[albireo13]

Love my SONOS system for streaming internet audio.  Now, I want to get a NAS and store my music collection on it.
I don't need any RAID features, just a reliable NAS.  I will backup periodically.
Should I get a single-bay NAS?  It seems that performance may not best with these a, they are targeted at entry level users.

If I get a 2-bay NAS, can I populate it with 1 drive and use it that way, with no RAID features?

Thx,
Rob

[srb]

Should I get a single-bay NAS?  It seems that performance may not best with these a, they are targeted at entry level users.

Although entry-level one or two bay NAS usually have a slower processor and less RAM and may not be the best choice for installations that have many clients using web, ftp or mail server apps, they are generally quite adequate for music streaming and backup applications in a home setting.

If I get a 2-bay NAS, can I populate it with 1 drive and use it that way, with no RAID features?

Yes, no problem.

I have found the Synology NAS to be very reliable.

Steve

[albireo13]

Well, I picked up a QNAP TS-231 at a good price and loaded a single 3TB WD Red drive in it.
I've just started using it for streaming. Awesome so far!

[JoshK]

I have a QNAP TL 569 which I generally like, although I am tempted to upgrade to a big Synology system, for none other than more storage and ease of use.   I managed to figure out a lot of the QNAP's setup, but the Qsync still escapes me.  They could really make it a bit more intuitive, as in if you are syncing things, it is generally between two entities, show me which entities in your browser, so I can see which it which, I mean really.

From my reading, QNAP and Synology seem to be the best rated and I haven't had any issues with teh QNAP other than non-intuitive settings.