DS224+

Yeah this is totally doable and not overkill. A 2-bay NAS (like Synology DS224+) with HDDs is enough, SSD NAS is unnecessary unless you want speed over cost. Use Immich for photos and Plex or Jellyfin for movies on TVs. You can keep it off most of the time, but realistically once you start using it,

I have a Synology DS224+ with 24TBx2. I keep my media around 1-3gb per hour of footage (usually 1080p). It can easily serve 3 direct play streams while barely making a dent to my overhead. I can also confirm 2 simultaneous transcodes without a hitch. Transcoding a movie (say 3gb) yields about a 15%

The Synology DS223 can be used for media playback, but its CPU isn't as powerful as the next model up. I would personally step up to the DS224+, DS225+ or DS425+ since they both have CPU's with transcoding abilities which can allow for smoother playback on more devices, regardless of the video file

I started the same way as you did about a decade ago.. ITX MB, small CPU, couple of disks.. But soon I've soon realised it's much simpler to buy readymade NAS. Anything exposed to the internet 24/7 I know I cannot protect as good as any decent company. If you give it some thought, they will save you

For a NAS, I'd be wary of having all the connections be through USB. For your price range, I'd probably look for something like a used Synology DS224+ or something. Edit: Actually, now that I think about it, you could probably turn one of these into an all NVMe type NAS with 2 slots. That would be i

My server runs on a Synology DS224+ with two 6TB drives in RAID 1, so I have 6TB total storage. The DS224+ can run Plex well enough for my purposes. The whole setup cost me $670 and sits on a shelf next to my wifi router. I have about 200GB of movies and numerous other things backed up onto it, and

For 3TB growing to 4-5TB and wanting remote access without cloud costs, a simple 2-bay NAS (like Synology DS224+) with two 4TB drives in RAID 1 gives you redundancy, remote access, and room to grow. It's more upfront cost than an external drive but way more reliable long-term.

I started with a ds224+ 2bay nas. This is my first Nas and I've had no issues other than occasional user error type problems. 2bay is fine but if it's in your budget go for a 4 bay for future proofing. I have two 6tb drives in SHR configuration (Synology's equivalent to RAID1 but allows you to easil

Keep in mind that for home use, you don’t need very powerful hardware—just a stable and symmetrical internet connection of 100 Mbps or more. So, a Synology DS224+ would be more than enough. Remember, the heavy processing is done by your console or computer, while the NAS simply stores the games and

Good to know, thanks. I think I'm going to go with the Synology DS224+ now, it's quite a bit more expensive than the DS124, but comes with 2GB RAM that can be upgraded to 6GB if need be. It has 2 drives instead of the 1. I think the DS423 might be a bit overkill drive bay wise for me currently, but