02-28-2020, 03:37 PM
I am a retired IT professional looking to better protect my connected home network. On this net, we have three active Windows PC's, three laptops, PLEX media, several smart phones, one Linux PC, a Raspberry Pi, and a couple of virtual Linux and old Windows installs for playing around. The local network is a CAT6 (limited without pulling new cable) but with a fiber internet connection. Currently, I use AOMEI free backup software for a quarterly OS image backup of the PC's and laptops plus a weekly file-by-file of the important user files to a QNAP 451+ with 8GB RAM and 2x 8TB Seagate Ironwolf drives in a RAID 1. The QNAP hosts the PLEX and virtual boxes. This has worked well enough for recovery from a virus attack and a failed hard drive, but I want a bit more robust protection.
Balancing cost vs some improved protection from a home fire or a ransomware / virus attack, I want to sync to a cloud service from the QNAP approximately 5 to 8 TB of the critical files monthly with three independent version groups retained at a time. So about 15 to 24 TB of total off-site cloud storage. It seems the versioning would protect me from a ransomware attack that might go from a PC and take out the QNAP as well. I recognize that any files more recent than 30 days are potentially at risk and that RAID 1 allows me a single disk failure. I don't want to use Google Home cloud because the PC it is installed on (the most likely point of attack) has permissions to delete or encrypt the files on the cloud.
Over the next six months, I will add two more 8TB drives to the QNAP and expand the storage pool. I might want to migrate from RAID 1 to RAID 5 at that point, but a single drive failure may be an acceptable risk. This larger storage pool will let me create more independent volumes to sync to the cloud independently and I can separate backups from the individual workstations.
I read the Google Cloud pricing sheet and tried the calculator to try to figure costs, but... they were written by a committee of lawyers and CPA folks = not within comprehension by mere mortals. With your more expert perspective, what considerations in my plan am I simply not seeing? Should I switch to Acronis backup from the PC's to the QNAP for any reason(s)? (I had a bad experience with Acronis a few years ago). What do you roughly estimate my cloud storage would cost monthly?
Thanks very much in advance for taking the time out to discuss this with me. I suspect I may be typical of a lot of people who are ready to increase their home network's protection by using a NAS and a sync to a cloud. This will be even more true as more people work from home due to the pandemic!
Balancing cost vs some improved protection from a home fire or a ransomware / virus attack, I want to sync to a cloud service from the QNAP approximately 5 to 8 TB of the critical files monthly with three independent version groups retained at a time. So about 15 to 24 TB of total off-site cloud storage. It seems the versioning would protect me from a ransomware attack that might go from a PC and take out the QNAP as well. I recognize that any files more recent than 30 days are potentially at risk and that RAID 1 allows me a single disk failure. I don't want to use Google Home cloud because the PC it is installed on (the most likely point of attack) has permissions to delete or encrypt the files on the cloud.
Over the next six months, I will add two more 8TB drives to the QNAP and expand the storage pool. I might want to migrate from RAID 1 to RAID 5 at that point, but a single drive failure may be an acceptable risk. This larger storage pool will let me create more independent volumes to sync to the cloud independently and I can separate backups from the individual workstations.
I read the Google Cloud pricing sheet and tried the calculator to try to figure costs, but... they were written by a committee of lawyers and CPA folks = not within comprehension by mere mortals. With your more expert perspective, what considerations in my plan am I simply not seeing? Should I switch to Acronis backup from the PC's to the QNAP for any reason(s)? (I had a bad experience with Acronis a few years ago). What do you roughly estimate my cloud storage would cost monthly?
Thanks very much in advance for taking the time out to discuss this with me. I suspect I may be typical of a lot of people who are ready to increase their home network's protection by using a NAS and a sync to a cloud. This will be even more true as more people work from home due to the pandemic!