Kiara09 Posted March 11 Share #1 Posted March 11 Hey everyone! My boss is in the market for a NAS, and since I've got some background as a network techie, he's leaning on me for advice (even though it's been a while since I've tinkered with NASs). What's the deal? Any recommendations? He's cool with prebuilt options from companies or going the DIY route. I've heard some sketchy stuff about WD lately with that big hack, so I'm kinda iffy about them. Synology seems like a solid choice, for sure. But here's the thing: what about StoneFly? Anyone got experience with them? Would it be smarter to build our own NAS? I mean, I'd be the one setting it up anyway. Here's what my boss needs: a central stash for all our media that we can access from all our gadgets, both on the LAN and over the WAN. And of course, we need a solid backup system (RAID) 'cause those files are super important for our clients. So, what's the verdict? Any thoughts on StoneFly or the DIY route? Appreciate any advice you can throw my way! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dj_nsk Posted March 11 Share #2 Posted March 11 30 минут назад, Kiara09 сказал: Hey everyone! My boss is in the market for a NAS, and since I've got some background as a network techie, he's leaning on me for advice (even though it's been a while since I've tinkered with NASs). What's the deal? Any recommendations? He's cool with prebuilt options from companies or going the DIY route. I've heard some sketchy stuff about WD lately with that big hack, so I'm kinda iffy about them. Synology seems like a solid choice, for sure. But here's the thing: what about StoneFly? Anyone got experience with them? Would it be smarter to build our own NAS? I mean, I'd be the one setting it up anyway. Here's what my boss needs: a central stash for all our media that we can access from all our gadgets, both on the LAN and over the WAN. And of course, we need a solid backup system (RAID) 'cause those files are super important for our clients. So, what's the verdict? Any thoughts on StoneFly or the DIY route? Appreciate any advice you can throw my way! You have entered the forum on the Xpenology project (and this is not even the original Synology) - it is somewhat strange here to ask for advice on choosing other NAS 😎 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiara09 Posted March 18 Author Share #3 Posted March 18 On 3/11/2024 at 5:47 PM, dj_nsk said: You have entered the forum on the Xpenology project (and this is not even the original Synology) - it is somewhat strange here to ask for advice on choosing other NAS 😎 Thanks for pointing that out! We came across this forum while researching NAS solutions and didn't realize it was geared towards Xpenology specifically. Nonetheless, the discussions on RAID and backups have been incredibly useful! While we're still considering different NAS options, including pre-built ones, we're curious if you have any recommendations for business-oriented NAS solutions outside of Xpenology? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fox Mulder Posted March 19 Share #4 Posted March 19 12 hours ago, Kiara09 said: Thanks for pointing that out! We came across this forum while researching NAS solutions and didn't realize it was geared towards Xpenology specifically. Nonetheless, the discussions on RAID and backups have been incredibly useful! While we're still considering different NAS options, including pre-built ones, we're curious if you have any recommendations for business-oriented NAS solutions outside of Xpenology? I would say that for a business that would also favor proper support in case of issues, it's better to go with a off-the-shelf product such as Synology, QNAP, or such. The reason being that they're a one stop shop for their own hardware. And you will be covered by some kind of warranty with an option to buy an extended one, or to sign a service contract. The downside of getting something like Synology now (as opposed to QNAP, Asustor, Thecus and so on), is that Synology is closing its garden somewhat - as in it's moving to require Synology certified Hard drives which will be the only ones to work with its NAS products. Currently its in effect in Synology Business and Enterprise products (which may or may not be the level of product you need) but it may also start to arrive at Home based products. Xpenology may (or may not) always have the option to use any Hard drive, and also mix between them, but it relies on self built hardware most of the time. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiara09 Posted March 21 Author Share #5 Posted March 21 Absolutely, you make a great call leaning towards pre-built options like Synology or QNAP with their warranty and support. While researching NAS alternatives, I came across StoneFly. They look interesting, but I wasn't sure if they cater well to us. Have you had any experience with StoneFly products? Their focus might be more suited for businesses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pocopico Posted March 21 Share #6 Posted March 21 (edited) If i may ask, few things that come in mind, - What are the required NAS requirements in terms of availability, uptime, hardware redundancy etc ? - What is the budget ? - What is the workload you would like to host on the procured NAS ? SMB/CIFS, NFS, S3, structured or unstructured data ? - What other services you would like to host on the NAS device (Docker, Office, email, backup etc) ? - Are the above services critical for your bussiness needs ? Avoid DIY (Thats for non bussiness critical purposes). Dont just buy on features. Stick with the one that provides the best support, things CAN and WILL go wrong at some point ! You need to have a proper support organization structured to backup your business. Both Synology and QNAP don't offer 2 or 4 hours response time, spare part availability etc and i can guarantee that both will not engage fully to solve your issue. On the other hand, both are the titans of home to small/medium size business NAS devices. Syno is lacking some features that QNAP has BUT with Syno i've never lost data and I must say its rather difficult to do so, whereas with QNAP i've read and had some very dissapointing experiences. So if I were to prioritize my bussiness needs : 1st. Customer support with onsite presence and spare part availability 2nd. Design a backup solution in parallel with your NAS needs. 3rd. All other mentioned features I hope this helps a bit. And a small comment on " And of course, we need a solid backup system (RAID) 'cause those files are super important for our clients." RAID should NEVER be considered a backup. Its just a level of hardware failure redundancy and thats all. Plan for a proper offsite/offline backup solution as well. Backup to tape or S3, cloud or on premices targets. Ransomware and/or human mistakes can lead to loss of primary hosted data, you should be prepared for that possibility. Edited March 21 by pocopico 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiara09 Posted April 2 Author Share #7 Posted April 2 (edited) Thanks for the detailed response! This is exactly what I was hoping for. To answer your questions: Needs: Our main needs are central storage for media files (LAN and WAN access) and a reliable backup system (RAID) for client data. Uptime and hardware redundancy are important, but on-site support and spare parts aren't critical for us. Budget: We're flexible, but ideally looking for a good balance between features and cost. Workload: Mostly file storage (SMB/CIFS) with potential for some light applications like a media server. Based on this, it sounds like Synology or QNAP might be a good fit for us. QNAP seems to have more features, but Synology sounds more reliable. Maybe we can research specific models from both brands to see which offers the best value for our needs. Great point about RAID not being a true backup! We'll definitely look into setting up a separate offsite backup solution as well. By the way, in my research I also came across StoneFly NAS. Have you heard any experiences with them? They seem to target businesses, and providing the best security features against cyber attacks. but I couldn't find much user feedback. Thanks again for the insights! This really helps us narrow down our options. Edited April 2 by Kiara09 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orphée Posted April 2 Share #8 Posted April 2 Is this actually hidden advertising for your random Stoneblabla NAS ? This account feels so much fake... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiara09 Posted April 8 Author Share #9 Posted April 8 Haha, no worries, definitely not a shill for StoneFly NAS! Honestly, I hadn't heard of them before you mentioned it. It's always good to explore different options, but yeah, the lack of user reviews is a bit concerning. Maybe we can stick to Synology and QNAP for now, and if StoneFly keeps popping up in our research, we can revisit it then. Thanks for calling that out – it's important to be critical of information online. What do you think? about other products apart Synology or QNAP??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orphée Posted April 8 Share #10 Posted April 8 (edited) With a fake avatar stolen on twitter from a well known novel writer... Yes yes of course. Edited April 9 by Orphée 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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