I am going to be purchasing a new 15" Macbook Pro (my first Mac 
). I have decided to get a small SSD. As such, I would like to get a NAS to store all my large media files. I would also like it to be compatible with Time Machine.
I have heard good things about Netgear's ReadyNAS Duo, Synology's DS210j, and even some stuff from QNAP (though I don't know much about them).
I am looking for about 2TB of storage. That should be just fine for me for quite awhile. However, eventually, maybe in a couple years, I would like to expand it further. I know the ReadyNAS Duo supports swapping out smaller HDs for larger ones, and it will replicate (assuming you have x-raid on). I am not sure about the DS210j's ability to easily upgrade capacity.
I would also like to be able to stream HD video to my PS3 and laptop. I probably would not stream HD video at the same time, however, I would like it to be able to stream HD video to the PS3 and music to the laptop at the same time. As well as stream HD video, without studdering, while time machine is doing its hourly thing.
According to this chart, the DS210j is significantly faster than the ReadyNAS Duo. http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/component/option,com_nas/Itemid,190 . However, I noticed that the review/data from the ReadyNAS Duo is two years old. The review/data for the DS210j is fairly recent. I was thinking that perhaps firmware updates, or even some hardware changes may have happened in those two years to increase the speed of the ReadyNAS. But I am not certain.
I know the ReadyNAS comes with 256mb ram and the DS210j only 128mb. The ReadyNAS can be upgraded to 1gig. I am not sure if the DS210j can be upgraded. I know some Synology models have the RAM soldered in, so perhaps it cannot be upgraded. How significant is this?
Both of these units are fairly cheap (about $200 each for a diskless unit). This is very important to me because I am a poor graduate student, and the laptop is already taxing me quite a bit.
Basically, I am hoping that some people here may know the difference between the two. Or they are currently running one or the other and can offer insight. I tried the search function on this and several other sites but cannot find a good comparison between these two NAS.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
). I have decided to get a small SSD. As such, I would like to get a NAS to store all my large media files. I would also like it to be compatible with Time Machine.I have heard good things about Netgear's ReadyNAS Duo, Synology's DS210j, and even some stuff from QNAP (though I don't know much about them).
I am looking for about 2TB of storage. That should be just fine for me for quite awhile. However, eventually, maybe in a couple years, I would like to expand it further. I know the ReadyNAS Duo supports swapping out smaller HDs for larger ones, and it will replicate (assuming you have x-raid on). I am not sure about the DS210j's ability to easily upgrade capacity.
I would also like to be able to stream HD video to my PS3 and laptop. I probably would not stream HD video at the same time, however, I would like it to be able to stream HD video to the PS3 and music to the laptop at the same time. As well as stream HD video, without studdering, while time machine is doing its hourly thing.
According to this chart, the DS210j is significantly faster than the ReadyNAS Duo. http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/component/option,com_nas/Itemid,190 . However, I noticed that the review/data from the ReadyNAS Duo is two years old. The review/data for the DS210j is fairly recent. I was thinking that perhaps firmware updates, or even some hardware changes may have happened in those two years to increase the speed of the ReadyNAS. But I am not certain.
I know the ReadyNAS comes with 256mb ram and the DS210j only 128mb. The ReadyNAS can be upgraded to 1gig. I am not sure if the DS210j can be upgraded. I know some Synology models have the RAM soldered in, so perhaps it cannot be upgraded. How significant is this?
Both of these units are fairly cheap (about $200 each for a diskless unit). This is very important to me because I am a poor graduate student, and the laptop is already taxing me quite a bit.
Basically, I am hoping that some people here may know the difference between the two. Or they are currently running one or the other and can offer insight. I tried the search function on this and several other sites but cannot find a good comparison between these two NAS.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
