Nas Vs Server

[Geek Syndrome]

So I am looking for everyones opinion on this topic. I was looking into building a Nas server because I have just hard drive after hard drive sitting on my desk at home and with me traveling quite a bit I dont want to carry the drives just in case they crash from a bag drop or what not. (dont worry I have back ups I do every couple of days). My Tech friend said NAS is the thing of the past and he uses Google, Dropbox, Etc. To me I kinda like the feeling of having everything at home in all in my control. What are your guys thoughts concerns and which do you prefer. Also what are the Perks, Drawbacks of having either?

 

Thank you for you help and thoughts

Geek Syndrome

[WereCatf]

The cloud-services provided by Google,Dropbox etc. generally offer: faster speeds for both uploads and downloads and much better reliability than anything you can reasonably build at home. On the other hand,you can never be sure what's actually being done with your stuff.

 

On the other hand, you can run a similar kind of a cloud-storage system on your own server. Personally, I use Nextcloud for this. Uploads and downloads are obviously dependant on your Internet-bandwidths and reliability isn't as good, and setting everything up and maintaining it all is more work. Then again, if you have the time and inclination to do that, it may not be much of a downside -- basically, YMMV.

[Razor Blade]

I would be wary of what your "tech friend" says. Cloud storage and a home NAS are two completely different things. While you can use both to store files, that is not the only thing a NAS can do.

[Oshino Shinobu]

It would take quite a while to list all of the differences, but I'll try to go over ones that come to mind right away. (When I say Google, I really mean any cloud storage service, BTW)

 

Google/Cloud Storage:

+Relatively small upfront cost

+Service reliability (Google's network isn't going to go down often or for long. If it does, people will bring it back up)

+No drive replacements (if a drive fails, it's not your responsibility to replace it and no cost to you)

+Data reliability/redundancy (Google is going to have redundant drives, so you basically don't need to worry about a drive failure losing your data)

-Monthly subscription (or yearly)

-Slower access compared to a NAS when accessing over LAN (assuming your internet connection is going to be slower than your LAN)

-Likely much slower upload compared to NAS over LAN.

-Accessing and uploading data is going to use up internet bandwidth

-Lose access to the data without internet access, even when at home on your local network

-Less control over what you can do with the data (and what you can store, if you're doing something dodgy) 

-Basically no support for extra services, like a DLNA host, Plex server etc. 

 

NAS:

+No monthly subscriptions

+Faster access over LAN (making same assumptions as with Google points)

+No asymmetric traffic over LAN (slower upload compared to download)

+If on LAN, doesn't take up internet bandwidth

+If on LAN, you can have access even if you lose connection to internet

+Complete control over data

+Options for additional services like DLNA host, Plex server, Torrent client etc.

-Substantial upfront cost

-Bigger upfront cost to add more storage

-You have to manage data redundancy, backups, adding storage, drive replacements and array rebuilds

-If your network goes down or looses internet access while you're away, you can't access your data and may not have anyone to re-connect it.

-You'll have to set up remote access if you want to access data from outside of your network

-Access speeds are likely going to be slower outside of your network as you'll be limited by the internet connection you have for the NAS. Typically residential uploads are slow, so downloading data from the NAS outside of the network will be slower than what Google can offer. 

[aezakmi]

Quote

My Tech friend said NAS is the thing of the past and he uses Google, Dropbox, Etc.

Yeah maybe in places where internet connections are actually decent, but try uploading more than 100 MB of data with a 1Mbps connection, believe me it's really easy to say that a NAS is a "thing of the past" when you have a gigabit connection and basically upload and download speeds are symmetrical.

Not to mention these services have really shady ToS and can control, modify, delete or block any content that you upload without reason (they'll just say you infringed some Kenya copyright or something like that).

In my opinion a NAS has this pros and cons

 

Pros:

You can use any kind of hardware

Cheap hard drives, you can do RAID 0 to increase performance or 1 to have a backup of your stuff

The content you upload is in your hands and the NAS itself could be disconnected from the internet (LAN only)

Full control over the operating system and hardware

Fast transfer speeds, you can run installers or extract files directly from the NAS without downloading them (with a Windows/Linux share)

Only needs 2 cables **power and network** after you configured it

 

Cons:

Uses power so it'll add a few bucks to your bill every month even if you use low power hardware (~100w)

Needs monthly maintenance like disk defrag or updates

 

My NAS is just a bunch of old hardware combined with new 4TB drives and it works perfectly, it's silent and currently sitting next to the main router connected with a short cable, everyone in the house has access to it and upload/download stuff daily

I installed Windows 7 Home on it and use the Windows share + Remote Utilities host to control it (needs a client to be installed in each computer)

 

Oh

[Tokyo_Raven]

9 hours ago, Geek Syndrome said:

-snip-

NAS isn't thing of past, thats for sure, its more flexible and more secure. (Depends on how you configure your drive array and do you open it to outside network).

NAS & Cloud are completely different things cause with NAS you can do way more things (like run apps through Docker, create & run virtual machines, stream media on network..., it really depends on choice of software and configuration of that software). Also speed of data transfers are based on your LAN connection speed (100 mbit, 1 Gbit, 10 GBit). Now some bad things about NAS ; You have to do maintaince and that requires some server & computer knowledge, redundancy & backups is another important thing to worry about cause you never know which drive will fail and u need to have backup ready in case of catastrophic failure.

Advantage of cloud is that you get for free couple of GB's and you can store files on it and they are on move with you (you can always access them anywhere) and they don't require any maintaince, compaines that host cloud do that. Disadvantage is that they can see your documents that you uploaded (so no privacy), you have to pay monthly or yearly based subscription and download speed and upload speed of your files depend on your internet speed.

[AbsoluteFool]

The real question here seems to be NAS VS Server. To actually find out this you need to be more specific. A Server is a computer. A NAS is a system.

 

Depending on your capacity needs the cloud will probably be the best choice. Some of us who are known or work with servers or have alot of data might run a server at home to store files. But it's not really for just anyone.

 

If you have huge amonth of data you might want to consider your own NAS. Or if you constantly "collect" more data.

If you are a "typical" home user you should use the cloud, or a local company you can trust.

[LAwLz]

You're comparing apples to oranges. It's like asking what's best between a frying pan and a vacuum cleaner.

First you need to ask yourself, what are you going going to use it for?