NAS options

tberry6686

My Synology DS413J NAS (4x4tb drives) is pretty much full now and so I either need to get another 4 bay NAS or upgrade to a new NAS with more drive bays.

I have been looking at 6,7 and 8 bay units from Synology, Qnap and Thecus with a budget of ~£800 for the unit (not including drives).

Needs - 2xUSB3 ports and must be able to handle large files (up to 25gb).

Anyone got any recommendations ?

cookie365

I'm seriously looking at the QNAP TS-451

http://www.qnap.com/i/uk/product/model.php?II=143

Probably the 4GB version, or I might get the 1Gb and buy 2x 4Gb sticks and do the upgrade myself.

tberry6686

Looks good but only 4 bay. I'll need to look and see if they do a bigger version.

cookie365

You did say 4 bay was an option in your original post

tberry6686

True I did say that. I decided after I had posted that I would be better off with either a 6,7 or 8 bay unit and forgot that I had been considering a 4 bay when I originally posted. My bad.

Wasn't really an issue though as I found that they also make them as an 8 bay for a pretty good price (£572) so have ordered it along with 4 new 3TB WD red drives (to match the 4 I have in my current NAS.

Thanks for telling me about that one. I hadn't noticed it.

Orangezorki

Not done it myself, but have you considered building your own?

I've seen some interesting videos about freenas and there are some purposely designed cases that can hold loads of drives so you can upgrade in future instead of needing a whole new setup.

cookie365

Freenas is horrible to use, you'll actually pay more for the components than if you bought a ready made box, and the 'community' is the most unfriendly I've ever come across on the internet.

I suppose if you're an expert at networking and in particular network security, and have really weird requirements, and have the bits knocking around anyway, and your time has no value ...