Just thinking through NAS / Synology configuration & performance - better to have all shares on single array, or skip RA

[clay]

Consider two possible scenarios:

4 drive Synology unit
4 drives inside configured as individual disks
4 total shares...each drive has a single shared folder on it

vs

4 drive Synology unit
4 drives inside configured as a single volume in some sort of RAID (let's skip discussion on various levels of RAID, benefits/drawbacks of each)
4 shares on that single volume

If we're just dealing with a standard gigabit network, is there going to be any noticeable difference in terms of performance or usability between the two different configurations?

Right now, my Synology is configured the first way (each drive has a particular purpose, and has a shared folder setup for that purpose). I like the way it allows me to swap in and out drives as needed when one fills up, or if I want to reconfigure them. I don't really have any complaints about performance.

But on a bike ride this weekend I was just pondering whether going with a single volume/RAID array with those same shares would offer any real benefit in real-world usage--whether in terms of performance or some other usability sense. I realize certain RAID configs would have a certain level of protection against data loss, though I'm not overly concerned about that in this situation due to stuff already being backed up, or not real important to begin with (i.e. some of the data is easily replaceable or re-creatable).

thoughts?

[mattkime]

I think this depends upon your particular device and usage. It sounds to me like you're happy with your setup and it would be best to leave it alone.

I think the most important bit that you're already doing is backing up the data on the NAS. Past that RAID is about uptime and speed and it doesn't sound like you need to change anything in those areas.