (as well as Plex server).
So you can get a device that handles all of your media, with enough storage space to store a lot of media. It also has the added benefit of being a network attached storage device so it can be used by your desktop as network storage (using CIFS).
I have a Synology DS1513+.
Here is my current setup:
Linux server running Debian 7.0:
- Sabnzbd
- Sickbeard
- Couchpotato
- Headphones
I have my main media share on the Synology connected to this server via NFS. I use this server for application development so I would have this server either way, so I opted to use it for handling the actual applications.
Synology DS1513+:
- 5 x 3TB WD RED in RAID 6 (Total usable storage is ~8TB)
- Running Plex Server
The device comes with 1GB of RAM, but you can upgrade it to 4GB of RAM (the maximum that the Atom processor can support). You can run all of the software that is running on the Linux server on the Synology (it is an embedded Linux machine anyways - and installation is really simple), you just need the RAM to do so.
Set top units:
- Raspberry Pi (running Xbian with XBMC, connecting to the Synology via NFS)
- Kindle Fire TV (running Plex)
Edit: changed max memory support for the Atom processor.
The top one is a synology 1513+ NAS, the bottom is an HP N40L with WHS 2011 and crappy soft raid 5 and an AMD 5450 in it.
It's still too soon to tell, I haven't had any issues with them at home or at work yet. I've been happy with Reds, Seagate Constellations can fornicate far afield though. Oh how I hate thee Constellation series.
If you're just browsing a shared folder on a server that's located in another country, I'm not surprised that it's slow. The proper answer will be to set up a web server that has a gallery application to pre-generate the thumbnails and make a much more usable web interface to the image collections.
When you're trying to preview an image in a shared folder, it has to download the whole image to generate the preview on your own computer. The thumbnail isn't stored in the shared folder.
What's worse is that when you go into the shared folder, windows will try to generate a thumbnail for each image automatically so it might be pulling down a copy of every image in order to do that.
Best thing you can to? Tell your boss to tell IT to buy a decent rack-mount Synology NAS and throw a half dozen hard drives in there and turn up the disk redundancy. You'll be able to store 12+ terabytes of pictures with great redundancy and safety AND it has some great built-in photo gallery software.
http://www.synology.com/en-us/dsm/app_packages/PhotoStation_landing
Lol, I live on my own, and am one of the consultants who sets them up where I work.
If you want my honest opinion, buy a Synology: http://www.synology.com/en-us/
Inexpensive, robust, and expandable. We have several deployed in companies who are to small for a traditional server, but still want hierarchy. Pared with Meraki (expensive small/medium business network equipment) its a beautiful setup.
Currently I am streaming from my PC, but Synology supports Plex according to this article http://www.synology.com/en-global/company/news/article/340. I'm not sure on the specifics of setting it up that way yet.
I installed the Plex media server on my PC and pointed it to my movie folder. Then I installed Plex on my android phone. My Chromecast is plugged into my Onkyo receiver (5.1).
The Plex app finds your media server and then you just find what to watch, press the Chromecast button and there you go.
To me, It really is the easiest way to steam media to a TV seamlessly.
Anyway, You can do a lot on linux, but the Synology's interface is great, which makes management and setup a breeze. You don't have to baby it, and I've had great reliability out of my (many) boxes. I have an old DS409 (used to backup my newer DS1812+) that's been running great for 4 or 5 years. It's only been rebooted a handful of times for updates.
I also sell them to businesses, and all of Synology's products share a common feature set and interface in DSM.
Check out DSM's features and the add-on packages. I use Plex on my Synology for video streaming.
DSM also allows SSH and runs busybox on top of the linux kernel. You can install ipkg and use it to install un-supported 3rd party packages for even more functionality.
It syncs with Dropbox/Google Drive, has nice mobile apps, VPN support, easy remote access, the list goes on.
Highly recommended.
I had to google "DSM NAS" and found this http://www.synology.com/en-us/dsm/
Thanks, I've been thinking about building a home server mainly for streaming video to tvs in the house. This looks like a decent way to keep any cloud storage used for convenience backed up at home. Is there an equivalent to this feature for cheap linux servers?
You need to log into the Synology's web-based admin interface, and then add the Package for Plex. Here's the tutorial for Packages in general; http://www.synology.com/en-us/support/tutorials/500
I will warn you that the thing works, but slowly. I have a 413j and it does stream the files, but the GUI for browsing and managing media is just…not that fast
That's true, what I meant was I'd recommend the quality of any Synology product. For this use-case something like the DS214play would be a good option.
Though there are reasons for RAID 1, I would consider SHR when you make the change. It will offer flexibility down the road should you purchase another Synology with more drive bays. Gorrila is correct: you'd want to make an external copy, insert a new drive to format then copy the data back, then insert the second new one. Had it been SHR, you would simply remove one drive, let it sit, then insert the other.
One final thought, just to make things more complicated. Sell your 213J, only buy one drive (maybe only 3TB) and buy a 413J. It won't cost THAT much more, and will give you lots of room for down the road!
Experiment with this: http://www.synology.com/en-us/support/RAID_calculator and read this: http://www.synology.com/en-us/support/tutorials/512
Can't go wrong either way :)
FYI the information is available here: http://www.synology.com/en-us/support/beta_dsm_5_0
>Fixed Issues in Update 1
>1. Data volumes would maybe become degraded or crashed on certain models, including DS413j, RS812, RS411, DS411, DS411j, DS411slim, DS410j. >2. LAN (Ethernet) interface would disappear when Wi-Fi hotspot was turned on and Wi-Fi adapter was unplugged. >3. Personal Web Station did not work.
When you get there, take a look at the consumer product line from Synology. All of their products are amazing and are pretty affordable compared to something like Drobo, which AFAIK doesn't offer any features that a comparable Synology product wouldn't.
I started with the DS411j and eventually upgraded to the DS412+ which is aimed more at small businesses. Crashplan, Sickbeard, SABnzbd+ and Plex are all running smoothly without even needing to mess around with custom hacks or anything.
You can. I do that on mine (DS212j). You can assign a disk quota for the Time Machine service as well, so it doesn't keep eating up all your available space, but stays within a given constraint.
But yes, you can also set up separate volumes using X amount of disks for one volume and Y amount for another. Overall I think it's more efficient usage of raid if you keep it in one volume though. Why not have some raid redundancy on your time machine backups as well and so on?
Because for every raid-set you set up, you lose minimum one disk to redundancy per set.. no matter if it's 2 disks or 6 .. so 3x4TB + 3x4TB RAID0+1/5 is ~16 TB of storage .. where as 6x4TB is ~20TB of storage with SHR (synology hybrid raid, or ~16TB in RAID6 with any 2 drive failure redundancy).
(Raid gurus, correct me if I'm wrong.. but at least this is what Synologys "raid calculator" says. )
Isn't this supposed to be released today, in beta form? I can't find anything on the site about it...
According to the agenda on the site here: http://www.synology.com/en-uk/events/2014_dsm5.0_beta_uk , the event has happened...
1) So, DSM is on a small partition on both drives, the data are in a big partition. What happens when the Synology unit itself breaks. You take out the hard disks and you migrate to a different model. It's pretty straightforward.
http://www.synology.com/en-us/support/tutorials/484
2) As far as i know it is possible to hook it up to a Linux machine to read the files .
3) In SHR as you have it, you are protected from a drive failure. But nevertheless always think about an offsite backup.(Home Invasion, Fire , Lightning Strike, Tornado etc.) Either in a Cloud or if you have enough money just put up a second Syno at somebody's place you trust and backup to there. (Got three family members with Syno's now and we are mutually mirroring our Pictures and important documents through OpenVPN tunnels, works like a charm)
A lot of NAS devices are ARM-based, although some of them are moving to Atom now. If it doesn't absolutely need to be ARM, I'd recommend Synology's products.
I just bought a Synology 413j last week and am impressed with its very slick UI. As a bonus, it's also a versatile Linux server. A root shell is available over SSH. You can even build your own software packages and kernel modules if the official/community-provided ones don't do what you need.
The NAS appliance will automatically partition your disks using GPT, create software RAID groups, create LVM volumes on them, and format the volumes with an ext4 filesystem. The first partition on each disk contains the operating system image, which is downloaded and installed automatically by the firmware the first time you turn on the machine. From the web interface, it's easy to enable file serving over SMB, NFS, AFP, or disk sharing over iSCSI.
I suggest getting a model with at least 4 bays so that you can benefit from RAID. Since Synology storage is based on standard Linux technologies, you can theoretically reconstruct your data on any Linux box if your NAS hardware dies.
The only nitpick I have so far is that it doesn't do periodic LVM snapshots out of the box. I'm sure it wouldn't be hard to make that happen, though.
Running a Synology DS1512+ with 5 x 1TB drives, and a USB3 3TB drive as backup drive. All on CAT6 and Gigabit. (using jumbo frames)
http://www.synology.com/products/product.php?product_name=DS1512%2B&lang=enu
The router is a Cisco E2000 4 port Gigabit N spec wifi router.
It runs as a local and remote file/media/torrent server.
I use it for media storage and video editing.
The iMac is a i5 2.7 Ghz with 12GB of memory and 1TB harddisk (almost empty)
That's very possible. If you have a spare drive, or even a thumb drive sitting around that you can screw with you can test some things out.
You could also get a NAS. Many of them say they support Time Machine. You'd plug it into one of the network ports on the router instead of the USB port. One of the home products from these guys for example.
Synology? Some models scale to that much (raw at least). It supports iscsi just fine. I have had 2 of these and they work great. Honestly its just a linux server with lvm and mdraid that is wrapped around a nice gui + support. You could probably do it cheaper building your own, but is it really worth the trouble?
I don't have a recommendation for a camera, but I do recommend getting a Synology Disk Station for the surveillance station . It will manage the cameras, capture and store video on a schedule or motion sensing, and a whole shit-ton of other features for handling the cameras and the recordings. They have a list of supported cameras here.
If you would like, I can recommend a setup for you that would cost about $600 after hard drives, licenses and NAS is purchased. That is not including the cameras. This can house 30+ days of recordings if configured correctly.
A client of mine has a Synology RackStation RS810+, and is considering using it for their surveillance cameras using the Synology DSM software. It supports IP cameras, and Synlogy maintains a giant list of IP cameras at this link. Might be helpful for what you're looking for...
Yes, that does do everything I am looking to do... and while operating it only consumes 16w. Thanks for getting me started in a direction that I need to research... I was thinking that NAS would be the way I should go.
And now looking in that direction, would something like this work: http://www.synology.com/products/spec.php?product_name=DS110j&lang=us#p_submenu ?
It doesn't have as many features as the one you showed, but is also 1/2 the price.
I use a Synology NAS to serve and stream my videos to my PS3. It will do the necessary converting to make it play well with most video formats. There are some that do not work though. I had issues with WMP and other DLNA servers before I got this up and running.
This setup should work the same for your Blu-ray player. Here is more info on the Synology DLNA feature.
From my research, I bought a Synology DS211, you can get a DS211j for a little less, just slower processor. It has a nice GUI, and seems to run really well.
Synology and QNAP are the most highly regarded, solid, but affordable NASs.
IF you want cheap, I think getting a good router and plugging in HDDs is cheapest. IF you want to mess around, get a small case and an atom board, then install Linux or Solaris (if you want ZFS).
At home: Synology DS410.
At work: Probably out of your price range. :) Some older NetApp kit, Thumpers (Sunfire X4500 - no longer in production, unfortunately), and a bunch of different SuperMicro systems.
At home: Synology DS410.
At work: Probably out of your price range. :) Some older NetApp kit, Thumpers (Sunfire X4500 - no longer in production, unfortunately), and a bunch of different SuperMicro systems.
I got a synology diskstation and use their free android app. It's pretty awesome, but out of the 3 options you listed it only lets you sort by genre then album. I've never seen any that choose random albums.
I am running a Synology DS209 with SABnzb, sickbeard, CouchPotato and Transmission and I can max out my 20MB/s cable modem with no problem. Its got a 1.2Ghz processor and 256MB ram. The Synology DS411+II has a 1.8Ghz processor and 1GB ram which should do the trick fine and costs a few hundred dollars less than the DS1511+
I work directly off a NAS drive, specifically the Synology DS210J. It has 2x2TB drives configured as a 2TB RAID.
There is also an automated backup of my RAW files and Lightroom catalog to Amazon S3 which occurs once per week (I could make it more frequent, but after a heavy shooting session it can take days to backup to the cloud).
The backup service is built into the Synology network drive so I don't even need my main machine running or trigger it manually.
Yeah, Synology products are pretty good.
I have a DS1511 currently with four 3TB Seagate drives.
The main reason I went for the 1511 over the consumer grade boxes is the scope for expansion. Synology also do a similar looking unit, the DX510. Two of these can be attached to the 1511 via eSATA, giving up to 45TiB of storage.
I just got the Synology RackStation RS819RP+ so far it has been bad ass. I am about to add it to AD. You can see how to do that here. Good luck.
No if you follow the procedures that Synology lays out. From Synology support:
>Please follow step 3 of the following tutorial to wipe your DiskStation's DSM system partition in order to reinstall the DSM: http://www.synology.com/support/tutorials_show.php?q_id=493 > >Your data will remain intact as long as the instructions are followed correctly. > >Re-installing DSM will cause system settings/users to be removed, but you can prevent that by backing up configuration file and then restore it, once DSM is re-installed. Please follow appropriete >tutorial for your system: > >For DSM 4.0 and up: https://www.synology.com/en-us/knowledgebase/tutorials/511 > >For DSM 5.0 and up: Please go to Control Panel->Update and Restore->Configuration Backup->Back up configuration
The DS415+ is rated by Synology themselves to do 1080p transcoding. This just through their apps which use FFMpeg. http://www.synology.com/en-us/support/faq/577
Ultimately I don't think you're seeing anything outside of the expectations of network-attached storage. Ultimately, it won't react as fast as DAS, but once a stream is going it's a non-issue.
Dear God... sounds like copious amounts of alcohol already went into building (and maintaining) it. =) Keep on trucking though.
And do you even Synology bro? 8-) Dropped Drobo a few years ago and never looked back. SO much nicer device/interface/support/price! And the Cloud Station is so damn easy to use I feel bad having to charge to set it up. Whole thing really. Box of parts to fully functioning NAS, media server, IP cam DVR, personal cloud backup, VPN server, and download station is less than 20min. And it sets itself up in a few clicks, downloads everything, and leads you through anything remotely complicated (as in, more than one screen.)
I have an older DS107 unit, yes quite old but still kicking and doing well, running DSM 3.1-1638. Until recently I only had the file station app running via port forwarding on a basic smb router using the following Synology recommended best practices: http://www.synology.com/en-us/support/tutorials/614
Since this DS107 unit cannot update to DSM 5 or newer versions, was opening even just one port for file station a bad idea? I just disabled that port forwarding for now just in case after reading this today so this guy is not visible on the net anymore behind the router.
Yes, of course FreeNAS would cost more. The benefits are that you get ZFS which is much more secure for your data. Better redundancy, automatic error detection and correction, and many many more services supported. Add to that that you can add multiple NICs with link aggregation. This is a nice feature if you are streaming high bitrates to multiple devices at once. Like I said, you need to look at what you want to get out of the device. I certainly wouldn't want you to think that I am dissing the Synology. I love mine. It is dead simple, quite, and reliable. Just keep in mind that on the D214se, the read and write speeds are fairly slow, and you have no option to increase the number of discs in your NAS as it does not support the Synology expansion modules. If you do go the Synology route, get the DS213j over the DS214se. It is more powerful and supports more features. Since it is last years model, you can pick it up for nearly the same price as the 214se.
I just spec'd this out recently.
Synology RS3614xs+ - http://www.synology.com/en-us/products/overview/RS3614xs+
Samsung 850 Pro 1TB SSD x10 - http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-Internal-Version-MZ-7KE1T0BW/dp/B00LF10KTE/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1405390800&sr=1-2&keywords=samsung+850
That puts you at 16k. Get 2 more SSDs for the caching slots. We are using 128 GB ssds since they don't need to be large. This set up is shared between 3 Dell R420 servers. With a total of 70 VMs (55 Windows 7, 15 server 2012/2008)
It is still important to backup. We use Unitrends to backup all of our machines.
How are you virtualizing that and where did you get the OS? I found this page, but there's a bunch of different models. I'm sure it doesn't matter, but which of the downloads do I use on the page when I select a model?
Depends on how many people are in the office and how often they will hit the server. If it is 4-6 people, you could probably get away with just building a regular desktop computer. Slap some hard drives in it, configure in a RAID, setup a shared folder, and bam you are done. You don't even need to buy Windows Server, just use Windows 7 Pro.
As far as components go, a simple file server wouldn't require that much horsepower. The Core i5 you picked would work well, but you could probably get away with a Pentium G3220, 8 GB of RAM, a motherboard that supports RAID-5, and a decent power supply (as the computer will likely run 24/7). Add four hard drives (perhaps Western Digital Reds). If you configure the drives as a RAID-5, that will keep the files safe just in case a drive fails.
Any more than 10-15 concurrent users and you might want to start looking at higher-grade components.
If you wanted to go with a more bullet-proof solution, I would suggest a Synology DS414. Super easy to use and manage, but it will probably cost more than just doing it yourself.
Of course, if you do decide to build (or buy) a file server of some sort, they will need someone to manage it to run system updates, fix problems, etc. It isn't a ton of work, but if you don't want to take responsibility for that task, then it might be a better idea to skip it and go with your original plan.
For the Mac/Windows clients, you would need to use you DDNS entry (*.synology.me) that you can create in DSM. This will give you a xxx.synology.me address that you can use to remotely access your cloudstation directory.
For the smartphone apps, you would just use your QuickConnect ID.
Here is the external access tutorial: http://www.synology.com/en-us/support/tutorials/614
Another option might be using something like Synology Directory Server. There's even a guide for authenticating Windows computers against it. It does add complexity though, which might be unnecessary considering there seems to be no in-house IT.
http://www.synology.com/en-global/support/tutorials/560
According to the link, I can. However, I've always been led to believe the disks in a Raid 1 HAVE to be the same size. Wouldn't that mean you can't replace 1 of the disks with a larger disk?
Others are speaking up about the storage system so I won't repeat what they're saying.
Your offsite setup can be helped with one of these
You can load your files on there initially and then sync the difference to have a good offsite backup re-utilizing the USB drives you already have.
I had a Drobo and then a Drobo S. While they are older, they were slow even for their time so I'm not surprised that it is even with an SSD installed. If it's 1.5 TB, and even if it grows to 2TB over time, a nice 2x2TB RAID 1 enclosure should work well. If you can afford Thundbolt, go that route. I'm assuming that with that many photos, you probably do more than just archive them so you'll benefit from the speed.
If you really want to get into networking, a Synology NAS is what I recommend. With that said, that route is much more complicated and not as fast as thunderbolt. If you go that route, do not use AFP, iSCSI is your best bet.
TL;DR An external RAID1 enclosure, such as one of Western Digital's is the cheapest, simplest and fastest way to do this. http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=630
If you want a project, buy a Synology NAS.
http://www.synology.com/en-us/products/overview/DS1513+
I've been down both the DAS and NAS roads with my macs, feel free to ask anything.
I don't know the qnap products but i love my synology ds212j and the dsm running on it. Check out dsm5 on the synology page. Its a great ui for your nas. Also havent heard anything bad from all the synology owners i know. http://www.synology.com/en-global/dsm/index
I have a 212j. I've had no problems.
Be aware that Synology may incrementally drop support for older models with newer versions of DSM -- for instance, the *09 series cannot run DSM5.0 (but was still patched for heartbleed). For instance, compare:
http://www.synology.com/en-global/releaseNote/model/DS209 to http://www.synology.com/en-global/releaseNote/model/DS214
note that the DSM version in the former is still 4.3.
I suppose in, say, 5 years I'll have to upgrade.
I use iCloud to sync my settings.
I do file syncing with a home server called a Synology Diskstation, and an included sync package called cloudstation.
Here is the software that does the sync http://www.synology.com/en-us/dsm/index/cloud_services
Cloudstation works like a home Dropbox.
The thing does lots more than that. I am using mine to store my iTunes library, to act as a wireless time machine, to download torrents, and to serve my movie library to my Roku devices.
It does even more, but I'm too lazy to learn all of the computer stuff to do it.
They cost about $200 plus the expense of drives (search them at Amazon). I have about $450 in mine with the drives and two-bay diskstation. It's a pretty great computer accessory. It's one of the few things I couldn't live without.
Here is a list of the software and capabilities: http://www.synology.com/en-us/dsm/app_packages
For files only (with incremental versioning) you could try Synology's free Data Replicator program. It works really well. I use it to back up folders daily on a schedule.
I think you should look into a Synology NAS. http://www.synology.com/en-global/dsm/index/features
The file sharing via "the cloud" in OS X server solution isn't as flexible as the mobile apps and syncing available with the Synology. http://www.synology.com/en-global/dsm/index/mobile
There are add-on packages for mail in Synology as well, such as Zarafa: http://www.synology.com/en-global/dsm/app_packages/Zarafa
You want a NAS then. Synology has cheap but good ones: http://www.synology.com/en-us/
If you want something brainless, get an Apple Time Capsule.
If you want something more robust, get a Drobo.
Synology is a company that specializes in NAS boxes. They also have a pretty good custom OS for their products called DiskStation. One of the 'packages' (aka apps) for their OS is called DS Video, and will stream video found on the NAS box to other devices.
I added a 4 bay NAS from Synology to the poll. I would typically agree with a 4 bay NAS, but not for home use. It takes more power, heat and noise. You can get added redundancy elsewhere in the home for much less.
http://www.synology.com/en-us/products/spec/DS413j
You can others can sign up and vote here.
I'm not familiar with the VS240 so I can't really comment on that. In surveillance station live view on the 412+ though you can setup a screen to show 16 camera slots, of which your 9 cameras would be shown in there. Or you can do an 8 camera view, or have it cycle through each camera individually for 5 seconds or so. I'm pretty sure you can play around with the surveillance station app from within the DSM demo website.
Shouldn't ultimately matter. Block would be preferred route if your using the system for nothing other than virtual storage and don't want to have to create separate volumes. But if you are going to multi use it for VMware storage and other storage, then you'll want to use file level if you don't want to create separate volumes.
Is the iSCSI initiator in VMware enabled on the iSCSI Software Adaptor (or physical iSCSI Adaptor if you have one).
Give this a look: http://www.synology.com/en-global/support/tutorials/508
You haven't said what NAS you have.
My own Synology NAS lets me connect USB sound cards (i.e. FiiO E17) directly to it and use it as a player. There is an Android app for controlling the NAS player.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.synology.DSaudio
One other possibility, since I already have a Synology NAS, is that they have a DS Video app for Roku and they support the HDHomerun. So, other than SimpleTV, this appears to be the only "Officially" supported solution.
- http://www.synology.com/en-global/dsm/home_multimedia_video_station#dsm_spec_applied_model_dialog
- http://www.synology.com/en-us/support/faq/589
EDIT: I have a Synology 213j which doesn't do transcoding. So this solution won't work. Their higher end (x86 based) NAS boxes will do transcoding and might work with the Roku.
As much as ZFS is wonderful tech, it has a big issue for low-end use: it's a real pain to expand storage capacity of a pool by adding a drive. With other solutions, you can often just add a drive to a volume (yes, one that uses something other than raid 0 or JBOD).
With ZFS, you probably have to add multiple drives to create a new VDev (probably in a mirror or raid-like config), and then add the VDev to a zpool. The end result is that each of your VDevs has a mirror or raidz drive(s), which might be overkill for low-end use. It's good for data protection, though.
If you're unfamiliar with ZFS, see the FreeNAS powerpoint presentation: http://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/slideshow-explaining-vdev-zpool-zil-and-l2arc-for-noobs.7775/
I just went though the building-vs-buying, and I decided that I want a toaster that just works. So, I ended up getting a Synology DS1813+, which should last me some years (the DS1812+ might have been a cheaper choice for me, though). This version:
Does come with scp/sftp.
Documents how to build apps for it (including how to obtain the toolchain), although I imagine that's unsupported.
Is x86_64-based. Worst-case, I'll just locate a system with compatible libraries (e.g., glibc, etc.), compile, and transfer.
Edit: to clarify, the compiler toolchain is a cross-compiler. You have to run them on another linux box, and not the NAS.
Synology NAS products utilize their own web-based OS, called "DSM" that has tons of apps and features built-in, as well as other apps you could install if it was a feature/function you wanted
http://www.synology.com/en-us/dsm/index
that Netgear device looks like a pretty basic storage/stream/backup device and nothing more
option 1) use 2 external drives and backup manually twice (slow, prone to user error, but effectively safe for single drive failure)
option 2) purchase an external NAS (Drobo or Synology), something with multiple raid 1 drives that are hot swappable. What' does this mean?
You use the one external enclosure as one big drive bay, and your data is stored in duplicate/triplicate etc. across the multiple drives. If ever one of the drives fails, you just buy another drive and swap it into the bay where the drive failed. The ones that remain keep all your data safe and nifty. RAID 0 is the opposite of useful for data security, but RAID 1 and RAID 2 etc.. moving up are designed for exactly this. costly up front but worth the investment depending on the value of you photos.
You might be looking for a cheap solution, so either of those will work. But it seems to me like you might want to move towards a dedicated NAS (network attached storage) and with that much content you are going to want raid. I purchased a synology and love it. I would look into something like that.
Benefits:
- Centralized storage - save everything or backup everything to one place
- VPN - control or connect to your home network from anywhere
- the apps - IOS and Android to browse files, control downloads, upload pictures, watch movies, listen to music
I'm not that familiar with the Synology NAS boxes (I have an older 2-drive QNAP), but I know they're quite good. When comparing on their site, they're fairly similar, but the 412+ appears to be a bit more biz oriented. The 414 offers hardware encryption, which is kinda cool, but the 412+ seems to beat it every other way. Again...not a Synology pro, so your actual mileage may vary.
Also, maybe you noticed, but the Synology NAS boxes you linked are both a lot bigger. They're meant to hold 4x3.5" desktop drives, while the Drobo mini is for 4x2.5" laptop type drives. Since you're looking at NAS boxes that work with bigger drives, maybe you don't need 4 bays? A 2-bay operating as a RAID1 mirror should be plenty fast and secure, not to mention cheaper.
And lastly, if you're ordering diskless, think about the drives you'll be using. ;D
Ok well first off, for some files, you're not gonna get smooth 1080p just because Chromecast is wireless, so if the file is big enough, it's going to choke trying to push it through.
There's also the matter of having to transcode some files for chromecast to support them, which will also likely lead to a quality loss.
I watch my stuff at 720p via a Synology 1812+ and it mostly works fine, with the exception of larger files that I sometimes have to allow time for buffering, but be aware that it's not going to look crystal clear perfect in its current form.
That said, I'd suggest the DS214play would probably work best for you if you're fine having only two drive bays. http://www.synology.com/en-global/products/overview/DS214play
It'd give you the best odds of working well for your needs.