Need Recommendations for a NAS

klaw81 on 05/12/2023 - 15:26

I have a family member who has large numbers of photos and videos from various events etc. and every single one is precious and must be retained for posterity. She is currently using Google Photos + extra Google One storage but looking for alternatives, potentially a "private cloud" using a NAS as an alternative to subscription storage services.

Currently the archive is about 1.5TB of data, which is not a lot in the scheme of things. But the storage requirements are expected to continue to steadily grow, especially since 4k videos are now in common usage.

She's happy to spend real money for a long term solution, but it needs to have the following features:

  1. Be reasonably simple to set up and maintain with normie tech skills. Linus distros with command line interfaces are not an option. I can assist with technical support for initial hardware and set-up, but after that it should be set and forget for the most part;
  2. At least one redundant copy to reassure her that total loss is highly unlikely;
  3. Cost-competitive with the equivalent cost of subscription storage, including the cost of 24/7 energy;
  4. Compact and quiet - space is at a premium, so the hardware cannot be an ancient rack-mount server with comically loud fans or similar;
  5. Allows auto-backup of photos and videos direct from phone;
  6. Direct backup and local delete from Google Photos on phone would be ideal, if that's possible.=

Currently I'm leaning towards a simple QNAP or Synology 2-bay NAS and a couple of 4TB drives, running their phone apps for backup.

Are there better options out there? What's the life expectancy of such a setup?

Computing NAS

Comments

  • geekcohen on 05/12/2023 - 15:33
    +3

    I would go with a Synology just with experience and the technology/apps available. I used a 4 BAY unit for a work server for 4 years and was still going strong. Had it synced to S3 for backups which worked great.

    As long as you have no major power issues, then a Synology will work well and last a while. If you have a surge protector in place and/or a UPS, then you will be fine. I think you are more likely to have HDD failures over an overall unit in the short term.

  • b1nch1cken on 05/12/2023 - 15:49

    I have a simple QNAP 431-P2 and its sufficient with my small network needs. Running with 4x4TB Seagate Ironwolf without issues. In future I may upgrade to a model with more memory/better processor. I also run Sickgear and a torrent program on there, as well as Whoogle through Containerstation. Definitely get a UPS to protect your drives.

  • USER DC on 05/12/2023 - 16:06
    +1

    cheapest route is a custom NAS using like True NAS

    however if looking for a retail unit that just works then Synology is best i reckon in terms of software at least

  • lanky074 on 05/12/2023 - 16:17

    I would agree with a small 2 bay Synology NAS or such for ease of use. I believe the WD RED drives are slightly quieter than the Seagate Ironwolf drives but neither are not hugely loud in my opinion.

  • Godot on 05/12/2023 - 16:19

    I also have a QNAP 431-P2. Works great, have had it for years. I don't run containers or any fancy stuff on there (I run it on another server). I have a CyberPower VP1000ELCD UPS that gives it plenty of time to shutdown in the event of a power outage.

  • CyberMurning on 05/12/2023 - 16:28

    What's the life expectancy of such a setup?

    i have one which has production date of 2011. yes 2011. bought for $500 second hand, in 2011 as well, without drives.
    still running.
    almost 24/7 for 365days a year minus when we have long overseas holiday (we dont open it for external access)

  • klaw81 on 05/12/2023 - 16:43

    Thank you all for your responses - are there any bargains to be had for Synology 2-bay units? I don't recall seeing one for ages on this site….

    Follow up question - seems there are many people who recommend avoiding the J models. Is that for those who want to do fancy stuff, or are they just too slow to be useful?

    • lanky074 on 05/12/2023 - 17:35

      The J is a lower power end CPU compared others that are Intel Based. Also there is an active third party community Syno Community packages if you don't want to do Dockers.
      Generally the Intel based CPUs Intel/AMD have a bit more grunt allowing you to run more on them and more apps for them.

  • localhost on 05/12/2023 - 16:47

    Check mwave, usually they have the best prices for NAS+ disks.
    Bought mine Qnap + 2x8TB disks for $1000 (or something like that).

    With Qnap you have apps for auto backups, more likely will have the same for Synology.

    I have something like this:

    https://www.mwave.com.au/product/qnap-ts251d2g-2bay-diskless…

    with 2x8tb drives
    https://www.mwave.com.au/product/wd-wd80efzz-8tb-red-plus-35…

  • FoxJump on 05/12/2023 - 18:01

    I've heard Synology software is better
    qnap hardware is better

    i have qnap
    i do medium complex stuff on it
    get 4 bay and use 2 only. allows room for growth

  • MrBlueSky on 05/12/2023 - 21:51

    I have Synology units and can recommend them.

    Important to remember that RAID IS NOT A BACKUP. Drives can fail, the house might burn down, etc.

    The four or five bay units are probably the sweet spot IMO, something like the 92X+ series, but it wouldn't need to be this year's model. Could that be overkill? Maybe. Do you want to be blamed if anything happened to that data? No

    These models would give you much more flexibility for adding extra storage later, while still keeping the backup live. Say a drive fails in your two bay unit, that's okay you've got the other drive. Now you put in a new drive, and it starts to rebuild the redundancy. At this point there's no safety net. Anecdotally the rebuild might stress the remaining drive, and if that stress causes it to fail the data is gone. This wouldn't be as big a problem if you're running four drives with two disk redundancy.

    Keeping the cloud is a good option as well as the NAS, at least for the really important photos. You'll see a lot about the old "3:2:1" backup strategy, but in practice you'd want to have at least two copies with at least one of those copies being off site (a NAS/drive at your house, the cloud, a security deposit, etc.)

    Bonuis tip, try to space your hard drive purchases out if possible. If the drives are from the same batch with the same power on time you might get failures around the same time. Ideally you want to have the drives fail at different rates rather than all at once.

    /data horder paranoia

  • ringofan on 11/12/2023 - 14:51

    Synology NAS software (DSM) works really well - even on old units.
    But its annoying that they dont keep their hardware as up to date as QNAP/Asustor/Terramaster.

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