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Best MAC compatible NAS device?

Hey.

I am looking for a NAS device to use with my iMac and MacBook. Therefore, I was wondering if anybody knows if any of the NAS manufacturers such as NetGear, Synology, QNAP etc. has specialized in Mac compatibility?

If so, which NAS device would you recommend? I am looking for a NAS device with 2 bays for drives.

Thank you for your help 🙂

Best regards,
Jesper Pedersen

iMac, MacBook, Mac OS X (10.6.6)

Posted on Mar 6, 2011 2:45 PM

Reply
20 replies

Mar 7, 2011 8:21 AM in response to ShortyDK

Are you sure about that, Clio? I have been looking at the different companies in relation to Mac compatibility and discovered that QNAP is surprisingly high in mac compatibility, so think it's gonna be that company...

See guide in QNAP Mac compatibility here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWs_jpBjFGo

Unless someone has something negative to say in relation to QNAP and Mac compatibility?

Apr 29, 2011 12:51 PM in response to J D McIninch

I recently took the NAS plunge and can concur with JD that I've been pretty happy with Synology. QNAP is also really good, but I like the clean UI and simplified interface of the Synology better.


There have been reported issues with Apple File Protocol (AFP) and Synology, but I haven't seen it.


If anyone is interested in reading about using Synology with the Mac I've been blogging about my experiences with it at: http://macsynology.wordpress.com


Stephen

May 23, 2011 6:55 AM in response to Clio1

As far as I can see, Synology does not support HFS(+) formatted USB drives allthough they have promised this since at least 2009.(ref their forum)

QNAP does support it (allthough its reported a bug if a folder only contains .mov files)

I too like the Synology 3.1 web-interface better than QNAP`s and you will get a 4 bay NAS cheaper from Synology than QNAP. Still I would choose QNAP and it looks like the QNAP ts-412 is the best choice if you want a home NAS (abt $300 without disks). From Synology I would probably go for the 411j (abt $230 ex disks).

I would strongly recommend a 4 bay NAS instead of 2 bay since you then can use RAID 5 which gives redunancy but only "stealing" 25 % of storage instead of 50%

Another top tip is not to use WD Green disks or any other Eco disks. They have a tendancy to fail or/and make a lot of trouble in Linux based systems (which they are all based on) in RAID. (ref all forums from NAS builders)

Aug 29, 2011 1:00 AM in response to ShortyDK

A small update from me:

I purchased the QNAP TS-412 and have had it now for 2.5 months. I just love it!

For home users its plenty powerful, easy to use and update.

QNAP just updated their Firmware to 3.5 to support Lion better.

They have also autoconfigure of Airport extreme so it seems they really focus on us Apple users. They also have IOS app to view mediafiles from your NAS.

Feb 28, 2012 7:17 AM in response to Laplace

From my brief experience with Synology, I would like to elaborate on something Laplace noted.


Synology is not Mac-friendly. It is the antithesis of Mac-friendly if only for one reason:


The ext4 file system.


The ext4 file system disallows particular file name character combinations to the extent that many files on an HFS+ file system (i.e. Mac's) simply cannot be transferred onto the device.


Including, but not limited to, ANY invisible Mac file. Or any file with an underscore at the beginning. And the list goes on.


Why custom partitioning is not allowed is a mystery to me. If there is no way around the issue, it's a bad system for Macs, period. Anyone who tells you otherwise probably doesn't use NAS for network file storage and sharing, which is supposed to be any NAS's main job.


In summary, Synology and Mac, as they currently stand, do not mix well.


Not to mention, file names with underscores at the beginning, etc., are not too uncommon on NTFS file sytems either (i.e. Windows'). So Windows users should keep an eye out as well.

Best MAC compatible NAS device?

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