[Seavan]

I am thinking about buying a NAS. I like 4-bay option for flexibility. I also like Intel CPUs. I think I have two good options: Synology and QNAP. I would appreciate any advice on the NAS and hard drives.

 

[iLikeItInTheEar]

What are your requirements...?

 

[Bones13]

You mention both the commonly recommended NAS companies.  I recently got a Synology 4 bay unit, and started with 2x 2T drives.  You can add similar or higher capacity drives  using their system.  Can't comment on the QNAP, but many like them.  There are lots of reviews of NAS units for computer audio at computeraudiophile.com.
 
I would look at the units in both those websites, matching them to your needs, and see if there is a functional difference between the ones in your parameters that sets it above the rest.  I suspect there is not much.

 

[Seavan]

My requirements are: storage and DNLA server. I would like to be able to run different 3-rd party DNLA servers such as minimserver.
 
I was thinking about starting with 2x3TB drives - either WD Red or Seagate (cheaper). I guess there are too many options and that makes the decision difficult.

 

[Besterino]

Thecus is also a well known. I would research the 3 (qnap, synology, thecus) for specific features and price.

 

[iLikeItInTheEar]

I recommend you check out the HP N40L Microserver.

 

[Seavan]

Thank you iLikeItInTheEar! This is a very interesting option I was not thinking about!

 

[Besterino]

For the price of the HP thing you can build one yourself based on atom/turion mITX and for example the Chenbro ES 34069 (http://www.chenbro.eu/corporatesite/products_detail.php?sku=78).
 
With the Chenbro you'd also have hot swap.
 
Both the HP as well as DIY-solution have the huge disadvantage, that you have to take care of the software part yourself...

 

[iLikeItInTheEar]

Disadvantage...?

Funny, I see it as an advantage.

 

[iLikeItInTheEar]

Thank you iLikeItInTheEar! This is a very interesting option I was not thinking about!

No probs...

 

[Seavan]

Reporting back. I decided to go with the following setup mostly due to its maximum flexibility and cost efficiency:
 
Chenbro SR30169 case http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=74539
ASUS mb P8H77-I (6 SATA ports)
i3-3220 CPU
8GB RAM
Samsung 120GB SSD as a system drive.
2x4TB Seagate drives (thanks to Costco deal on Seagate backup Plus)
 
Total hardware cost is around $750.
 
I am planning on using software mirror RAID running Windows server 2012 or Windows 8. I will also probably try FreeNAS or some Linux.
 
Thank you for your help!

 

[Battlescarze]

Nice pick for the money...check out Synology...highly recommended by Chris at Computer Audiophile...check out the CASH list.
 
Most likely too much money but sometimes you get what you pay for...or at least you hope so.
 
http://www.computeraudiophile.com