Can I ask what experience people have of using a NAS drive as a ‘personal cloud’ and how they find it when accessed remotely? I’m seriously thinking about getting something set up as a Plex server but also for ‘cloud’ storage. I know I could Google some of this stuff but does anyone know if I can
a) include a NAS drive in a Backblaze backup plan,
b) easily backup a NAS using Time Machine (on an even bigger drive, possibly a partition, all part of a giant RAID system??)
c) if there are clients for supporting e.g. photo storage from iOS camera rolls onto the ‘personal cloud’?
As my b) question suggests I’m generally a bit stumped as to how backup/cloning etc. could work effectively with NAS/personal cloud storage.
Any quick knowledgeable responses or pointers to online articles gratefully received!
I should clarify I’m wondering if I can go as far as cancelling Dropbox and iCloud plans, or at least dropping one of them. Family do share iCloud so that adds complication
b) No, that would not make much sense, as Time Machine is Apple’s proprietary solution that runs on Macs only, while NAS backup tasks must run on the NAS itself.
You can use other software to back up a NAS to another NAS or to an external drive connected to the NAS. Synology has multiple options, including HyperBackup, which will back up (with versioning) your entire NAS, or selected shared folders, to an external drive, or to another NAS on the same network or even via internet across the world. This can be scheduled to run automatically on the NAS and is not dependent on your computer.
See here for HyperBackup:
c) Yes, for example, with this (if you get a Synology). Other vendors probably have similar solutions.
I use a NAS for my personal cloud. I have an 8-bay DS1821+ and 5-bay DS1521+
a) no
b) Time Machine is for Apple. You could backup your Mac to your NAS using Time Machine, but that is not the best experience. Much easier and less headache to just attach a small passport to your mac.
c) Synology Photos - I am sure you can have dockers of other software on there if you want. (PhotoPrism is another example)
d) Backup / Cloning. Here is my NAS setup
I save 99% of my work to my NAS (8-bay), everything gets backed up there.
The 8-bay backs up to the 5-bay
Both the 8-bay and the 5-bay back up to separate cloud companies (in case one company goes dark, I have another)
Mac Setup
Passport attached for Time Machine
Passport attached for Carbon Copy Cloner
Backblaze backup
Other Cloud Services
iCloud - 2 TB plan. Helps manage phone, iPads, and family members
I got the Synology DS723+ with 2 x 10TB WD drives in it to do exactly what you are planning to do.
I replaced Dropbox with the superb Synology iPhone / iPad apps , mainly Synology Drive and Photos Mobile
I use Plex with a lifetime pass and listen to some 3000+ music albums wherever I am with the Plexamp and I use the Main Plex app on my AppleTV or iPad to watch my entire DVD collection that I ripped onto the Synology
I backup my MacBook and all my files using TimeMachine and CarbonCopyCloner
the Synology can backup files automatically to GoogleDrive and OneDrive etc. I use OneDrive for Synology CloudSync to backup some of my important files since I got 1TB free storage. Once setup in the Synology it happens automatically as you add files to the folders
the Synology can do far more and I‘m still exploring the features. It has calendars, mail, contacts etc.
At first I made the mistake and bought a smaller Synology NAS and it was underpowered for my needs. You need certain RAM and CPU power to stream movies. The DS723+ works very well.
I’m going to offer an alternative that I use. A Mac mini as a server. Basically solves a) and b). I don’t know about c).
The mini plus an external provides 17TB of storage.
Chronosync backs up the two main computers (iMacs) on a daily basis to the mini. Additionally, Time Machine on the iMacs backs up to a separate partition.
Backblaze backs up the mini, except for the Time Machine partition.
SuperDuper does scheduled nightly backups of the “critical” data partitions of the mini to an attached external SSD. I do manual backups of the remaining (mostly static) other data partitions monthly. There are two sets of drives, alternating with one off-site.
Resilio Sync provides a personal cloud service which is remotely accessible from a MacBook when away from home.
A VPN server on my router gives LAN access to the MacBook and iOS devices when away from home.
IMHO Photos is too tightly integrated with iCloud to get rid of iCloud.
If you aren’t very technical look at synology, its more set it and forget it. If you are very technical, I find people realize that synology software is so set it and forget it they end up paying the “synology tax” to have the software without having to manage the server all the time.
a) no
b) yes, but synology active backup for business works better imo (essentially synology version of Time Machine)
3) synology photos (it integrates directly with iOS photos, and there is an Apple TV app which we use to view photos on the TV. Before shared photos on iOS synology photos allowed my wife and I to have personal accounts and then move “saver” photos to the shared account. I view shared account on the Apple TV with family.)
Synology drive is a drop in replacement for dropbox.
-setting up something like tailscale would allow this away from the house, as it would see this as a “local device”
-rather than backing everything up, consider using the device as storage (and mount as SMB, etc) or using “synology drive” which keeps a local file and then syncs to NAS when you have appropriate connection
