NAS drive

[Enquiries]

Hi, I am a complete novice on NAS drives & Cloud facilities. I have a Mac Mini 1TB of storage ( its nowhere near maxed out), I have an iPad & iPhone. I use a Maxtor external drive 500MB as a back up to the Mac mini but its getting quite old. I live alone, no other users.

I would like something that has a least two drives, so one backs it up reducing possibility of loss of data. I want to be able to use Time Machine (if there anything better please advise) and i want to be able to easily connect to my iPad & iPhone to change around my music and photos.

I am considering Synology as I have a friend who swears by their easiness of use. What would be the “best bang for my buck” NAS drive?

Many thanks for your advice. Watched a few Youtube videos but probably made myself even more confused. I hope you dont mind this suggestion but can you do a video series of ‘idiots guides ‘ because as a novice all these different technical terms, are way beyond my understanding at this stage ?

[ed]

Hi! Thank you for reaching out. For your needs, I would recommend the Synology DS220+ or the DS423+. Both models are easy to set up and use, and they come with two drive bays that you can use for data backup and redundancy.

The DS220+ is a good entry-level NAS that should be sufficient for your needs. It has a 2-core CPU, 2GB of RAM (expandable up to 6GB), and supports up to 32TB of storage. It also has built-in applications for Time Machine backups and media streaming, making it an ideal choice for your use case.

The DS423+ is a more powerful option, with a 4-core CPU, 2GB of RAM (expandable up to 8GB), and support for up to 64TB of storage. It also has built-in hardware encryption for enhanced security.

Both models are compatible with the Synology mobile apps, which will allow you to easily access and manage your files, music, and photos from your iPad and iPhone.

Regarding your suggestion for an "idiot's guide" video series, I think that's a great idea and I will definitely pass it along to the team. In the meantime, I would suggest checking out Synology's online resources, which include user guides and video tutorials to help you get started with your new NAS.