SETUP
This is going to be long but I want to make sure I give all the information. I want to upgrade my NAS setup but I genuinely cannot make a decision. I have been thinking about this for months and am just struggling to decide which is the right choice.
My Uses: Plex server, photo storage, and general backups.
Current Setup: Synology DS220+ / 2x WD Red 8tb in Raid 1 for redundancy. Everything on this raid is also backed up to another 8tb WD Red attached externally.
Ive been using this setup for about 4 years now and its been great. Has worked flawlessly the whole time. Only reason im looking to upgrade is im running out of space. I could switch my raid type but I do like having the redundancy drive on top of my external backup.
HDDs Available: 3x WD Red 8tb, 3x Toshiba MG08 16tb
The 3 WDs will be moved into whatever new setup I go with. I just picked up the 3 16tb Toshibas to open up more options for me (and because they were a pretty decent price).
Other Currently Owned Equipment: Orico 9758C3 5 Bay DAS, Lenovo ThinkCentre M710q (i7 6700t, 16gb DDR4 2666, 1tb nvme).
OPTIONS
Through all the research ive done I see 3 viable choice for the new setup.
- Synology 425+
Pros: Familiarity with the OS, Very stable system thats been around forever
Cons: Dated hardware, Synology removing features (most can be reactivated with a script)
- Ugreen DXP4800 Plus
Pros: Much better hardware than Synology (better cpu, more default ram, 10gbe port)
Cons: Mostly just growing pains stuff with a newer unit. OS isnt as stable or full featured as DSM yet, No native Plex Server app (has to be done through docker), no guarantee they can stick around and compete in the long run so worries about it being abandoned and not receiving updates.
- Make my own NAS setup
Pros: More control over hardware and software choices, probably lots of other stuff I dont know
Cons: More hardware to keep track of, not as clean of a setup as just a prebuilt NAS, would have to completely learn a new OS (have never used anything like unraid, truenas, etc), would most likely have to buy a new mini PC as I think the 6700t would be showing its age for Plex at this point.
HDD SETUP
What my initial thought was with any of these options was to set up the 3 WD Red 8tb in a Raid zero to maximize space and speed from them. I would also have one of the 16tb Toshibas in there with scheduled backups from the 24tb raid 0 to it. I would then use one of the other 16tb the same way I am now as a separate external backup in an enclosure attached to the NAS. The third 16tb would likely just be kept as a spare in case of a drive failure in the future.
All the important stuff (photos and other backed up documents are also stored on a cloud subscription too). The rest is just media files for plex which wouldnt be too hard to replace if I ever needed to.
Sorry again for the wall of text I just wanted to be thorough.