DAS or NAS

[Enquiries]

Hi Team, just wanted to say that you do a great job with the youtube channel, I have learnt a lot.

I wanted to ask for your advice on what would be a better storage solution for my needs - DAS or NAS?

I primarily want to use it for storing movies, TV shows, photos, games, and backing up files.

My main use will be to backup photos and videos from my phone, but I would also like to access those photos and videos through an app on my devices and my PC. It seems that a synology NAS is a good solution due to the software.
I will occasionally stream a movie or TV show through PLEX when at home.

Currently, my PC has two hard drives, one 4TB drive for games and photos, one 3TB drive for movies, music, and TV shows, and one 1TB NVMe for my Windows OS and other files.

I expect to double my storage capacity in about four years with all the photos and videos, but I would like to reduce the number of separate drives and consolidate into perhaps a larger capacity drive.

Thank you again!

[ed]

Thank you for the kind words about our YouTube channel!

Based on your needs, it seems like a NAS would be a better solution for you than a DAS. A NAS allows for easy access and sharing of files across multiple devices and locations, as well as providing backup functionality. Synology NAS devices have a user-friendly interface and come with apps for easy access to files and multimedia streaming.

As for storage capacity, a 4-bay NAS such as the Synology DS920+ or DS420+ would allow you to easily expand your storage capacity as needed, without having to replace all of your drives. You can start with two 8TB drives in RAID 1, for example, and then add more drives as needed in the future.

You mentioned using Plex to stream movies and TV shows, which can also be easily set up on a Synology NAS using the Plex Media Server app. Just make sure to choose a NAS with a good processor and enough RAM to handle transcoding, especially if you plan on streaming to multiple devices simultaneously.

Overall, a Synology NAS would be a versatile and convenient solution for your storage and backup needs.