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back to article Bring Your Own Disks: The Synology DS214 network storage box

The Bring-Your-Own-Disks home server market might not be mainstream but it's pretty lively place, with giants like Cisco mixing with obscure Taiwanese box-shifters. And although these quiet, sub-£400 servers make a useful bit of small office kit, the abundance of media awash in family homes and shared digs give them another role …

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    1. Steven Raith
      Reply Icon

      Re: I use...

      I agree with everything you say.

      However, at home, I just can't be arsed dicking about with the setup these days, so I think I might have to have a look at this for hosting my porn. I mean, disk images.

      *cough*

      Steven R

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    2. Steve Crook
      Reply Icon

      Re: I use...

      I've been running a DS411j for a few years and Synology issue regular updates to their software. They don't appear to be a company that has problems with long term memory when it comes to supporting their product.

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      1. John Tserkezis
        Reply Icon

        Re: I use...

        "I've been running a DS411j for a few years and Synology issue regular updates to their software. They don't appear to be a company that has problems with long term memory when it comes to supporting their product."

        Apparently you've never heard of QNAP. Lots of upgrades, lots of new features, none of the old bugs fixed.

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  2. Alan Sharkey

    I've got the 412+ - 4 x 3Tb disks and an intel processor. It handles everything I throw at it.

    It runs file services, streams videos to my TV, streams music & photos around the house, runs 8 web sites, handles my two printers, provides automatic backups and allows me to access my files via it's own "cloud" from the outside world.

    It does have some idiosyncrasies. It won't stream lots of files to Panasonic TVs (Samsung is OK). It forgets my printer when it's switched off. It only has 2 USB 3 ports (both used for external backup drives). But it's small price to pay for what it can do.

    Total cost from Amazon was about £800. I'm sure a PC running Windows Server 2012 would be a similar price to do much the same - but I'm happy with the small footprint and very quiet operation.

    Alan

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  3. patters

    Shameless plug

    I maintain a few popular packages for Synology NAS. Serviio is a better media server than the standard included one, and CrashPlan works nicely for online backup. Take a look here: packages.pcloadletter.co.uk

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    1. Alan Sharkey
      Reply Icon

      Re: Shameless plug

      Have you tried installing Serviio? An absolute pain and to be avoided at all costs (IMHO)

      Alan

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      1. Don Dumb
        Reply Icon

        Re: Shameless plug - Why the downvotes?

        Downvoting a comment that gave nothing more than the author's relevant experience and opinion. Don't downvote just because you don't like an opinion.

        For what it's worth I found Serviio to be unhelpful when trying to run a server from my computer. Although that could be more a problem with Samsung's useless approach to DLNA on their TVs

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  4. Trigun

    DS412+

    I used to have a DS108j, moved to a DS212+ and now run a DS412+ with 4xSeagate Baracuda 3TB hard drives using SHR (Synology Hybird RAID) - gives a total of 8.11TB storage, is fast, has 1 disc redundancy and can cope with the RAID being upgraded to larger hard drives (4TB in the future possibly). I don't regret spending the money on the NAS as it can do so much, utilising relatively low power, and is incredibly easy to set up.

    My only criticism (as others have already said) is that the lower end Synology NAS' (notably the J version in each series) are a little too weak for the job. I'd suggest buying either a non-J Synology or, if you don't have the money for that, then build an atom-like system instead.

    Other than that I have nothing but good things to say about Synology's products thus far.

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  5. Tik

    My answer for a good free NAS

    was mini ITX case silent case, one mini iTX silent motherboard, low power CPU, 8 Gb RAM, 2 x2Tb HDD, one memory stick + freeNAS 9.1; needs a little bit of reading but nothing to be scared of.

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: My answer for a good free NAS

      Somehow the people forwarding the build-it-yourself NAS fail to remember: it is not "free" if you had to purchase the hardware (you did, at some time, even if it is old kit you are simply reusing). The only "free" part is the downloaded, open-source NAS OS but even that certainly isn't "free" if you add all the time and energy you will spend in hardware assembly, hardware configuration, hardware testing, OS installation, OS package downloads / upgrades and finally system installation.

      NAS? Assembled and configured, right out of the box. Let us not forget the warranty: you have a problem? It's someone else's problem within that warranty period, thank you very much. And, (my chosen) NAS is so damn pretty that I have it in plain sight in the middle of living space, which would be considered rather tight if I had to find a hidden location for an ugly, loud lump of tech. I also won't mention the Android / iPhone app that can access, and share to others via private URLs, the NAS files any place on the planet...ooops, I just mentioned it. :P

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  6. jœl
    Thumb Up

    software is also open source

    You can get it here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/dsgpl/ for various ARM and x86_64 archs...have not yet set up a virtual machine to try things (on the todo list - raspberry pi?)

    I own a 211j box. Not very powerful, but energy efficient and quiet with low rpm seagate disks 2TB (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Seagate-ST2000DL003-Barracuda-3-5-inch-5900RPM/dp/B004C0WVP6/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1386092562&sr=8-4&keywords=ST2000DL003-9VT166) in a raid1 conf.

    The reason is that I host my mail server and need the box up at all times. Although it has a spam killer, I use the various aliases I create for different sites requiring registration to cut the problem from its root if they pest me with unwanted mails.

    DLNA server for mkvs (no problems at all) to my WD Live box to the TV, streaming my mp3 collection to my iphone/work pc, and Time machine for my backups is what I use most, although I use quite a lot of features - like backing the box up to Amazon's Irish Glacier server.

    What makes me a satisfied buyer of it is the little amount of time I spend maintaining everything I use. That is why I would recomend it to anybody who does not have the time or the inclination to set up a custom box for similar functionality

    The various packages available for it (http://www.synology.com/en-global/dsm/app_packages) work quite well, plus there are other non official repos too.

    Must say though, that I have found more uses for it than the box I bought can handle, so my next buy would be a more powerful version of it.

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  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Regret buying one

    I had a 4 bay synology NAS.

    Set up what was supposed to be a redundant RAID array to backup my files, films, Itunes etc.

    Then it destroyed the lot. One day it stopped working, all of the drives were corrupted. Bought some new ones and it destroyed those too.

    A horrible waste of money.

    Hope my new WD mycloud is a bit more reliable, although it lacks some of the functionality.

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    1. alex 39
      Reply Icon

      Re: Regret buying one

      Congratulations, you just learned that RAID does not equal backup

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      1. John Tserkezis
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        Re: Regret buying one

        "Congratulations, you just learned that RAID does not equal backup"

        Nor power stability. Lose power at just the right (wrong) moment, and no amount of RAID is going to save you.

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        1. Neill Mitchell
          Reply Icon

          Re: Regret buying one

          "Nor power stability. Lose power at just the right (wrong) moment, and no amount of RAID is going to save you."

          LOL, so very true. The very next thing I bought after my DS212+ was an APC 650CS UPS. It has saved me at least 3 times now. It also communicates with the 412 via USB, so the NAS shuts down automatically if the power is off long enough for the UPS battery to get low.

          If you are going to do home NAS, you might as well do it properly. The APC cost just £70. Worth every penny.

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  8. Chris Ashworth

    The iTunes server is functionally useless since Apple's Home Sharing appeared btw. Very good unit otherwise.

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  9. Metrognome

    A few questions

    Guys I could use your expert help.

    I finally moved to a place that is well kitted out to make the most of a NAS box (FTTH coupled with 24 LAN sockets scattered across all rooms and a cisco switch just under the electrical panel/cabinet).

    While I have various leftovers enough to make a screaming server if I got round to it; sadly I just can't devote the time anymore.

    I was drawn to any 4-bay box and the three main usage scenarios are: 1) Torrent client & library, 2) DLNA playback to a smartTV and 3) using their app to access the box directly on my tab/phones when travelling so I don't have to load media beforehand (I travel a LOT and internationally, unfortunately).The playback is only about transporting the data; the TV should be capable of handling the playback of the media. As for the streaming via the app, essentially I only want the box to dumbly stream the data. My tabs/phones are more than capable of playing anything back with no help.

    I read you guys talking about the underpowered option of the -j models. But then you get the normal numbers and the "+" versions. Only the + ones come with Atoms and the normals come with Marvells. The -j are hobbled on the CPU and RAM front. Given that a 412+/414+ bare cost as much as a 413j with 4x2TB WD Reds I want your opinion on a possible choice. I'm not sure I need to aim for "+" given the cost.

    Apologies for the long post but sometimes (despite much evidence to the contrary) these fora are populated with some very sharp, smart and helpful people so I thought I'd ask.

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  10. Infernoz Bronze badge

    Hmmm...

    The comment about a NAS box offering VPN is stupid; that is best in a gateway router; my Draytek VDSL2 one can do this easily, with IP6 support.

    There are several thing wrong with device:

    1. The unit cost is over priced for the meager disk and RAID support, as are most Branded off-the-shelf NAS.

    2. A SOHO NAS should use WD Reds if you want the NAS to be reliable.

    3. The best data redundancy you can get is RAID 1; which wastes lots of disk space and some speed.

    4. Larger drives, say 3TB and 4TB may not be supported.

    A FreeNAS box can be /much/ better value with a proper RAID model, and you can make more plugins Apps using a PC-BSD 9.* dist; OK this requires DIY, but that is half the fun.

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  11. sorry, what?
    Pint

    Hot swap, yay!

    I have a 2 disk Buffalo NAS enclosure and was VERY disappointed to discover it didn't support hot swap. But then I don't know if that's even an option on RAID 1. I'd love a system that allows me to just pull a drive out to keep "off site" as a backup, plugging a new drive in (blank) to replace it and have that automatically rebuilt without stopping the NAS from being used.

    If this box supports such an idea I think that is the prime "+1" for it...

    Regardless, RAID anything (but 0) is a life saver.

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  12. Nick Pettefar

    QNAP User

    I have a couple of QNAP TS212 boxes and they are OK.

    One box I use as an iSCSI JBOD for my Sun T2000, I created a ZFS mirror.

    The other one is in standard use but one of the 2TB (Green) drives has failed. There is a USB socket on the back and I have connected a USB mirror device (Icy Box, 2x3TB disks) as I wanted to do a full backup in order to convert the QNAP to 2x3TB disks. Unfortunately there is no facility in the fancy software for that! I ssh'd in remotely and uses rsync instead. I think that the NAS software should support an easy way of upgrading the disks. There is a backup application but it is limited to specified folders, a certain number of folders (five I think) and they must already exist on the target. Ridiculous! I think QNAP technical support were embarassed when they told me this.

    Does anyone know if Synology are any better?

    Also, can you connect the Synology as a USB drive directly to one computer as well as a network drive to others?

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    1. ACZ
      Reply Icon

      Re: QNAP User

      Erm... simplest thing is to backup to an external drive via USB, pull out the old drives, insert new (larger) ones, and restore from backup. Then use RAID expansion (below).

      However, an alternative solution is to pull out a drive from your RAID, plug a new (larger) one in, and let it repair the RAID array by creating the missing disk image on the new drive. Repeat for the other drives in the array. This can be *very* slow. Then use RAID expansion (below).

      Whichever option you've gone for, you now have new drives with RAID images using only part of the drive capacity, and you can then do RAID expansion. Just go into the Storage Manager web app and expand the RAID (basically, creates an additional RAID volume on the available space on the drives, and attaches it to the existing RAID volume). Just requires a few mouse clicks.

      IMHO, the best thing to do is just buy the largest drives possible when you first get the box, and go for the first option (backup to external drive via USB and restore to new drives from backup) when you eventually bite the bullet and decide you need more space.

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  13. katjap
    Trollface

    O'RLY?

    You should never use a NAS! Think about it....

    NAS.............NSA

    Coincidence?

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  14. ben kendim

    Do you want your drives to call the mothership...

    If it needs internet access to update iitself, what else is it sending back home?

    Any NAS I own has to be functional inside a nonrouting IP block. That is why I went with the old WD Mybook Live drives.

    My hard drives are not allowed to call their mothership...

    mce

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