I’m looking to install a simple NAS storage solution for my parents to store family photos, lossles music, and possibily back-up two MacOS devices. Ideally, the photos can be viewed on a primary Mac and maybe viewed on a network connected LG OLED; the music needs to be able to play on a network audio player. I’m thinking of getting a 2-bay Synology NAS because I can set it and forget it for them (and do some maintenince when I go visit), and the software seems very easy to use. Do you reccomend something different?
A compact 2-bay NAS that I can buy off the shelf would be great. I’m open to chassies that can run different operating systems for their needs, provided there are good resources online for tutorials and stuff. Thoughts?
Most home NAS units with an ARM processor would work just fine. I would get a 4 bay NAS as it’s not much money over a 2 bay. I say this because a NAS is not a backup if you don’t have at least 2 copies of the file!!!
Also if the NAS is at their house with their computers and there is a fire or they get robbed and you lose the computers and the NAS, now you have nothing.
You could have a 2 bay at their house and another at your house as a backup. Using rsync for example, you can copy from their NAS to the NAS at your place. Maybe that only happens 1 or 2 days a week. This can be a set it and forget it.
Just because your files are on a NAS doesn’t mean it’s backed up. If a drive fails, you can swap it out and restore all the data onto the new drive. But many other things can happen.