First NAS

First NAS. I’m new to the NAS market and need something for storage of family docs, Apple Timemachine plus potentially PMS. SD card is also useful but not a necessity. I’d definitely like to go the RAID route though so I’m prepared for the 4TB noted above to become 2TB in actual use. I’ve no IP cameras but suspect that I will end up with a couple for home security. I’ve been looking at the QNAP TS-251A but I’m wondering whether there may be a cheaper and more suitable alternative for my initial foray into NAS as I’m tempted to just get something like the WD EX2 Ultra as a starter for the basics of getting personal cloud storage and home backups up and running. Any advice for a novice is appreciated. The interface and functionality is not a huge consideration, I have previously built a couple of Linux PCs to repurpose very old (totally obsolete now) desktops as media servers. I’m happy with the ability to tinker hence looking more QNAP than Synology but wonder whether a straight out of the box set up might be more suitable to start with.

£500 4TB

QNAP TS-251A would certainly tick all the boxes, but you can also find a cheaper alternative. The TS-251B-2G is a new NAS from Qnap with little bit reduced performance but still a very capable solution. You can connect USB SD card reader separately for few pounds. If that is still too expensive then look at DS218play from Synology. It will also be able to do network storage, plex (beta test), time machine and surveillance.

WD will be limited of what it can do and you will end up buying Qnap or Synology anyway. These two are the market leader and they will amaze you with the capabilities they offer.

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