- cross-posted to:
- [email protected]
- So, if synology is enshitified, what should people be looking at for nas replacements? Qnap? A custom build of some sort? - go custom build with xpenology and go full psycho by breaking something then ask for support ticket from synology 
- QNap running QuTS hero or dIY truenas scale 
- I’ve been running truenas for a long long while, it’s been the best solution I’ve ever had. 
 
- I see people saying “build your own”, and though I have the technical expertise to do it, the big draws for Synology for me was the form factor and all the stuff in the OS. I can probably recreate the latter easily enough, but where can I find a 2-4 bay system that small and good looking that I can work with? - Something like truenas (or a more user-friendly fork like hexos) on basically any hardware would get you there. If you want something in a 2-4 bay + server form factor, look at the options from minisforum. Level1techs have done some pretty good videos on their various offerings over the years. - That said… once you go full rack you never go back :) - Yeah but that misses the key point. I don’t want a large chunky server. I love how small the 2-bay Synologies are, even the 4 bays are compact. Know any generic hardware like that? Looking like I may move to QNAP next. - I’m interested in that as well. I want to get a 4 or 6 bay form factor for the home that’s reasonably quiet and supports easily swapping out drives. I’m fine with using something like TrueNAS on the software side, but I want hardware that fits together nicely and not some sort of Frankenstein desktop tower. 
- Yes, minisforum makes many bespoke solutions that are nas sized. What requirements are you looking for that they don’t meet? - I went through and their NAS section was completely empty. Something like the synology that’s got 2-4 hot swap 3.5” bays slightly bigger than the size of the bays. - Edit: morning typing is hard 
 
 
 
- It’s not TOO hard to build a 5- or 8- drive mini-ITX system, and I like my Jonsbo case well enough. - Main issues: - mini-ITX server motherboards are expensive (even asrock-rack).
- mini-ITX server motherboards use OCuLink to connect hard drives. The cables aren’t sold to consumers, and there are two wiring standards for OCuLink-SATA cables that are unmarked (I got lucky on ebay).
- mini-ITX server motherboards use unbuffered ECC ram in a laptop form factor, which is very specific and again expensive.
 - So the technical barriers are real. 
 
- It’s almost like they forgot what RAID stands for. 
- Man, that sucks. I’ve had a Synology NAS for almost 15 years and its feature set has been great. From built in servers to 2FA to VPN it’s been easy to use. Sure, you can DIY a NAS, but then it’s always cobbling together parts that all require individual maintaining vs one-stop shopping with Synology. Ah well, when this one dies I guess I’ll be looking at FOSS/DIY. 



