which 2-bay-NAS

[Schakal_No1]

My aunt needs a NAS for the following reasons:

- backups (most devices are mac but probably some windows in the future)

- private cloud: she needs to sync client data to the NAS and back from outside

- shared files in home (e.g. photos)

 

2TB of space are plenty so a 2-bay NAS should be just fine. I do not have the time to build her something and it has to be stealthy, so freenas etc are out of the question for me.

Since there would be private photos as well as business client data on the same device it should have a rigorous rights management and it should be pretty secure (of course not including user error).

 

What solution would you recommend? QNAP, synology etc? All my propriety experiences are many years old, I only use *nix-based homebrew solutions myself.

[lttUser1234]

Check Lacie that's mac friendly.

[Razor Blade]

Any reason not to go with a cloud solution? For the cost and the use case, it seems like it would be a much better solution IMO.

[Pixel5]

1 hour ago, Razor Blade said:

Any reason not to go with a cloud solution? For the cost and the use case, it seems like it would be a much better solution IMO.

if you go full cloud solution the internet speed could be a bottleneck and when your internet is down you dont have any access to any of the files.

Also 2TB of cloud storage easily cost 200 bucks a year so after only about two years the NAS will pay for itself.

 

i would recommend a Synology NAS to OP, the interface is simple but offers everything you need.

[NelizMastr]

Synology DS218 or DS218j will be perfect here. The 218 will offer some more performance than the j model, but the j model will be sufficient for this. 

[Razor Blade]

7 hours ago, Pixel5 said:

if you go full cloud solution the internet speed could be a bottleneck and when your internet is down you dont have any access to any of the files.

Also 2TB of cloud storage easily cost 200 bucks a year so after only about two years the NAS will pay for itself.

 

i would recommend a Synology NAS to OP, the interface is simple but offers everything you need.

Yeah I already know the downsides of clouds. If the OP's aunt lives in the country somewhere I could see those being issues to consider. You can get cloud services cheaper. You're going to have to take into account you will have to purchase a NAS, hard drives, and pay for electricity to run it. You'll have to set it up with your network and maintain it. You also have a physical box that is vulnerable. Without a regular backup plan is 1 accident away from data loss. My inquiry was more to do with compatibility between OS platforms, ease of use, and because I assume his aunt isn't into computers as a hobby it would be maintenance free.

 

You can always go from a cloud solution to a physical NAS by buying equipment, moving the files, and cancelling the service. I faced the same dilemma with my parents. They wanted a place to store files that was maintenance free and reliable. It made more sense to go with a cloud solution which also offered off-site backups in case of any disaster that could strike.

 

If the OP says no cloud then that's cool too.

[thedude4bides]

FWIW I have been unable to successfully complete a time machine backup on my Synology NAS.  Admittedly, I haven't spent a ton of time trying to trouble shoot it but did try a few things.  Best thing for apple backups is the apple router but it's expensive.  If you go Synology route you may want to have a backup plan for backing up the macs until you can get it sorted out.  Other than that the synology is awesome.  Love it.  Don't really knock it for that as apple probably doesn't make it easy to integrate solutions.

[NelizMastr]

3 minutes ago, thedude4bides said:

FWIW I have been unable to successfully complete a time machine backup on my Synology NAS.  Admittedly, I haven't spent a ton of time trying to trouble shoot it but did try a few things.  Best thing for apple backups is the apple router but it's expensive.  If you go Synology route you may want to have a backup plan for backing up the macs until you can get it sorted out.  Other than that the synology is awesome.  Love it.  Don't really knock it for that as apple probably doesn't make it easy to integrate solutions.

I've had 0 problems with time machine back-ups myself on my DS215j and now my DS218. Time machine is super slow in general, even to an external HDD. 

 

And I really wouldn't opt for time capsules anymore. Apple pulled the plug on their AirPort devices earlier this year so they're out of production and just going out of stock permanently.

[thedude4bides]

15 minutes ago, NelizMastr said:

I've had 0 problems with time machine back-ups myself on my DS215j and now my DS218. Time machine is super slow in general, even to an external HDD. 

 

And I really wouldn't opt for time capsules anymore. Apple pulled the plug on their AirPort devices earlier this year so they're out of production and just going out of stock permanently.

Yeah mine will make it through 20gigs or so with the ds218+ before the backup craps out.  Maybe I'll try to get it working again this weekend.

 

edit- btw, when you say you've had zero problems, does that include no problems with using it to restore either, or haven't you had to do that yet?  Just curios.

[NelizMastr]

8 minutes ago, thedude4bides said:

Yeah mine will make it through 20gigs or so with the ds218+ before the backup craps out.  Maybe I'll try to get it working again this weekend.

 

edit- btw, when you say you've had zero problems, does that include no problems with using it to restore either, or haven't you had to do that yet?  Just curios.

I've done a full restore to another machine before and that worked well enough. I wasn't on 802.11ac yet though, which I luckily am now lol.