4TB Blue at Amazon [amazon.com] $58.99
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RAID on a NAS does not constitute a backup because if you accidentally erase or overwrite a file on it, or ransomware encrypts it, it's gone. So even if you have a NAS, you still need to make backups of it.
So if your GF needs 100% uptime for this data, then a NAS is what you want. If her data storage needs exceed what's commonly available from a single external drive, then a NAS is what you want. If she needs to access the same data/files from multiple computers/devices in the house, then a NAS is probably a good choice.
But if she just needs a big drive on which to dump her data, which is already being backed up elsewhere, it's not time-critical if the drive dies (e.g. she can get another copy of the data from the school), and she only needs to access it from a single computer, then a big external hard drive will be cheaper, faster, smaller, and simpler.
Most people use a NAS in redundancy mode (RAID), so that it'll keep working if a single drive dies. In that case 2x8TB drives = 8 TB of storage. (The storage is the number of drives minus 1, so 4 drives = 3 drives worth of storage.) But as I mentioned, don't think of it as a backup. Think of it as insurance against single drive failure.
It is also possible to use a NAS to glom a bunch of drives together into one virtual drive. So 2x8TB = 16 TB. Just be aware that if you do that and one of the drives dies, in most cases all your data is gone. And if she needs to do this but she's the only one who's going to use the storage, then a RAID enclosure will probably be cheaper than a NAS. With a NAS you're paying extra for a small computer inside to present the HDDs over the network. A RAID enclosure typically just has cheaper RAID hardware to combine the drives into a virtual drive in a variety of ways, and usually attaches via USB like a single external drive.
Source: Their webpage. LINK [synology.com]
Reason: something-something-SMR
I'm sure someone will explain how you can just smear horse-paste on these and they'll work great, but if the data storing is for money, you'd likely want to know this in advance.
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RAID on a NAS does not constitute a backup because if you accidentally erase or overwrite a file on it, or ransomware encrypts it, it's gone. So even if you have a NAS, you still need to make backups of it.
So if your GF needs 100% uptime for this data, then a NAS is what you want. If her data storage needs exceed what's commonly available from a single external drive, then a NAS is what you want. If she needs to access the same data/files from multiple computers/devices in the house, then a NAS is probably a good choice.
But if she just needs a big drive on which to dump her data, which is already being backed up elsewhere, it's not time-critical if the drive dies (e.g. she can get another copy of the data from the school), and she only needs to access it from a single computer, then a big external hard drive will be cheaper, faster, smaller, and simpler.
Most people use a NAS in redundancy mode (RAID), so that it'll keep working if a single drive dies. In that case 2x8TB drives = 8 TB of storage. (The storage is the number of drives minus 1, so 4 drives = 3 drives worth of storage.) But as I mentioned, don't think of it as a backup. Think of it as insurance against single drive failure.
It is also possible to use a NAS to glom a bunch of drives together into one virtual drive. So 2x8TB = 16 TB. Just be aware that if you do that and one of the drives dies, in most cases all your data is gone. And if she needs to do this but she's the only one who's going to use the storage, then a RAID enclosure will probably be cheaper than a NAS. With a NAS you're paying extra for a small computer inside to present the HDDs over the network. A RAID enclosure typically just has cheaper RAID hardware to combine the drives into a virtual drive in a variety of ways, and usually attaches via USB like a single external drive.
RAID-1 gives you 8TB w/redundancy
JBOD/RAID-0 (striping) gives you total capacity
I'm trying to come up with solutions for my girlfriend who is in grad school and deals with large and frequent file transfers while working with GIS mapping for her research. She has an office setup at both home and the university and we have discussed NAS options to help with data backup and access but I'm not really familiar with the products, setup process or generally where to start when doing a build.
Do I need to start by finding NAS rated HDDs?
Is it as simple as selecting a drive or two and putting them in a NAS station like below:
WD - My Cloud EX2 Ultra 0TB 2-Bay External Network Storage (NAS) - Charcoa [bestbuy.com]l
Would you recommend buying a "station" like above and adding our own compatible HDD drives to the available bays? Or buying something that already includes the drives?
And to get up and running do you just buy a setup and plug it into an available ethernet port in your modem/router/access point and follow included setup instructions to save data from a device to the NAS? And can data be saved to / accessed from the NAS both while on network and off-network (remotely)?
I'm not very tech savvy and the only experience I really have with HDD is "shucking" externals to put into things like security camera NVRs or upgrading storage inside things like gaming consoles.
I think ideally we would like to spend less than $400 but can be flexible to get something up and running to her needs. We had talked initially about 10-14TB of storage. Does putting x2 8TB HDD inside a two bay NAS setup give you 16TB of storage or does it give you double backup of 8TB of storage?
Thanks in advance for any help and/or steering me in the right direction!
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Would you recommend buying a "station" like above and adding our own compatible HDD drives to the available bays? Or buying something that already includes the drives?
And to get up and running do you just buy a setup and plug it into an available ethernet port in your modem/router/access point and follow included setup instructions to save data from a device to the NAS? And can data be saved to / accessed from the NAS both while on network and off-network (remotely)?
I'm not very tech savvy and the only experience I really have with HDD is "shucking" externals to put into things like security camera NVRs or upgrading storage inside things like gaming consoles.
I think ideally we would like to spend less than $400 but can be flexible to get something up and running to her needs. We had talked initially about 10-14TB of storage. Does putting x2 8TB HDD inside a two bay NAS setup give you 16TB of storage or does it give you double backup of 8TB of storage?
Thanks in advance for any help and/or steering me in the right direction!
Things I like about it: Direct connection to computer via USB. I have this in a storage room with the drives in open-air docks with a fan blowing over them, keeps them cool (as opposed to a tight enclosure). I can continue to expand the storage space by adding new drives as I need them. Not much risk aside from the drives themselves, docks are cheap and easy to replace and recover from failure.
Things I don't like: I am using dual-drive docks and they take up a lot of space and need lots of outlets. I know there are quad-drive docks available.
One thing, as someone else mention, RAID is not a backup system. If this is critical data needing backing up, I highly recommend BackBlaze for backups. Its like 60-65 a year for unlimited backups from a single machine.
As the other person noted, the Amazon and BB are only 64MB cache, so get these from newegg for marginally better performance at the same price.
Thanks OP!
I'm trying to come up with solutions for my girlfriend who is in grad school and deals with large and frequent file transfers while working with GIS mapping for her research. She has an office setup at both home and the university and we have discussed NAS options to help with data backup and access but I'm not really familiar with the products, setup process or generally where to start when doing a build.
Do I need to start by finding NAS rated HDDs?
Is it as simple as selecting a drive or two and putting them in a NAS station like below:
WD - My Cloud EX2 Ultra 0TB 2-Bay External Network Storage (NAS) - Charcoa [bestbuy.com]l
Would you recommend buying a "station" like above and adding our own compatible HDD drives to the available bays? Or buying something that already includes the drives?
And to get up and running do you just buy a setup and plug it into an available ethernet port in your modem/router/access point and follow included setup instructions to save data from a device to the NAS? And can data be saved to / accessed from the NAS both while on network and off-network (remotely)?
I'm not very tech savvy and the only experience I really have with HDD is "shucking" externals to put into things like security camera NVRs or upgrading storage inside things like gaming consoles.
I think ideally we would like to spend less than $400 but can be flexible to get something up and running to her needs. We had talked initially about 10-14TB of storage. Does putting x2 8TB HDD inside a two bay NAS setup give you 16TB of storage or does it give you double backup of 8TB of storage?
Thanks in advance for any help and/or steering me in the right direction!
-Dell T40 Server
-4 WD Red 3TB hard drives
-Windows 10 Pro
-StableBit Drive Pool (this is the software that pools your drives and is an alternative to RAID)
-Optional Cloud setup with Nextcloud (follow you tube instructions)
This setup has been solid. More solid than my old Synology. The only time I have had to reboot the system is if there is some sort of power outage.
I'm trying to come up with solutions for my girlfriend who is in grad school and deals with large and frequent file transfers while working with GIS mapping for her research. She has an office setup at both home and the university and we have discussed NAS options to help with data backup and access but I'm not really familiar with the products, setup process or generally where to start when doing a build.
Do I need to start by finding NAS rated HDDs?
Is it as simple as selecting a drive or two and putting them in a NAS station like below:
WD - My Cloud EX2 Ultra 0TB 2-Bay External Network Storage (NAS) - Charcoa [bestbuy.com]l
Would you recommend buying a "station" like above and adding our own compatible HDD drives to the available bays? Or buying something that already includes the drives?
And to get up and running do you just buy a setup and plug it into an available ethernet port in your modem/router/access point and follow included setup instructions to save data from a device to the NAS? And can data be saved to / accessed from the NAS both while on network and off-network (remotely)?
I'm not very tech savvy and the only experience I really have with HDD is "shucking" externals to put into things like security camera NVRs or upgrading storage inside things like gaming consoles.
I think ideally we would like to spend less than $400 but can be flexible to get something up and running to her needs. We had talked initially about 10-14TB of storage. Does putting x2 8TB HDD inside a two bay NAS setup give you 16TB of storage or does it give you double backup of 8TB of storage?
Thanks in advance for any help and/or steering me in the right direction!
Edit: i see the correct price now. not sure what had happened.
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