Got a NAS?

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If you have a home Network attached storage (or NAS) be aware that there are some changes coming down the pipeline with the Windows 11 24H2 release. A
[See the full post at: Got a NAS?]

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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Synology DS120j.

cheers, Paul

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Paul T wrote:

Synology DS120j.

cheers, Paul

You should check if your NAS device support SMB signing

https://kb.synology.com/en-global/DSM/tutorial/enable_smb_signing

*Enabling server signing greatly reduces file transfer performance.

3 users thanked author for this post.

April, rpetruzz, Chris B

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I am running a Synology Diskstation 214 Play, installed Feb 2015 now with 2x 4TB Seagate Ironwolf disks (installed 2021) and running DSM 7.1.1. 9 years old and still running fine, on a home network without a domain.

Using Alex5723’s link, I can use SMB1 or SMB2 – “enable server signing” currently set to Disable.

All my clients are Windows 10 22H2, but ultimately I will be forced to move to W11.

Chris
Win 10 Pro x64 Group A

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Synology DS420J NAS for storage only

mbhelwig

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Synology DiskStation DS415+ for local storage and a DS218+ for remote backup

 

 

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Synology DS923+. Relatively new to me replacing aged ReadyNas. Just checked and SMB IS enabled!! Should I disable? Performance seems fine, but this sems to have been chosen as default as I do not remember enabling it.

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Now that you have me curious, from what I find the two settings for Windows 10 Pro in Group Policy are disabled. So even more I question if it shoul dbe enabled on my NMAS and then which settings will need to change. And is it safe since it has been on, of course.

UPDATE: Further researching shows SMB turned off on my PC (all versions) but on on the NAS. From what I read, disabling on the NAS will break my mapped network drives and also have a negative effect on Maxcrium Reflect. So now shall wait to see what the more experienced here recommend and why.

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On my NAS (see above for details) I have SMB disabled but my mapped drives onto it are fine.

Chris
Win 10 Pro x64 Group A

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Thanks, Chris. Interesting that from what I read SMB shoul dbe needed to map. But, would be good if not.

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My NAS is a custom build running TrueNAS

Rgds, Zeus

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Synology DS218

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I’m running a Synology NAS DS1019 with DSM 7.2.1-69057 Update 5.

Currently SMB signing is disabled.  In the article in the link that Alex5723 shared above it indicates that:

“Enabling server signing greatly reduces file transfer performance. Refer to this article for more information.”

Performance over a network for a NAS while convenient is already below that of a direct connect device.  Degrading performance for a home closed network would seem to be undesirable.

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Hi, I’ve got a QNAP TS-453D.

Thanks, Rob

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Hi Susan,

I have an Asustor AS6302T. The SMB settings in the Services applet are set to Default which is explained as “SMB1 does not support SMB Signing. Other SMB protocols support SMB signing but do not force all connections to use it”. I have also got “Highest SMB Version: SMB3” and “Lowest SMB Version SMB2”

Best Regards,

Jeff

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Synology DS220j here

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I have the same NAS pictured in Susan’s article, a WD (Western Digital) My Cloud EX2 Ultra. However I will not be affected as I no longer use Windows, instead Linux Mint (21.2) that uses GVFS to connect to shares on the NAS.

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I use a Seagate Black Armor –  Model NAS-220 – in Raid 1 configuration.

Purchased from Newegg.com in May 2011

It uses SMB1 and probably will not work without it.

 

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My NAS is a DIY Mini-tower PC running the latest available version, fully updated via Windows Update, of Windows 11 Pro (driver updates disabled via Group Policy) in a vanilla Microsoft installation using Microsoft’s published registry edit to allow installation on unsupported hardware
Intel DH87RL Motherboard (circa 2013)
Core i5 4670 CPU @4.3GHz 4 core/4 thread (circa 2013)
32GB DDR3 SDRAM @1600MHz
250GB Samsung mSATA SSD for OS
Motherboard-configured 7.27TB RAID 10 array (4 X 4TB HDD’s) monitored/controlled by Intel Rapid Storage Technology

No SMB.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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Hey Y’all,

I’ve got a Synology DS220+ w/2 Iron Wolf 4Gb drives in Raid 1.

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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Netgear ReadyNAS 314

firmware 6.10.10, probably SMB 1 given its age

 

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Interesting that over half of us are running Synology.

Chris
Win 10 Pro x64 Group A

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Well, they have their flawws, but I do think best of breed when all competition compared. I did love my ReadyNas and if they were still making NAS, I could be easily convinced they were a better choice. But….

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QNAP TS-251+, 4TB Raid 1, 4-core Celeron 1.9GHz processor, 8GB RAM, SMB2/SMB3:  Media Server and File Storage/backup, piHole DNS Server

Steve

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Using a Synology NAS DS1520+ (DSM 7.2.1-69057 Update 5) with 14 TB RAID Storage pool and 2 TB SSD Cache.  Used for internal LAN backups (Hyper Backup), Active Backup for Office 365, Cloud Sync to OneDrive, Plex Server, and Docker for hosting a Cloudflare Tunnel.

Also use Synology’s SMB and AFS/Bonjour for File Services.

Since my AD LAN is behind a firewall with NO port-forwarding, I see no value/need in SMB signing.  I had enough challenges getting my legacy Xerox WorkCenter and Toshiba eStudio to play nice with Win 11 by downgrading the OS’s default SMB Client to SMB1.

Sheesh.

Thanks for the heads-up Susan.  Looking forward to your guidance.

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Synology DS621+

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Synology DS220+  with 2x 2TB Ironwolf HDDs in Raid 1

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I have the Western Digital My Cloud PR2100

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Synology DS418play running DSM 6.2.4

 

I provide online support to home users for an application which typically uses NAS for media storage , often in a mixed environment with Linux and Android boxes using SMB.  Maybe the idea is get everyone on NFS?  It’s been hard enough migrating from SMB v1.

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Western Digital My Book Live

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D-Link DNS-320L (2012) and D-Link DNS-325 (2011) running firmware ALT-F (2017) or alt-f-next (2020). SMB2 with “client ipc signing” set to “auto”.

client signing (G)

This controls whether the client is allowed or required to use SMB signing. Possible values are auto, mandatory and disabled.

When set to auto, SMB signing is offered, but not enforced. When set to mandatory, SMB signing is required and if set to disabled, SMB signing is not offered either.

Default: client signing = auto

Not certain why the settings interface indicate “ipc” and the manual omits it…

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Synology DS218+

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Synology for the win.  (Interesting btw)

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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Laugh if you want, but I have a Raspberry Pi running Samba with some Western Digital portable hard drives. It took a fair amount of coding to set everything up and it surely doesn’t provide the performance of what other posters are using but it does the job that I need it to do.

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Unraid on a Core i5-4690, 4x4TB Ironwolf (parity and 3 data), 12TB capacity.

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Unraid is proprietary software starting at $49 on your hardware.

And it only boots from USB flash, not internal disk. If your USB device fails…

cheers, Paul

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I started to use unRAID in 2016 and I am still using the original usb key.

Admittedly I should have replaced it by now, but I used the make recommended by limetech and it has lasted.

 

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I just use a headless USFF Dell PC in my comms cabinet for my file storage. Runs Windows so should be no issue thankfully.

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I have a Synology DS 218j. As I recall SMB must be enabled for Macrium Reflect to work properly – at least when I started using MR with the DS 218j a few years ago.

~ Paul S

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I have a WD (Western Digital) My Cloud EX2 Ultra.

Networked accessed and with mapped drives on a Win 10 home and Win 11 home computers.

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I am considering on adding a NAS. I have a laptop and Desktop Windows 11 Pro machines. I am looking for mainly storage options. If I could get some pointers for a Home Network. I’d like to know what to do and not to do. I am an average computer user and I don’t need a large amount of storage. What do you all recommend on getting that doesn’t break the bank so to speak?

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Why do you need more storage? It’s much easier to put a bigger disk in your desktop and backup to a USB disk.

Setting up a NAS is not that easy. I have yet to see one that is plug n play.

If you want shared storage, share the desktop disk and access it from the laptop.

cheers, Paul

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I suppose I could share storage between my desktop and laptop. However they have a different layout in regards to how the folders are set up. Or does that matter? I do not have my desktop on at the same time my laptop is on. Or have I misinterpreted what you mean by sharing my desktop disc from my laptop? Do I share an external disk between them? I use three backup methods. 1) Paragon Backup & Restore. 2) Ease Todo US and direct files to an external Hard drive.

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Layout makes no difference to the ability to share.

Let us know what you want to share and we can advise on setup.

cheers, Paul

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I simply would like to share all of my files and folders on my desktop with my laptop and vice versa. I would like to be able to save a file that I receive on either my desktop or laptop in one convenient location. Plus to perform backups with for each device.

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Then I think you’ve described your use case for a NAS

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Using a NAS like that means moving all files to to the NAS and losing the ability to take the laptop offsite, or the NAS stops, or the power goes out…

cheers, Paul

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Does having a NAS mean that I have to leave both the desktop and laptop running all the time? On the other note, I do not intend to take out of my home my laptop. It stays indoors always.

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Hello, a NAS (Network Attached Storage) is a generally a stand alone machine.  It is a specialized computer designed just to store data and retrieve data stored in disk drives or SSDs installed on the device.  It sits on your home network and you access it by defining a shared folder or drive on your laptop or desktop.  When you access it you access it just like on your own local C: drive.  The benefit is that you have one place for your data and can access the “same” file from any of your computers.  You still need a good backup solution for your NAS.
Using the NAS as your backup solution is contrary to the general best benefit of a NAS.

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With my Synology NAS you can set it up to access your files on the NAS over the internet.  It is what I do when traveling.  As to the power going out.. well you’ll lose your desktop too probably.  I know when our power goes out it is like an enforced down time.  Then again we have a generator so I don’t get the down time.

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You can share the “Documents” on each machine, or you can use a sync program to sync the two locations. I prefer the latter as all files are available on both machines all the time, but you do need both machines running at some time.
Use something like Syncthing.

I would stick to one backup method, not three. You gain nothing but complexity from more than one method.

cheers, Paul

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I have a home NAS.  A Synology DS1019 that I’ve been running for years.  I have my Windows 11 laptop, Windows 11 desktop, MacBook Pro and my wife has her Windows 11 laptop and Windows 10 desktop.  We find that the greatest benefit to our having a NAS is the consolidation of our data on to the NAS and the ability to access that data from any of our machines. It isn’t the extra volume of data, it is the centralization of the data that is the greatest benefit of the NAS.
I have the NAS backed up to external disk drives attached locally to my desktop in my office.  One oversized external drive is additionally backed up to and rotated to our safe deposit box quarterly.

I think that this should be your primary motive to adding a NAS to your environment.

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Synology DS218 for backup of my desktop PC and my wife’s laptop.

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There is just too much to reply to here. I was going to originally post: Google it. There is so much great NAS info out there. No need to reinvent that wheel here.

Today? Buy a Synology. I have done the research again just a few months ago. And like you might buy a PC or a Mac for their operating systems, it is the same for a NAS. Sure, other good ones. I like ASUS hardware better. But you are getting married to the operating system and most people rate DSM as the best.

I use mine for all my digital photography and music. And Macrium backups of my computers. And storage of all installed software installers. Etc. It backs up every other day to an outboard USB drive. So always another copyr even though the NAS is RAID. BTW, Synology also have the best RAID with 3 drives or more.

I have my NAS set to turn off after  1 hour of no activity. I never turn my docked laptop off but reboot once a week or so.

MY NAS streams music and videos to every other device on the network – iphone, TV’s.

It needs an ethernet connection to you local network AND a connection to your router for Internet downloads and updates.

It is plastic cased. NAS drives (different than PC drives) above about 8 TB are LOUD. Absurdly so. Be aware. Under 6 TB much quieter. Fans are louder than I would like. Case can resonate so google how to minimize the noise.

I would never be without a NAS. Upgraded to this from 12 years of a 2 TB ReadyNas that I loved. But now at 24 TB. Which will last me for quite a while.

BTW, I have 6 tasks that I wrote to call Synctoy to sync files such as my Lightroom catalog in the middle of the night so what I deem to be my most important files on the laptop always has a current copy on the NAS.

Hope something here helps.

 

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I have a Sinology 1618+

Microsoft user since MSDOS.
Linux user since 2025.

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Synology DiskStation DS412+ running DSM 6.2.4-25556 Update 7.  SMB enabled.

Using Macrium Reflect backup on a home network of two Win11 Pro and two Win10Pro machines.

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unRaid

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I think a NAS is not in the cards for me. I can’t leave my laptop powered on 24/7 because I don’t have a dedicated space for it to remain powered up. The idea of a NAS is nice, but not ideal. I’ll continue with what I have currently. I might get a large external HD and store everything on that. Backups included.

Paul, I do 3 methods of backups mainly due to Ben Meyers newsletter article saying that if you have only one backup and it fails, then what good is it. He recommended to have more than one method.

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I can certainly respect that decision as no one knows your situation better than you.  But I have a curiosity question.  Why do you think you’d need to leave your laptop on 24×7 for a NAS?  I found that my NAS left me free to power down my devices when ever I want to.

TIA,

Bob

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I think Ben was suggesting you check your backup regularly rather than run more than one.

cheers, Paul

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