NAS Showdown: FreeNAS vs AirPort Extreme vs Synology DS207+

July 27, 2009 in Hardware

The Good Tech Tips blog has posted a showdown between 3 different types of NAS: A DIY FreeNAS system, an AirPort Extreme with attached USB drive (pictured) and a Synology DS207+.

To evaluate the usefulness of each financial step up, they used three main criteria: Overall performance, availability of redundant data via RAID 1, and whether it’s possible to add in features like media streaming, remote access or integrated BitTorrent.

Here are the details of the 3 system tested:

A DIY system was concocted using FreeNAS software and an older ThinkPad. This was technically the cheapest of the bunch.
A router-based system was an AirPort Extreme with attached WD and LaCie USB drives, which was also “recycling” but cost a bit more.
The dedicated NAS appliance tested was a two-drive Synology DS207+, $330 for the box but the drives themselves are sold separately.

Follow the link below to find out the final verdict.

How To Choose the Best Network Storage for a Mac/PC Home