Combine three different make NAS into single system

Hi, I’ve currently got 4 different NAS devices kicking around stretching back about a decade (a now pretty ancient Buffalo Linkstation LS-WX4.0TL/R1, two Thecus N3200Pro‘s and a more recent Lenovo IX4-300d – the LinkStation turns on and off with my desktop PC, the others turn on and off on a schedule) between them proving around 20tb of useable storage space. I’m looking to consolidate these into a single always–on system. The primary purpose of the system is to feed media (1080, 720 and SD content) to various screens using Emby (Emby currently runs on a fanless HTPC but I’d like to play around with Emby on the NAS device itself so that is is always-on.

The unit will sit in a spare room / home office so I want something that will be relatively quiet and not run too hot. Within my budget I’m considering a Synology DS918+ with 4 WD Red 10tb drives. I’d considered the DS1817+ on the basis of room to expand in the future but suspect that the newer CPU in the 918+ will be better suited for future-proofing (I’ve no plans to go to 4K media anytime soon but never say never). I was also looking at Ironwolf 12tb drives to squeeze that little bit more capacity out of my budget but from what I’ve read the WD Red drives seem like better overall value.

I’d be grateful for your view on whether this is the way to go or whether I’ve missed something – one specific question is whether I should be looking at Qnap enclosures rather than Synology.

Looks like that you have found the best solution yourself. The DS918+ is indeed the best multimedia NAS they have yet released. It can be expanded up 9 drives. This should sort you out for next few years until they replace ds1817+ with decent 4K media ready CPU.

You can link all NAS system together under DS918+ network shares (how to mount). Synology can also let you do wake on LAN function and automatic switch off function. It supports Emby as well as Plex and other multimedia apps.

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