I generally hate these “what’s the best” questions but I could really use some input. I’m looking for a large (8 to 12 bay) NAS for storage in a home network situation. I’ve always used NETGEAR ReadyNAS products in the past - they’ve been reliable and I know my way around the software - but I’m open to change. Currently I’m running PMS from a ReadyNAS 516 and it works well - almost entirely direct play and no transcoding. Having said that I hope to soon be getting into 4k and I can see myself streaming more when I’m away. To this end I’ve been thinking of investing in separate hardware for PMS (possibly a NUC running Ubunto as touted by @Achilles).
I’m currently considering either the Synology DS1819+ or ReadyNAS RB628 but I know there are other options out there. I hate that Synology often doesn’t include 10GbE ports as standard but I’ve heard the software is great.
With what you’ll be spending for a ReadyNAS or QNAP you could easily go the diy route if that’s an option for you. There’s plenty of cases available that come with hotswap bays or have bays that can be converted to hotswap. After putting it together throw FreeNAS or the OS of your choice on it. I’m only giving the suggestion because I was considering a QNAP last year before deciding I could do more with an actual server.
