Advice from Synology users

[kaledi 32]

I've been using a Western Digital PR4100 for several years now and it has been great, but I need to scale to more storage space.

I'm looking at a Synology DS1821+ 8 bay device.  I have a few questions that I'm hoping Synology users can help with.

The main use of the device is an Emby server and backup / storage device.  Transcoding isn't a priority.   The main performance limitation of the PR4100 is the gigabit lan that means large files take some time to transfer so a new NAS will need to be capable of 10gbit.

1. The DS1821+ comes with 4GB of RAM - is this sufficient for Emby and simple file transfers.

2. An SSD can be used to cache file transfers.  With a 10 gigabit lan, I'm guessing this can make a difference for multi gigabyte file transfers?

3. Anything else I should know about Synology NAS being used as an Emby server?

[GiGo 103]

I've got the 1815+ I understand there is a fair few differences between the 2015 model and the new 2021 model.  My experience with my 1815+ is great, I have had some issues with transcoding of late, but that is mainly due to new recent codecs, which is hardly surprising when it comes to hardware that is 6 years old.

I know with the 1815+ you can use link aggregation to create a 4gbps bond, which you will need a switch/router that supports it of course. It's easy to setup, however when I changed my router last year I had to disable my LACP as my router didn't support it, but for my needs having the LACP didn't make a difference, so have now just gone with a little D-link 5 port hub rather than the 24port rack mountable beast I had before.

Regarding RAM I upped mine from day one to 6gb so can't comment, but reports I have seen say 4gb will be more than fine.

The DS1815+ has been great for my Emby server, it only really gets 1 user at a time, however I use it remotely and works great when someone is using it at home and away.  The only issue I would encounter is if both users are trying to transcode 1080 HEVC but I tend to have 720p content anyway.

[FrostByte 5044]

Just upgraded from a DS418play to a DS1821+ and so far I'm liking it.  The Synology HDD migration was easy. 

I did add another 4gb RAM to bump it to 8gb from the start so can't really say if it helped.  My main uses are Emby, Surveillance Station for my IP cameras (which feed into Emby), and PC backups and the amount of RAM doesn't seem to be a problem.  My 418play only had 6gb and it was just fine too.  I may move Surveillance Station and the backups back to the 418play just because it's sitting there collecting dust now.

There is a SSD cache advisor tool you can run which will tell you what size M2 drives you may want to get.  Right now I'm not running any M2 drives because I want to wait for the conversion of SHR1 to SHR2 to finish before doing any real testing or transferring of files

I'm using LAG as my switch doesn't support LACP, but like mentioned the NAS supports them all

I've got a mixture of 8tb and 12tb WD Red pluses from the old NAS and now 4 new 14tb Seagate Ironwolfs in there.  Can't say I've had any problems with either brand and both work great as NAS drives.

As discussed in the other thread the one downfall is that the DS1821+ doesn't have a GPU, but for me that's fine as I don't transcode anything.  However, I've tested an occasional conversion of audio and it seemed fine.  4K transcodes may be pushing the limits though

[speedy78 1]

1821+ is able to transcode blurays, maybe not 4K