Should I build a NAS or buy Synology?

[arachn1d]

I've been eyeing the Synology DS412+ for a while now. I'm about to pull the trigger on it. Before I do it I was wondering if anyone can convince me to build my own NAS? Does it make sense or should I just go for the DS412+?

 

[KrAzYaZnFLiP808]

Hey, I would say just go with the top of the line synology. Hey I have a DS 409 if your interested. I was thinking of upgrading to the ds 413 or 412+ just for the plex application. I dont have access to the plex download becuase its wasnt supported. But I can say is this server can do everything you ask for it, and is quite supported with download manager. You can torrent to it, and access file off another network if you setup correctly. But the DS 412 would be a better bet.

 

[Eulogy]

Personally, I built my own NAS and have been happy with it. It performs awesomely, I'm in complete control of the hardware in it and can expand it as I need to and see fit. Overall, I guess it depends on what you want. I even have mine in a nice Lian-Li case currently (though am changing that to the 2U rack, 12 bay system in my sig [ESX Host 2] very soon), so the eye-appeal can even be there if you want it to be. For the $700 + HDDs you'll spend on the DS412+, I think you could build yourself something nicer, perform better and have better options down the line.
CPU/RAM/Mobo for what, $300? A PSU for $100. Case for let's go ahead and say $150. PERC 6i/BBU/cables for $100 (over estimating here, looking at eBay). That'll let you go up to 8 drives and be more or less enterprise class hardware. Add in the SATA drives of your choice and you're pretty much set for a long time. Get a mobo with 2 PCIe x16 slots and you can later drop in a 2nd PERC for another 8 drives. PERC 6i only does up to 2TB drives currently, but if you need support for 3TB+ drives, get a PERC H700.

That's just IMO though. Some people like plug it in and forget it, and the cases for things like the Synology are pretty nice.

 

[KrAzYaZnFLiP808]

I also built my own server aswell. I hardly use it. Its a 20 Bay 3.5" Hard Disk Server. I hardly use it becuase hard drive prices went up with the flooding. As their are coming down now, I am thinking of throwing 20 Drives in their. But for now, its works well as a backup storage meduim. It did cost me an arm and a leg for good products though....

 

[unrlmth]

I just built one myself. Just finished putting it together yesterday.

Motherboard M4a79xtd EVO $75 used
CPU Athlon II 260 $65 new
8GB ECC RAM $60 new
Intel PCIe GBit NIC $23 new
Rack Mount Case and PSU $50 used (got a great deal IMO so if I were to do it again it would be more)
Using ZFS with OpenIndiana

Comes out to $273 plus the cost of drives.

With 4x750GB Drives (2x WD Black, 1x 7200.10, 1x 7200.11) I can saturate the Gigabit connection. I also got over 95MB/s with a 1.2 TB transfer but I believe that was limited by the other disk.

 

[atbnet]

I've been going back and forth with this same issue myself. I think for now I am going to go with a 2 bay Synology and if my needs demand it, I will build a 6-8 HDD FreeNAS server down the road. For the price, anything more than 4 drives it would make most sense to build it on your own.

 

[HammerSandwich]

I built a Nas4Free ZFS without spending a cent... Do you have any suitable spare hardware? Even if it's not what you really want to use, a test build will buy experience & help answer your questions.