Replacement NAS?

I’ve had my QNAP TS-212 for over 8 years now and it has been running constantly, 24/7.

All my music is stored (mirrored RAID 1) on the two hard drives (2x 2TB) and the FLAC files are transcoded to WAV ‘on the fly’ using Minimserver (which is loaded on the NAS) to my Naim ND5XS/Hugo

CD’s were ripped using dBpoweramp - “Lossless Uncompressed”

I also store my Time Machine (MAC) backups on the same NAS, following the demise of my Apple Time Capsule, earlier this year.

Although it all seems to be working fine, I wondered whether after 8 years I should consider a replacement, before it suddenly develops a fault (though I do back up to an external 2TB Lacie USB drive).

Interestingly, music on Radio Paradise 320k played via iRadio on the Naim streamer, tends to sound better (more engaging) than the transcoded FLAC files via UPnP from the NAS (hardwired ethernet cat5e) … which seems a little ‘wrong’

8 years on, technology has moved at a fast pace and perhaps the ‘old’ QNAP may no longer be the best storage solution.

Any thoughts on whether I should seriously consider transferring all the FLAC files to a new NAS or Melco device etc?

I recently moved to a newer Synology NAS (DS718+) from an older Qnap (TS231). I have found that the newer (and faster) NAS flows much faster access to my music.

I am using an Innuos Zenith and still have the majority of my music on the NAS. I notice little improvement playing directly through Innuos, but a big difference running my files through it.

Not sure if this helps.

I have recently upgraded from a 5 year old single core NAS to a quad core Synology DS218play with 4GB Segate IronWolf drives. I now run Asset as the UPnP server. There was a definite improvement in the sound quality from this NAS.

A very interesting question. I run a QNAP TS 251+ with 8TB as my main man which is backed up to a Synology DS218play also with 8TB - I don’t use RAID.

The QNAP I purchased in 2016 and overall it is slightly better built compared with the Synology plus at the time Synology didn’t support Asset. My reason for buying Synology is the price it is a great NAS and a cheap option as a back-up NAS to the main QNAP.

Last year I transferred my digitised DVD collection 6TB to a Synology DS718+ which is backed up to another 6TB Synology DS 218play again no RAID.

Indeed there is now very little justification for RAID 1 in small NAS boxes - the MTBF of the current generation of disks is actually greater than that of the NAS box itself, so RAID 1 has lost its point.

I use 2 disks in JBOD configuration, disk 1 has my music data and a backup of my PC data, disk 2 holds an incremental backup of disk 1 that isn’t accessible from the network, so providing a data restore source in case of a ransomware attack on the PC . In the case of Synology, when using JBOD, a disk can be transferred from one NAS to another and read in the new device, so this backup can be used as protection against failure of the NAS box or Disk 1.

‘mornin’ Xanthe, not disagreeing about RAID & is one of the considerations in my thoughts at the moment. Given that your config works as intended, the only remaining ‘risk’ is in a failure of the NAS itself, I’m now pondering the possibles of that type of NAS failure damaging both discs & maybe a 1-bay NAS make more sense. Does a 1-bay with wired remote NAS (or USB) backup or a disconnected independent backup much as I have now make more sense for the risk averse.

The downside of this is my future needs will be for audio & a growing 4K video collection. Problem is most all of the 1-bay units seem to be low processor power.
Synology & QNAP only have one model each with a quad core & it leaves me wondering if am I looking in the right direction.

Just some thoughts (ramblings) & longer term after 2020

A month ago I moved my music from a Qnap 4-bay to an Audiostore product. I immediately noticed an improvement on two counts. First, I could access my music faster; and second, I noticed an improvement in sound quality. The first was quantifiable, but the second is hard to put into words, but I am rediscovering my music.

I am still using the Qnap, but only as a copy for my music library and as a copy of my work and personal files.

It has been suggested elsewhere on the forum that a dedicated music server is a great benefit, making use of faster processors, RAM and perhaps dual configuration with the operating system on a SSD and the music on a HDD. In any event, I am discovering the joy of Roon.

Synology have plenty of quad core models, but the DS218play is the cheapest. There is a small possibility of the NAS hardware taking out both disks on failure, but this possibility is remote

In my case the NAS is a backup to the PC but primary store for the Music, however the music files are also backed up to the PC manually as these data don’t change frequently. No matter which one fails (or gets hit by ransomware) the other system still holds all the data.

I do agree however that a DS218play and a DS11*j as a backup device with it’s data share not accessible to the PC mitigates some (but not all) remaining risk of multiple (near) simultaneous failures. To harden against the last remaining points of failure (e.g. lightning strike) the second NAS should be offsite, accessed across t’internet.

https://community.naimaudio.com/t/a-nas-observation/4093

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As my forcus (at the moment) is a 1-bay, the DS118 has the same 1.4GHz 64-bit quad core & 1GB RAM as the DS218play.
My concern is video (the need for more processor power). The DS118 can handle 4K UHD so its on the short list.
Price is not a concern but a DS118 diskless is aprx £155, a diskless DS218play is £210

I’ve been running my QNAP TS-419P non-stop for over 10 years without issue…it’s bound to fail now!!

I run Asset on a separate Laptop as the performance when running on the QNAP was slow although it is an older processor. I will look to upgrade in the not too distant future and probably go for another QNAP with a higher spec so I can run multiple servers at the same time on QNAP with acceptable performance.

Probably look for some improved drives too

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Fairy snuff.

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