Considering investing some serious cash on a NAS and recommendations + research have lead me to this 8-Bay unit. There is a 5-Bay unit for $200 less but since RAID6 will swallow space worth 2 drives, it will only give me a total of 3 drive space. At 4TB each drive, that will leave me with 12 TB which is nearly half of my requirement. So even though I don't have the heart to spend for the 8 -Bay unit, I'm strapped for options.

Anyone have any thoughts / recommendations on this model? Any other competing products I should consider?

Re: Synology DS1813+

Synology is great, I'd even say over the top with features. Avoid Buffalo. I've heard good things about Qnap too.

Re: Synology DS1813+

If I had the money..it would definitely be Qnap or Synology...but alas.. it was the Drobo5N for me... it fit right into my budget... then again.. I really love it and have no complaints.... its loaded with 3 4TB WD Red drives.. and 2 empty bays for now...plus room for mSata.

When I initially bought it, I had buyers remorse because I've read that in the event of a HDD failure.. there is no way for me to recover the data manually myself.. so that got me thinking for a bit.

Re: Synology DS1813+

I took the plunge

[url="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CRB53CU/ref=pe_171710_118738970_em_1p_0_ti"]Amazon.com: Synology America DiskStation 8-Bay Diskless Network Attached Storage (DS1813+): Computers Accessories[/url]

Got an open box one for $80 discount. Let's see how it goes.

Re: Synology DS1813+

I just picked up an RS814 for the new house. Rack mount 4 bay. Got a set of four, 3TB WD Red drives. Haven't installed it yet, though.

Should I use the Synology Hybrid Raid config, or a more traditional Raid 5? Capacity would be the same either way, just not sure which is better?

Re: Synology DS1813+

Use SHR if you're planning to use drives of different sizes. Moreover it also makes sense to future-proof the Synology since drive sizes will only increase as time goes by and you will swap out dead drives for bigger ones. Just remember that with SHR, when upgrading drives, you will have to use a drive that matches the largest hard drive in the unit.

Re: Synology DS1813+

[QUOTE=Kamal;1143814]Use SHR if you're planning to use drives of different sizes. Moreover it also makes sense to future-proof the Synology since drive sizes will only increase as time goes by and you will swap out dead drives for bigger ones. Just remember that with SHR, when upgrading drives, you will have to use a drive that matches the largest hard drive in the unit.[/QUOTE]

Great info, thanks!

Really excited to have one of these finally. I've had a simple Raid-1 enclosure for a few years, but it was always somewhat limited. Never got into much digital media for lack of a storage solution like this. Writing it off as a business expense, too. 8)

Re: Synology DS1813+

[QUOTE=subterFUSE;1143828]

Writing it off as a business expense, too. 8)[/QUOTE]

What could be better.

K... do you have any SAN experience/knowledge? I would love to get some feedback- recommendations for a SAN setup for an environment of 200 - 300 users... 1 DC, 1 Exchange Server, 1 SQL Server and 1 FTP server in VM.

Re: Synology DS1813+

[QUOTE=dusk;1145715]What could be better.

K... do you have any SAN experience/knowledge? I would love to get some feedback- recommendations for a SAN setup for an environment of 200 - 300 users... 1 DC, 1 Exchange Server, 1 SQL Server and 1 FTP server in VM.[/QUOTE]

No experience with that stuff, sorry to say. I'm fairly good with home/small office networking, but not much server experience. Most people I know with Exchange servers get them remotely hosted. Just so much easier than having it in-house.

Re: Synology DS1813+

Sorry yea no experience with SANS.

Re: Synology DS1813+

[QUOTE=subterFUSE;1145895]No experience with that stuff, sorry to say. I'm fairly good with home/small office networking, but not much server experience. Most people I know with Exchange servers get them remotely hosted. Just so much easier than having it in-house.[/QUOTE]

Thanks though.