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Reccomendation? - Enquiries - 02-28-2020
Hi. I've been watching a few of your videos. Thank you for the information...I really enjoy them.
I was hoping you could recommend a NAS for me. I will be running Mac OS for the most part, but do have a PC in the mix as well. I have a Synology router (RT2600ac) and I've connected a USB drive to it and so I am familiar with "DS Router" and "DS File" on my phone only. This will be for a family of three, all on iPhones. I have four main uses cases for what I am looking for -
1. Backup those iPhones and the photos / videos on them. I'd like to have this be as automated as possible and key is that all three phones be able to get backed up.
2. Host iTunes music on the NAS to be ably to sync with iTunes. I don't need to stream the music from the NAS so much as to just have the files live on the NAS so they can manually sync with iTunes and then with the phones after that. I could see Plex coming into the mix at some point, but I am not currently using it.
3. Backup the computer's HD's...though I think I may keep most / all of my files on the NAS and thus not need to back up much.
4. As such, host random files on the NAS (Excel, Powerpoint, Word, .PDF, etc...). I want to be able to access these files from anywhere / any machine...ideally phone and computer, but computer more often than on a phone.
I don't have massive storage needs...thinking 2 TB or so. I would go with a two bay system so I can have each drive backed-up / mirrored. I don't shy away from tinkering with settings, but I don't have an IT background. Software / ease of use, especially for the iPhones to be able to backup is more important than spec's of the NAS and ability to upgrade, etc...
re: Synology apps - DS file requires me to open the app to have my photos back up. I am not sure if I can have that app on all of the phones, but regardless, we are away from our home network often and I don't think I can get photos to backup when not on the home network, hence my interest in a NAS setup. It is possible there is more to explore with the router in this regard. I also had iTunes music on that drive and was able to sync through it, but that setup was a bit slow and again I was not able to figure out how to get to it when not at home (if that is even an option).
Appreciate any input you can give.
Reccomendation? - ed - 03-19-2021
From my experience, only WD EX2 managed to sync photos and videos without opening the app. But otherwise, Synology is quite reliable and you can also enable photo sync over the internet, not just the local network.You can also install an iTunes server and keep the music on the NAS. Not use you can sync with iTunes elsewhere.Synology also has the best software for backing up Windows. You can also set up time machine backups.Having plus series NAS such as DS220+ would be a good choice.I hope this helps.