First NAS

[Enquiries]

Hi guys- Love your videos and I've learned a lot. Thank you!

That said, I'm not confident in choosing components for my 1st NAS without direction from people who know what they are talking about.

Use cases are photo backup, multi device access, and personal cloud. I currently have 5TB of photos spread between two 3TB hard drives. I retired this year meaning more photography and more storage space.

I'm willing to spend more for SSDs because I would like it to be as quiet as possible. I’m thinking of five 2TB SATA SSDs.

Security is a priority so even though I like the sound of a more open system I’d probably steer clear of QNAP without some assurance their issues are overblown.

I'm 70 years old and I've been playing with computers since the 1980s but no formal training. I did build a PC years ago.

Can you tell me which NAS to buy, which drives to populate it with, and which RAID to set up?

[ed]

Hi there! Thank you for being a fan of our videos, and we're glad to help you with your first NAS setup. Based on your use cases of photo backup, multi-device access, and personal cloud, we recommend considering Celeron-based NAS options for remote access and basic storage needs. These models are great for ensuring ease of use and reliability. On the other hand, if you have additional requirements, like 10GbE support or running virtual machines and Docker containers, we suggest exploring AMD-based NAS models. These options offer more processing power and advanced features to handle your photography and storage demands efficiently. When it comes to drives, since you prioritize quiet operation and SSDs, opting for five 2TB SATA SSDs would be an excellent choice. This setup will provide both speed and silence for your NAS. As for RAID configuration, we recommend setting up RAID 5, which offers a good balance between data protection and storage efficiency. RAID 5 will allow you to lose one drive without losing data, which enhances the security of your precious memories. With your budget of $1,000+ and a capacity requirement of 10TB, you have a range of options to choose from, and our NAS recommendations should fit your needs perfectly.
DS423+ and DS1621+ are the few options.