WD My Cloud NAS or Synology/QNAP? Which Brand Should You Buy?
For many users, the first NAS they ever owned was the affordable and sturdy WD My Cloud NAS drive. From students and teachers to console gamers and small business, the WD My Cloud range of NAS devices was one of the earliest attempts by hardware manufacturers to bring the arguably tricky subject of home server ownership in an affordable and easy to use way. Indeed, in previous years I have recommended the WD My Cloud Pro P2100 and PR4100 NAS systems for use in Plex, low-level surveillance and prosumer home network storage. However, in the last few years brands like Synology and QNAP have absolutely dominated the home and small business NAS market with a large portfolio of solutions that effectively surpass the majority of WD NAS’ in every possible way. So, we sadly face the fact that given WD has not released a new generation of their My Cloud series for a number of years and desirability has begun to fall, many users are deciding on where to go with their data, whether it’s in a new NAS or upgrading on an older WD My Cloud system. Today I’m going to discuss which NAS brand you should choose when upgrading from a WD NAS and which manufacturer deserves your data.
Is WD My Cloud NAS Still Ok to Use?
It is important to highlight that this article is not about me saying the WD My Cloud range is bad, because it really isn’t and it is still one of the best bang for your buck NAS solutions you can buy right now in 2021 – as well as being remarkably user friendly for the first time NAS user! Additionally, with the majority of WD solutions arriving with bundled hard drives, a simple streamlined user interface and considerably better high street availability than any other brand, they are still a good solution. However, like most technology, the evolution and expectations in what it can do in the eyes of buyers change rapidly and although most other brands have pushed software and hardware innovation to some incredible lengths, the WD My Cloud NAS range has remained quite steadfast in its refusal to adapt. Although WD My Cloud is sturdy, safe, robust and makes no promises it cannot fulfil, in terms of what you can do with it and how you can evolve the system in its lifespan is tremendously limited. This along with some third party app brands not updating their applications for the WD NAS OS system has led to an increasing lack of support of these popular software platforms. Ultimately, the majority of people reading this are owners of a WD My Cloud NAS that are now looking to upgrade to something with a little more future-proofing and modern innovation. However, don’t overlook the fact that you can still use your WD My Cloud NAS as another tier of your backup strategy, by synchronising over the network or internet with numerous application methods available from WD themselves and others brands.
Better Alternative to WD My Cloud NAS for Software – Synology
Unsurprisingly, if you have been researching the subject of NAS and thinking of upgrading from a WD My Cloud NAS, then the name ‘Synology’ and its incredible software will almost certainly have appeared on your radar. Although the brand is not as establish or steeped in years as Western Digital, Synology is still over 20-years old and has produced hundreds of NAS solutions in their portfolio. The main difference between Synology and WD when it comes to NAS software is twofold. The first major difference is the first party software on offer. WD and it’s NAS OS have surprisingly thin software add-ons available, with most of the system abilities being classed more as day-to-day services – RAID functionality, USB backups, synchronised backups and low-level account control. WD-OS is very functional but it has not changed much in the last 5-6 years in terms of innovation and most of its key abilities are considered rather rudimentary in 2021/2022. Synology on the other hand includes its DSM (Diskstation Manager) software platform with every NAS, which is is the equivalent of an entire operating system comparable to a desktop OS that can be accessed via the web browser and numerous mobile apps. The Synology supports all of the services that the WD My Cloud does, but has also evolved every one of them into a central data ecosystem. The range of first-party services, applications and add-ons that Synology provide are extensive and cover surveillance, virtual machine deployment, intelligent multi-tier backups, bespoke email server deployment and more. Alongside this, DSM also provides applications that attempt to wrestle the user away from third-party desktop client apps for business. Examples include Synology Chat that serves as an alternative to Skype, Synology Office which serves as an alternative to Google Docs/Office 365, Synology Video Station is a popular alternative to Plex Media Server as well as an alternative to the slick and easy UI of Google Drive and Dropbox with Synology Drive. The evolution of Synology software where is genuinely unparallel and although QNAP is always getting closer, it is still going to be very impressive for the end-user when switching away from WD My Cloud NAS OS to DSM.
The second reason that the Synology NAS software platform is significantly superior to the WD NAS software is the support of third-party applications. WD NAS OS does have access to a small apps centre that includes easy installation of a few third-party applications. Although the majority of these have been all but abandoned in terms of updates and utility in recent years, one popular 3rd party application that most users a few years ago purchased the WD My Cloud NAS for was Plex media server. However updates on the Plex media server application on the WD NAS platform have slowed down and because this is a third-party application, you are heavily reliant on the manufacturer to develop updates for the WD NAS platform – something that has become increasingly less frequent from 2020 onwards. Synology NAS on the other hand supports significantly more third-party applications in it’s app center, as well as numerous custom apps that can be installed manually. There is certainly a few bits of bloatware in this application centre that can be overlooked, but nevertheless, there is still a good 30-40x third-party applications here that are worth your time and updated with more frequency than those found on the WD NAS platform. Equally, as the popularity of Synology NAS has increased, so has the amount of time that developers have spent on both the first and third-party applications for this platform and this combined with the improvements in mobile applications has led to the Synology NAS range being wildly superior to that of WD NAS My Cloud in software. Add to this that Synology also provides the option of BTRFS as a filesystem choice option with its file self-healing and lower resource-consuming snapshot creation, as well as the Synology Hybrid RAID (SHR) configuration for allowing mixed hard drive capacities, and the Synology NAS software is easily the preferred upgrade choice for those moving away from the WD My Cloud NAS platform for apps and services.
Better Alternative to WD My Cloud NAS for Performance – QNAP
The performance of a NAS drive will often be dictated by both the internal and external hardware available. The quantity and number of hard drives you install inside will always provide something of a performance boost, but overall the performance will always be dictated by the primary components that the brand chooses to use and the external connectivity that a system features by default. Each one of the WD My Cloud range of devices are very efficient, make the most of the hardware inside and are designed for smooth running with little or no intervention by the end-user at any point. However, it has to be said that the hardware featured inside pales in comparison to that of QNAP alternatives in the last few years. With the WD My Cloud series largely concentrating on an Intel Pentium processor from 2015/16, alongside several ARM processors in 32-bit and 64-bit, they are certainly comparable to a number of QNAP NAS systems in the TS-X31K, TS-51D and TS-53D Series. Unfortunately, they soon get surpassed in comparison to the wide array of more modern processors available in QNAP desktop systems that can range from Pentium Gold, Newer Gen Celeron and Ryzen, to Intel Core i5, i7 and Xeon. This disparity also extends to the memory available, with most WD My Cloud systems arriving with between 1-2GB of memory that cannot be upgraded – where has QNAP arrive with vast memory upgrade options and many models arriving with 4GB and 8GB by default.
The difference between QNAP and WD My Cloud is made even more clear when you learn that the majority of QNAP NAS systems also include M2 storage upgrade slots internally that allow you to install SSD in SATA or NVMe that can be used for an area of superfast storage, tiered storage for data to be scanned and moved to the most appropriate media source or for caching to allow frequently access data to be copied over to the SSD for improved performance in the files that need it most. Although the use of SSDs for intelligent caching is by no means a new feature of NAS, it is still something that WD My Cloud NAS has yet to integrate and something that QNAP NAS has applied to the majority of their hardware portfolio. So, with both the baseline level of hardware AND the upgradability of the internal hardware found in a QNAP NAS to be better than that found in WD My Cloud NAS, it’s a great upgrade for those that are interesting in improved internal performance in their next NAS purchase.
Better Alternative to WD My Cloud NAS for Connectivity – QNAP
The connectivity between the network-attached storage device and your local network hardware environment will massively dictate the speed at which your client devices can access your data for home or business use. Although there are a handful of more enterprise-level WD NAS solutions available, all of the WD My Cloud Feature 1Gbe with no means with which to upgrade that connectivity. Some NAS in the My Cloud range are a little better with dual 1Gbe RJ45 connections, but even then this is a small all edition that in 2021/2022 is less desirable than it once was. However if you are looking for the best possible external connectivity in a modern NAS when choosing from or upgrading from a WD My Cloud NAS, then QNAP have easily the best selection of external connectivity on even their modest hardware solutions available.
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Rear of the WD My Cloud Pro PR4100
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Rear of the QNAP TS-453D 4-Bay
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Even on the 1/2-bay NAS solutions, you can find 2.5Gbe connectivity on a number of QNAP solution, which then scales progressively throughout their portfolio to multiple 2.5Gbe connections, 5Gbe connections and 10Gbe very easily while still maintaining a price point that remains compatible with that of even the biggest WD My Cloud solution. Then you have the fact that a number of QNAP solutions can be upgraded via PCIe or USB upgrade adaptors for more numerous external connectivity or at the enterprise level with larger bandwidth connections such as 25Gbe and 40Gbe of PCIe Gen 3 NICs for just a few £100s. Finally, there is the growing collection of Thunderbolt 3 equipped NAS systems from QNAP that allow a marginally more plug-and-play connection between the NAS and a thunderbolt 3 USB-C equipped client device. Ultimately QNAP NAS wildly outpaces the WD My Cloud range in terms of external connectivity and is arguably better for its external bandwidth than most NAS brands on the market today.
Better Alternative to WD My Cloud for Plex – Synology
As mentioned at the start of this article, many users purchased the WD My Cloud Pro NAS system as it was remarkably proficient at Plex Media Server, thanks to its choice of Pentium Processor and hardware transcoding in Plex as standard utilization. However, due to Plexnot frequently updating the WD NAS Media Server application in line with how the platform has evolved over time, the WD My Cloud Pro PR2100 and PR4100 have grown increasingly less proficient at Plex Media Server, leading to guides and support walkthroughs being needed to bridge the gap more informally and this has been one of the largest driving force for users wishing to trade away from a WD NAS and onto something a little more modern. When it comes to buying a NAS that is primarily used for Plex media server, for the sheer simplicity and Performance it is hard to argue with a Synology NAS as a better Plex media server. Although many would argue that a QNAP NAS would serve as a better Plex media server due to a higher class of CPU, the Synology NAS platform tends to get more out of the hardware at any given time in terms of efficiency which for most users and Plex media server is highly desirable for a stress-free, set up and forget architecture.
Here is my FULL Guide on Synology NAS for Plex in 2021 (Click Below):
The performance of Plex media server on a Synology NAS when compared with that of a WD My Cloud NAS though is not quite as clear-cut as you might like though. For a start, in order to take advantage of hardware transcoding on the Synology, you are going to need a paid Plex Pass, which may come as a real disappointment given that earlier revisions of Plex media server on the WD My Cloud allow Plex to use this CPU and hardware transcoding for free by default. However, the performance of this older Pentium in hardware transcoding is of a similar level to the software transcoding of the much newer Celeron found in the Synology recent diskstation releases – so this advantage can be largely negated. One final point that, although not applicable to everyone is still worth considering when looking at a NAS for Plex media server, is how the system utilises the hardware resources available between both the Plex application, other software services and the system in general. Plex media server in its recent 1.23 version consumes the majority of the hardware available on the WD My Cloud Pro system with even modest playback of 1080p media and is all but consumed by 4K files, leaving little or no resources for the rest of the NAS and it’s applications. The majority of Synology Plus Series Diskstation NAS systems, by comparison, thanks to using more modern hardware architecture and upgradeability in their design result in a smaller percentage of resource consumption buy Plex media server and therefore more fuel in the tank for other services too.
Better Alternative to WD My Cloud for Business – Synology
When network-attached storage was in its infancy, it was presented as a means for prosumers and small-medium business users to have an alternative to subscription-based Cloud services (DropBox, Google Drive, etc) with improved customizable security and larger capacities. Due to the nature of data and how it is the centre of all kinds of business in the last few decades, the idea of a business having its own server is hardly a new thing, given the importance of data retention and GDPR. However, the expectations from a business in what a server can do at even the most modest level have grown rapidly and a simple hard drive connected to the internet will simply not do! As mentioned earlier, the software available on the WD NAS OS platform is starting to look a little underwhelming in 2021, whereas Synology has invested heavily in software development for the NAS systems likely more than any other brand. This extends to more than the brand trying to ape popular business software and extends to numerous business class advantages and functions in even the comparatively small hardware options by comparison.
A business user already knows that a Synology NAS will be able to store the data in a centralised manner. However, Synology DSM also features business class surveillance with the Surveillance Station 8 platform that can easily rival that of enterprise-class NVR/CCTV utilities like Milestone. There is also the Active Backup Suite software that is included with every Synology NAS that is a licence free multi-platform backup and synchronisation tool that extends from NAS and server utilisation to Office 365 and Google workspace platforms. Moving forward there is also the Synology Virtual Machine Manager platform that not only allows you to deploy VM (virtual machine) images directly from your NAS, but also allows synchronisation and third party software OS migration from the likes of VMware and Hyper-V in just a handful of clicks. Thanks to services like these used in conjunction with the first party communication tools such as Synology Chat and Synology Mail, spreadsheet and document editing with Synology Office and even data pinning and on-the-fly streaming locally with Synology Drive for Mac and Windows – Synology provide an extensive range of business tools in their NAS software that is still a few steps ahead of practically any other brand.
Should I Choose Synology or QNAP NAS?
So, if you have reached this far in the article, you are likely wondering whether you should switch from a WD My Cloud NAS towards either a Synology or QNAP NAS? It’s a valid question, as both brands (especially in recent years) managed to carve their own very distinct design, the priority of build and available utilities for different end-users. Synology will always be the software optimized choice over hardware (60/40) and manages to get the very most possible out of comparatively less hardware in their own first-party applications. QNAP NAS on the other hand has more of a hardware focus (again 60/40) which means that they have a better 1t and 3rd party hardware balance when it comes to using their system in your environment. Synology is a solution that wants you to do things its way and in return gives you a smooth if safe and predictable outcome. QNAP NAS manages to be exceedingly customizable and adaptable and for those who take the time to tweak it, setup it up from scratch or adapt it to their 3rd party environment, can achieve much better results overall. Below is two videos that focus on each brand and key consideration on QNAP and Synology before you buy. Take a look:
Choosing A NAS – Need More Help?
So, those were the key considerations for those looking to buy a new NAS or looking to upgrade/migrate from an older NAS Drive. However, there is still so much that you may need to know to range from operating system compatibility, how to connect the NAS in the best way, ideal software and the best backup methods. If you still need help choosing the NAS solution for your needs, use the NASCompares free advice section below. It is completely free, is not a subscription service and is manned by real humans (two humans actually, me and Eddie). We promise impartial advice, recommendations based on your hardware and budget, and although it might take an extra day or two to answer your question, we will get back to you.
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I got 123 TB of stuff over 15 WD my book like the other one … How much does it cost to hold like 100 TB or 200 TB so I dont have a book shelf and wires all over the freaking place galore from each hard drive or is this the wrong this or do I stick with 20 My Book Hard external drives the mess it causes visually and yeah it;s been working with a couple of drives that died and had to bring in to luckily bring them back to life because I surely don’t have the patience to back up that many drives and etc etc etc … Some of the drives like one of them have 6 drives in them from the early days when they were from 1 to 3 TB so there stuffed by hard drive although I could of had like a 12 TB drive filled with 6 small drives and combine them all together but to go through that what drive me bonkers… Anyone following me …
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Show me how it works babbling for 10 minutes doesnt get me anywhere
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Thats great, but showing me some examples of the GUI etc would be useful. I want to see what you are talking about.
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Before you buy a Synology, stop and buy another brand. Asustor, Qnap or Terramaster.
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This video would be perfect if it were half as long.
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This is insane nas we can not download a complete folder from this nas back to a pc because ui just dont allows ????
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This brand nas is not good i have ex4100 and we can not download a folder back to pc, that is not expected from nas solution
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2:10 can you please rephrase this scenario when you get 1400 mbps vs 1000 mbps? Also what was the fastest “robo” nas you mentioned
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I just want to have redundancy and be able to edit directly off the NAS (mostly 4k miltistream but I’ll have some 8K). Would you recommend 10Ge or TB3?
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Hi iam looking for nas that will automatically download pictures from phones and other computers is a DS 418 still good
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A nas taht gives you virtual machines, containers, and all of that stuff is not a NAS, it’s a server.
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Hi. I’ve just purchased the PR4100 and for some reason it simply refuses to update the firmware! I’ve tried through the UI and manual update but no luck. The disks are fine and I’ve set up RAID 5. Any ideas please?
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Looking at a Qnap TL-D8000S for around 700€ with free shipping. Should i buy one of these units?I’m planning to use it as a “file dumpster” for video clips and game file backups, photos and some other nonsense.
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What you say (2:30) about QNAP bringing to market features that aren’t fully supported is an understatement. I have 3 stories to demonstrate my point. The most recent is qts5’s purported support of TCG Emterprise drives. I purchased such a drive. qnap refuses to enable SED on it even though it recognizes it as an SED. Turns out, they tested their new feature with exactly one drive brand. Did they intentionally cripple their software? Did they decide not to try drives by Seagate or Toshiba? Who knows.
Another example is Qtiering. It’s a wonderful concept, dynamically storing files or blocks on faster or slower hardware depending on usage. The problem begins with requiring all such drives being in the same chassis. Have an expansion bay? No tiering across it! what good is it when USB outperforms SATA but they block expansions from using tiering.
I have a few more examples.
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Can I network a printer off of one of these? Seems so much easier than networking a printer normally.
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you can do all the sw of Synology if the $1000 hardware doesn’t FAIL. So many have had issues, its just not worth it.
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This is my problem. My router is in the basement and would be needing a very long cable to have my NAS upstairs in my bedroom. Any suggestions?
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Do you have an installation how to video for Synology Disk Station DS420J ?
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Hi, just found your vidoes and I think they are very useful. I have a question, in this video you connect the NAS to your router, but can you also connect the NAS directly to a computer via a crossover network cable?
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Will a 1Gbe internet bottleneck a Thunderbolt QNAP NAS when editing 4k video? Or does the direct connect bypass the network connection?
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I think I must be missing something. I mean, a lot of the music and photos apps running on the QNAP could surely be achieved by software running on connected client machines, such as a Windows PC. In fact, isn’t things like file management too, something you could handle through your connected PC?
I can only see a use for the local NAS apps if accessing the NAS remotely, say for a photo upload while on holiday.
I would also like to know if one can simply disable, or remove many of the provided apps. My concern is that there could be a lot of stuff running in the background you never use, things that use background services for example.
The AI stuff slightly concerns me. Is the AI processing local or is much of the AI processing done via a cloud type service? If running locally, one might think such an app would chew up a lot of system resources while it tries to identify who’s in what photos etc,.
As someone who has little or no use for much of this stuff, I’d like to know that all the fluff can be either removed or doesn’t impact NAS resources when not in use.
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I’ve just bought a 412plus, and it’s not coming with any instruction, so thank you for this video. You are an absolute Godsend. I’ll be following your instruction to the letter.
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Great video. Much appreciated.
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Thanks!
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Buy it now:
https://amzn.to/3K1jEHE
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8:41 Personally I think that is the strength of a NAS. The N is for Network. Note that I use the word ‘data’, which can be any file: audio, video, photo’s…
– Good for when multiple people work on the same data
– Good for if you want to acces – and work with your data from any location in the world
Not for ‘backing up’. There are plenty of 16+ Tb external drives to back your files up locally. Some with Mirror Raid if you want redundancy.
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please add a description regarding link aggregation on a unmanaged switch (switch does not have an option for link aggregation)
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Is it possible to only mirror a portion of the two disks and then use the remainder as regular storage? I only need 20% mirrored for important files and want to use the rest for media files that I don’t care to lose.
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Just started looking into purchasing something like this for my massive music collection. I have several terabytes of music that I’ve been wanting to have all of it in 1 central location instead of multiple hard drives. Which one would you suggest ????
I have well over 15 tb spread throughout multiple external HDs. And just wanting to be able to have access to everything at once, so I can minimize some of the duplicates & clutter that I have, digitally.
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While I liie the QNAP NAS and it has been dead reliable, I also like the BROBO from two aspects
1, the ability to plug in a drive without the need of a cassette, 2. the use os mSATA as a memory buffer. I feel QNAP could easily add these features and if done correctly could actually save in their cost to produce. The addition of the fifth drive adds to the drive pool, and the mSATA with is easily accessible adds to the ability to add additional memory where it can be utilized in buffering. The Down Side to me of the DROBO is the lack of updates to keep the NAS up to date.
This has been a hallmark of the QNAP as it is kept up to date. How ever I am disappointed in that QNAP has removed the USENET features and applications from their applications..
Construction wise the QNAP is a much cheaper system, as it appears to use an off the shelf board and adapted the board to use as a NAS rather than a purpose built board (TS451+) access to the second Memory board is a total disassemble, however once you have access running 16GB of RAM is a no brainer. QNAP seems to be more approachable but no more responsive than other NAS producers like DROBO and SYNEROLOGY As the local resident IDIOT I appreciate your Guides and wish I had found your articles prior to my purchase.
I still have some difficulty setting up the email notification as it drops the SMTP server.
However we have managed to share our PLEX library with one friend which is good as he has the identical QNAP NAS
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I bought three TS1635’s on the company dime. Bought for special projects of bringing a whole bunch of data, where the amount was ” about ..” x tens of terabytes each. For the purpose, the units worked well. None failed. We utilized them to move that data across thousands of miles overnight. The machines were officially retired, but still running. Those were purchased in early 2018. The devices were selected because it was 10 gigabit capable, had sufficient capacity for the intended quantity of data to be moved, could be encrypted, and shipped in a relatively small box, and it was raid 6, in case a drive failed in the course of shipping. The alternative was to buy another EMC SAN, put it in location A, copy the data over, and then ship the entire SAN to the final destination. Uh, we’ll try the QNAP.. 😉
Being in IT, the only quibble I had- wasn’t with the NAS, but our company’s inability to provide an effective way to back them up; that’s the real reason the machines weren’t used elsewhere.
In any corporate environment, if it can’t be backed up, it does not belong in the environment. That’s VERY IMPORTANT.
Sadly, I still think that the devices were often faster than the 135 disk SAN we had; and definitely faster than the 48 disk Compellent and these devices, albeit only 36 raw TB, well, the machines did fairly well. But then, I didn’t have 150 virtual machines running on the QNAPs either. Each, with 16 disks, were about $3500; In the datacenter, we also had a $50,000+ Dell Compellent and a $600,000 EMC SAN.
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Have you absolutely no hair on your chest?
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Thanks for this fantastic video. Very straightforward and to the point!
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Just boughs a 1621+ with 4x10Tb drives. I want the majority to be used for media, but I need 1tb for web hosting, 2TB for my backup from my laptops and 2TB for encrypted cloud storage. Can all this go on one volume or do I need to fence off? I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed.
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Take a shot everytime he says “but for now”
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An amazingly detailed video! I suppose there is no need to even ponder about which NAS to buy now. Thanks so much! Cheers!
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please do your research and DONT BUY QNAP, they have ransomware attacking their system continuously, and their security is useless, but not as useless as their customer support!!!
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I sent my synology back because of the Internet Access part.
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excellent, well-presented, concise & clear review. I’ve had a lot of problems with other brands, think Synology is my next buy.
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I would love to have multiple storage pools, so I could have a couple of TB of media that I don’t care about losing, and the rest in an SHR for stuff that I do care about. Can it do that?
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I moved from Drobo to synology. I am not an IT guy. But we had a rogue IT guy that turned out to be awful. He replaced our storage with Drobo. Then it went horribly wrong. He got fired before doing a lot of harm and I moved to synology. I am so glad I did. I did at one point have a problem with one of the synology NAS. They were so great. Drobo, not interested unless you pay more to fix their shit hardware. Bearing in mind, I sent one back to be repaired, they sent it back, with no changes at all. They are the utter lowlife of the NAS world. Synology were awesome. They dialed in, were talking to me, from the US, and helped me, big time. Drobo? Couldn’t give a damn. Just wanted more money.
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Is there a possibility to create a folder that can only be reached via your local network and not via the internet? For example map1 that I can access anywhere via my mobile or pc ad my moms home. but I can only access Map2 when I am on my wifi or cabeld network at home. So that if my account were hacked, people wouldn’t be able to access this data from map2 from outside?
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Can you, or someone, please explain why we are being totally ripped off by these NAS companies? These are small plastic, mostly empty, boxes with tiny boards inside, mostly using free OS’s, so WHY are they so SO expensive?? These things shoud be, at least, 25% of what they actually are. A 2-bay NAS enclosure should be under £100. I can so absolutely no reason whatsoever for the expense of these tiny boxes with very little inside them! This is the biggest rip off in the whole PC indusrtry IMO. One can buy a whole, complete running PC for LESS than these tiny empty boxes!
C’mon Synology/QNAP et al – give us the reasons for ripping us off so convincingly – just because you can, is not good enough. Why aren’t more people on board with this? Has no-one else noticed this legalised stealing?
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I have a question. I accidentally put my hard drive in the wrong order. Instead of 123 of my nas bay , it’s 312, my setup is SHR. If I powered down my nas and place it back in the correct order will this crash my nas?
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Great videos, what I would love for you to talk about. Is there a way to connect two qnap tvs-x72tv via thunderbolt cable (directly connected) this would be a huge benefit given the massive amounts of data these things hold and the slow transfer speeds of gigabit. Thunderbolt direct connect would be awesome. I have my two units daisy chained from my Mac. Mac has not issue seeing either. QBS wont use for backup
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Three weeks ago I set up a DS420+ running DSM 7.0. I have the two Ethernet ports bonded using LACP. If I go to Control Panel/Network/Network Interface and look at the Bond1 interface it tells me that the MTU is 1500, both for the bond and for the individual interfaces. I cannot find anywhere to change this, the edit button just lets me choose different protocols for bonding the ports. I would like to be able to use Jumbo Frames; is this not possible?
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Thank you Mate
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Thanks this was a great video and help for me to setup my NAS!!!!!!!!
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Recently I have discovered the OWC Thunderbay, that seems to fit my needs: basically, a single user for video editing on Mac, connected via thunderbolt or USB-c, and providing a fast storage with relatively lower price. I understand that the RAID management has to be done in the computer and on on the NAS/DAS. But I see no reference to the OWC Thunderbay on this channel, so I wonder if there are hidden problems. It would be so interesting to have your opinion.
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1.Log center cant be modified or set to exclude users or certain things you dont want logged.
2.It is not compatible with DScloud anymore so you cant sync to mobile like you can do on DSM6 with the DSCloud app from Synology but you can use the Synology Package Center to download Resilio Sync or Good Sync but you have to pay a monthly/yearly fee for every user.
Unlike Qnap when you buy your hardware, you arent forced to pay for syncing from and to your own hardware.
With that said there is still a solution using Webdav to-way Nas-pc with Raidrive but you have to pay for software for Pro features.
Mobile sync: Use Foldersync to-way Mobile-Nas, but you have to pay for software for Pro features.
So far as i am aware of limitations using Synology DSM7 when it comes to syncing —> If you want Pro features or you want to use your Nas without reaching out to third-part software without paying extra fees it is recommended to switch to other Nas brands for me i feel Qnap has been working using 30 users for Laptop/Pc/Mac/Android/Iphone all Apps/Software working perfect Pro features without paying extra fee´s or forced to use third-part tools total control for Log center, File-Folder, Photo, Video, Virtualization, Web-sites and so much more.
Other annoying difference i had with Synology i had was this—> i had to make a ticket to find out i cant use Synology Mobile App DS Cloud or that one cant choose what Synology Package-Log Center loggs, it wont let you choose to include, exclude or to delete certain logg if you press Clear button on the loggs that are in “Files downloaded” it deletes all, if you clear “user logins” it deletes all that and you cant revert the deletion.
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Upgraded my DS718+ from DSM6 to DSM7 and Rack servers on the company, now we cant have a good Two-way sync option, Mobile<-->Laptop/pc<-->Synology nas, support has been dropped for the DS Cloud Mobile app wich our IT engineer realized after upgrade.
I can not downgrade DSM version back to DSM6, for private and company usage looked into the solutions
available at DSM7—> Resilio Sync also Good Sync and my conclusion besides for paying for your synology hardware + network and changing your hdd 2-4 years you also have to pay a monthly/yearly cost per user for using Resilio, Good sync for syncing to or from Mobile devices.
Ive contacted Synology support.
Synology Support says: i recommend other brands for your Mobile syncing part of nas usage we have dropped DSCloud app support for DSM7, cant help with a downgrade.
So now its Qnap Quts Hero we use for home and at company for everything…
The synology hardware at home and at company is used as a playground/testing, will be given away at a company contest next year.
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You probably can connect the hdmi cord to both the laptop to the tv, that way which you need a lot of ports to do so. That probably would of work.
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Can I use my two 8TB SATA drives in it? Means, is there any HDD size limit?
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Thanks a million for this clear explanation! Very straightforward but exactly the things you need to understand right after unboxing. Excellent!
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With any nas synology or qnap can I play 2 or 3 4k movies at the sametime ? Wirelessly?
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Very helpful video! Thanks!!
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To anyone I’am thinking of buying a nas system to make things easier I stream movies and tv shows I have need something powerfull enough to run 2 4k movies at the sametime I have pc with planty of power with debian but its a pain to setup what should I do? can someone give their thoughts. Thanks
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Recently decided to implement a NAS on my home network so have been researching vendors, key features and trends. No surprise, Synology emerges as offering some of the best solutions. Hardware is good and software seems the best. I doubt that I will buy one. WHAT???
It is Synology’s business mentality which I feel is not user friendly, on full display with the recent “J” Series / BTRFS debacle and the strategy of moving towards a closed proprietary platform. All because Synology wants to control it user base so that it can extract and extort, no matter how trivial the issue.
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I have the old Synology DS1515+ which is a bastard child rendition of their system. I’m not looking to update it but unsure whether the 4 bay or 6 bay x53 series would be best. I’m so use to SHR. Can you do that with these? Or a version of that?
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Thank you for the video. This was very helpful in setting up my NAS. I followed your steps. Does that mean that when I copy items to the mapped drive they’ll be backed up on the second drive automatically?
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Do you realize that when you talk fast we can’t understand you …..please captions !
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Been watching a ton of your videos since I subbed about a week or so ago. Settled on getting a DS1520+. Saw some talk about the DSM 7.0 software. But I’d really like to see some in depth coverage of what’s actually in the software and the different things it can do for the user or home user. If the great software is a focal point of Synology NAS then it be great to know some the big things it can do.
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I finally order a Synology NAS after suffering through the WD mediocrity for the past 2 years.
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Hi, thank you so much for this video guide, it is extremely thorough! It’s my first time setting up a NAS system and I would not have been able to do it if not for this video (considering the manual from synology wasn’t very helpful). Having said that, when I tried to click on “map drive” in the synology assistant, for some odd reason the buton/option is greyed out and I can’t create the drive on my local pc. I tried running the software as admin and still the same, do you know what may have caused this? Thanks
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13:50 – SHR will take half the RAW drive space???
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Anyone else breath a sigh of relief at 13:50 when the camera finally achieves focus on the screen and you can see what he’s doing?
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