It’s getting time to retire the old Apple Airport Time Capsule, and I’m looking recommendations on easy-to-use replacements. This would be used for general files and automatic laptop backups.
Requirements:
- At least 2TB
- Capable of archiving to an offline disk used as an off-site backup
- Easy enough for my parents to use
- Not crazy expensive if possible
I’ve never used a dedicated NAS, so I’m humbly seeking the opinions of the Lemmy experts. Thank you!
I had a two bay Synology device for many years before I upgraded to a home lab. I liked it quite a bit as a beginner. The interface was easy to use, dead simple to set up the basics, and it had some advanced capability for those curious.
I’d strongly recommend a “plus” model. They are usually only slightly more expensive than their non-plus counterpart for a fairly significant upgrade.
This is the correct answer. Very beginner friendly. Very capable of growing on from this. Great way to onboard beginners.
I started with a 2 bay Intel CPU Synology. Used it for a couple of years.used it to learn about Docker. When I started using too many Docker apps and Synology couldn’t keep up, then I got a mini PC for compute and kept the Synology as just a plain NAS.
People recommending manual options for any “make your own” solution is throwing someone way into the deep end. OP can do that if that’s what he’s up for. But my first recommendation to anyone would be to pick up a secondhand Synology and bookmark:
https://mariushosting.com/
I have a Synology that does everything I need it to do and it is very simple and reliable. The new ones will restrict what hard drives they are compatible with to only HDDs certified by Synology, so I would not recommend one of those ones
Bingo. I’ve used Synology for ages and while they dont last forever, I get a lot of use out of them and re-buy them usually with an upgrade in mind.
But the new hard drive policy broke that cycle. I don’t put up with that. I replaced one with a UGreen NAS last month. It’s too early to tell how I feel about it. Docker is there and containers spin up pretty easily. Rumor has it there is hardware support for video encoding too, though I haven’t gotten around to testing it.
Bingo. I’ve used Synology for ages and while they dont last forever, I get a lot of use out of them and re-buy them usually with an upgrade in mind.
But the new hard drive policy broke that cycle. I don’t put up with that. I replaced one with a UGreen NAS last month. It’s too early to tell how I feel about it. Docker is there and containers spin up pretty easily. Rumor has it there is hardware support for video encoding too, though I haven’t gotten around to testing it.
I have a DS923+ with four Seagate 8TB drives in it that I really like. It’s easy to use and offers a lot of services.
However, like others have said, I do not recommend it for new purchases. If I were to do it again I would most likely set up an old PC as a server (though I went with the Synology mainly for power use reasons).
Synology is getting increasingly customer hostile, and from what I’ve read online their Linux version is so full of bespoke patches that they have painted themselves in a corner it will be hard to get out of. So, they’re likely to fall behind on keeping up with third party software. Their software is usually pretty slick and easy to use, but they discontinue things every few cycles.
The main thing I still use of theirs is Synology Drive, which was a pretty seamless move from Google Drive. On the flipside, their stuff is proprietary, so getting off of their platform can be challenging.
For my self-hosting needs I try not to tie anything to the Synology and just use it as a plain NAS. I use my Raspberry Pi or a VM instead.