NAS Noobie - Questions

[daldaren]

So I'm looking at getting a small home NAS for Bittorrent support and backup of my media library. I was looking around, and the Synology NAS setup seems the most user friendly, so I was interested in the Synology DS213j, which seems to cover everything I'll need. I'll be putting 2x2TB WD Reds in it. I would also like to have it connected to a UPS for that extra bit of safety. But I'm not a networking guy, and while I do deal with hardware, I'm not an electrician either! So here are some questions I had, hopefully I can get some idea of what I need to do!

 

First: Are Synology's NAS solutions decent for a small Bittorrent download/seed station? I use bittorrent quite frequently (though not extreme loads, maybe 200-500GB of transfer both ways combined a month), so this is something I'm really stressing on.           

  -And if they are, is it possible to run them through a VPN (with relatively easy setup)?

 

Second: What kind of UPS would I need for this particular NAS. Say I just put the Modem, Router, and NAS on the UPS, would a 500-600w be sufficient? And from my understanding, Synology can USB into compatible UPS solutions to monitor power incase it needs to shut down due to power loss and limited battery time.. is this a correct interpretation of the feature?

 

and finally!

 

WD Reds seem to be the popular choice, but is there any particular reason to spring for SE drives on a home NAS?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

 

[Vitalius]

Yes. they should be fine for that purpose hardware wise.

Yes, there is support from Synology for VPN connection/use. Not sure on ease of use, but their website has a guide for it. Can't be that hard.

I have no idea on UPS. Remember, that wattage is how much you'll get for a certain period of time. Odds are, if it's 500-600w, you'll get an hour, tops. 

Yeah, that is what it's for. 

Not really. Unless you just feel like spending extra money on enterprise level drives. 

[KTFO|SGTmoody]

I would go with an APC UPS.  probably the best thing to do to find out what UPS you need or want is to have everything else setup first. and measure the power consumption with a power meater. you can buy them off ebay... or amazon. and then based on that power usege look at what type of UPS you need or want.  The Wattage will supply that ammount of whats. but also give you a limited amount of time.  The more whats you use the less time you will have on  the batteries.  the give a relitivly easy way to work it out on their site. check this out.  just change the whatage and look at the run times change :  http://www.apc.com/products/family/index.cfm?id=29&tab=models

[daldaren]

Yes. they should be fine for that purpose hardware wise.

Yes, there is support from Synology for VPN connection/use. Not sure on ease of use, but their website has a guide for it. Can't be that hard.

I have no idea on UPS. Remember, that wattage is how much you'll get for a certain period of time. Odds are, if it's 500-600w, you'll get an hour, tops. 

Yeah, that is what it's for. 

Not really. Unless you just feel like spending extra money on enterprise level drives. 

 

Thanks!

 

I would go with an APC UPS.  probably the best thing to do to find out what UPS you need or want is to have everything else setup first. and measure the power consumption with a power meater. you can buy them off ebay... or amazon. and then based on that power usege look at what type of UPS you need or want.  The Wattage will supply that ammount of whats. but also give you a limited amount of time.  The more whats you use the less time you will have on  the batteries.  the give a relitivly easy way to work it out on their site. check this out.  just change the whatage and look at the run times change :  http://www.apc.com/products/family/index.cfm?id=29&tab=models

 

Yeah I'll probably give that a shot. Thanks for the advice!