Synology DS223 NAS

Introduction

Here we go again, another storage related project. In this post. I will talk you through the process of moving my storage over to a Synology DS223 NAS. But before I go into detail. I wanted to explain what problem I was trying to solve.

What I already have

As those of you may know. I previously build a all-bells NAS server using an old Dell PowerEdge. This server was perfect in every way except one. In the UK recently, our energy prices have gone through the rooth and it was no-longer offordable to keep it running. In fact I did the maths and it was cheaper to buy 5TB of Google Drive storage than to run my server (over a year). So what did I do? Exactly that. I migrated all my data to Google Drive and then decomissioned the server.

The problem

As all my data was now in Google Drive I did not have a fully local copy of all my data. All my devices do not have enough space to sync the entire lot. My home PC currently has a 2TB NVME SSD and my MacBook pro only has 256GB. Also my Plex library did not exist anymore. I still have all the content. Just nothing to host it.

The solution

So for many years now, my dad has had a Synology NAS hosting a Plex library. I’m not sure on the exact model number. But it was a “J series” NAS. I love the Synology Disk Station OS as it has so much functionaility and flexability. So I was sure that I wanted a Synology of some kind.

What did I choose?

Well I was looking at the Rack Stations. My good friend Tom at ItsMyNaturalColor has one of these. But I didn’t want a 4 drive solution. I just wanted a two drive system with lots of capacity.

I settled on the DS223 system. Mainly because it has 2GB of ram. Something that is quite generous for NAS solutions. I needed more than the standard 512mb of RAM because I wanted to run JellyFin for my media library.

I also selected some Seagate 8TB hard drives to run in a mirrored pair.

Setup

Setting up a Synology nas could not be eaiser. Plug it into network and power and use the Synology finder application to locate the unit. I ran the setup and I opted for Synology Hybrid Raid over simple RAID 1 as it gives me the fexibility to move to a 4 bay system in the future and migrate the RAID.

I have this setup to sync my Google Drive down to local shares and this gives my off-site backup for the solution. In the future I may move this off to another soluton but for now. I like having the bidirectional syncing meaning I can use the NAS or Google Drive. I have also depricated my old Apple Time Capsule so that the Synology is my only storage server at home.

Conclusion

I have been running the NAS consistently for about 4 months now and I can honstly say, I am very happy with the device. It was quite an investment but I think it was a very good investment for the future. I am aware that the drives I have selected do have the SMR technology from Seagate, but I have not had a problem with this yet.

Backup, DSM, NAS, Server, Storage, Synology

Hardware, Networking, Storage, Tech

February 14, 2024