For me, I wanted hot swappable because at the rate of data I am collecting, I have to add a new hard drive every few months, or upgrade one to a larger capacity.
I bought my synology 1 year ago. I started off with 3 1TB drives Added 2 more 1TB's Ran out of space. Replaced 2 of the 1 TB's with 1.5 TB's (Got a great deal on them) Ran out of space Replaced 2 of the 1TB's with 2 TB's Ran out of space Replaced the last 1 TB with a 3TB. Now I have 1 3TB, 2 2TB's and 2 1.5TB's. All this was in 1 year. Hotswapping just meant pop the drive out while the unit is on, plug the new one in and a few hours later the hard drive is setup and the volume expanded. I didn't even have to do anything (except 1 click on the menu to initiate formatting of the drive). I actually saved up for a year to get this unit, so I can justify it, but I totally understand that this is overkill for 99% of folks out there. Now if you get one of those backplane cases, you can hotswap. Again, price vs functionality. If you don't mind your NAS going down, then go for it. I have 3 TV's in my house and several computers. If there was a disconnection on the NAS, the kids would freak out first (they watch their kids shows), then the wife, then me :) hehe! On Tue, Oct 25, 2011 at 4:06 PM, Anthony Q. Martin <[email protected]>wrote: > BTW, why do you need hot swappable drive racks for my usage? And what is a > "backplane"? I just need a case with plenty of drive bays, a mobo/cpu with > several sata ports and built-in video and a few PCI-e 1x slots/lanes, a > blu-ray reader, a PSU, and I'm good. > > On 10/25/2011 8:44 AM, Naushad, Zulfiqar wrote: > >> I have a Synology DS1511. >> >> Yes, its 800 bucks, yes it's expensive, but in my opinion it just works. >> >> I could build a PC, but then I would have to worry about things like OS, >> updating the OS etc. Plus if you buy one with a backplane and >> hotswappable drive racks, the price adds up real quick. To top it all >> off, even the smallest 5 drive PC build would be big. >> >> The Synology is small, and does everything I could ever want from a NAS. >> >> I do my torrents on it, I unzip/unrar split torrents, I even do file >> management on it (i.e. moving files from a folder to another). It just >> works and I love it. >> >> A PC would do much more in terms of raw functionality, but hey, I don't >> want to "maintain" the PC. The synology sits in my tv cabinet, makes >> little noise and uses even less power. >> >> In the end it all comes down to a price/ease of use ratio. I wanted >> something that was really plug and forget, and this does the job well. >> I tell you one thing. I've had several forms of NAS'es over several >> years. I started of with a home-made PC, then upgraded to one of those >> Buffalo Terastations, then to a HP HomeServer (Windows Home Server) and >> finally the Synology. >> >> The Synology by far was the best, in terms of performance as well as >> functionality for me. It fits so well in my digital lifestyle I really >> don't think I could live without it anymore. >> >> If this unit somehow dies, I'll get another Synology. >> >> >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: >> hardware-bounces@lists.**hardwaregroup.com<[email protected]> >> [mailto:hardware-bounces@**lists.hardwaregroup.com<[email protected]>] >> On Behalf Of Anthony >> Q. Martin >> Sent: Tuesday, October 25, 2011 2:50 PM >> To: [email protected].**com <[email protected]> >> Subject: [H] NAS Box Vs PC for more movie storage >> >> Thinking ahead a bit...assuming hard drive prices return to normal after >> the flood waters recede and the country has time to stabilize.... >> >> I'm trying to understand what the advantages of a formal NAS box (like a >> Snyology 5-bay diskstation) is over a low-end PC for movie serving? The >> discless version of this thing is $800+ and the 5TB (a mere 5TB?) is >> $1400+. What's up with that? >> >> I don't consider movies backed up to hard drive to be critical, so I >> personally don't see the need for raid etc. to recover lost drives, >> which is why I'm just using Win7 homegroup without any kind of >> sophistication. But I see a lot of people talking about using a NAS box >> like this for the same purposes I'm after (movie/music serving) in my >> house. I'm sure I can build up a cheap PC for way less. >> >> While on the topic...my movie server only has slots for two more HDs >> (one is coming). I'd rather not add a second PC...it would be nice to >> have a box that holds an array of drives and serves them up as >> individual drives, something of like this thing: >> >> http://www.amazon.com/**Mediasonic-HF2-SU3S23-** >> External-Drive-Enclosure/dp/<http://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-HF2-SU3S23-External-Drive-Enclosure/dp/> >> B003X26VV4/ref=sr_1_2?s=**electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=**1319542826&sr=1-2 >> >> which works over usb 3.0, so in theory I could add two of these over usb >> 3.0, to get another 8*3=24TB. Problem is, these are noisy (at least at >> ear level) and sometimes the drives drop out (I own one already). But >> two of these is cheaper than a cheap PC. >> >> I think Greg said is has about 60TB of space....what kind of box is that >> in? >> >> Has anyone built a DIY box for HD storage over a usb 3.0 connection? >> >> >> >> >> -- Best Regards, Zulfiqar Naushad
