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The original was posted on /r/homelab by /u/Pyromonkey83 on 2024-04-08 20:23:49.
Title says the gist, but here’s the details.
I currently have a DS916+ as my home NAS, which, while still supported, is definitely beginning to show its age. As with many, I don’t use my Synology solely as a NAS, but also as a server that runs, among many other things, a Plex server, several docker containers (Homebridge, Apache Guacamole, HomeAssistant, and a few others I can’t think of), and is also my reverse proxy for internal HTTPS network services via NGINX. It also, of course, is our Internet accessible NAS for my family to hold videos, photos, documents, etc and be able to access them anywhere.
Plex direct play works fine, but any time transcoding is required for 4K, it’s outright impossible, of course, as the baby Pentium processor simply doesn’t have the horsepower to keep up. In addition, things like Homebridge are now managing so many end devices that it is taking a fair amount of processing power of the NAS to keep running, especially for things like transitioning my Unifi cameras into homekit (live stream only, no recording).
So the time has come for me to upgrade. I have an 8U rack at home that holds things like my Unifi Dream Machine Pro SE, a 24 port Unifi switch, and a rack mount UPS. It has 2U available, but is a short-depth rack (15"), so a full size rack mount unit will not fit. Therefore, I’ve been eyeing the RS1221+ as a potential replacement, but given it’s age, I would wait for the 1224/1225 refresh before pulling the trigger, which is rumored to have the Ryzen V1780B CPU instead of the V1500 found in the 1221+.
The alternative is, I decide instead to go DIY and build my own with whatever I deem fit. It should be noted, I am no stranger to doing anything computer related as DIY. I’ve been building my own desktops for decades, and am more than what I’d consider to be “tech savvy”, so the act of building is not at all a concern of mine, but what is a concern is the following:
- Is it worth the time investment? To me, the main benefits of going DIY are that I can choose where and what I put my money towards. Maybe I can add a GPU for Hardware plex transcoding? Etc.
- Will it “just work”. While I don’t mind spending some time troubleshooting issues, my wife will absolutely MURDER me if things don’t “just work”. She is also now used to the Synology suite of products, such as Synology Drive or DS File, and knows how to navigate things. If alternatives are as easy to use, this shouldn’t be a significant factor, but it needs to be addressed and stable.
- Are there easy cases and systems to make an equivalent size, short depth 2U NAS unit with 8 HDD bay slots? I like the form factor of the 1221+, and I’d like it to be similar if not identical in size overall.
As a final note, cost isn’t really an issue here. Sure it would be nice if it was cheaper, but I don’t really care about the $1,100 price tag of the RS1221+. It’s more about getting the best bang for my buck while making dang sure that my family can use it just as well as I can.
Thanks for the input in advance!