I basically bought my first NAS (DS418) for Plex but now that I have over 10 Tb of digitized movies and 18,000+ songs I had to upgrade to a DS902+. I LOOOOOVE my NASes and they are capable of so much other than just file storage.
If you want to secure your data, a NAS (Network Attached Storage) is the best option. However, if you have a 50 TB HDD in a NAS, you will only get 25 TB of usable space because the NAS duplicates your data onto a separate HDD for redundancy and data safety. Synology NAS offers great features such as SSD caching, with two SSD slots (DS423 model, 72 TB capacity, priced at only 49k). It also provides cloud server integration, automatic mobile data backup similar to Google Photos, separate user access, a very user-friendly interface, a 10 Gb port, and many other features. You can also explore other NAS products like QNAP.
And 5 reasons you DO need a NAS: 1) Great educational value on managing a small network 2) You can break stuff ( virtually ) with a NAS and recover without disrupting your desktop / laptop work 3) You don't know what you don't know... that is, a whole world of opportunity opens up when you see what you can do with a NAS. Things you never thought possible and other things you never considered doing because you didn't know you could. 4) You can access your files relatively securely from anywhere in the world without using a cloud storage system. That may also pay for a NAS in cloud cost savings because you may not need your cloud service any more. 5) If you buy somewhat noisy HDD's for your NAS, and keep your NAS in the guest bedroom, the in-laws won't stay any longer than one night.
1) you better want virtualization server for that 2) you better want virtualization server for that 3) you better want virtualization server for that 4) you better want selfhosted VPN server for securely accessing your data over internet 5) now that's a #ProTip :D
@@TazzSmk Any recommendations for a CPU/motherboard combo for a virtualization server hat supports ECC? Been having trouble nailing that down. Seeing the new Intel chips Linus was talking about today made me think I might want to hold off until they are released.
@@williamhicks2763 ah yea, new Intel HEDT platform would be good choice, though ECC is fairly overrated, you don't "need" it in a home server, consumer-grade NASes don't have it too
On Windows, you can use the "subst" command to mount a NAS share so that Lightroom thinks it is a local drive. I have my Lightroom catalog on a DS1821+ with 10gbit connectivity and it actually works quite well.
@@SpaceRexWill ahh.. i got it, just tried it and it works whereas mapped network drive only is still detected by lightroom as network drive so subst is to mask it as local drive. But tbh with my 918+ and 2 gigs connection, it's a bit slow with subst. If one have big enough local storage, then syno drive synced folder is still a faster solution. Thanks btw for the Subst cmd.
@@hansip87 The way I’ve been working is to check the box during import in Lightroom to create a second copy of my RAW/AWR files to a mapped network share on the NAS but I do all the editing on my local machine. I export JPEG directly to albums on the NAS. Every so often I copy my catalog up to the NAS, which also gets backed up, and that has been a good workflow for me. If I get my network up to speed I could see editing directly from the NAS, but editing locally means I do have yet another copy if anything were to go wrong with the NAS where it would be down for a while. I did have to RMA it once and another time I had to wait a week or so to replace the power supply. Good tip though.
Wow. This comment makes me angry. I didn't finish the video so I didn't see the sponsorship, but is this guy really advertising a cloud storage service? I need to check this for myself.... Edit: Okay wow. He really is advertising a cloud storage service. What a deceptive piece of shit. I am pissed of. I disliked the video
Tbf there are benefits for cloud storage - it wouldn't be profitable if there weren't. But granted if you're looking for a NAS in the first place it's likely due to security reasons (alongside not wanting to pay a subscription for storage I guess)
@@TheLegendOfLame Agree - If you use and manage sensitive data (for instance copyrighted material) from a client that has to been kept from "other eyes", you don't want that data to be on some server located in a unknown place connected the "cloud". You want to store that data locally and well protected, so it does not leave the house or workplace without your and the client's permission. Of course that only makes sense when a DAS is not available and/or the data has to be accessible on several computers at the same time.
One last thing. If you aren’t very tech savvy, and have alot of sensitive (to you) data. It’s much more secure to have a DAS. If all your data is on your internal network, without proper security, all your data is ripe for the picking. Most folks don’t have a good background in tech to set up proper network security. Also, multiple users and multiple computers just opens up the possibility that someone will make a mistake and become compromised. One computer, one user (myself) is a lot easier to control. (Coming from a systems admin for a manufacturing company)
As an IT analyst with limited education i see the current trends regarding Privacy i am going from 1 Win10 do-it-all towards - 1 Linux for Personal matters, banking, communication - 1 PC for gaming and windows based tools; - 1 Media station for internet access/streaming - And a NAS to hold the Files that are common to all. Thank you for your guidance.
Thank you for clearing the air on whether or not most people need a NAS. I truly was considering getting on but since watching your video may wait until I really need one. Keep up the great work!
I didn't need a NAS , I just needed a storage for all my pictures, which are also backuped in a cloud. But I bought a NAS an now I will never go back, because it does much more then store pictures and I love it. I now can acces my files from different devices, also I use notes, calendar and backing up my computers and for backing up my NAS I use an external storage which is always connected to the NAS.
I feel this video could benefit from a section covering "do you really need a NAS?" section, covering more edge case scenarios. For example, while you briefly acknowledge that there are multi-drive DAS options with RAID support (giving you the data protection you don't have with a single drive DAS), those options seem to negate any price and at least some of the complexity advantages over NAS. (And no, services like Backblaze aren't a blanket solution for someone who doesn't have an internet connection that makes it trivial to move several TBs of data.)
5:21 I use Synology Drive on my main computer and pin local copies of the files and directories that I use most. I seem to get the same performance as the file being stored locally.
Biggest reason I think NAS are the best thing ever is data protection. With software raid, redundant drives, parity drives, automatic smart scans and the robust quality of nas grade drives is unparalleled by those clunky external drives that are made so cheaply and fail without any warning.
Thanks for the video. I was looking into a NAS for a little while, thinking I needed one, but after watching your video and taking a look at my situation where most of my storage is actually archival, I don't need to access those files for a long time if ever so I decided to go a different route.
Same here. The hype concerning the need for a NAS is big, one might be easily swept away by it. Thankfully, videos and clarification like this do exist. 👌
I am one of those people with just 1 desktop (Mac Studio) and 1 user (myself) without any external access needs. Currently using 2 external HDDs (G-drive) in a manual “mirror” config using Carbon Copy Cloner. Still i’m looking into getting a NAS for the following reasons : - A currently Mac bug is almost killing external HDDs with constant spin up/down cycles … you have to shut down the Mac every time after use (say goodbye to the convenience of using sleep mode) - Offsite online backup easier on the NAS: you don’t have to leave your PC on for every backup to finish. NAS will take care of it on it’s own while you sleep. - Bit Rot protection: BTRFS and data scrubbing + error recovery on the NAS. Basically ZERO easy solution for an external HDD as DAS. - Aditional tests (like SMART) done independently on the NAS while you sleep. - Overall better protection for your data because all of the above. Last: Cool nice to have services: - whole house video server, stream your home videos on the Living Room TV without the PC being on - whole house music server - whole house pictures server (Synology Photos) - etc
While lots of people rave about NAS, I think if you only need to access the files at home via one computer I’m not sure I see the point. I’m looking to store my video projects and will be buying DAS drives which I’ll run in RAID 1.
Not sure if you're aware but I wouldn't store important files on a RAID 1, if any of the drives in that array dies then the entire array becomes compromised and you could potentially lose all of your data. I'd be better to use RAID 5 (or even RAID 6 if you can spare a second drive).
Maybe I'm missing something, but the MAIN reason people want a NAS instead of a DAS (plug in direct storage) is because of the built in RAID capability, where they can store their entire history of photos and home videos and not worry about data loss in a RAID configuration. Sure, some people will just use a NAS as a JBOD set up for a bunch of ripped movies. But that's kind of a waste, since any cheap PC with a bunch of cheap disks will do the same thing. The main problem with current "cube" NAS units are that they are ridiculously overpriced. Even after they are 5+ years old tech. So not an economical solution for most, after you pack it with 4 SSD, 4 M.2 caching sticks, and upgrade its base memory. By then, you're up close to 2K, which is just crazy.
I say, if you are new to NAS and don’t have much experience is managing users and groups and firewalls, you can spend weeks, not hours, getting organized and secure. Then you need backups and offsite backups if you really want to preserve that data. I think it’s worth it. Love my NAS but it took a lot of work to configure and organize to my liking. My biggest concern is leaving it to my wife who wouldn’t know how it’s setup so I’m starting to teach her at least to the point she could hire someone if need be. DAS is simple but you need backups even more in my experience and always running out of room, where as a NAS you can continually upgrade hard drives over time and even expansion units for more bays.
My trick to making sure my wife can get our files when I am gone, was to build a UA-cam channel containing all of the information she needs to manage the Synology!
So here is my "problem" with DAS and maybe you have the answer. I find a LOT of different options to buy but when it comes to actual capacity and features coming with these they're rather limited or misleading specs on the data sheets. I don't have too many criteria, just wanting a robust docking stations with multiple bays AND working via USB-C using the full bandwidth. I don't mind having to deal with a power brick and paying the price if the board and connectors are solid. At the end of the day I almost feel like just buying the big tower computer and throw the whole stack in there. EXCEPT that it's no longer a backup in case my computer and data get compromised. Ideally I'd put my DAS power supply behind some automation so I can power it up on demand.
This video actually put some things in perspective for me. Ive been wanting to expand my storage on my main PC which I use as a plex server. everywhere I've asked for advice they just tell me to build a NAS instead. But the more I've looked into it, the more I realize I really only need a JBOD or DAS. It's pretty much plug and play and it does exactly what I need without over complicating it and it saves me a ton of money.
All these complicated systems of storage incorporating NAS, Cloud storage, encryption, passwords etc etc. It's fine being tech savvy but how many people ever consider their non tech savvy dependents being able to access files and data if they die.
Hey, thank you very much for the contents, you've been the one UA-camr who really convinced me! Very informative and helpful. One question about program incompatibility, sicnce you mentioned Adobe: If I buy a NAS, would I be able to store Premiere Pro files or the Library? It's always been my biggest problem with imovie. Thank you!
Excellent videos, I initially bought a DAS and copied all my files to it, 3 months later I bought the Synology 920+ and haven't looked back, I watched numerous videos on youtube including many by SpaceRex on how to setup a NAS and within the hour I was up and running. I initially had one Toshiba 14tb hard drive and have bought 2 more over the last couple of months. I use it in SHR mode. The NAS is my primary drive and I back it up every month to my DAS The other beauty of the NAS is that I have set it up as a media server and watch all my movies and TV series though it via Jellyfin, we went to the Lake District a month ago and I connected up to my NAS and in the evening we were watching our movies I just wish I'd have made the decision sooner Many thanks to SpaceRex for all the video's made my life easier
@@schultzeworks They are in separate rooms and I also have a separate 14tb with the essentials on which is kept at my parents. I don't see the pointing in paying out for 12tb of data, won't be cheap
@@robertleem5643 First, I have friends that lost ALL data (and back-ups) due to a robbery. The crooks took the primary and the back-up. So, off-site cloud services are always the best, which is what I recommend. Secondly, I can log in to the back-up cloud service any time to retrieve data. (Which is also available on many NAS drives as well.) But, this is not the case if they are offline … another thing to watch out for. My office power company is going offline for 8 hours this Sunday. So, no access if I need it.
@@schultzeworks This is a good point. Having all your backup in your house is a little risky but for me cloud backup would be $60/month. I backup critical data on a large external HD and store that in a fire resistant safe (which weighs about 500lb so would be next to impossible to cart away). If someone goes through the house and steals my NAS and PC I would only lose things like movies. Before I got the safe I use to store my external drive in a safe deposit box in a bank.
@@kk6ou I bought a 10TB 'lifetime' cloud storage with Filen on last Black Friday. It is zero knowledge E2EE so you can store whatever you like. Yes, it was expensive at around €999 ($1075) but you keep it until their service ends (hopefully more than 5-10 years). Yes, it's risky but if the service lasts at least 3 years it'd be still way cheaper at $30/month. Now that Black Friday ended they removed their lifetime offers, but every few months their lifetime pop up. They do offer also subscriptions which I usually avoid cause more expensive in the long period.
So I have a quick question… If I have a dedicated Mac mini that serves as my home server and I connect a DAS with raid support to it essentially isn’t this the same thing as an NAS?
Thank you, great comparison, which is very helpful. As a long term NAS user myself, there is one point I want to throw in here: what if the NAS itself fails? I had a faulty QNAP-NAS and wasn't able to repair it myself. So all the data was safed, but not approachable. It wasn't easy then, to recover the data from the HDD's. I think for someone, who has no IT-knowledge, a faulty NAS can get very tricky then. Therefore I would recommend anyone to start with a DAS. But that is my opinion ;-). Love your channel, great work, thank you!
I thought of getting a multi drawer das docking station for at least four 3.5 or 2.5 drives, but even then reviews will sometimes mention failures with well known brand docks that corrupt data. The drawer system is always preferable to multiple portable usb hdds or any cloud service though..
I have a 2 bay Synology NAS simply as another level of file backup for all of my computers in my house. It holds current copies of the data for all of my computers in one central location.
On your point about backing up to Backblaze. I have to have my laptop on all the time for that to work. Large file changes or the initial seed just take too long. A NAS is quicker and it can backup to the cloud for the next week without needing my laptop
Lets say you have 2 TB SSDs on your system. One of the advantage of a NAS is you can use Acronis Backup Software to do periodic backups and Acronis Rescue Media Builder to create a bootable Thumb drive so if you lose your SSD or your system gets corrupted or infected, you can restore back to a sane time without losing any of your data quickly(
Congrats man, you've just convinced me to move from a newly bought NAS to a DAS solution instead. Security, handling and overall speed does matter to me, you did compare these crucial DAS elements perfectly towards the benefits of a NAS. Thanks a bunch for your help 👌
@ Rex n terms of data storage for content creation not for commercial purpose so my plan was vlogging and also photography as well so photos will be more, thou I have looked on my separate SSD over the years close to 2TB of photos that hasn't been edited yet I was thinking along the lines of a Das storage because of internet which I'm limited to
I really want a NAS, but I decided to temporarily hold myself over by paying for a seedbox for my Plex server and just using external hard drives for overflow / plugging into my NVIDIA Shield, and it's honestly pretty dang solid for now. I'll get one eventually but at least now I can hold off until I can buy a truly legit NAS setup instead of just buying something entry level just to do a NAS
Quick question mate, I'm currently running a jellyfin server on my mini-pc and I'm quickly running out of storage. If I wanted to connect an external hard drive, would any USB 3 hard drive be ok, or is their anything I should look out for? Kind Regards.
@@ProphetChuck8471 I think as far as video is concerned any will do. As far as I know SSDs are a bit overkill as far as cost, just HDD is best storage amount for your buck. SSD is nice for transfer speed but as far as just reading the video files my external HDDs have been fast enough. Just be wary that some toward the bigger end in size require additional power, so if plugging in an extra cable is annoying in the particular location/setup, make sure to get one that is powered from the USB connection itself (I have a 5TB drive that doesn't need a power cable but I've seen some that do)
@@czanderrr Hey mate, thanks for the quick reply! I'll grab a regular HDD instead of an SSD and will get one that is USB powered only. Thanks for all your help and have a great week!
I agree took me 2 days setup my NAS multiple times to reinstall the OS just to make the proper configurations, and yes, this is my first time setting up NAS and I'm a newbie to this
I use free accounts of onedrive, dropbox and box for essential files. Tons of notes, ebooks, papers stored in hard drives with bakup in other hard drives. I saw many youtubers saying you need a Nas but sometimes I feel it is still not unneccessary.
@@44BluesFan if you only used 50%, then do not buy it for now. I bought a two bay NAS few months ago. With two 4t hard drives, the useable size is in fact only 2.6 tb, going beyond roughly 2.6 or 2.7tb there would be warnings. It is quite pain of ass since it is not a lot room and I paid more than 500 euros for it.
@@44BluesFan another problem is that, unlike onedrive or dropbox, with synology drive of ios or android, you cannot download at once a whole folder under which there are mutiple files. You are forced to download each file one by one manually under the folder.
We have two workstations in our home office that are also used as gaming PCs and we work and game on different schedules. Who's PC do we connect the DAS to? I think a DAS works for a single user scenario, but not sure you covered that a lot of people after a NAS want to do so for shared storage access.
Modern routers usually have an usb port where you can attach an usb drive, which you can access via your local network (samba, ftp, proprietary app), sometimes also from remote. If you need only a single drive, it's a good solution
So I currently back up my nas with hyperbackup to a 4tb das. So it sounds like I could then just turn around and plug that das into my computer and back it up to back blaze for $7/mo
One possibility would be to use back up software on your computer to back up your NAS directly without having to unplug and plug your back up drive. You just keep your backup drive plugged into your main computer. I use Chronosync for my iMAC.
answer all the super important files can be left on other external drives like family photos are far more impotent then the 79045 cartoons an anime you have screenshots of XD
I went for a DAS with my current homelab setup. I mostly use my homelab to host a git instance, a search engine, a media server and as a router. The setup is basically 2 miniPCs, both running Proxmox. One is working as the router, DNS, Firewall etc, and the other is doing basically everything else. Getting a NAS at this juncture just made no sense, since my 2nd server machine was the one that needed more storage to support the serving media and hosting my Git files. Its also nice to have an extra 8 TB of storage for VMs, and for logging/metrics. Until I decide to add a real server blade into my cluster, there just isn't a point in using a NAS especially when my network is only 2.5g in speed atm.
My Nas setup is simple and doesn't need to be turn on 24/7. I bought a budget Delll mini PC, hook up with my existing USB hard drive. Setup a samba server, plex server, and many more to play around. I would only use it when I needed. Saving my electric bill. Cost wise is much much cheaper than buying standalone NAS. The only thing i invested alot is the time of setup and configuring the server, troubleshoot errors and so on.
I have NAS with SMB and outside access I can share stuff among computers and smartphone/tablet Backup stuff to home NAS is considered as "centralized storage"
@SpaceRex your videos only contribute to my problem of investing into my NAS environment :) I am a home user with 3 Synology's totaling 26 drives of over 170 TB capacity :) Keep 'em coming! LOL!
Bachblazr takes forever uploading even less than 1TB, we are talking about weeks not days. On a DAS you can not store your smartphone photos directly from the phone and ditch ios or Google photos.
So, as far as I can understand, I should backup the NAS, but I bought it for backups use and to replace Google photo, I'm start to think that I did the wrong choice....
Actually you need both. I have a NAS for storage that can easily be accessed from multiple computers in my house on my private network. You can share drives and files between computers on a network if Windows will cooperate, but it's messy in my opinion. I have a DAS to back up my NAS (sounds funny doesn't it). I don't put my data on "the cloud" (someone else's server). That's like giving your files and information away to a stranger.
Is it possible to make certain folders or a drive on your computer network accessible. The use case I can see for it would be working from a main PC and saving the files locally, but when away from home and working from a laptop being able to access that specific folder/hard drive. NAS seems a bit overkill for a single person and occasional use for it.
I was looking for one for just cheeper bulk storage than the NVME SSDs I’m using now and thought NAS the way to go but since I don’t need any network capabilities this video helped me decide on a DAS
I’m considering a DAS with the TR-004 hardware RAID enclosure from QNAP. I’m considering RAID 1+0 and I’m wondering if it will automatically rebuild a drive if one fails and you put a replacement one in. Otherwise, do you have to copy all the data off, wipe the good drives replace the bad drive, and start again somehow? If it’s not automatic, this will likely sway me to choose a DS1522+ from Synology and use 5 drives in RAID 6 instead. Then any two drives can fail and I still have automatic rebuilds.
Very nice video! Have been going with a DAS myself instead of a NAS, but sadly Drobo stopped supporting their hardware drivers with each successive version of macOS.
I played my movies on NAS for a while, but hard drive based NAS and network latency gave me uncomfortable experience including freezing when I click hundred times of 10 seconds forward/rewind on a movie. Now I use SSD DAS for movies.
With some ISP setting data limits, such as Xfinity giving a high speed limit of 1.2TB, how do you go about trying to use the internet to backup several TB each month? I guess you need a truly unlimited plan.
🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation: 02:48 🚀 *Program Compatibility: Some programs, like Adobe Lightroom, may not allow file storage on a NAS, limiting compatibility.* 03:44 🛠️ *Simplicity Preference: If you seek a simple setup without much configuration, a DAS (Direct Attached Storage) might be more suitable than a NAS.* 05:09 ⚡ *Need for Speed: For users requiring the fastest speeds and lowest latencies, a DAS generally outperforms a NAS, especially for data-intensive tasks.* 07:04 🖥️ *Single Computer Access: If your files are accessed only from a single computer, a DAS could be simpler and more efficient than a NAS.* 07:57 💲 *Cost Savings with Backups: DAS users can benefit from significant cost savings in data backup services, such as Backblaze, which offers affordable backup solutions for DAS setups.* Made with HARPA AI
A changed my Nas from a dell server to a mini PC and 4 harddrive DAS. It is quit, fast, and uses much less power. Plus using software RAID will allow me to use drives in another PC. Should I have to.
I want to have ready access to about 8tb of family data and movies that i’ve collected over the years. I was thinking of having a 4 bay nas 2 disks with raid 1 for family. And 2 independent disks for miscellaneous data storage. I want to access this data via 3 computers, 4 phones and 3 tvs. Is NAS a good solution?
I would get a 4 bay but install just 3 larger drives using Raid 5 or, preferably, Synology Hybrid Raid if you buy a Synology. Segregate your media and other data using user and shared folder controls. The 4th bay is left for future expansion when undoubtedly larger drives will be just that much cheaper.
5 Reasons why you need a NAS 1. You can access your NAS from all your computers and iPods etc 2. You can access your NAS and files remotely. 3. A NAS has a RAID system to handle redundancy. 4. You can allow remote guest access to your NAS. 5. Although a NAS may consist of several drives, it presents itself to users as a single drive.
I think the vast majority of people in this Digital World do need an nas we should stop relying on the cloud so much and self-host our own data now I do agree that most of the nas offerings on the market are overpriced that's why I personally I think building a home lab server is the better option
You literally stated my current situation. Once I got wind of multiple billion dollar companies stating, "Y'all [we] don't own your [our] data." My response to that was, "ight, bet."
From someone who built a home Windows Storage server and owning a 5 bay Synology NAS, I am looking for ways to switch back to a simple DAS with a USB-C 4 . Tired of babysitting the storage pools
I have my media PC and its used for the net and i have a gaming PC I just have extra drives on my media PC and backup files to it works good I am not sure how much power it uses because its on all the time
What would you suggest for me if I have three computers and I save different stuff from each computer I never ever need to access anything through the Internet example. I never have to access any files from work on my Naz. I only use it to make sure I have backups of all three computers, what would you suggest I get?
I would get any of the Synology NAS's that will run Active Backup For Business ( ignore the "For Business" part of the name). You run the ABB agent on each PC and then from the NAS, you schedule backups as you see fit. You can also run the backups manually. I run scheduled daily backups of all of the PC's on my home network. They are very quick and not noticeable when using the PC's. Each backup after the initial backup just adds the changes so the NAS HDD's don't need to be too big. With ABB you can completely restore a PC from a catastrophic failure if necessary or just a single file; whatever you like.
I'm confussed, I want to backup files(pictures and documents) from the 3 computers I have at home. They will be saved and I will access them on the computer I am using not off the nas, I just want a program to run either everytime one of those folders are modified or a set time every day and save that information to the nas. The way it is being described here it seems more like external storage? The reason I want to use a nas in case a hdd fails on one of those pc's I don't lose all that data. If I use it to store the data to access from all the pc's if the drive fails on the nas I lose all the data? Is a nas not what I thought it was?
I dunno why but this person reminds me of Jim Carrey. I try to figure out what is similar: is it hair style, face profile, t shirt in some of the movies, voice, mimics, gestures, or rather a combination of all together?
we just set up our first NAS with a AMD Athlon 3000g cpu and a old A320 MB and ram from my daughters old gaming pc from 6 years ago and with 2 8tb hd we finely got Truenas set up and working but we are still learning but mostly we want it for storing large video files from OBS and video editing this is our learning one and it is fast over the network getting 120MB transfer speeds so it is working great ..I sat it in my closest out of the way and so it is silent
Will, I was shocked to see the title of this video coming from you. Ha Ha. I watched it and loved it. Great points. Thanks and keep these vids coming. Russell D.
I'm new to all this home media server stuff so I have no idea what I need to buy. I can tell you what I want to do and that's have a setup that allows me to access my media from any TV or device in my home without the need for internet access. I want the ability to access my collection if the internet goes down so I'm not sure if a NAS setup is right for me. I know they make home devices that do this that look a lot like dvd players but I have no idea what they are called or where to buy them.
A NAS will serve your media with its built in DLNA media server. But, what you might want to do is just have a look at your router. If it isn't one of the ones supplied by your ISP, it's entirely possible that it has a USB port. You can plug an external drive or, better yet, a USB stick in there with your movies and turn on the DLNA server from the router's admin interface.
my main PC is already my NAS lol all i need is a DAS to do backup or expand storage i have like 3 DAS sitting there ready to plug in on demand data are mostly secured when its offline +off power most of the time compared to NAS doesnt matter if you have raidz3, shit happens and the whole system goes bye bye then you realize you just wasted 3 HDDs for parity all these while for nothing lol
In terms of having massive local storage, I can agree with the concept of using a DAS. over. a NAS. but there's one major function a DAS cannot give you. Being able to access, and synchronize my data from anywhere at any time globally. I'm looking into trying to do that with my router. If so, I will gladly part with the DAS.
Its the equivalent of plugging a 10gbe cable from the back of your computer to the back of the NAS. technically very slightly more secure (in the 1/100000 chance someone has taken your switch and change it to a dev that packet captures)
@@SpaceRexWill gotcha, so if I want restore lets say an entire backup of my old pc to a new one, it would be much secure and faster to do it via 10Gbe cable? also I am not sure which NAS to chose, I am currently looking at ds220+ or the little brother DS220j. the price difference is 150$ here in europe. what would you recommend, thanks.
great video. i think i "want" a nas but only "need" a das. what das do u recommend? I'd like to edit video from it as well as use it as a back for about 30-50tb of files. Thanks!
I NEED one i have a full gaming setup on my room and i have 3d printers and 2 more laptops.... and a workshop upstairs i need one for storage and to move designs from one computer to another...
I have a bunch of machines at home and I like to sync my data locally without Google, Microsoft, Meta, Dropbox, Mega or the likes being involved. So building a NAS myself using off the shelf parts was the right choice for me. However, given how powerful singleboard computers have become - even older Raspberry Pis considering what I personally do most of the time - I can tell, people can save a lot by going other routes.
I got an old PC and put a bunch of HDDs in the available SATA ports, leaving one SATA port for SSD for OS installation. All my data is stored on those internal HDDs, with redundancy, and accessible via shares over my network. Is this setup considered a NAS?
I really want a nas but don’t really need it. What happens if your nas suddenly breaks, stolen, fire etc. I still hate the fact that google cloud is still the best solution for me.
Agree, using 2tb gdrive plan but what I'm bothered with is if my google account is hacked, everything is gone. So thinking to have a local secondary via this nas
I bought a WD MyCloudEX2Ultra several years ago. WD has abandoned their products. They will never issue another "firmware" update. You can't upgrade the Ethernet, it has no Wi-Fi. You can't upgrade the CPU or install another OS. So I made a NAS with a Raspberry Pi4B and an 18 TB USB HDD. Raspberry OS is lagging behind x86 Linux distros, so I abandoned the Pi for an x86 NUC. I installed debian12 and I serve one Samba share with hundreds of movies and music videos. My new NUC has 2.5 G Ethernet, and 4 USB 3.0 ports truly capable of 10G speed.
One question, What would compel me to install OpenMediaServer, rather than just using a Samba share? Why do people need to transcode? My Samba share is full of .mkv rips from MakeMKV, and various flavors of .mp4, .m4v, etc. All the devices I use, including a Sony blu-ray player support .mkv files.
I would love to have USB4 40Gbps connections on my desktop to take advantage of an external NVME drive. However, most PCs only have USB3 5Gbps or 10Gbps connections, so they could not take advantage of all that speed. However, most PCs also only have 1Gbps ethernet, so no NAS would be be as fast either.
you said , i could backup 50TB to Backblaze for $7/mnth, then say if you have 10TB, it would cost you $50/mnth, also, if your DAS is only holds 8TB, how do you backup 50TB?
I didn't need one.... but now I'm addicted to it. So now I neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed it.
I basically bought my first NAS (DS418) for Plex but now that I have over 10 Tb of digitized movies and 18,000+ songs I had to upgrade to a DS902+. I LOOOOOVE my NASes and they are capable of so much other than just file storage.
i searced for a own cloud solution and found that and needed it. now im here and dont know anymore
If you want to secure your data, a NAS (Network Attached Storage) is the best option. However, if you have a 50 TB HDD in a NAS, you will only get 25 TB of usable space because the NAS duplicates your data onto a separate HDD for redundancy and data safety. Synology NAS offers great features such as SSD caching, with two SSD slots (DS423 model, 72 TB capacity, priced at only 49k). It also provides cloud server integration, automatic mobile data backup similar to Google Photos, separate user access, a very user-friendly interface, a 10 Gb port, and many other features. You can also explore other NAS products like QNAP.
And 5 reasons you DO need a NAS:
1) Great educational value on managing a small network
2) You can break stuff ( virtually ) with a NAS and recover without disrupting your desktop / laptop work
3) You don't know what you don't know... that is, a whole world of opportunity opens up when you see what you can do with a NAS. Things you never thought possible and other things you never considered doing because you didn't know you could.
4) You can access your files relatively securely from anywhere in the world without using a cloud storage system. That may also pay for a NAS in cloud cost savings because you may not need your cloud service any more.
5) If you buy somewhat noisy HDD's for your NAS, and keep your NAS in the guest bedroom, the in-laws won't stay any longer than one night.
Add Google photos replacement to the list
@@notreallyme425 That's the killer app driving NAS sales I would submit.
1) you better want virtualization server for that
2) you better want virtualization server for that
3) you better want virtualization server for that
4) you better want selfhosted VPN server for securely accessing your data over internet
5) now that's a #ProTip :D
@@TazzSmk Any recommendations for a CPU/motherboard combo for a virtualization server hat supports ECC? Been having trouble nailing that down. Seeing the new Intel chips Linus was talking about today made me think I might want to hold off until they are released.
@@williamhicks2763 ah yea, new Intel HEDT platform would be good choice,
though ECC is fairly overrated, you don't "need" it in a home server, consumer-grade NASes don't have it too
On Windows, you can use the "subst" command to mount a NAS share so that Lightroom thinks it is a local drive. I have my Lightroom catalog on a DS1821+ with 10gbit connectivity and it actually works quite well.
This is really good info. I did not realize that subst hid the fact it was a network drive
so what's the diff with map network drive straight from File Explorer?
What you do is you map the network drive, then you uses subst to change the path to a different path
@@SpaceRexWill ahh.. i got it, just tried it and it works whereas mapped network drive only is still detected by lightroom as network drive so subst is to mask it as local drive. But tbh with my 918+ and 2 gigs connection, it's a bit slow with subst. If one have big enough local storage, then syno drive synced folder is still a faster solution. Thanks btw for the Subst cmd.
@@hansip87 The way I’ve been working is to check the box during import in Lightroom to create a second copy of my RAW/AWR files to a mapped network share on the NAS but I do all the editing on my local machine. I export JPEG directly to albums on the NAS. Every so often I copy my catalog up to the NAS, which also gets backed up, and that has been a good workflow for me. If I get my network up to speed I could see editing directly from the NAS, but editing locally means I do have yet another copy if anything were to go wrong with the NAS where it would be down for a while. I did have to RMA it once and another time I had to wait a week or so to replace the power supply. Good tip though.
"you dont need a NAS!" proceeds to advertise a paid cloud storage lol
one of the dumbest videos ive seen ngl
Wow. This comment makes me angry. I didn't finish the video so I didn't see the sponsorship, but is this guy really advertising a cloud storage service? I need to check this for myself....
Edit:
Okay wow. He really is advertising a cloud storage service. What a deceptive piece of shit. I am pissed of. I disliked the video
Yeah, pretty ironic.
Tbf there are benefits for cloud storage - it wouldn't be profitable if there weren't. But granted if you're looking for a NAS in the first place it's likely due to security reasons (alongside not wanting to pay a subscription for storage I guess)
@@TheLegendOfLame Agree - If you use and manage sensitive data (for instance copyrighted material) from a client that has to been kept from "other eyes", you don't want that data to be on some server located in a unknown place connected the "cloud". You want to store that data locally and well protected, so it does not leave the house or workplace without your and the client's permission. Of course that only makes sense when a DAS is not available and/or the data has to be accessible on several computers at the same time.
One last thing. If you aren’t very tech savvy, and have alot of sensitive (to you) data. It’s much more secure to have a DAS. If all your data is on your internal network, without proper security, all your data is ripe for the picking. Most folks don’t have a good background in tech to set up proper network security.
Also, multiple users and multiple computers just opens up the possibility that someone will make a mistake and become compromised. One computer, one user (myself) is a lot easier to control. (Coming from a systems admin for a manufacturing company)
As an IT analyst with limited education i see the current trends regarding Privacy i am going from 1 Win10 do-it-all towards
- 1 Linux for Personal matters, banking, communication
- 1 PC for gaming and windows based tools; - 1 Media station for internet access/streaming
- And a NAS to hold the Files that are common to all. Thank you for your guidance.
Thank you for clearing the air on whether or not most people need a NAS. I truly was considering getting on but since watching your video may wait until I really need one. Keep up the great work!
I didn't need a NAS , I just needed a storage for all my pictures, which are also backuped in a cloud. But I bought a NAS an now I will never go back, because it does much more then store pictures and I love it. I now can acces my files from different devices, also I use notes, calendar and backing up my computers and for backing up my NAS I use an external storage which is always connected to the NAS.
What are you using for NAS?
that is exactly why I am buying a NAS :D I don't want to pay monthly fee to google or other cloud service.
I feel this video could benefit from a section covering "do you really need a NAS?" section, covering more edge case scenarios. For example, while you briefly acknowledge that there are multi-drive DAS options with RAID support (giving you the data protection you don't have with a single drive DAS), those options seem to negate any price and at least some of the complexity advantages over NAS. (And no, services like Backblaze aren't a blanket solution for someone who doesn't have an internet connection that makes it trivial to move several TBs of data.)
5:21 I use Synology Drive on my main computer and pin local copies of the files and directories that I use most. I seem to get the same performance as the file being stored locally.
Biggest reason I think NAS are the best thing ever is data protection. With software raid, redundant drives, parity drives, automatic smart scans and the robust quality of nas grade drives is unparalleled by those clunky external drives that are made so cheaply and fail without any warning.
You can do the same with a RAID in a DAS enclosure
fr, those DASs are known for being unrealiable
Thanks for the video. I was looking into a NAS for a little while, thinking I needed one, but after watching your video and taking a look at my situation where most of my storage is actually archival, I don't need to access those files for a long time if ever so I decided to go a different route.
Same here. The hype concerning the need for a NAS is big, one might be easily swept away by it. Thankfully, videos and clarification like this do exist. 👌
I am one of those people with just 1 desktop (Mac Studio) and 1 user (myself) without any external access needs.
Currently using 2 external HDDs (G-drive) in a manual “mirror” config using Carbon Copy Cloner.
Still i’m looking into getting a NAS for the following reasons :
- A currently Mac bug is almost killing external HDDs with constant spin up/down cycles … you have to shut down the Mac every time after use (say goodbye to the convenience of using sleep mode)
- Offsite online backup easier on the NAS: you don’t have to leave your PC on for every backup to finish. NAS will take care of it on it’s own while you sleep.
- Bit Rot protection: BTRFS and data scrubbing + error recovery on the NAS. Basically ZERO easy solution for an external HDD as DAS.
- Aditional tests (like SMART) done independently on the NAS while you sleep.
- Overall better protection for your data because all of the above.
Last:
Cool nice to have services:
- whole house video server, stream your home videos on the Living Room TV without the PC being on
- whole house music server
- whole house pictures server (Synology Photos)
- etc
While lots of people rave about NAS, I think if you only need to access the files at home via one computer I’m not sure I see the point. I’m looking to store my video projects and will be buying DAS drives which I’ll run in RAID 1.
Not sure if you're aware but I wouldn't store important files on a RAID 1, if any of the drives in that array dies then the entire array becomes compromised and you could potentially lose all of your data. I'd be better to use RAID 5 (or even RAID 6 if you can spare a second drive).
@@3d755 You're talking about RAID 0 now, right? How does RAID 1 compromise data?
Maybe I'm missing something, but the MAIN reason people want a NAS instead of a DAS (plug in direct storage) is because of the built in RAID capability, where they can store their entire history of photos and home videos and not worry about data loss in a RAID configuration. Sure, some people will just use a NAS as a JBOD set up for a bunch of ripped movies. But that's kind of a waste, since any cheap PC with a bunch of cheap disks will do the same thing. The main problem with current "cube" NAS units are that they are ridiculously overpriced. Even after they are 5+ years old tech. So not an economical solution for most, after you pack it with 4 SSD, 4 M.2 caching sticks, and upgrade its base memory. By then, you're up close to 2K, which is just crazy.
You can also buy a DAS RAID
I say, if you are new to NAS and don’t have much experience is managing users and groups and firewalls, you can spend weeks, not hours, getting organized and secure. Then you need backups and offsite backups if you really want to preserve that data. I think it’s worth it. Love my NAS but it took a lot of work to configure and organize to my liking. My biggest concern is leaving it to my wife who wouldn’t know how it’s setup so I’m starting to teach her at least to the point she could hire someone if need be. DAS is simple but you need backups even more in my experience and always running out of room, where as a NAS you can continually upgrade hard drives over time and even expansion units for more bays.
My trick to making sure my wife can get our files when I am gone, was to build a UA-cam channel containing all of the information she needs to manage the Synology!
@@SpaceRexWill 😄👍
My DAS just died. I have a 2nd DAS but I wish i had a RAID NAS.
They sell Raid DAS
I backed up my NAS to Hetzner Storage Box for 13€/month for 5 TB. I think that’s quite a good price.
That's really cheap!
So here is my "problem" with DAS and maybe you have the answer.
I find a LOT of different options to buy but when it comes to actual capacity and features coming with these they're rather limited or misleading specs on the data sheets.
I don't have too many criteria, just wanting a robust docking stations with multiple bays AND working via USB-C using the full bandwidth. I don't mind having to deal with a power brick and paying the price if the board and connectors are solid. At the end of the day I almost feel like just buying the big tower computer and throw the whole stack in there. EXCEPT that it's no longer a backup in case my computer and data get compromised.
Ideally I'd put my DAS power supply behind some automation so I can power it up on demand.
Thanks!
This video actually put some things in perspective for me. Ive been wanting to expand my storage on my main PC which I use as a plex server. everywhere I've asked for advice they just tell me to build a NAS instead. But the more I've looked into it, the more I realize I really only need a JBOD or DAS. It's pretty much plug and play and it does exactly what I need without over complicating it and it saves me a ton of money.
All these complicated systems of storage incorporating NAS, Cloud storage, encryption, passwords etc etc. It's fine being tech savvy but how many people ever consider their non tech savvy dependents being able to access files and data if they die.
Hey, thank you very much for the contents, you've been the one UA-camr who really convinced me! Very informative and helpful. One question about program incompatibility, sicnce you mentioned Adobe: If I buy a NAS, would I be able to store Premiere Pro files or the Library? It's always been my biggest problem with imovie. Thank you!
Excellent videos, I initially bought a DAS and copied all my files to it, 3 months later I bought the Synology 920+ and haven't looked back, I watched numerous videos on youtube including many by SpaceRex on how to setup a NAS and within the hour I was up and running. I initially had one Toshiba 14tb hard drive and have bought 2 more over the last couple of months. I use it in SHR mode.
The NAS is my primary drive and I back it up every month to my DAS
The other beauty of the NAS is that I have set it up as a media server and watch all my movies and TV series though it via Jellyfin, we went to the Lake District a month ago and I connected up to my NAS and in the evening we were watching our movies
I just wish I'd have made the decision sooner
Many thanks to SpaceRex for all the video's made my life easier
Back up to the cloud as well. Having both NAS & DAS copies in the same room is risky.
@@schultzeworks They are in separate rooms and I also have a separate 14tb with the essentials on which is kept at my parents. I don't see the pointing in paying out for 12tb of data, won't be cheap
@@robertleem5643 First, I have friends that lost ALL data (and back-ups) due to a robbery. The crooks took the primary and the back-up. So, off-site cloud services are always the best, which is what I recommend. Secondly, I can log in to the back-up cloud service any time to retrieve data. (Which is also available on many NAS drives as well.) But, this is not the case if they are offline … another thing to watch out for. My office power company is going offline for 8 hours this Sunday. So, no access if I need it.
@@schultzeworks This is a good point. Having all your backup in your house is a little risky but for me cloud backup would be $60/month. I backup critical data on a large external HD and store that in a fire resistant safe (which weighs about 500lb so would be next to impossible to cart away). If someone goes through the house and steals my NAS and PC I would only lose things like movies. Before I got the safe I use to store my external drive in a safe deposit box in a bank.
@@kk6ou I bought a 10TB 'lifetime' cloud storage with Filen on last Black Friday. It is zero knowledge E2EE so you can store whatever you like. Yes, it was expensive at around €999 ($1075) but you keep it until their service ends (hopefully more than 5-10 years). Yes, it's risky but if the service lasts at least 3 years it'd be still way cheaper at $30/month.
Now that Black Friday ended they removed their lifetime offers, but every few months their lifetime pop up. They do offer also subscriptions which I usually avoid cause more expensive in the long period.
So I have a quick question… If I have a dedicated Mac mini that serves as my home server and I connect a DAS with raid support to it essentially isn’t this the same thing as an NAS?
That is a NAS then
@@SpaceRexWill that is awesome ! What I am going to do!!
Same dilemma. I have an Intel NUC doing all the serving and only need more storage.
Thank you, great comparison, which is very helpful. As a long term NAS user myself, there is one point I want to throw in here: what if the NAS itself fails? I had a faulty QNAP-NAS and wasn't able to repair it myself. So all the data was safed, but not approachable. It wasn't easy then, to recover the data from the HDD's. I think for someone, who has no IT-knowledge, a faulty NAS can get very tricky then. Therefore I would recommend anyone to start with a DAS. But that is my opinion ;-). Love your channel, great work, thank you!
I thought of getting a multi drawer das docking station for at least four 3.5 or 2.5 drives, but even then reviews will sometimes mention failures with well known brand docks that corrupt data. The drawer system is always preferable to multiple portable usb hdds or any cloud service though..
I have a 2 bay Synology NAS simply as another level of file backup for all of my computers in my house. It holds current copies of the data for all of my computers in one central location.
On your point about backing up to Backblaze. I have to have my laptop on all the time for that to work. Large file changes or the initial seed just take too long. A NAS is quicker and it can backup to the cloud for the next week without needing my laptop
Lets say you have 2 TB SSDs on your system. One of the advantage of a NAS is you can use Acronis Backup Software to do periodic backups and Acronis Rescue Media Builder to create a bootable Thumb drive so if you lose your SSD or your system gets corrupted or infected, you can restore back to a sane time without losing any of your data quickly(
Congrats man, you've just convinced me to move from a newly bought NAS to a DAS solution instead. Security, handling and overall speed does matter to me, you did compare these crucial DAS elements perfectly towards the benefits of a NAS. Thanks a bunch for your help 👌
@ Rex n terms of data storage for content creation not for commercial purpose so my plan was vlogging and also photography as well so photos will be more, thou I have looked on my separate SSD over the years close to 2TB of photos that hasn't been edited yet I was thinking along the lines of a Das storage because of internet which I'm limited to
I really want a NAS, but I decided to temporarily hold myself over by paying for a seedbox for my Plex server and just using external hard drives for overflow / plugging into my NVIDIA Shield, and it's honestly pretty dang solid for now. I'll get one eventually but at least now I can hold off until I can buy a truly legit NAS setup instead of just buying something entry level just to do a NAS
Quick question mate, I'm currently running a jellyfin server on my mini-pc and I'm quickly running out of storage. If I wanted to connect an external hard drive, would any USB 3 hard drive be ok, or is their anything I should look out for? Kind Regards.
@@ProphetChuck8471 I think as far as video is concerned any will do. As far as I know SSDs are a bit overkill as far as cost, just HDD is best storage amount for your buck. SSD is nice for transfer speed but as far as just reading the video files my external HDDs have been fast enough. Just be wary that some toward the bigger end in size require additional power, so if plugging in an extra cable is annoying in the particular location/setup, make sure to get one that is powered from the USB connection itself (I have a 5TB drive that doesn't need a power cable but I've seen some that do)
@@czanderrr Hey mate, thanks for the quick reply! I'll grab a regular HDD instead of an SSD and will get one that is USB powered only. Thanks for all your help and have a great week!
I agree took me 2 days setup my NAS multiple times to reinstall the OS just to make the proper configurations, and yes, this is my first time setting up NAS and I'm a newbie to this
I use free accounts of onedrive, dropbox and box for essential files. Tons of notes, ebooks, papers stored in hard drives with bakup in other hard drives. I saw many youtubers saying you need a Nas but sometimes I feel it is still not unneccessary.
I'm sorta in the same boat. My OneDrive is only 50% capacity, and I'm wondering if even a DAS makes sense until that gets filled up more...
@@44BluesFan if you only used 50%, then do not buy it for now. I bought a two bay NAS few months ago. With two 4t hard drives, the useable size is in fact only 2.6 tb, going beyond roughly 2.6 or 2.7tb there would be warnings. It is quite pain of ass since it is not a lot room and I paid more than 500 euros for it.
@@fgdfhdhjd7776 Good info, thanks.
@@44BluesFan another problem is that, unlike onedrive or dropbox, with synology drive of ios or android, you cannot download at once a whole folder under which there are mutiple files. You are forced to download each file one by one manually under the folder.
We have two workstations in our home office that are also used as gaming PCs and we work and game on different schedules. Who's PC do we connect the DAS to? I think a DAS works for a single user scenario, but not sure you covered that a lot of people after a NAS want to do so for shared storage access.
Isn't that explicitly covered in the 'You only have one computer' chapter?
Modern routers usually have an usb port where you can attach an usb drive, which you can access via your local network (samba, ftp, proprietary app), sometimes also from remote. If you need only a single drive, it's a good solution
So I currently back up my nas with hyperbackup to a 4tb das. So it sounds like I could then just turn around and plug that das into my computer and back it up to back blaze for $7/mo
That would likely work!
One possibility would be to use back up software on your computer to back up your NAS directly without having to unplug and plug your back up drive. You just keep your backup drive plugged into your main computer. I use Chronosync for my iMAC.
Yes but what if you have catastrophic loss. Seems like the bare metal recovery will be much quicker with a local backup over backblaze no?
answer all the super important files can be left on other external drives like family photos are far more impotent then the 79045 cartoons an anime you have screenshots of XD
I went for a DAS with my current homelab setup. I mostly use my homelab to host a git instance, a search engine, a media server and as a router. The setup is basically 2 miniPCs, both running Proxmox. One is working as the router, DNS, Firewall etc, and the other is doing basically everything else. Getting a NAS at this juncture just made no sense, since my 2nd server machine was the one that needed more storage to support the serving media and hosting my Git files. Its also nice to have an extra 8 TB of storage for VMs, and for logging/metrics. Until I decide to add a real server blade into my cluster, there just isn't a point in using a NAS especially when my network is only 2.5g in speed atm.
My Nas setup is simple and doesn't need to be turn on 24/7. I bought a budget Delll mini PC, hook up with my existing USB hard drive. Setup a samba server, plex server, and many more to play around. I would only use it when I needed. Saving my electric bill.
Cost wise is much much cheaper than buying standalone NAS. The only thing i invested alot is the time of setup and configuring the server, troubleshoot errors and so on.
I have NAS with SMB and outside access
I can share stuff among computers and smartphone/tablet
Backup stuff to home
NAS is considered as "centralized storage"
@SpaceRex your videos only contribute to my problem of investing into my NAS environment :) I am a home user with 3 Synology's totaling 26 drives of over 170 TB capacity :) Keep 'em coming! LOL!
Lolol it’s a slippery Slope
I'm so glad i found this video before buying a NAS when I just need a DAS ;D
Bachblazr takes forever uploading even less than 1TB, we are talking about weeks not days. On a DAS you can not store your smartphone photos directly from the phone and ditch ios or Google photos.
So, as far as I can understand, I should backup the NAS, but I bought it for backups use and to replace Google photo, I'm start to think that I did the wrong choice....
your voice is so soothing and your info is so helpful! Thank you!
Actually you need both. I have a NAS for storage that can easily be accessed from multiple computers in my house on my private network. You can share drives and files between computers on a network if Windows will cooperate, but it's messy in my opinion. I have a DAS to back up my NAS (sounds funny doesn't it). I don't put my data on "the cloud" (someone else's server). That's like giving your files and information away to a stranger.
Is it possible to make certain folders or a drive on your computer network accessible. The use case I can see for it would be working from a main PC and saving the files locally, but when away from home and working from a laptop being able to access that specific folder/hard drive. NAS seems a bit overkill for a single person and occasional use for it.
i have 5 HDDs rais in my pc using as " F drive" .
can i back blaze all this 30 tb data to back blaze? .
Does Back blaze allow raid Drive?
Yes!
I was looking for one for just cheeper bulk storage than the NVME SSDs I’m using now and thought NAS the way to go but since I don’t need any network capabilities this video helped me decide on a DAS
I’m considering a DAS with the TR-004 hardware RAID enclosure from QNAP. I’m considering RAID 1+0 and I’m wondering if it will automatically rebuild a drive if one fails and you put a replacement one in. Otherwise, do you have to copy all the data off, wipe the good drives replace the bad drive, and start again somehow? If it’s not automatic, this will likely sway me to choose a DS1522+ from Synology and use 5 drives in RAID 6 instead. Then any two drives can fail and I still have automatic rebuilds.
I prefer a DAS with all drives separate, I don't trust on RAID software. I just use Carbon Copy Cloner to clone the disks.
What Ssd drive would you recommend?
Very nice video! Have been going with a DAS myself instead of a NAS, but sadly Drobo stopped supporting their hardware drivers with each successive version of macOS.
Drobo is anything but smooth on macOS. Very difficult.
I played my movies on NAS for a while, but hard drive based NAS and network latency gave me uncomfortable experience including freezing when I click hundred times of 10 seconds forward/rewind on a movie.
Now I use SSD DAS for movies.
Sounds more like you could use a Plex server
With some ISP setting data limits, such as Xfinity giving a high speed limit of 1.2TB, how do you go about trying to use the internet to backup several TB each month? I guess you need a truly unlimited plan.
🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation:
02:48 🚀 *Program Compatibility: Some programs, like Adobe Lightroom, may not allow file storage on a NAS, limiting compatibility.*
03:44 🛠️ *Simplicity Preference: If you seek a simple setup without much configuration, a DAS (Direct Attached Storage) might be more suitable than a NAS.*
05:09 ⚡ *Need for Speed: For users requiring the fastest speeds and lowest latencies, a DAS generally outperforms a NAS, especially for data-intensive tasks.*
07:04 🖥️ *Single Computer Access: If your files are accessed only from a single computer, a DAS could be simpler and more efficient than a NAS.*
07:57 💲 *Cost Savings with Backups: DAS users can benefit from significant cost savings in data backup services, such as Backblaze, which offers affordable backup solutions for DAS setups.*
Made with HARPA AI
A changed my Nas from a dell server to a mini PC and 4 harddrive DAS. It is quit, fast, and uses much less power. Plus using software RAID will allow me to use drives in another PC. Should I have to.
I want to have ready access to about 8tb of family data and movies that i’ve collected over the years. I was thinking of having a 4 bay nas 2 disks with raid 1 for family. And 2 independent disks for miscellaneous data storage.
I want to access this data via 3 computers, 4 phones and 3 tvs.
Is NAS a good solution?
I would get a 4 bay but install just 3 larger drives using Raid 5 or, preferably, Synology Hybrid Raid if you buy a Synology. Segregate your media and other data using user and shared folder controls. The 4th bay is left for future expansion when undoubtedly larger drives will be just that much cheaper.
Oh, I didn't know the DAS existed. It's new to me. But now I know!
5 Reasons why you need a NAS
1. You can access your NAS from all your computers and iPods etc
2. You can access your NAS and files remotely.
3. A NAS has a RAID system to handle redundancy.
4. You can allow remote guest access to your NAS.
5. Although a NAS may consist of several drives, it presents itself to users as a single drive.
I think the vast majority of people in this Digital World do need an nas we should stop relying on the cloud so much and self-host our own data now I do agree that most of the nas offerings on the market are overpriced that's why I personally I think building a home lab server is the better option
You literally stated my current situation. Once I got wind of multiple billion dollar companies stating, "Y'all [we] don't own your [our] data." My response to that was, "ight, bet."
From someone who built a home Windows Storage server and owning a 5 bay Synology NAS, I am looking for ways to switch back to a simple DAS with a USB-C 4 . Tired of babysitting the storage pools
I have my media PC and its used for the net and i have a gaming PC I just have extra drives on my media PC and backup files to it works good I am not sure how much power it uses because its on all the time
What would you suggest for me if I have three computers and I save different stuff from each computer I never ever need to access anything through the Internet example. I never have to access any files from work on my Naz. I only use it to make sure I have backups of all three computers, what would you suggest I get?
I would get any of the Synology NAS's that will run Active Backup For Business ( ignore the "For Business" part of the name). You run the ABB agent on each PC and then from the NAS, you schedule backups as you see fit. You can also run the backups manually. I run scheduled daily backups of all of the PC's on my home network. They are very quick and not noticeable when using the PC's. Each backup after the initial backup just adds the changes so the NAS HDD's don't need to be too big. With ABB you can completely restore a PC from a catastrophic failure if necessary or just a single file; whatever you like.
I'm confussed, I want to backup files(pictures and documents) from the 3 computers I have at home. They will be saved and I will access them on the computer I am using not off the nas, I just want a program to run either everytime one of those folders are modified or a set time every day and save that information to the nas. The way it is being described here it seems more like external storage? The reason I want to use a nas in case a hdd fails on one of those pc's I don't lose all that data. If I use it to store the data to access from all the pc's if the drive fails on the nas I lose all the data? Is a nas not what I thought it was?
I dunno why but this person reminds me of Jim Carrey. I try to figure out what is similar: is it hair style, face profile, t shirt in some of the movies, voice, mimics, gestures, or rather a combination of all together?
Sxxt, I wish I had seen this sooner. I just purchased a DS124 just for TV shows and movies.
we just set up our first NAS with a AMD Athlon 3000g cpu and a old A320 MB and ram from my daughters old gaming pc from 6 years ago and with 2 8tb hd we finely got Truenas set up and working but we are still learning but mostly we want it for storing large video files from OBS and video editing this is our learning one and it is fast over the network getting 120MB transfer speeds so it is working great ..I sat it in my closest out of the way and so it is silent
Will, I was shocked to see the title of this video coming from you. Ha Ha. I watched it and loved it. Great points. Thanks and keep these vids coming. Russell D.
Very useful content. Thanks
Broo thanks for all your videos! Great energy that you give out
What is best for a solo dev or 3 man game studio?
Nas sharing files between other people would be very important
Can I install NAS SSD in my Dell laptop?
I'm new to all this home media server stuff so I have no idea what I need to buy. I can tell you what I want to do and that's have a setup that allows me to access my media from any TV or device in my home without the need for internet access. I want the ability to access my collection if the internet goes down so I'm not sure if a NAS setup is right for me. I know they make home devices that do this that look a lot like dvd players but I have no idea what they are called or where to buy them.
A NAS will serve your media with its built in DLNA media server. But, what you might want to do is just have a look at your router. If it isn't one of the ones supplied by your ISP, it's entirely possible that it has a USB port. You can plug an external drive or, better yet, a USB stick in there with your movies and turn on the DLNA server from the router's admin interface.
my main PC is already my NAS lol
all i need is a DAS to do backup or expand storage
i have like 3 DAS sitting there ready to plug in on demand
data are mostly secured when its offline +off power most of the time compared to NAS
doesnt matter if you have raidz3, shit happens and the whole system goes bye bye then you realize you just wasted 3 HDDs for parity all these while for nothing lol
i have tp-link router with a USB port cant i use that for a network drive storage i been experentmenting with this
I would like to see a video on some DAS systems and if there are any as flexible as a Synology NAS.
How long will a NAS last? I would want to use it for my video editing projects
My QNAP TS-453a has been running non-stop 24/7 ( other than shut downs for HDD upgrades ) for 7 years.
In terms of having massive local storage, I can agree with the concept of using a DAS. over. a NAS. but there's one major function a DAS cannot give you. Being able to access, and synchronize my data from anywhere at any time globally. I'm looking into trying to do that with my router. If so, I will gladly part with the DAS.
You really DO need a NAS to store your vacation videos and don't forget your cat videos
what about NAS with thunderbolt connectivity? can't they be used both as NAS and DAS?
A NAS with thunderbolt is actually still just a NAS. The thunderbolt is actually just emulating a 10 GbE Ethernet adapter
@@SpaceRexWill yeh but in terms of transferring data from and to NAS, wouldn't it be faster and more secure?
Its the equivalent of plugging a 10gbe cable from the back of your computer to the back of the NAS. technically very slightly more secure (in the 1/100000 chance someone has taken your switch and change it to a dev that packet captures)
@@SpaceRexWill gotcha, so if I want restore lets say an entire backup of my old pc to a new one, it would be much secure and faster to do it via 10Gbe cable? also I am not sure which NAS to chose, I am currently looking at ds220+ or the little brother DS220j. the price difference is 150$ here in europe. what would you recommend, thanks.
3. I dont think there is a software made that can’t help made to work with a NAS, it just may take a lesser known terminal command for mounting.
great video. i think i "want" a nas but only "need" a das. what das do u recommend? I'd like to edit video from it as well as use it as a back for about 30-50tb of files. Thanks!
Didn't need one. Now I have two.
Excellent. You have Primary and Secondary NAS installations.
Can I ask you a question? Can I use Link Aggregation Bond 1 and setup Pi-Hole on Docker? I am really stuck on this one? Appreciate any help, thanks.
Can a DAS connect to modem to stream movies to various rooms?
I NEED one i have a full gaming setup on my room and i have 3d printers and 2 more laptops.... and a workshop upstairs i need one for storage and to move designs from one computer to another...
What if I have the 2 LAN ports setup as a “Bond” will this still work?
Why the hell I've spend another 10 minutes listening why I don't need a NAS if I already have one? :(
My light room libraries are stored on my NAS. It works fine. Just FYI. And my NAS's are fast enough I don'T see much difference if any.
I have a bunch of machines at home and I like to sync my data locally without Google, Microsoft, Meta, Dropbox, Mega or the likes being involved.
So building a NAS myself using off the shelf parts was the right choice for me.
However, given how powerful singleboard computers have become - even older Raspberry Pis considering what I personally do most of the time - I can tell, people can save a lot by going other routes.
I got an old PC and put a bunch of HDDs in the available SATA ports, leaving one SATA port for SSD for OS installation. All my data is stored on those internal HDDs, with redundancy, and accessible via shares over my network. Is this setup considered a NAS?
I didn't buy a NAS, I built a NAS from scratch. It was a great learning experience.
Best of both worlds:
Gonna get a DAS, while using my network appliance as a makeshift NAS, and then I'll see how that works.
I really want a nas but don’t really need it. What happens if your nas suddenly breaks, stolen, fire etc. I still hate the fact that google cloud is still the best solution for me.
Agree, using 2tb gdrive plan but what I'm bothered with is if my google account is hacked, everything is gone. So thinking to have a local secondary via this nas
I bought a WD MyCloudEX2Ultra several years ago. WD has abandoned their products. They will never issue another "firmware" update. You can't upgrade the Ethernet, it has no Wi-Fi. You can't upgrade the CPU or install another OS. So I made a NAS with a Raspberry Pi4B and an 18 TB USB HDD. Raspberry OS is lagging behind x86 Linux distros, so I abandoned the Pi for an x86 NUC. I installed debian12 and I serve one Samba share with hundreds of movies and music videos. My new NUC has 2.5 G Ethernet, and 4 USB 3.0 ports truly capable of 10G speed.
One question, What would compel me to install OpenMediaServer, rather than just using a Samba share? Why do people need to transcode? My Samba share is full of .mkv rips from MakeMKV, and various flavors of .mp4, .m4v, etc. All the devices I use, including a Sony blu-ray player support .mkv files.
3:45 Unless you watch a spacerex video or two 🙂
the fact that you have to watch videos means it's not that easy. You can't just ignore the time spent on "learning."
I would love to have USB4 40Gbps connections on my desktop to take advantage of an external NVME drive. However, most PCs only have USB3 5Gbps or 10Gbps connections, so they could not take advantage of all that speed. However, most PCs also only have 1Gbps ethernet, so no NAS would be be as fast either.
you said , i could backup 50TB to Backblaze for $7/mnth, then say if you have 10TB, it would cost you $50/mnth, also, if your DAS is only holds 8TB, how do you backup 50TB?
You can buy a 100TB DAS
I don't need a nas but it makes working on multiple devices and running VM's and containers a lot easier.
I actually don't need it. But I build one with TrueNAS as homelab project now. I want my file to be view from all my devices.