Love your videos. Please keep up on commenting about Plex used with the servers. I’m looking for an upgrade for my synology 220+. Was hoping it would be the 223+ or current gen Synology 4 bay but they really screwed it up without having native transcoding.
I've been wanting to jump onto my first NAS for a year or so now. Was waiting for the 223+ but that ended up a no go having no integrated graphics. The 423+ is the closest thing to fit the bill, but the CPU and 6gb maximum memory is a bit dated/underwhelming. Once they release a product that improves in those areas I'll go for it.
@@AndySomething If you grow impatient (like I did!), the TS-453E is just smashingly good. They just released 5.1 release candidate and they wisely stole alot of DSM items. For the performance, price point, and value the 453E just rocks. It decodes and transcodes extremely well. Added two M2.nvme's (2 gig speed) for QTier and use multichannel on my 2.5 gbe so getting a bit over 5gbe right now. If I could be frank, the 423 should have looked a lot like the 453 really, they missed a great opportunity... Good luck!
Great content and thanks for your time, do you recommend "Synology DS1621+"? I need access to my data using the internet offsite, I'm looking to upgrade from PR4100 to this. cheers
Thanks for your videos. I watch these in hopes of news that Synology will divert away from using anemic outdated hardware. Can you make a video that is targeted to Synology owners that are fed up with these disappointments and suggest a long term replacement for Synology?
I have requested the same. I somehow don't think we will see it... Synology is cool aid discussion for me these days, yes they have lots of nice stuff like cameras etc. but their NAS offerings are very lacking. QNAP is really the only target if you want all the features and then some. They really have come a long way, they can still be critical about them getting caught with their pants down but all the security issues were addressed and 5.1 add some really nice features. If you deploy a QNAP now everything is locked, just like Synology. It also is slicker now as well. Colleagues I know are moving away from Synology and to QNAP because the hardware divide is just too great to rationalize it anymore. You purchase a new nas and the hardware is already old and needs you to invest more into it if the option even exists, doesn't make sense and diminishes the useful life of the box. The 923 isn't bad, but it could have been so much more even with a better amd processor and they abandoned an entire segment of their 920 prosumer line, the 423 came to the rescue is already obsolete before you even turn it on. How could anyone justify releasing a skinny down 920? They could have at least put the J6412 in it and maybe 2.5 gbe, the memory would even be ok at 6 gb. Anyway QNAP is the way to go for sure if you want a replacement for Synology.
After many months I have finally decided on Synology over Qnap. As it's my first I think it will be just right on the software side. My model is going to be the Ds423+
No issues with my two OLD Synology NAS. I like the 923+, but I am having a hard time choosing between the 1522+ 5 bay. My media server does all the transcoding I need. Thanks for this.
I hope you are not going to say highly not recommended, because i just placed an order to buy 2 unit last night : ) Kudos and great NAS video like always.
I am still highly disappointed with Synology for the lacking in hardware competitiveness against QNAP and Asustor. Great software, security, but highly lacking in hardware, like 2.5gbe, slow cpus, low RAM.
The most frustrating thing to me is that Synology had a great opportunity when QNAP fumbled the ball last year to release really nice hardware and charge a premium for it and we would have been very happy buy it. They missed a real opportunity to gain market share. QNAP on the other hand realized they REALLY screwed up and got serious about it and the evidence is in all the releases of QTS. QNAP is taking advantage of Synology now and at least IT folks I know are moving to QNAP now away from Synology. The idea of making an AMD based NAS for business is a great idea, just don't screw over your prosumers that were all looking for intel in this line. Make a new 999 series or whatever. Then to add REAL insult to injury release your latest NAS meant to appeal to the 920 crowd with, yep you guessed it, a lesser NAS than the 920??? I know many Synology consultants will run to cover the brand even saying outlandish things like who needs more then 1gbe and other silliness. For everyone being super critical of QNAP, Synology really messed themselves up and the industry noticed... For those who say QNAP is to reactive, well at least their reacting. Synology is so tone deaf and could care less about what their users are asking for...
Well, I’ve just bought a Terra Master F4-423 instead of the DS423+. I use my NAS for Plex and little else and their continued reversal from the home media users is shameful. Especially ones that are up to latest specifications. DSM is fantastic but not worth the high price for an under specced box. Especially when your main need is for integrated graphics I came from a DS720+ and was disappointed but not surprised by the underwhelming DS923+. They clearly don’t care about media users
I hope you got a good Terra Master. I, unfortunately, got a bad one which had 2 of 4 slots not working. It didn't matter what drives were installed, from left to right, the first and third drive ports didn't work. One didn't spin up and three just threw constant errors. If it wasn't for Amazon, I would have been S.O.L. because Terra Master customer support is non-existent.
@@tjs114 Its perfect to be fair. Softawre is a little bit clunky compared to Synology but I only use Plex so once I had sorted that out everything is fine. Hardware is 100% for me
Update: Despite an issue with a Plex update which stopped new films being added to the Plex library it’s been perfect. Resolution to the Plex issue was to revert to an earlier version. This is a Plex fault not Terramaster and I will be reluctant to update Plex for a while. It’s working so I’ll leave it alone. Still nothing to tempt me back to Synology who for me have burnt their bridges as a prosumer user. Arrogant, stale and patronising as a company
Been waiting for so long to upgrade my DS1815+, but DS1823xs+ has no SHR and doesn't support 3rd party drives and costs $2k instead of $1k. RS2423+ would be a better deal for similar price and support SHR, but still no 3rd party drives, and I would need to re-locate my NAS as it's way louder and more power-hungry than a DS unit. Ugh... Synology makes everything so hard.
Hardware and connection needs to improve for the 2024/25 generation. DSM is great, but users do not play with the GUI very often after the initial setup.
Thanks for the videos! Putting 80% of development into something your rarely gonna use is a misallocation of resources. The first few days I'm into the NAS a lot to get it setup and working, afterwards I'm lucky if I get in once a week for updates for 3 minutes. So the OS development, although nice is a waste to me really. I can do the same functions with another NAS (maybe not as slick or maybe 3rd as appose to 1st party) but come on. The NAS is meant to do a job and not be an OS you interact with (minus linux via containers maybe or maybe QNAP's kvm stuff) as a desktop, so I would much prefer that they spent 80% on hardware and coast a while with the software. The 423 is a perfect example, it serves no purpose really, the 920 is just better so why buy it? We want faster processers and ports to do our jobs or maybe a little plex decoding on the side, so even if you have the most efficient software it won't mean alot when brute force is needed. I just feel I'm pinched hard by Synology these days to drive their profitability and they aren't willing to give me the client a bone once in a while, that is a feeling I know but that's how I see it.
But, without that nice software, you may have spent a few weeks instead of a few days getting your NAS setup. And maybe a few months later it would be exactly the ways you want it.
@@DavidM2002 Fair point, but so far that hasn't been my experience. A few days on average to just get it going. Even if I spend half a day longer to deploy a NAS, it's worth it to have the additional grunt and not to mention future proofing. DSM is real nice but as I said if I see a NAS OS more than 10 minutes a month that is a lot. Some value it and good for them, for me I think it is a waste. If the competition wasn't getting much better in the OS area it would be a much more compelling argument for me for sure. Like Robbie said no one is perfect and the needs and users experience level plays into it. I myself don't need the hand holding and therefore don't see a lot of value in it. Deploying outdated hardware on a new NAS into a production environment just doesn't make sense to me.
we used to have a windows 2012 server with raid 5 here in my company....a old Xeon from 2011 or so. Now we have just the Ds1522+ much more simple ....so much better to our small company here.
I was going to purchase a Synology NAS, but I’ve been put off by their increasing lack of support for third party HDDs and pushing their own branded drives. Synology’s hard drives are superior to and more compatible than my Western Digital Golds? Nonsense.
In defence of SHR not on enterprise is you hopefully have a reasonable i.t person. You can replicate ANY shr1/2 config with standard raid levels it takes a few extra minutes to set up but it can be done.
@@km3481 Same user friendly interface as the NAS and the way you can create user / device profiles and web filters is brilliant. I'm sure that you could do this with other routers but I've had a number of others and none are as user friendly but a very long stretch. My switch is an old D-link so no thoughts on that; sorry.
I'm still torn between a NAS Solution and simply converting my existing 3770k based PC into some sort of server as the motherboard has built-in RAID (never used), 6+ SATA (2 & 3) headers, and several PCI-E slots. Considering it's already maxed out to 32 Gb RAM, has built-in video (freeing up a PCI-E slot if converted), an mSATA slot that is bootable (disables a SATA port), and it sits in a full sized (over really) tower that handles up to 10 (?) 3.5" bays, it's a hard decision to not reuse that hardware. When it comes down to it though, I just don't know if the performance difference between pre-built and converting is going to be big enough to cause a definitive lean.
I considered something similar. I went with QNAP because of the number of options and value point. Even though QTS isn't as easy as DSM it is easier than truenas/unraid. QTS has improved substantially in the last 12 months. You can add QNAPclub for even more app options. So I'm lazy I guess, with QNAP I can have my cake and eat it to with ZFS and a good ecosystem for the OS. Just open a box and plug the drives in...
“... there are ways around it if you own an shr in an older gen technology (XS series, sa series and Enterprise devices) you can actually move those drives over and migrate the shr that's fine” ... really? Can you do a video on the step by step of that?
Probably over my head, but if movies are a high priority need, I'd have thought transcoding via a GPU super important. None of the 2023 Synology+'s I've looked at have an integrated GPU / CPU. Nor do the boxes have HDMI 2.1 ports to enable a modern connection to a receiver. (QNAP at least has HDMI 2.0.) It's so unintuitve to me, I feel I'm missing something fundamental. I get that a 4090 GPU isn't remotely required, but NOTHING? Including drives this is well over a $1k investment. Have 8k TV ... want reliable media server 4k viewing + 5.1 (or higher) sound.
This video was BEYOND helpful to someone like me, that is still mulling over a Synology NAS system for my family/home office. Thank you!
Love your videos. Please keep up on commenting about Plex used with the servers. I’m looking for an upgrade for my synology 220+. Was hoping it would be the 223+ or current gen Synology 4 bay but they really screwed it up without having native transcoding.
I've been wanting to jump onto my first NAS for a year or so now. Was waiting for the 223+ but that ended up a no go having no integrated graphics. The 423+ is the closest thing to fit the bill, but the CPU and 6gb maximum memory is a bit dated/underwhelming. Once they release a product that improves in those areas I'll go for it.
@@AndySomething If you grow impatient (like I did!), the TS-453E is just smashingly good. They just released 5.1 release candidate and they wisely stole alot of DSM items. For the performance, price point, and value the 453E just rocks. It decodes and transcodes extremely well. Added two M2.nvme's (2 gig speed) for QTier and use multichannel on my 2.5 gbe so getting a bit over 5gbe right now. If I could be frank, the 423 should have looked a lot like the 453 really, they missed a great opportunity... Good luck!
@@km3481can the 453 handle 4k transcoding?
@@Flexo-_- Hmm. reply disappeared... Sure it will do 4k.
Yes, you missed something...seagulls
Great content and thanks for your time, do you recommend "Synology DS1621+"? I need access to my data using the internet offsite, I'm looking to upgrade from PR4100 to this. cheers
So should I get a DS723+Synology or the Qnap 464 for home use? (Media, office, surveillance etc.
Thanks for your videos. I watch these in hopes of news that Synology will divert away from using anemic outdated hardware. Can you make a video that is targeted to Synology owners that are fed up with these disappointments and suggest a long term replacement for Synology?
Imo it’s more about the software rather than the hardware. Look at apple and the customer/user experience they have created.
I have requested the same. I somehow don't think we will see it... Synology is cool aid discussion for me these days, yes they have lots of nice stuff like cameras etc. but their NAS offerings are very lacking. QNAP is really the only target if you want all the features and then some. They really have come a long way, they can still be critical about them getting caught with their pants down but all the security issues were addressed and 5.1 add some really nice features. If you deploy a QNAP now everything is locked, just like Synology. It also is slicker now as well. Colleagues I know are moving away from Synology and to QNAP because the hardware divide is just too great to rationalize it anymore. You purchase a new nas and the hardware is already old and needs you to invest more into it if the option even exists, doesn't make sense and diminishes the useful life of the box. The 923 isn't bad, but it could have been so much more even with a better amd processor and they abandoned an entire segment of their 920 prosumer line, the 423 came to the rescue is already obsolete before you even turn it on. How could anyone justify releasing a skinny down 920? They could have at least put the J6412 in it and maybe 2.5 gbe, the memory would even be ok at 6 gb. Anyway QNAP is the way to go for sure if you want a replacement for Synology.
Thank you for your great reviews.Terra master or synology? I do whatever you mentioned plus movie as a movie server. Thank you
Just purchased a ds423+ to use for Plex and data storage.
After many months I have finally decided on Synology over Qnap. As it's my first I think it will be just right on the software side. My model is going to be the Ds423+
No issues with my two OLD Synology NAS. I like the 923+, but I am having a hard time choosing between the 1522+ 5 bay. My media server does all the transcoding I need. Thanks for this.
I hope you are not going to say highly not recommended, because i just placed an order to buy 2 unit last night : ) Kudos and great NAS video like always.
I am still highly disappointed with Synology for the lacking in hardware competitiveness against QNAP and Asustor. Great software, security, but highly lacking in hardware, like 2.5gbe, slow cpus, low RAM.
What your thoughts...I have just bought a 2nd hand DS218+ for home use. It was at a bargain price is it worth it?
The most frustrating thing to me is that Synology had a great opportunity when QNAP fumbled the ball last year to release really nice hardware and charge a premium for it and we would have been very happy buy it. They missed a real opportunity to gain market share. QNAP on the other hand realized they REALLY screwed up and got serious about it and the evidence is in all the releases of QTS. QNAP is taking advantage of Synology now and at least IT folks I know are moving to QNAP now away from Synology. The idea of making an AMD based NAS for business is a great idea, just don't screw over your prosumers that were all looking for intel in this line. Make a new 999 series or whatever. Then to add REAL insult to injury release your latest NAS meant to appeal to the 920 crowd with, yep you guessed it, a lesser NAS than the 920??? I know many Synology consultants will run to cover the brand even saying outlandish things like who needs more then 1gbe and other silliness. For everyone being super critical of QNAP, Synology really messed themselves up and the industry noticed... For those who say QNAP is to reactive, well at least their reacting. Synology is so tone deaf and could care less about what their users are asking for...
Well, I’ve just bought a Terra Master F4-423 instead of the DS423+. I use my NAS for Plex and little else and their continued reversal from the home media users is shameful. Especially ones that are up to latest specifications. DSM is fantastic but not worth the high price for an under specced box. Especially when your main need is for integrated graphics
I came from a DS720+ and was disappointed but not surprised by the underwhelming DS923+. They clearly don’t care about media users
I hope you got a good Terra Master. I, unfortunately, got a bad one which had 2 of 4 slots not working. It didn't matter what drives were installed, from left to right, the first and third drive ports didn't work. One didn't spin up and three just threw constant errors. If it wasn't for Amazon, I would have been S.O.L. because Terra Master customer support is non-existent.
@@tjs114 Its perfect to be fair. Softawre is a little bit clunky compared to Synology but I only use Plex so once I had sorted that out everything is fine. Hardware is 100% for me
Update:
Despite an issue with a Plex update which stopped new films being added to the Plex library it’s been perfect. Resolution to the Plex issue was to revert to an earlier version. This is a Plex fault not Terramaster and I will be reluctant to update Plex for a while. It’s working so I’ll leave it alone.
Still nothing to tempt me back to Synology who for me have burnt their bridges as a prosumer user. Arrogant, stale and patronising as a company
Your mention of 10Gb and 50gb. Are those speeds fixed as in SAN or will it Auto negotiate down to 2.5Gb?
Been waiting for so long to upgrade my DS1815+, but DS1823xs+ has no SHR and doesn't support 3rd party drives and costs $2k instead of $1k. RS2423+ would be a better deal for similar price and support SHR, but still no 3rd party drives, and I would need to re-locate my NAS as it's way louder and more power-hungry than a DS unit. Ugh... Synology makes everything so hard.
Hardware and connection needs to improve for the 2024/25 generation. DSM is great, but users do not play with the GUI very often after the initial setup.
Thanks for the videos! Putting 80% of development into something your rarely gonna use is a misallocation of resources. The first few days I'm into the NAS a lot to get it setup and working, afterwards I'm lucky if I get in once a week for updates for 3 minutes. So the OS development, although nice is a waste to me really. I can do the same functions with another NAS (maybe not as slick or maybe 3rd as appose to 1st party) but come on. The NAS is meant to do a job and not be an OS you interact with (minus linux via containers maybe or maybe QNAP's kvm stuff) as a desktop, so I would much prefer that they spent 80% on hardware and coast a while with the software. The 423 is a perfect example, it serves no purpose really, the 920 is just better so why buy it? We want faster processers and ports to do our jobs or maybe a little plex decoding on the side, so even if you have the most efficient software it won't mean alot when brute force is needed. I just feel I'm pinched hard by Synology these days to drive their profitability and they aren't willing to give me the client a bone once in a while, that is a feeling I know but that's how I see it.
But, without that nice software, you may have spent a few weeks instead of a few days getting your NAS setup. And maybe a few months later it would be exactly the ways you want it.
@@DavidM2002 Fair point, but so far that hasn't been my experience. A few days on average to just get it going. Even if I spend half a day longer to deploy a NAS, it's worth it to have the additional grunt and not to mention future proofing. DSM is real nice but as I said if I see a NAS OS more than 10 minutes a month that is a lot. Some value it and good for them, for me I think it is a waste. If the competition wasn't getting much better in the OS area it would be a much more compelling argument for me for sure. Like Robbie said no one is perfect and the needs and users experience level plays into it. I myself don't need the hand holding and therefore don't see a lot of value in it. Deploying outdated hardware on a new NAS into a production environment just doesn't make sense to me.
we used to have a windows 2012 server with raid 5 here in my company....a old Xeon from 2011 or so. Now we have just the Ds1522+ much more simple ....so much better to our small company here.
I was going to purchase a Synology NAS, but I’ve been put off by their increasing lack of support for third party HDDs and pushing their own branded drives.
Synology’s hard drives are superior to and more compatible than my Western Digital Golds?
Nonsense.
In defence of SHR not on enterprise is you hopefully have a reasonable i.t person. You can replicate ANY shr1/2 config with standard raid levels it takes a few extra minutes to set up but it can be done.
can it run iOS pfsense?
proxmox?
I also bought two of their routers thanks to you and don't regret it for a minute ( your bill is in the mail ).
What makes their routers so good? I'm in the market right now. Any 2.5 gbe unmanaged switch recommendations too?
@@km3481 Same user friendly interface as the NAS and the way you can create user / device profiles and web filters is brilliant. I'm sure that you could do this with other routers but I've had a number of others and none are as user friendly but a very long stretch. My switch is an old D-link so no thoughts on that; sorry.
I'm still torn between a NAS Solution and simply converting my existing 3770k based PC into some sort of server as the motherboard has built-in RAID (never used), 6+ SATA (2 & 3) headers, and several PCI-E slots. Considering it's already maxed out to 32 Gb RAM, has built-in video (freeing up a PCI-E slot if converted), an mSATA slot that is bootable (disables a SATA port), and it sits in a full sized (over really) tower that handles up to 10 (?) 3.5" bays, it's a hard decision to not reuse that hardware. When it comes down to it though, I just don't know if the performance difference between pre-built and converting is going to be big enough to cause a definitive lean.
I considered something similar. I went with QNAP because of the number of options and value point. Even though QTS isn't as easy as DSM it is easier than truenas/unraid. QTS has improved substantially in the last 12 months. You can add QNAPclub for even more app options. So I'm lazy I guess, with QNAP I can have my cake and eat it to with ZFS and a good ecosystem for the OS. Just open a box and plug the drives in...
“... there are ways around it if you own an shr in an older gen technology (XS series, sa series and Enterprise devices) you can actually move those drives over and migrate the shr that's fine” ... really? Can you do a video on the step by step of that?
Probably over my head, but if movies are a high priority need, I'd have thought transcoding via a GPU super important. None of the 2023 Synology+'s I've looked at have an integrated GPU / CPU. Nor do the boxes have HDMI 2.1 ports to enable a modern connection to a receiver. (QNAP at least has HDMI 2.0.) It's so unintuitve to me, I feel I'm missing something fundamental. I get that a 4090 GPU isn't remotely required, but NOTHING? Including drives this is well over a $1k investment. Have 8k TV ... want reliable media server 4k viewing + 5.1 (or higher) sound.
Why didn't this video have a QNAP consultant telling us why not to buy Synology?
A HDD isnt optical its magnetic. A CD is optical.
There 25 reasons to get Synology. 1GBe reasons not to.
They're replacing all their intel stuff with amd garbage that doesn't even have an igpu, making it worthless for plex etc. To hell with them.