5 key things to know before buying NAS

Before thinking nigh buying network attached storage (NAS), you demand to know a few things. Depending on what y'all plan on using the NAS for, you may demand to spend more than your budget allows. If you're totally stumped, I rounded upwards a few helpful pointers to go you started.

What do you need a NAS for?

Are y'all going to use the NAS as a storage replacement for deject services like OneDrive, or do you plan to make use of other features similar surveillance and media streaming? By deciding on exactly what you demand (and may want to do later on), you'll be able to decide on a NAS that won't be out of its depth at a later date.

The more you desire to practise on your NAS, the more powerful the processor needs to exist, and the pricier the models become. A simple file storage NAS tin be purchased for less than $200, while a feature-rich NAS can get for $ane,000 and up. Depending on how much you have bachelor to spend, y'all'll need to take this into account.

If you're just looking to get started with NAS, nosotros recommend the Synology DS119j.

Budget NAS

Synology DS119j

Synology'southward budget-friendly NAS.

We'd normally recommend a NAS that has at least two drives for redundancy, but the DS119j is nifty for tight budgets. With a depression-ability processor, single hard drive and minimal RAM, yous're paying for a NAS that tin can hands handle file storage and allows you to test out the company's DSM OS.

4K streaming is possible ... sort of

Streaming 4K content from NAS requires the device to take a powerful processor to handle any transcoding. Transcoding is required when a 4K file saved on your NAS is not compatible with the device attempting to stream it. Your Tv set may not support a specific 4K movie file type, which leads to the NAS needing to transcode it for the TV to play the motion-picture show. This requires more power than well-nigh home NAS models come packing.

If you demand to stream 4K and will be transcoding on the fly, you'll be better off building your own NAS or spending more on powerful servers. There's a handy compatibility document that has been kept upward-to-date by the NAS community that showcases which NAS models are capable of transcoding at dissimilar resolutions.

Overall, check the CPU and RAM to run into just how powerful the NAS is and choose accordingly.

Choosing the right NAS for Plex

A good starting point would be Synology's DS218+.

Value NAS

Synology DS218+

Great NAS bang for your buck.

Synology's DS218+ is a smashing centre ground. Powered by an Intel processor, information technology's possible to transcode using Plex Reject to 1080p and the NAS tin can easily handle various services and tasks. Because it has two drive bays, you can run a RAID configuration, providing redundancy for sensitive data stored inside.

Choosing the right number of bays

Deciding on what you plan to do with the NAS, you will likewise demand to know how many drives you lot're going to need. A upkeep-friendly single-bay NAS volition accept a smaller capacity than a multi-bay NAS — and at that place's also the lack of redundancy. But buying a NAS with more trophy than you require is an unnecessary expense.

Should yous just need to store files, some music and a few home movies, a two-bay NAS is ideal with the option to throw in 2 12TB drives for RAID. A iv-bay NAS with an installed capacity of 24TB in a RAID configuration offers aplenty space for all your media and keeps everything protected confronting drive failure.

When looking at the number of bays a NAS offers, if you plan on having all data stored duplicated in case annihilation causes a drive to fail, y'all'll need to one-half the bays for available storage. For instance, a four-bay NAS in a RAID1 configuration will only offering ii-bays worth of storage since the other bays are used for information replication.

Installing NAS hard drives

NAS is different from your notebook or PC. For starters, the NAS volition probable be running continuously, unless y'all set up and configure specific shutdown and start-up times. (Running Plex on the NAS will force the server to remain upward unless you manually close it down.)

Hard drive manufacturers have NAS-specific drives bachelor, which are designed for continuous performance and sport some advanced features for better reliability. These drives are usually more expensive than their desktop counterparts, but they offer added peace of heed for NAS owners.

Buying NAS models from reputable companies like Synology and QNAP, yous tin sometimes have drives preinstalled, just if not, Seagate and Western Digital offer some excellent storage solutions.

5 hard drives that pair perfectly with NAS

Our picks are Western Digital Red and Seagate IronWolf.

Hot storage

Western Digital Cherry

Western Digital'southward peppery NAS bulldoze family.

Western Digital'south (WD) Ruddy family of difficult drives is manufactured for NAS use and tin be deployed in systems that support up to eight bays. Backed by a three-yr limited warranty and a powerful make in the storage market, WD drives are well known to be acme quality, and they concluding a long fourth dimension. The Red series isn't the fastest batch of hard drives on the market place, simply using them in a RAID formation can make up for this.

Seagate is a dandy alternative to WD.

Wild drives

Seagate IronWolf

Seagate brought in NAS drives from the wild.

Seagate's IronWolf series is the company's solution for NAS setups, rivaling WD Red. Similar technology, named AgileArray, is implemented to offering enhanced performance and reliability over desktop drives, and these units can be installed in boxes that support up to eight bays. IronWolf Pro is the next step up with slightly more expensive drives but increased supported trophy, workload rates, and a limited warranty.

Ports, power and backups

Connecting your NAS to your network will require an Ethernet cable to be run from your access point or router to the rear of the NAS. There are ways to use a Wi-Fi dongle if the model y'all choose has USB ports and support for the said dongle, but it's recommended to use a cable if possible. Check the specifications of the NAS to make certain it has all the ports you lot require.

The NAS is also going to be running all the time unless you configure information technology not to do then. The ability describe will be significant if the hard drives do not enter hibernation mode. Running a Plex server and other services that require the NAS to be up and running volition forcefulness you to take into account the power depict of the unit of measurement.

NAS can be used to shop of import data, but what happens if you lose power? Similar other electronics, it'll suddenly shut down. This isn't ideal, especially if you're working on a certificate from the NAS or demand a file immediately. This is where an uninterrupted power supply (UPS) comes into play, offering a few valuable minutes of power to the NAS then information technology can safely shut downwardly or allow admission even after power has been cut.

We recommend checking out the APC ATX 120.

Ability protection

APC ATX 120

Continue working even with no power.

The final thing you lot need with a NAS you lot rely on for storage or other functions is for information technology to fail due to loss of power. Having a UPS battery like the ATX 120 from APC will allow you to safely shut the NAS down or access a few files even afterward power has been lost.

Conclusion

Afterward looking over the higher up points for choosing a NAS, you'll be in a meliorate position when deciding betwixt the numerous models available. Conduct in mind that more affordable NAS models will struggle to perform multiple tasks simultaneously and you tin forget 4K streaming, merely they brand for excellent file and backup storage.

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Source: https://www.windowscentral.com/important-things-know-before-buying-nas

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