![[eBay Plus] QNAP TS-431P 4-Bay NAS $253.30 @ Shopping Express eBay | $254.15 Delivered @ Computer Alliance and Shallothead eBay](https://files.ozbargain.com.au/n/56/472956.jpg?h=38c84d97)
Marketplace
PASTA15
- Very good price for a 4-bay QNAP TS-431P NAS.
-
Computer Alliance $254.15
Shopping Express$253.30$262.65
Shallothead$254.15$262.65
EDIT (27 July):
Shooping Express and Shallothead joint the race.
[eBay Plus] QNAP TS-431P 4-Bay NAS $253.30 @ Shopping Express eBay | $254.15 Delivered @ Computer Alliance and Shallothead eBay
660
Related Stores
closed Comments
No complaints with my 231P (exact same CPU/RAM, only notable difference is 2 vs 4 bays) - plenty of features, good-enough performance, regular updates, stable and has a second ethernet port for redundancy.
Takes ages to boot after power outage or firmware update but that is my only complaint and I've had mine for a fair while.
Put a 256GB SSD in one of the bays if you don't need 4 drives and set it as a cache drive.
I've used the t model for a couple of years and it's a little slow.
This seems like a nice update
Price is right.
If you want to do transcoding from the nas. Need to look for higher Specs but for normal use this is fine.Nothing major
More for movie storagesorry for a very newbie questions. Do i need to buy any wifi adapter, if i want to use my laptop to access the files in this NAS wirelessly?
What can DS918+ synology do, while TS431P can't?
can someone kindly share some opinion. Thanks.
I will mainly use it for file storage for client photography images, and bit of media for myself.
you can to connect NAS to your Router and Access it from laptop. Synology have good collection of software
QNAP does too.
No, this doesn't have the PCI Expansion bays that some of the SOHO Models have where you can add WiFi.
That doesn't stop you from having your other devices connected to the Network via Wifi and this device plugged into the Router.
If you can get a switch that supports load balancing you can also run 2 CAT6 cables to the device to get a 2Gbps link and failover.The slowest parts of your experience is going to be the Disk speed and WiFi. Don't expect high throughput (1 x 1GB file would take about 40-60 seconds).
Thank you everyone for sharing, much appreciated for your sharing
What's the Synology equivalent of this?
DS418j
So a glorified desktop hard drive
Till you know you need RAID, you wont appreciate.
@ooooooooyeahhhhh: redundancy OF your backup strategy, not IN it. (multiple backups and locations). Example. acquaintance 1 - RAID5 all drives from same batch, lost via multiple drive failure at same time. acquaintance 2 - QNAP power surge courtesy from lightning strike - lost.
fair enough it would be okay if you purchased at least 2 of these.
No, it's a low powered computer tasked with managing files for other devices.
What's people's opinion on using this as Plex Media Server? Tired of continually turning on main pc for fam access.
For storage it would be fantastic, but for transcoding anything it would be horrible. Good rule of thumb is skip any ARM cpus if you want to do transcoding.
Damn thanks for the response. Will have to do more looking.
The comment above is valid depending on the front ends you are serving to. I use this NAS as a Plex server and have zero issues but my front ends do not require transcoding. I use the nVidia Shield and have not come across a file it cannot play. My suggestion is to get a cheap NAS and ensure that your front ends do not require transcoding.
Get this and then get an Apple TV, or an android box like Vodafone TV/nVidia Shield/Xiaomi MiBox/whatever will play what you serve to it.
Having a terrible front-end and relying on transcoding is ass-backwards, in my opinion.
@joeflacco: Oh interesting than this could work for me then atm I have a projector thats connected to my Apple TV with Plex app accessing my PC.
So could just move content on to NAS and Apple TV would transcode from the NAS?@KBZ: That's the beauty of the Apple TV - it won't need to transcode and will basically play everything you throw at it natively.
I have a NAS that isn't powerful enough to transcode but it doesn't matter to me because my Apple TV can play everything I throw at it natively.
I'm not sure if the Plex app will play everything natively on a software level though, however. I personally use MrMC (an Apple Kodi fork) with a Plex app front-end. So basically the MrMC app plays the videos but the user interface is that of the familiar Plex app. I don't know if that sounds like mumbo-jumbo to you but it's all very easy to get going and you'll never have to worry about transcoding.
Yes I should have been clearer… you can install it, and use it as a plex server, however your experience will be degraded if you have devices that require transcoded media.
If you have 4K movies but want to play it on a 1080P TV. You probably need a high end NAS at least $1000 or just build one yourself it will work out cheaper with much more power to do anything you want. Qnap and Synology can only charge the high prices because of their software. The hardware is fairly poor for anything under $1000. If you're going to spend alot of money on a NAS rather buy your own parts and case then use FreeNAS as the software. Work out to around half the price!
Where do u get 4k content?
Legally of course <.< >.>
Asking for a friend?
I have streamed 4k Movies to my computer before (1440p) and it's fine?
I have the TS453A (upgraded to 8GB of RAM) and an Nvidia Shield TV, Galaxy S10 and two windows PC's.
You won't need transcoding unless you're using a weird format or Apple devices.
Building a server will always be cheaper, but in this case not a lot.
Buying this and a cheaper Android TV box, using the inbuilt Android TV or of even an Nvidia shield will be better and more cost effective then transcoding imo. Also way less complex and less to go wrong.
EDIT: I have the files just stored on media shares (I.E named movies) and then just use Kodi on the client device.
I use mine as a Plex server including playing 4k HDR Remuxes. As others have said transcoding is balls, even Bluray rips can stutter if there's lots going on (snow storm in Frozen).
However, I access mine using an Nvidia shield. I disabled all the transcoding settings in Plex and let the Shield do all the work. Runs flawlessly. Done over a wired network btw.
I would highly recommend this NAS in this type of config. If you want more grunt though, look elsewhere.
Other alternative is to buy a cheap 'refurbished' optiplex. That's what I use for my plex/hosting other things
That's exactly what I'm doing as well.
My Qnap mainly acts as storage, but also as a torrent client runs on it that my desktop passes requests to.
I have a separate tiny form factor refurb Optiplex with 256 GB SSD that acts as a Plex server and does the transcoding, if required. Much, much cheaper than looking for a ready made NAS that can pull off that kind of computing.
Damn, was about to order and then I see this is for plus members only!
Could you create a throw away account for a 30 day trial?
Thanks for the link
What's the biggest drive cap this NAS supports?
It doesn't state in the specification. But in the HDD compatibility list for TS-431P, the largest HDD in the list is 16TB.
P2 is much better with a replaceable memory
Are these any good?