NAS backup

Hi! I just recently discovered your site while looking for info on the DS920+. Great work!
So I am more or less a happy camper when it comes to NAS drives, but have had a few issues that I did not find an article about on your site. Reliability.
My first NAS was a Netgear Readynas. I loved the build quality. It covered my use, but then after a few years it failed. Im a techie myself and was disappointed to learn that the failure was on the mainboard and that all my data due to the readynas raid setup, was lost. I then switched to the DS415+ that was fresh from the press. Moving from metal to plastic was a bummer, but Synology rocked on the SW. However, now and then TimeMachine wont sync, networkg sharing (Mac and PC) stops working and I have to go hunting for what is going on. Seems to me their solution for network sharing is not 100% and it might also be due to changes in the Mac world, so I cannot blame Synology alone, however it is a road block in daily productive flow. The other week I run into the main board issue seen on the DS415+ devices. I have seen fixes where you can solder on a resistor etc, and I will probably have to do that but as this is my 2nd NAS and both fail due to HW (not storage) my question is really: What is the recommended / most cost efficient solution to ensure true effortless backup of the NAS itself? It doesnt help with all kinds of RAID if the unit itself fail. What is your advice on backing up the NAS? E.g. the storage providers cloud solution, AWS, etc, or a second NAS? I plan to move to the DS920+ hoping that the drives can be moved over with the data intact, but I do see you recommend the QNAP equivalent instead… would I then have to start fresh with new drives or can I keep the data from the DS NAS I have when I move the disks over?

Summary:
– With your history with NAS, how well do the brands and model do over time? What issues are reported onthe different models?
– How to backup a NAS? If I go with Dropbox I might as well just drop the entire NAS….

With standard RAID options like RAID1/5/6 you could connect drives to a Linux machine and get your data out even though the NAS itself is dead. You could also slide those drives into a new replacement NAS and keep using them. Both Synology and Qnap allows this.
During the time it has proven that these two NAS brands are leaders in the market for a good reason.
You could use your old NAS for remote backups – all automated via RSYNC. Or get a cheap j series NAS and use that for backups. If it is the same brand NAS it is easier to synchronize. Synology even offers active-passive backup. This would mean that replacement NAS would take over if the main NAS fails.
If remote is not possible then Cloud backup like C2 or Backblaze would be good options.

I hope this helps.

 


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