Need for NAS at home

[thejadedmonkey]

For me, the defining feature of a NAS is the ability to run Windows and MacOS backup software, without risk of losing the hard drive or forgetting.

I haven't really touched my wife's Macbook in a few years, but it's still backing up. Same with my old laptop that's unused and lost under a bunch of papers in my office somewhere.... it's backed up. And if I ever need to use it, it'll remain backed up.

Granted a lot of the worry about backups has disappeared over the years as iCloud and OneDrive have become more useful, but I'm not about to forgo local backup completely, not yet.

 

[pldelisle]

Totally agree. The seamless experience these things procure totally worth their price.

 

[hirsthirst]

NAS systems provide the following:
* Pool multiple drives together so they appear as a single storage entity
* Provide redundancy so you can replace a faulty drive without taking the storage offline (this functionality does not eliminate the need for a proper backup; it just allows folks to keep working when a drive is being replaced).
* They can provide better performance depending on various factors
* Attached directly to your network so multiple users can easily access the storage at the same time and without having to depend on a certain PC/laptop being left on.
* Some NAS systems also allow you to run other services (e.g. Plex) on them.
* Provide a way to expand your storage as it fills up.

If you don't need any of that, and by far most home users don't, then a NAS system is not worth the cost. If you can get away with something as simple as a single, external drive connected to your Mac then just go that route. Some folks will lead you to believe that you need a very expensive NAS or server with enterprise grade drives when a simple consumer grade external drive could do the job. Keep it simple. Just make sure you have a proper backup regardless of whatever solution you go with (e.g. get 2 external drives, which will still be much less than the cost of a NAS, and use one as a backup, ideally offsite).

The benefit is not having to think about backup or storage at all - at my house everything is set to a small Synology NAS unit under my TV & ethernet-connected to the cable router & it just works. Two hard drives in the enclosure, mirrored.

• whole iMac is backed-up straight to NAS over wifi using Time Machine
• ripped DVDs stored only on the NAS & play straight to the TV via PlayStation 4 'Media Player' app
• original RAW photo files are stored straight onto the NAS, and bypass my iMac altogether (Lightroom edits live on the iMac HDD, itself backed up to NAS ...)
• NAS photos album in-turn backed-up to Amazon Glacier for <50p per month