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what is the current recommendation for a simple home NAS?

I am looking into getting a NAS setup at home, but have to consider wanting it to just work and work for my family who are not technically advanced. They use computers fine, but being asked to open a terminal would require letter by letter instructions.

So my question, what is the current recommendation for a simple home NAS for files and video (family trips, etc) storage?

57 comments
  • If those were my requirements then I’d be looking at Synology.

    Currently using a Windows PC with Stablebit Drive Pool to pool about 10HDDs into one consolidated pool. Nice way to get a stack of storage and to repurpose an old PC I already had, but for a low effort option Synology would be my pick based on all the reports I’ve heard about it being a top notch option. My PC is fine but when things break you need to be able to troubleshoot a Windows setup, which is fine but maybe not for “mum and dad”.

    Just pick a NAS from them that does what you need. Whenever I look at them it seems to be about determine how many drives you need and whether you want a high performance one (to run Plex servers and the like) or a low spec one that just does storage and some less intensive stuff.

  • I recommend a used PC with TrueNAS scale. That way you can actually repair your system and have upgradability. I personally think Synology way over charges for very outdated hardware for the sake of ease, but TrueNAS scale is still better for long term use.

  • When my old NetGear ReadyNAS Duo (2 bays, SPARC, 100Mb NIC) was reaching its EOL I looked into a purpose built server, a mini of some kind (NUC, etc), or a standard QNAP or Synology NAS. Eventually settled on a Synology DS 920+ (4 bays, x8664, 1Gb NIC).

    It's been rock solid and amazing value for the 2.5 years I've had it. It's running the majority of my Docker containers, Plex Media Server, a Linux VM, and a few other things. It also has its own shell/CLI, which is useful. I don't use Synology's "phone home"/remote access stuff, but Synology Drive and Synology Photos are great - they provide the equivalents of Dropbox and Google Photos respectively, and it works across Windows, Linux, Mac, iOS, and Android (via VPN when outside the house). No regrets at all.

  • Simplest would be off an off the shelf NAS

    Yeah it'll cost more but there's a support line other than you to call if something goes wrong

    Which one specifically I don't know, the Nas I have I built myself and installed TrueNAS Scale.

  • I'm running with 2 2 bay Synology 'j' models. As the do nothjng more then store data, the js are good enough. When you want to stream of of the NAS units I'd pick more powerful units.

    For me, 2 bays was more then enough, as I don't have that much important data, the 1st is the 215j with 2 2TB disks. They filled up in 5y, so I added a 220j with 4TB disks. Both mirrored and with external USB disk for backup which is 1 TB larger then internal nett storage.

    When you need more space then that, more bays and raid 5 is more economical. It depends on storage needs and disk prizes. (Next to budget) It's good to know you can mirror on a share basis between Synologie nasses. (So you can even think of a multi nas setup)

    At work I had a run-in with qnap and couldn't recover that device easily after power failure, never had that issue with synology, as they use a simple setup that can be accessed in plain Linux as well.

  • Since I can't see any other reference to it, I want to mention I'm using openmediavault and export smb mounts for my windows computers and NFS for Linux. It is running in a VM in proxmox. Works well enough for me. It is my in house backup destination, and my Plex media files storage (plex is running in a container on the same proxmox host).

    Like most and probably every other mentioned solution, accessing the nas/shared storage is not more difficult than just opening windows explorer on windows and selecting the network location, etc. I'm sure it is easy on Mac as well, but I don't use apple products myself.

57 comments