I am replacing my old MyCloud system with something that will be more useful. I am thinking of a synology NAS due to it simplicity setup and reliability. Since it is for home use and will only be used for my Wife and I, my requirements are pretty light.
I just need it for:
Backup 2 PC’s
Backup photo’s/videos on tablets and phones (remotely through personal cloud or through the network)
Media streaming to Sonos or Roku players through DLNA or PLex (not tried this yet)
I have watch and listened to many of Toms’ videos (thanks Tom) and has been a lot of help, but still learning
From my novice understanding, a RAID system is good for a business or home system where data is mission critical and data integrity is needed which I don’t have. If any data is lost on the NAS, it should still reside of the other devices to retrieve it. It would be a pain and may even loose a couple of photos/video which would a disappointing but not be the end of the world. Again from my understanding, a RAID system should not be considered a backup source for your data. That would be better handled by an external device and a backup program.
What I am struggling over is in this new NAS, would setting up a RAID system really be that beneficial in my circumstance? What am I missing?
I would say it is, and it’s a fun hobby. I started with with DD-WRT, then added a Synology NAS, then got into Pfsense, then Ubiquiti, then a virtualization server with a number of additional services, etc.
Raid offers reliance. If you were to have those backups going to the NAS and one of your devices fail and you have to restore a RAID setup would statistically reduce the likelihood of a failure happening when you go back to restore that data. But it is not absolutely necessary, it’s a way to lower risk.
That is kind of what I thought. I can deffinately understand it will give me some redundancy and lower the risk of of data loss. Kind of cheap insurance. Because the RAID does not protect against corrupt files, ransomware protection or other things like that getting loaded on the NAS, it would be a good practice to run a backup of the NAS so as to be able to go back in time and retrieve files if needed.
Do you agree?
Backup photo’s/videos on tablets and phones (remotely through personal cloud or through the network)
My wife is big in to genealogy and scrapbooking so losing 100 years of digital photos isn’t an option (camera plus scanned pictures) so I’ve had storage with RAID in one form or another for years. Currently I’m using a Synology DS418 with 3 drives and Synology hybrid RAID plus an additional external backup of the most critical data (pictures/home videos).
If any data is lost on the NAS, it should still reside of the other devices to retrieve it. It would be a pain and may even loose a couple of photos/video which would a disappointing but not be the end of the world.
It would go to how much you value the integrity of your data. In my case it would be devastating to my wife to lose all that family history and worth the investment.
Good example
I don’t have 100 year old photos but definitely have files I would truly hate to loose. This is why I plan on having an external drive, preferably at a different location, to back up critical files.
Only one chance to safe.
RAID itself is indeed no protection against ransomware and user errors. Snapshots on the other hand are. No idea whether Synology offers this, but I would expect so. TrueNAS has it and has let me sleep much better
Did go with Synology SHR for the drives which I believe is just like RAID1.
Definitely testing out the recovery plan is in the plan. Plan on using my old Mycloud as a backup to the Synology. However, I am still using it presently. Right now trying to get my Sonos and roku to connect to the DLNA server. Of course that is a whole other problem I am working on.
