Question Which is the better NAS unit, Synology or Qnap?

[Muadib]

I'm pretty much a noob when it comes to NAS units. I've been reading about them, thanks to the virus, but still can't make a decision. Back in the day, Synology was tops, due to their software. However, it seems to me that Qnap gives you better hardware for the same money. I've haven't seen any reviews on Qnap's software though, and can't tell if that's a good or bad thing.

What say you Anandtech???

 

[aigomorla]

My vote goes to Qnap before Synology.
I have had way too many friends have there Synology die from faulty PSU's.
However i think Qnap is more on the professional line.

You should also check out Austor.
I hear a lot of good things about them.

If you ask me however what i personally use, i use neither.
To have the drive options i want on either company would cost me way too much, also i am a big fan of FreeBSD based NAS and ZFS file systems (FreeNAS).
So i use full on enterprise grade gear with tons and tons of ECC ram in a server rack that would make the GE GEnx turbofan jet engine proud when they ramps up to 100%

 

[VirtualLarry]

QNAP is really good. Asustor, I've had some issues with their OS. Like not being able to connect to password-protected shares, where the same client would have no problems with QNAP. Asustor is newer on the market than QNAP. QNAP IMHO has more experience. Asustor gives you more hardware for the money.

I like Asustor's hardware design, if only their software was quite on par with QNAP, then they would be the unquestionable winner between the two, but due to the number of issues that I've had with my Asustor NAS, I'd have to vote for QNAP at this time. (I have two QNAP NAS units too, an ARM-based and an Atom-based unit.) (Edit: Currently in service, I do have another much older QNAP unit that I've taken out of service, that had, I think, a MIPS CPU. It was always kind of slow. But it worked mostly fine. Not much RAM either. Newer units allow you to upgrade the RAM, especially the Atom-based units.)

Edit: Whichever unit that you choose, make sure to upgrade the RAM to the max supported, once you make sure that the base unit works OK. Don't buy the RAM that the NAS mfg offers, they are WAAAAY too expensive, get some Crucial or GSKill with same voltage and timings as your original stick, or the mfg upgrade stick, it should work.

Edit: I'm sorry, I don't have any experience with Synology, otherwise I might be able to put in a good word for them too.

 

[Muadib]

My vote goes to Qnap before Synology.
I have had way too many friends have there Synology die from faulty PSU's.
However i think Qnap is more on the professional line.

You should also check out Austor.
I hear a lot of good things about them.

If you ask me however what i personally use, i use neither.
To have the drive options i want on either company would cost me way too much, also i am a big fan of FreeBSD based NAS and ZFS file systems (FreeNAS).
So i use full on enterprise grade gear with tons and tons of ECC ram in a server rack that would make the GE GEnx turbofan jet engine proud when they ramps up to 100%

Thanks for the reply! I was leaning towards Qnap, as hardware wise you get more for your money.

I never heard of Austor, but I'm off to see what they sell. Thanks!

 

[Muadib]

QNAP is really good. Asustor, I've had some issues with their OS. Like not being able to connect to password-protected shares, where the same client would have no problems with QNAP. Asustor is newer on the market than QNAP. QNAP IMHO has more experience. Asustor gives you more hardware for the money.

I like Asustor's hardware design, if only their software was quite on par with QNAP, then they would be the unquestionable winner between the two, but due to the number of issues that I've had with my Asustor NAS, I'd have to vote for QNAP at this time. (I have two QNAP NAS units too, an ARM-based and an Atom-based unit.) (Edit: Currently in service, I do have another much older QNAP unit that I've taken out of service, that had, I think, a MIPS CPU. It was always kind of slow. But it worked mostly fine. Not much RAM either. Newer units allow you to upgrade the RAM, especially the Atom-based units.)

Sounds like I'm going with Qnap then. Software issues is something I want to avoid. Thanks!

 

[aigomorla]

How many drives are you going to use?
How quiet do you need the system to be?
What is your budget?

You really should consider building one seeing how you been on this forum for a while, and probably know how to DIY a PC.
There is not much more that can be said about being in full control of what goes in your NAS + completely being able to service it yourself.

You can get a NAS case + ITX hardware + (FreeNAS / Unraid / OpenMediaVault / XigmaNAS) as the OS.

FreeNAS + XigmaNAS are FreeBSD which offers ZFS file system. By far the best file system you can have for a NAS.
OMV + UnRaid are Linux based. Unraid you need to pay for a subscription.

There are other software you can use, but i feel those are probably in leagues above there own.
You should at least research a bit on FreeNAS and XigmaNAS (used to be NAS4Free).

 

[Muadib]

I actually have an Unraid server now, but it will be 8yo next month, and things are starting to fail. My new NAS will be used mostly for backups & VMs, at least in the beginning. I hope to also use it for Plex eventually. I've been looking at 8 bay units, with the ability to add more bays.

I looked at FreeNAS back before I built my Unraid server. The requirements were much more cash than it was with Unraid. That was some time ago, so I don't know if that's still the case.

 

[VirtualLarry]

If you want 8-10 drive bays, then take a look at the Asustor "Lockerstor 8" and "Lockerstore 10". Dual 10GbE-T and dual 2.5GbE-T ports, some USB 3.0, maybe an HDMI, and 8 or 10 drive bays. Pretty beefy. Around $1000 for the Lockerstor 8, and last time I checked, Lockerstor 10 was sold out and not coming back in stock @ Amazon. (Plenty of them pre-configured with drives on ebay, for crazy-high prices, though.)

 

[Muadib]

I just finished a review on the Lockerstor 8. It's very nice spec wise, and quite a bit cheaper than the Qnap I was looking at.

 

[Ajay]

You can get a NAS case + ITX hardware + (FreeNAS / Unraid / OpenMediaVault / XigmaNAS) as the OS.

What is special about a 'NAS' case?

 

[Muadib]

What is special about a 'NAS' case?

It's got to be able to hold many drives, and be able to keep them cool. I have 15 drives in my Unraid server. I have been looking for a bigger case that doesn't need a rack. Hard drives have fallen out of favor thanks to SSD drives, so it's hard.

 

[aigomorla]

What is special about a 'NAS' case?

Typically has hotswap drive bays up front, and fans are more focused for hard drives being primary then cpu.

I looked at FreeNAS back before I built my Unraid server. The requirements were much more cash than it was with Unraid. That was some time ago, so I don't know if that's still the case.

Nah dont even bother with freenas if your an unraid person.
You can never go back and vice versa...

You could give OpenMediaVault a try as its also based on Debian and should have a environment similar to unraid down to dockers.

If your current NAS is rack, i would just get another rack and stack them on top of each other.
If your current NAS is a desktop case, i would try to source a identical case and mirror the cases side by side as it would probably be the most eye pleasing that way.

I have tried to go prebuilt NAS, but after having a DIY one, you will probably get a bit annoyed, and having to learn a new nas environment is pretty stressful when something goes wrong as you need to debug it twice.

If your setting it up for a friend or family, thats a different story.
I would definitely go prebuilt, as they are quiet, and easy to debug if your new.

But if its for you who has experience with a DIY, then build one, and you can thank me later, as a prebuilt really will piss you off.

It's got to be able to hold many drives, and be able to keep them cool. I have 15 drives in my Unraid server. I have been looking for a bigger case that doesn't need a rack. Hard drives have fallen out of favor thanks to SSD drives, so it's hard.

Supermicro SC846 and mod it.

It's got to be able to hold many drives, and be able to keep them cool. I have 15 drives in my Unraid server. I have been looking for a bigger case that doesn't need a rack. Hard drives have fallen out of favor thanks to SSD drives, so it's hard.

You can probably get used ones for cheap on ebay.
Dont look for the case alone, look for retired systems.
Its cheaper to find it with a X8 motherboard and just gut out the interior then it is to get the case empty which i find very ironic.

Then MOD MOD MOD MOD MOD.... not too difficult. I have done a 846 for my office and its fairly quiet, does well with 7200rpm fans, but i would think twice if i wanted to put in 15k's.
Just make sure you the board is at minimum a X8 (lga1366) if the package, do not get the older Xeons, as i hear those backplane have a limitation.

Supermicro SC 846 Mod for case. Silent home server with 24 HDD bays. » Jerod Moore

The SC 846 is a great 24 bay home server case that gives you a cheap way to store a lot. Dual PSU or use this mod to silence and replace hardware. Awesome

jerodmoore.com

 

[aigomorla]

Ack double posted....

 

[Muadib]

It's sort of for me, but just not now. Thanks to my wife, I have about 10 student pcs to back up. I didn't want to do it on my Unraid server, because Unraid's write speed is horrible, plus I'm low on space. I thought that using a prebuilt NAS would be the way to go, as it wouldn't have as big as a learning curve. After doing some research, I still think that will be the case, plus I get a new toy!

My unraid case is no longer being made. It went EOL about 2-3 years ago, and is a desktop case. I thought long & hard about getting a rack case, but they come with their own motherboard, and are expensive.

 

[Muadib]

I got my Qnap today. Setting it up wasn't bad at all. I used 4TB WD reds that I had replaced in my Unraid server. I forgot to order drives, so I'm just playing around with it until they get here next week. Thanks again Larry &
aigomorla!!!

 

[Shmee]

Cool, I recently set up a freenas out of an old X58 Rig. Using a 128GB crucial M4 for boot and 3 4TB WD red pros. It's been a bit of a learning experience, but I got it pretty much setup for home SMB shares now.

 

[piokos]

Similar products with vastly different user experience.

Synology products are generally more robust, more polished, more plug&play.

Qnap has similar functionality (clearly modeled on what Synology does), but is not as polished, not as easy to use and sometimes needs a little more work to set up.
But they usually give you a bit more in the hardware department and a bit more configurability as well.

So it really depends whether you want something that just works out of the box (with minimal work) or you can accept more setup and maintenence labor, but get a bit more for your money.

There's also a vast esthetical difference, so this could affect your choice if the NAS will be exposed (in a living room etc).
Essentially, both hardware and software suggest that Synology employs people who take care of looks and user experience. And Qnap saves on that.

Asustor is a much smaller brand, with less products. I've never used anything they make. But based on the specs, software and their website in particular, I can't stop suspecting that they're a Synology front company targeting a slightly different user (hence, maybe a better match for Qnap). Or at least: that they source most of their tech from Synology.

 

[mxnerd]

Asustor is a subsidiary of Asus, has nothing to do with Synology.

 

[piokos]

Asustor is a subsidiary of Asus, has nothing to do with Synology.

Is Asustor even a separate company? Aren't they just a brand?
They don't have offices (just HQ), they don't have job offers. There's almost no corporate footprint - even for a private company.
I mean... it's Taiwan. Companies there are really weird and cooperate a lot...

As for similarities, seriously, just look at features. There are differences, obviously, since Asustor seems to be targetting gamers/enthusiasts more than anyone else (there's even a gaming theme for the OS ).
But some things (features, technologies, design principles) are really similar.
The websites also look as if they were made by the same person:
https://www.synology.com/en-uk
https://www.asustor.com/en/
Compatibility lists, RAID calculator, Live demo...

If there's no direct connection (in capital or design/manufacturing), then I don't understand why Asustor tries to mimic Synology so much...

 

[mxnerd]

QNAP, Synology, Asustor are all Taiwanese companies.

==

Synology was founded in 2000. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synology
220, New Taipei City, Banqiao District, Yuandong Road , Taiwan

==

Asustor was founded in 2011 https://www.asustor.com/about/contact_us
Address: 3F, No.136, Daye Road, Beitou Dist., Taipei City 112, Taiwan

http://www.buzzfile.com/business/Asustor-America-Inc.-909-465-5688

Asustor America Inc. 13505 Yorba Ave, Chino, CA 91710

Asustor job opportunities.

ASUSTOR was established as a subsidiary of ASUS and is a leading innovator and provider of networked attached storage (NAS). ASUSTOR specializes in the development and integration of storage, backup, multimedia, video surveillance and mobile applications for home and enterprise users.

ASUSTOR was established as a subsidiary of ASUS and is a leading innovator and provider of networked attached storage (NAS). ASUSTOR specializes in the development and integration of storage, backup, multimedia, video surveillance and mobile applications for home and enterprise users.

www.asustor.com

It's very common for a new comer to learn everything from a well estabished company.

Every employee leaves his company if he is offered better salary and he will bring his skills learned from his former employer to the new company. It happens everywhere.

==

More and more companies try to obscure their contact info.