Advice on NAS for Local/Cloud Storage

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  NuclearWessels on 17/06/2020 - 20:41

  +1

  I'd check out Synology. At the same price their hardware is generally inferior to QNAP but the software makes up for it. "Cloud Station" is the Synology app you'll need. I'd look at something like a DS218j for $200 - they're quite decent boxes and are great for general use / media / Plex (without transcoding).

  • 

    dualcore on 17/06/2020 - 20:43

    +4

    DS220j can be had for $255 brand new, compared to $230 for the DS218j. The processor is upgraded to a quad core (from dual core, 2015-era ARM). This is a SIGNIFICANT upgrade, see https://au.pcmag.com/nas/66314/synology-diskstation-ds220j

    I would not be buying the DS218j in 2020.

    • 

      NuclearWessels on 17/06/2020 - 20:46

      Yeh, second this. Wasn't aware there was a new model out

  • 

    pjetson on 17/06/2020 - 23:11

    "Cloud Station" is the Synology app you'll need

    I don't think that's what the OP was looking for. You can easily access files (and everything else) over the internet just by setting up a free "quickconnect.to" account with Synology. I thought Cloud Station was to set up something like Google Drive, which replicates files between multiple computers.

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  dualcore on 17/06/2020 - 20:41

  +2

  Synology's software is better than QNAP. On the higher-end (plus series) you also get btrfs support, which protects you against bit-rot and silent corruption.

  I have a Synology DS220j, complete with box and all packaging. I bought it for $255 just two weeks ago but I am thinking of selling it for a DS920+ for the btrfs support. I like the synology software, even if I don't have the full suite with docker, etc, but I want btrfs.

  • 

    crf529 on 23/06/2020 - 14:31

    I was looking at the DS220j as well for pure file storage/access, and had no idea about BTRFS until reading your post just now. It looks like a potentially important feature, but I have no idea on its effectiveness.

    Do you think it would be worth going to the DS218 or DS218+ instead for a $150 premium over the DS220j, just to utilise BTRFS?

• 

  Hans678 on 17/06/2020 - 21:17

  +1

  Terramaster offers very good price for the similar spec to Synology.

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  themadman on 17/06/2020 - 21:33

  Cheers for the advice everyone. Might wait for a good sale on the DS220j and get one that way. I'm trying to self-manage my own smart home setup, so I don't really love the sound of using a third party to access my cloud storage, but I assume I don't really have much other option for accessing storage over the internet?

  I have my Home Assistant exposed to the internet (can access externally). I assume there's no way I can use something similar (port forwarding) to access a NAS?

  • 

    CoronavirusVaccine on 17/06/2020 - 21:45

    It's the same process - portforwarding on the router and setting up DDNS then you can also access NAS from internet.

    However, depending on how much you care about security, it's generally safer to set up a VPN server using a certificate so you access everything on your LAN via the VPN.

    • 

      themadman on 17/06/2020 - 21:53

      I was intending to get the unifi gear so I could mess around with setting up a few VPN's for IoT devices and whatnot, so that's definitely part of the plan once I've bought that gear. Just slowing adding to the collection at this stage hehe. Good to know it's an option though.

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  CoronavirusVaccine on 17/06/2020 - 21:43

  Just throwing it out there, a viable alternative might be picking up a 2nd hand 1-litre form factor PC and attached external USB drives to it. These tiny PCs idles at around 10watts (not counting the external drive) and will have much more computing power headroom and upgradability in case you find time to do more with your home network set up. For example Lenovo Tiny and Dell Optiplex 7040 micro (stick with Intel i5 Gen4 or later) can be had for under $200 on eBay.

  Depends on your technical experience, an easy setup might be running Windows 10 and running Home Assistant in a virtual machine. If you are doing this with a SSD, home assistant can fully bootup in less than 30sec - save you so much time when tinkering with HA settings. The USB external drive can be shared on Win10 as a network drive very easily.

  This assumes you just want remote access to your files but don't need the versioning/integrity functionality of proper NAS boxes. However if you value nice cloud integration (eg. Synology Drive) I'd say paying for a proper NAS for its software is well worth your time compared to DIY.

  • 

    themadman on 17/06/2020 - 21:46

    I did wonder if a small-formfactor PC was a better alternative, however since it's just file storage and I'm living in a fairly small space I figured a NAS was the way to go. While I don't need much now, I'd prefer to get a NAS and have the potential storage available for the future with minimal maintenance and the security of a RAID config. :)

    • 

      CoronavirusVaccine on 17/06/2020 - 21:48

      Yep for minimal maintenance with RAID - NAS is the way to go.

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  Sergeant Salami on 17/06/2020 - 21:57

  Repurpose an old computer and install Freenas. Or you can go the other way and use an old desktop as an ubuntu server, install docker and run home assistant and a nas on the same machine.

  I'm using two pcs. one as a dedicated freenas server and another as an ubuntu docker server with home assistant and a bunch of other stuff I'm playing with.

  • 

    kipps on 25/06/2020 - 20:10

    I have run Freenas for years - and have found quality control more recently to be lacking. I was burnt by Freenas 10 being abandoned, found that the recommended install to USB sticks is unreliable (something must now be writing to the stick too regularly) and had a few times when an upgrade has failed such that the OS won’t boot on the next power cycle. It used to be a solid option but now I would just rather something that “just works”