Looking for a NAS with newbie-friendly GUI

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BusyBeaverHP

Limp Gawd
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Jun 22, 2009
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Additional information:

I'm a Windows PC builder for 18 years.
I mostly edit 1080p footage with a 1TB SSD.
My footage archive currently sits in an 8TB MyBook, so I'm trying to move it to a more robust storage solution, mitigating single point of failure.
My experience with command lines is limited to Windows command lines, but even then it's more like copy-paste.

New to NAS hardware but not new to the hardware scene, seeking guidance.
 
While not a perfect fit for your requirements FreeNas does prioritize reliability/redundancy and I've only had to use the command line once to reseed a drive after I changed my data layout. I could have put the two computers together and let them sync but moving an external drive was easier than the whole machine.

The only issue that FreeNas won't do is the two way sync but I get around that by always using mine as the master and allowing changes to be copied to the backup. I have it set to copy every 15 minutes so its never very far behind.

If the two way sync is a requirement then there is a program called Syncthing I use to send changes from parents machines to my FreeNas machine. It will handle two way syncing so it could fill that need if need be but would "break" the master slave design of FreeNas.


https://www.freenas.org/
https://syncthing.net/

PS I left it kinda light on details because I don't think this is exactly what you were looking for but wanted to share it with you as this is what I ended up with after doing the same search a year ago.
 
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Synology, done.

Get two, perhaps even older models, as performance with spinners has more or less peaked.

[you could easily use QNAP or ASUS units, or build a FreeNAS machine among others- but Synology is going to get you that confluence of ease of use, reliability options, and performance up front]
 
I would recommended Synology as well. I've only backed up between NAS, but cloud sync looks pretty simple. https://www.synology.com/en-global/...tween_multiple_Synology_NAS_via_Cloud_Station

Do you really want 2 way sync if this is just a data backup? I would expect 2 way sync to overwrite your good files if you mess something up. I typically use hypervault on the Synology to backup local NAS to an offsite NAS nightly.

If both NAS are on the same LAN then the place burning down is still a single point of failure. One NAS with a rotating USB backup that gets placed in a fireproof safe may be a better solution.

If one NAS is offsite, keep file size \ upload speeds in mind. Your connection may have trouble keeping up.
 
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Thirding Synology. Just make sure you don't get the very smallest units, since they have to have 2 network interfaces to support the replication.
 
Also recommending Synology, the webui is very simple and works well.
 
Synology or QNAP have both been stellar. Both have good GUIs that get regular updates and solid hardware options
 
Kardonxt said:
I would recommended Synology as well. I've only backed up between NAS, but cloud sync looks pretty simple. https://www.synology.com/en-global/...tween_multiple_Synology_NAS_via_Cloud_Station

Do you really want 2 way sync if this is just a data backup? I would expect 2 way sync to overwrite your good files if you mess something up. I typically use hypervault on the Synology to backup local NAS to an offsite NAS nightly.
Click to expand...

You're right, I'm looking for a garbage chute kind of backup where it catches any new file, and won't delete the backup even if I delete the main drive.

What's your implementation of this as far hardware and software go?

Kardonxt said:
If both NAS are on the same LAN then the place burning down is still a single point of failure. One NAS with a rotating USB backup that gets placed in a fireproof safe may be a better solution.

If one NAS is offsite, keep file size \ upload speeds in mind. Your connection may have trouble keeping up.
Click to expand...
My footage is important, but not that important. If my place burns down all of my life-or-death files are stored in the cloud already.

The rotating USB backup sounds interesting though, is it some kind of hot swap?
 
A NAS distribution with a friendly web interface can be get on Linux ex Xpenology or OMV or on
FreeBSD (Unix) ex FreeNAS or XigmaNASA or on Solaris (Unix) ex my napp-it for Oracle Solaris or the free Solaris forks OI/OmniOS.

If you want a basic Linux appliance, OMV is good. Xpenology is similar but with best of all integration of apps mainly for home use.

If you mainly care about performance and data security, prefer a ZFS appliance, best based on Solaris where it is native and ZFS comes from.
Next best is Free-BSD. On Linux it is sometimes a pain or not as supported ex in OMV.
 
BusyBeaverHP said:
You're right, I'm looking for a garbage chute kind of backup where it catches any new file, and won't delete the backup even if I delete the main drive.

What's your implementation of this as far hardware and software go?
Click to expand...

Synology has backup software and client software (I believe Hyper Vault and Hyper Backup, but I would have to login to a clients to check for sure). This allows you to schedule a variety of backup types and even provides options for versioning. You can configure NAS units to backup to each other, USB Drives, FTP, etc.

BusyBeaverHP said:
My footage is important, but not that important. If my place burns down all of my life-or-death files are stored in the cloud already.

The rotating USB backup sounds interesting though, is it some kind of hot swap?
Click to expand...

The Synology's have USB ports that you can just plug an external into and schedule backups. Assuming you have an external large enough to fit the backup you can just swap them out at your convenience (providing they aren't mid backup.)

If I were in your situation I would get a 2-4 bay NAS and a couple large USB Externals to swap out as often as you see fit. The Synology offers redundancy from drive failure via your choice of RAID or it's own black magic drive pool methods. Then configure your USB drives as backups with the built in software and swap them as you see fit. If you have more data than an external can hold then I would consider a second NAS for backups.
 
Another thumbs up for Synology.

I run an old Synology DS1010+ 5 bay device. It was pretty fantastic about keeping all my data in one piece after one of the drives failed (raid 6). The GUI is easy to use and it doubles pretty well as a plex server (provided the devices playing back the content do not require transcoding).

Apart from some edge cases where I needed to do something outside the intended scope of the device I've never needed to use the terminal.

I'll be getting another Synology when the time comes.
 
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