I need help choosing a NAS

[yours truly]

Hello, I'll be needing a NAS drive soon to use with a Sonos. I'm looking to store about 500gb worth of music to it. I'm also thinking about ripping my blu ray collection and stream them via a popcorn hour or a DuneHD and getting a Nexus 10 or a iPad 4 and stream to that too. It'll be just me using it and there would be nothing on the NAS which is critical, just music and films. My plan is to pair the nas with WD Red 3tb drives.

I'm looking at Synology but I'm not sure which one I would need. I think a 2 bay one might not be enough, so I was looking at 4-5 bays ones.

I've narrowed it down to these:

DS413j
http://www.synology.com/products/product.php?product_name=DS413j&lang=enu

DS413
http://www.synology.com/products/product.php?product_name=DS413&lang=enu

DS412+
http://www.synology.com/products/product.php?product_name=DS412+&lang=enu

DS1512+
http://www.synology.com/products/product.php?product_name=DS1512+&lang=enu

I was thinking about the DS1512+ or the DS412+ mainly, but I'm not sure if this is overkill for my needs but I don't know if these are fast enough to stream 1080p. I was also thinking of buying 1 WD Red drive for the time being to use for the immediate future with a Sonos and at a later date add more drives when I start ripping my blu rays.

I have no idea what I'm doing so any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[phillyman36]

I had a Synology ds1511. Then upgraded to an 1812. I have 4 Dune media players(3 smarts and 1 base 3.0) Blu ray file sizes can be anywhere from 25 to 50 GB. If it doesn't hurt your pockets i would go for 1512. You can later add on the expansion units if you need more storage. I have 8 3TB hard drives(2 are used as redundancy protection)

 

[yours truly]

Thanks phillyman, the specs between the 412 and the 512 seem to be very similar and the price difference is about £120 but I'm not overly keen on the plastic finish of the 412 and it lacks the additional expansion unit but then again, £120 could almost get me a 3tb red drive.

Really appreciate your advice. At least I know what kind of outlay I'm looking at.

Are you using a ups or are you powering down you nas when not in use?

 

[phillyman36]

I should but no i dont use a UPS. I leave mines on for 24/7. 700 dvds and 80 blu rays and loving it

 

[yours truly]

Ok thanks. Seems like for £100 more I should get the 1812 instead. I'm 90% sure this is what I'll get, unless I'm advised against it.

I get the feeling I might struggle to set it up properly.

Anyway, better start saving.

Thanks again.