Some ideas for videos (probably TL;DR!)

[Enquiries]

I really enjoy your videos and find your explanations very helpful. I wanted to suggest some video topics that I would really benefit from, and maybe other would watch as well. I think these could all be rather detailed videos that are not specific to any NAS brand. Of course, short brand-specific follow up videos would be great as well!

Home network security, esp. router and WiFi settings for safe remote access to NAS. I know that storage is your thing, but accessing storage safely and keeping bad guys out is so important! And not all the key settings are on the NAS itself. Of course, you couldn’t possibly give specifics for every router on earth, but you could probably provide generic advice and send us to Google how to do it on our own routers!

Best practices for NAS security, esp. settings for your NAS to protect from attackers (esp., ransomware). You have done some of this, but there are so many topics!

Encryption principals for storage (e.g., should I encrypt stuff on my network?, should I encrypt my NAS?, what to think about when data is in motion?). I am not really clear on how to think about what I am actually protecting against, much less how to do it.

Getting the most out of my NAS – What’s it good for besides storage?

Where does NAS fit in my backup plan? (Should I edit/use files from PC drives and backup those files to my NAS? Or should I use NAS-stored files directly and backup the NAS elsewhere? Or something else?)

Backup up strategy for the home user (Periodic, full, unencrypted backups are easiest to understand and restore for the backup newbie, but there are so many other options such as incremental and snapshots. How fancy should a non-techie get?)

[Robbie]

Hi bud! Thanks for the pointers, recommendations (and kind words of course!). I'll let you behind the curtain a bit *looks over shoulders*. So, right now, my to-do list is 168 items long. Typically 1-2 things get added a day and each 'thing' tends to be 1x video and 1x article of about 3000-5000 words. Now, I can normally film on avg 2-3 vids a day and we publish a vid a day and an article every other day. Now, if these were the only videos (eg the specialist ones that cover a subject, theme, process or activity), then I could easily stay on top of this. However, then you have to factor in new releases (last year we covered 56 new releases in the remit of the subjects I cover) and each one needs to be sourced with the brand (review, embargo, agreements) or purchased privately. Let's take the TS-453E reviewed last week here on NC. That 4 bay has 8 videos and 4 articles in the pipeline (not including the always requested comparisons). This is further complicated by the fact that new releases are considerably more impromptu - a NAS that is formally or informally revealed in Jan (maybe at CES) will release any pretty much any time and I tend to only have 3-4 days notice of a unit arriving on a fixed loan period - so this throws all other recordings into suspension.

Please do not interrupt the paragraph above same complaining/bellyaching! We genuinely love what we do and feel remarkably privileged to be able to do this! Additionally, I am ENORMOUSLY grateful that you shared video ideas (3 of which were NOT on my list and now added - the Encryption principles is especially pertinent) But the result is that the to-do list is outpacing the activity (especially when you factor in news coverage and the free advice section) and although we both make content, the main body of 'work' that goes in to a video/article is the planning, arranging hardware, scripting, structure, presentation, production/encoding, packaging (thumbnails, links, social), scheduling and analytics afterwards. only about 10-15% of the job is the actual product filming/writing.

I guess where I am going with all this is...well.. would you like a job? We have been spending ages trying to work out how to open NC and how/what we make to more than just the two of us - hiring freelancers who care about the subject like we do and people that want to have a 'side hustle' where any/all money that is made from an article/video goes directly to them - but it's a big responsibility and we just haven't had the time to arrange to petition our audience. If we go ahead with this soon, please do apply, as I like your brain and I think it might just be the right kind of brain for this!

Apologies for the slow reply buddy - Eddie (the Web Guy) covers ASKNC much more than me, whilst I make vids and articles etc. However, he is on a long, LONG overdue holiday this week and I am filling in as much as I can.