Storage Solutions Planning to buy NAS : Synology DS918+

[Lord Nemesis]

I wanted to get a NAS last year, but dropped it due to various reasons, Now, decided to get one.

After contemplating once again whether I should make my own NAS or buy ready made solution, I ended up in a dilemma again. I know DIY will be expandable and cheaper, but parts availability is a problem in India and power consumption will also be higher.

Off the shelf solution will be ready to use and better in power consumption factor. So, I inquired about prices for Synology DS 918+ 4GB version for which I have been quoted 41,500 + 18% GST. So, ~49k total without HDD.

If I go the DIY route, I will have to get a Pentium 4560 and some mATX board with allows at least 4 HDD. I have none of the required parts except a CM Stacker 830 lying around idle and a couple of hot swap bays.

Would like to know opinions.

 

[rajil.s]

DIY route with ZFS filesystem if you care about your data. Get a supermicro motherboard along with ECC ram and setup FreeBSD on it.

 

[Lord Nemesis]

Data redundancy is not a major goal. The NAS will act as storage server in my home network.

 

[mach9]

I was contemplating the DS718+ myself. If indeed Synology works for your needs, wonder if a GO with a major distributor would work for a discount?

 

[Lord Nemesis]

I am talking with the Distributor EBM for the purchase. The price was quoted by them. They will ship the unit from Mumbai directly to the address provided if you make the purchase . I doubt they will give discount for just 2 units.

https://www.synology.com/en-global/wheretobuy/India/Distributor
http://www.ebm.in/

 

[tommy_vercetti]

@vivek.krishnan might have additional suggestions

 

[mach9]

Check for the DS718 as well then. I'm located in Mumbai so in case there's anything good on volume orders will not be a problem to pay or pick it up for me..

 

[Vasishta.Sushant]

Can totally vouch for the 918+. Had the 916+ which I sold and bought the 918+. Data redundancy is just one of the 100 things this thing does. Any day better than the DIY system. Compact, less power utilization, phone apps, scalability, security. Just name it and it's there in it.

EDIT: Just a caveat - If you plan to use this NAS as PLEX server, you'll have a hard time. The plex libraries don't have access to the hardware, if you aren't Plex Premium member. But then there is an alternative DS Video which works pretty good.

 

[Lord Nemesis]

What drives are you using with it and what kind of configuration?

Does anybody have pricing of WD Red Pro 8TB drives. I saw it going on amazon for 28.5k Planing to get these.

 

[Vasishta.Sushant]

I've got Wd Red 8TB drives

 

[vivek.krishnan]

The main advantage of the Synology units is that you get something that works out of the box. If you do not want to spend time in DIY, they are the best option. Also another advantage is the lower power draw. optionally, look at QNAP as well.

If you do not mind tinkering around, the DIY build is a better option any day, cost wise, upgrade wise and performance wise. Get a Pentium/i3/i5/i7/Xeon/Ryzen/APU combo, put in the needed HDDs, setup Linux/Windows 10/Windows Server/BSD/Hackintosh and you have a storage server ready to go.

Why do you need 2 units? Planning to setup a HA solution?

Tagging in @cyberwarfare as well

 

[Lord Nemesis]

I need only one. The two units was in reference to mach9 post earlier asking to check if a group order would help reduce price.

 

[cyberwarfare]

My thoughts (having been through the same issues in the past)

NAS Unit:
Pros: Compact, Power Efficient, Easy to Use
Cons: Cannot be expanded easily (caveat some synology units provide expandable support, but those units are pricey), Difficult (almost impossible) to rebuild the array if unit itself is damaged and new unit is a different model (OS wise)

DIY:
Pros: Easily expandable, Very powerful, can do tons of things based on how much you want to play with it, can handle Plex Transcoding like a breeze
Cos: Generally more power hungry, Larger footprint, More hand-on approach

If you notice, ive not spoken about price, and this is why, i built my FreeNAS box in 2016, I got a Supermicro x11SSM-F-O, 16GB ECC DDR4 RAM, Intel Xeon 1230v5, combined for under 50K. All brand new with warranty. I dont think i could have done any better, and if i had to, i would do it all again. IPMI is a god send, and its saved my bacon more times than i can count.

In your case (excluding the drives in either situation), since you already have a case, you will only have to fork out the money for the PSU over the base price, as the cost of the DIY and synology units are basically the same.

If your in Mumbai, come over, ill be more than happy to show you around

 

[Doc Holliday]

DIY route with ZFS filesystem if you care about your data. Get a supermicro motherboard along with ECC ram and setup FreeBSD on it.

Sorry to barge in on this, but which is a good place to pick up a suitable motherboard. I am looking for a NAS for home use as well (for storage).

 

[Lord Nemesis]

Check for the DS718 as well then. I'm located in Mumbai so in case there's anything good on volume orders will not be a problem to pay or pick it up for me..

Here is what I got from EBM guy

Synology DS718+ Two Bay NAS Diskless @ Rs.32,500/-

Warranty : 3 Years (RMA Max within 15 days)
Delivery : Immediate
Taxes : GST @ 18% Extra
Freight : Included
Payment : 100% Advance

Product datasheet attached, kindly let me know if any queries, looking forward.

Kindly let me know the total nos., will try best for possible discounts.

 

[mach9]

Here is what I got from EBM guy

Cool thanks. The 18% GST is a real downer. With the drives it's going to be easily touching what 55/60k to go for this model.

But it's interesting to see that he mentioned to let him know of the total numbers.. which indicates that distributors will lower margins of they get direct sales opportunities.

Now if we can get more interested folks.. It would be good to see what he can do

 

[vivek.krishnan]

Cool thanks. The 18% GST is a real downer. With the drives it's going to be easily touching what 55/60k to go for this model.

But it's interesting to see that he mentioned to let him know of the total numbers.. which indicates that distributors will lower margins of they get direct sales opportunities.

Now if we can get more interested folks.. It would be good to see what he can do

You might want to speak to @ganesh_2218 for the HDDs...

 

[Party Monger]

For your use case I wouldnt go with Synology. I'd get good second hand components, and make this a server cum Nas.
Any good last gen Mobo will have atleast 4 SATA ports. You can also get a good Sata Card to add more. latest Gen i3 8100 (quadcore) will be great. Or you can go the ryzen route with 2200G.

Just get a huge Case with multiple Hdd slots - This can take 8 HDDs easily. Costs 3.5k lol
https://www.amazon.in/Cooler-Master...mputer+cabinet&refinements=p_89:Cooler+Master

You can run Free Nas off a pendrive I guess.

 

[Lord Nemesis]

Case is not a problem for me. I have a CM Stacker 830 lying idle which I can re-purpose. Even with hot swap bays (I have two already), it will support 9 HDD, I need a CPU/Motherboard combo that is low on power consumption.

DS918+ power consumption is rated @ 28.8W with 4 x 1 TB drives installed.

 

[vivek.krishnan]

Case is not a problem for me. I have a CM Stacker 830 lying idle which I can re-purpose. Even with hot swap bays (I have two already), it will support 9 HDD, I need a CPU/Motherboard combo that is low on power consumption.

DS918+ power consumption is rated @ 28.8W with 4 x 1 TB drives installed.

Pickup the C3000 boards? The CPU TDP should be around that much. With the motherboard and others, guess it should be somewhere in the ballpark of 50w.

Else, look at the L series Xeons.