Synology DS411j or DS412j?

[Muele]

OK, so I will rule out the DS411j. 128 MB RAM is just not enough for any kind of future-proofing. What's the point in having free disk-slots if the machine can't handle what you throw at it? I can use the saved 800 DKK for bigger disks if I go for the DS212J. Which I'm inclined to right now.

@JonWill: You have several good points and I have recommended people to go for at real server instead of a NAS for years. You are really making me doubt.
From what I can see the cash-back only applies to UK customers, so the price of the HP is similar to the DS411j. Plus a WHS license at 362 DKK. I think that will be the best choice of OS for me. I really want something that doesn't require very much of me. I guess I'll have to test-drive WHS2011 on a virtual machine.

The choice has moved. But didn't get any easier...

[JonWill]

The choice has moved. But didn't get any easier...

If only there was a "right" answer

[evdplancke]

If only there was a "right" answer

Helping to take a decision or even adding more confusion: some have reported that w7 sounds better than linux servers. Quite subtle change if any IMHO, but windows may be a safer os choice.

[Squeezeit]

My old Synology 207+ with 128 MB runs perfectly for storage + LMS. I must admit that I only have some 500 albums on my server.

I confirm the DS211J can make it. Works like a charm with SSODS 4.14mod and LMS 7.7.1. Indeed slower than on other devices as it sometimes has to swap.

I hardly see why it would take more ram for more albums. It is my understanding that SQLLite is optimized to be DB Size independant.

As you're looking for a new devices I'd suggest you buy something with x86 compatible processor. Cross-compiling is a pain to setup. And the only packages Logitech does maintain are for intel compatible stuff. I slightly regret the buying of a DS since a µITX pc wouldn't have cost much more.

[pz1]

I hardly see why it would take more ram for more albums. It is my understanding that SQLLite is optimized to be DB Size independant.

I did not intend to suggest that. As at other places people brought up the issue of the number of albums and performance, I thought it be good to mention the size of my collection.
I am more than happy of the performance on my old rig. FWIW, the Synology memory monitor reported a total memory usage ranging from 20-40% since I set it up a month ago.

[carp]

some have reported that w7 sounds better than linux servers.

Somewhere I have read this, too, but to be honest: If you have byte-identical files (FLAC, MP3...) on both a Linux and a Windows machine and deliver these files to the same Squeezebox player, how could they sound different? IMHO this is per se simply and technically not possible.

[Muele]

Ok, some alleged 3rd hand knowledge about an audiofool improvement in sound quality is last in a very long list of priorities when deciding what server or NAS to go for. Sorry.

Actually I'm pretty sure I'm going to buy something like the HP ProLiant Turion II N40L with WHS 2011. If it were only a little cheaper... But I can see from price portals that the price does fluctuate. And sometimes it is possible to get it at a price that can almost compete with the UK cashback offer. So I will sit here watching the price patiently.

Thanks for all of the input. It has been very valuable to me even though I ended (? Who knows, I haven't bought yet) up going in a different direction than I originally intended.

[mark-in-seattle]

There is a decent benchmark review of several different Synology NAS's at w-w-w.legionhardware.com which mentions processor and RAM differences. This was helpful to me as I'm also trying to decide what NAS (or mini-ITX) might replace my aging ReadyNAS NV+ with it's problematic SPARC architecture. I still think Bill Joy is a software/hardware demi-god, but support for his SPARC is waning.

StorageReview.com also has a good review of the DS411j ...I think.

At least my old ReadyNAS NV+ had DIMM sockets allowing me to upgrade it's RAM to 1 gig, while the consumer version Synology's have RAM soldered onto the motherboard. Would it really have killed their profit margin to socket the SODIMMs so some of us could upgrade the memory? How much MTBF does one RAM socket subtract really, compared to RAM upgrade value-add for the users.

Underpowered NAS issues either by processor clocking (less likely) or by RAM, or feature limits; no eSATA, only one Ethernet port when two are available from the chipset used, are the major reason I am considering the purchase of a mini-ITX to build my own x86 FreeNAS box for file serving and LMS (SBS) hosting.

As others have mentioned LMS doesn't need a lot of CPU cycles now and can limp along with a modest RAM footprint, but I worry software, feature bloat and non-x86 porting issues may alter the situation in the not too distant future.

Another important consideration; what really is the best backup strategy for home based file servers? My NV+ runs RAID-5, but RAID is not a backup strategy in my opinion it is a mission critical availability feature for businesses. If one drive fails in a RAID array the business day is not impacted, but should the NAS powersupply go on a walkabout it could fry all the drives which would leave the home "backup" feature inoperative. Which is of course why we all make offline external backups of the NAS data. That is our true home backup strategy.

So why use RAID at home if you are already doing a competent job of external backup management? Wouldn't JBOD and weekly external backups work OK for most of us? I realize there are non-trivial tradeoffs involved here, all of which assume a baseline external backup is done religiously, but home use is not mission critical and therefore I submit fundamentally not served by RAID to the same extent a business would be.

With the above in mind, I'm seriously considering using my old ReadyNAS NV+ as a JBOD offline external backup device, a cheap Synology DS212j (newegg openbox) for LMS and Aperture photo library duties and a FreeNAS mini-ITX for most everything else; Time Machine, video file server to the ethernet port of our LCD TV, WAN access using VPN and iOS clients to some of our data while traveling, ...etc.

Just some random thoughts....

[mark-in-seattle]

Just realized there were possibly only a few native English speakers on this small page in the forum and their English is as good or better than my own mangled posting. You have my genuine admiration for mastery of multiple languages while we here in the United States (Etats-Unis, Vereinigte Staaten) are so isolated/insulated.

While traveling last October in France I did use as much limited phrase French as possible; Excusez-moi Madame de vous déranger, où est le bouloungerie? Thankfully my wife's French is pretty good so we were able to enjoy local conversations. More travel would encourage us here in the Etats-Unis to work on our foreign language skills and join the world community more fully.

[slate]

... encourage us here in the Etats-Unis to work on our foreign language skills and join the world community more fully.

In my experience it does not help to be born in a large country or otherwise "large" language. Because the cultural production is large enough to cover the demand (music, books, tv, cinema) there are little contact with output from the "outside".

And it does not help that many countries insist on dubbing soundtracks instead of sub-titles.

In countries like Germany, Italy, Spain, France they do learn English in school, but because it is not in use in daily life there are no training and it is quickly forgotten.

As a dane we learn English and German in school; as a small country we have to grow by doing trade with out neighbours. Later on in High school French was added... must admit that for me personally French is forgotten.
Oh and we do have sub-titles

Danish have the added benefit that we can communicate with people in Norway and Sweden because of historical reasons.