[rklein]

At one point, I was thinking of purchasing a couple of Oyen TB harddrives and just connecting through esata to my C.A.P.S. server.  However, I have been reading about the Synology NAS units and really like the functionality of these machines.

My music library is growing with RB, HiRez, & DSD files.  I am sure that a couple of TB would be sufficient but been down the road of "short sidedness" and know that I want (and will need) the extra space going forward.
I many photos stored in Lightroom and in addition, I have many many photos currently stored on various PC's and laptops.  My photo collection will start to get much larger as I have recently purchased a Nikon D-600.
Both my wife and I have separate itunes libraries.
Will probably start using the Synology for some HT use as well.
We have two laptops, iphones, music server, one dying PC.

Anyway...  here are the models I was currently looking at:
DS213
DS213+
DS413j
DS413
DS412+

My question is ... which Synology for my needs?

I will probably get a couple of external HD's to back up to as well so in that scenario would I need to configure RAID if I go with the DS213(+)?

The (+) models have USB 3.0 as well as eSATA ports, plus more perfomance & memory.  Is it possible to connect the eSATA port directly to my eSATA on my SOtM USB card?  This feature alone would make the (+) models very attractive to me.  If this is not possible, then I would look at the non-(+) models as I have read that more powerful processors/memory is not needed for audio applications.

Any suggestions or advice is mucho appreciado! 

Regards,

Randy

[joeling39]

Check out the review at computer audiophile. By chance, I purchased the very same unit just before the review was published. The DS1812+ with the WD red 3T drives were relatively silent & work great. Even a complete network dummy like myself did the setup all by myself. Running in one of the RAID configuration, I get 18.7TB out of the 3TB X 8 pieces of HDDs.

Regards,
Joe Ling

[TJHUB]

You emailed me a while back asking what I was using for music storage for my CAPS server.  At the time I was using an external buss powered USB drive very successfully.  Then, my CAPS v2 motherboard died and I ended up moving to a CAPS v3.   For whatever reason, the buss powered USB drive no longer sounded right.  I also lost the eSATA port with the "upgrade", so I decided to try a NAS. 

I researched what NAS to buy for weeks.  I knew that I only wanted a Synology, so I limited my research to only those.  I ended up getting a 213 a few weeks ago, and populated it with 3TB Western Digital Red drives.  I ultimately chose the 213 because of features and price.  I found out that the lower "j"models don't have features like "wake on LAN" which is something I didn't even know that I wanted, and I wanted a black case and the hot swap drive bays.  I would have liked a 4 bay unit, but I decided that a 2 bay unit with 3TB drives would satisfy my needs for quite some time.  And if I got desperate, I could expand the 213 with a 213X expansion unit.  However, I figured like everything else in the world, NAS boxes would advance, so by the time I needed more drive bays, I may rather just buy a newer unit. 

I've monitored the CPU and RAM usage when playing music from my CAPS server.  In all circumstances, both meters show no more than 3 of 10 bars for the CPU when working on the NAS itself and less than 1 bar for the CPU while playing music.  The RAM meter has never been over 1 bar for me.

As far as other ports on the units, I'm not sure the eSATA or USB ports can be used to access the NAS drives for your CAPS.  I think those ports allow you transfer data on and off the NAS only.  I'm not sure there is any reason not to just connect the NAS via network connection anyway.  Just make sure your network is as short as possible between the CAPS and NAS.

All that said, the Synology NAS boxes are fantastic.  Functionally, the NAS works flawlessly for my CAPS server in every way.  Sound quality matches my internal SSD, and the NAS automatically wakes up and sleeps with network access, so my NAS basically sleeps unless being accessed by my CAPS.  With the WD Red drives, it's basically almost silent as well. 

[rklein]

Thanks for the two replies.    I hadn't looked at this Circle for a while and did not notice these two replies.

The DS1812+ with the WD red 3T drives were relatively silent & work great.

Joe:

The unit you ended up with is really more than I had envisioned spending for a NAS.  From all accounts, it seems to be a very nice unit.

I researched what NAS to buy for weeks.  I knew that I only wanted a Synology, so I limited my research to only those.  I ended up getting a 213 a few weeks ago, and populated it with 3TB Western Digital Red drives.  I ultimately chose the 213 because of features and price.  I found out that the lower "j"models don't have features like "wake on LAN" which is something I didn't even know that I wanted, and I wanted a black case and the hot swap drive bays.  I would have liked a 4 bay unit, but I decided that a 2 bay unit with 3TB drives would satisfy my needs for quite some time.  And if I got desperate, I could expand the 213 with a 213X expansion unit.  However, I figured like everything else in the world, NAS boxes would advance, so by the time I needed more drive bays, I may rather just buy a newer unit. 

TJ:

Your situation sounds very similar to mine.  I was really torn between the DS413 and the DS213.  Your take on getting the DX213 Expansion unit when you need to get more space is very good advice.  At the present, I too, think that 2 3TB drives will be sufficient for my needs.  Knowing that I can double my storage with the expansion unit for another $139 is great.

The DS213+ is an option with its more powerful processor, but for $100 more, I am not sure it is worth it, as I will pretty much only be storing my music library and all my photos on this NAS.  There won't be any encrypted files residing on it.

Regards,

Randy

[krikor]

I'm in a similar boat. I need to replace my old Windows XP Pro "server" that I use to store all my music on in the basement and I'm considering going the Synology NAS route instead. That would give me greater flexibility for all the other users in the house. I've been considering the same models.

One concern I have is that I still want to be able to run Logitech Media Server (aka Squeezebox Center) for all of the Squeezeboxes we have in the house. Thinking I may need the Synology with the gutsier processors for this to ensure smooth operation.