Best backup to home for college student

[Enquiries]

At home we are using a Unifi network for network and surveillance. I currently am running two Synology NAS disk stations where one is available on the internet for sharing photos with relatives and one is only available locally in home.

Son has iPhone, Windows laptop and Windows desktop 600 miles away at a college apartment.

I need a push in the right direction. I’m not sure if I want to buy in to locking myself into Synology for the long term but I have been a happy Synology user for over a decade. Neither my son or wife know much about managing the storage or network.

My dilemma is which path would be the best solution for backing up my son’s devices to our home.

Options considering: (but open to others)
Synology Bee that some how we get data copied to home NAS.
Full featured NAS that I could manage from home and use as offsite backup.
Unifi Dream Machine at apartment to create direct link back to home network.

Out of room but just want a solid direction.

[ed]

Thanks for sharing all the details — that really helps! To start, any Synology NAS will handle barebone backups easily, meaning you can back up full devices or entire folders with their built-in tools. It’s straightforward and reliable for your son’s remote backup needs.

If you want more granular control, like backing up selected folders or syncing specific files rather than whole drives, some other NAS brands like QNAP or Terramaster offer more flexible backup options and apps. This can give you more tailored control over what data gets backed up remotely.

As for remote access, setting up a VPN (maybe using a Unifi Dream Machine at your son’s apartment) would create a secure direct link back to your home NAS, making backups smoother and safer. This is great but requires some initial setup and maintenance.

Given your budget and desire to keep things manageable for your family, I’d suggest:

Stick with a Synology NAS at home for ease of use and solid backup features.

Consider setting up a VPN or secure remote access to let your son’s devices connect directly to your NAS for backups.

If you want to avoid locking into Synology long term, Terramaster NAS units are budget-friendly and support multiple OS options, which can be handy.