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Except Synology uses Intel CPUs in most of their NAS systems.
https://www.synology.com/en-us...

Your Synology NAS probably has the Synology "Package Center" software. That proprietary software's license has an interesting clause which looks like it has the potential to do what Sonos is claiming:

1.6. When you install or use of any of Third Party Package, you have to keep it in mind that its developer may change its terms and conditions governing the Third Party Package, or modify, suspend, cancel or stop its services thereof at any time; and that Synology is also entitled to change, cancel or stop the Third Party Package and its services, at any time and for any reason. No warranty or commitment is provided therefor by Synology.

So when the Package Center asks you to tick a box confirming that you agree to the software's terms of service (which apparently change over time), this could mean either tick the box or take the consequences which (depending on the software) could mean letting Synology render the software non-functional. And if that software is needed to make the NAS work, that could mean rendering the NAS non-functional. After all, didn't Synology recently change the software in the Package Center so that some of it can't be turned off, can't be uninstalled, and may provide functionality you don't want anyhow? What's to stop them from putting more functionality into packages managed via the Package Center?

I self-host. There are a couple of good options that way:

• If you have a Synology NAS, you can install Note Station which is basically Evernote but stored on your own server. It has nice (and free) iOS apps, and an Android app that I haven't used. There's no desktop app yet but it does have a nice web interface. This is probably the easiest drop-in replacement for Evernote - if you have a Synology.
• If you're in the Apple ecosystem, I love DEVONthink Pro Office (DTPO). It's not so much a note app as a personal knowledge repository. My home ScanSnap scanner deposits docs directly into my DTPO inbox and OCRs them so they're fulltext searchable. It also has a nice UI for creating your own notes, spreadsheets, etc. directly in the app, and great system integrations to make it easy to save data from almost any app into it. It has amazing AI classification stuff, so it can automatically file things that look like invoices into my "Invoices" folder. It has a new iOS app that syncs to it, either via local Wi-Fi peer-to-peer or through your own WebDAV server (with end-to-end encryption so you don't have to trust your storage provider).

Of those two, I prefer DTPO as it's more mature and already does everything imaginable. Note Station is pretty good today, too, and has a lot of promise. Either one will move your data to being 100% in your own control and I like that a lot.

Your suggestion, in a thread about relative costs of systems, is to buy a custom piece of hardware, from a vendor who's website doesn't actually list a price.

Y'all got Amazon where you live? Or access to any of the vendors they list on their website?

But it's not like Windows can backup to thin air. You have to have something on the other end of that CAT-5, so it's probably a wash hardware-wise.

Do you know what I think when I see a website selling a product but not listing a unit price.

"Huh, I wonder if Amazon has them?" would have been my first thought, but apparently it wasn't yours.

I second this wholeheartedly. It also has a nice iOS app (and maybe Android too?), so I basically have Evernote except with terabytes of "free" storage and my data never gets stored anywhere outside my control. Link: Note Station

You think those packages that open your Synology box to the web are safe?

http://www.secureworks.com/res...
http://forum.synology.com/enu/...

And others. I like Synology stuff, I use it. But opening anything up to the Internet isn't safe. You may have full control of your data, but so does somebody else.

>> Microsoft will no longer distribute ... That means I will be forced to run a deprecated OS

Use Linux

Our media server runs Linux (so do our file server and our web server). They're all Synology boxes, either the 2xx or the 4xx series. They all work very well and do automated backups, including the 2007 server. So discard Windows and get Linux; 'nuff said.

>> Microsoft will no longer distribute ... That means I will be forced to run a deprecated OS

Use Linux

Our media server runs Linux (so do our file server and our web server). They're all Synology boxes, either the 2xx or the 4xx series. They all work very well and do automated backups, including the 2007 server. So discard Windows and get Linux; 'nuff said.

I use a WDTV Live hub and just link it with a Synology DS212+ It sits behind the TV and you can't hear it at all. The WDTV is louder. It has 8TB of storage. It does the job perfectly and probably uses much less power than what you are trying to do.

You're living in a digital cave IMHO.
Don't worry, I was too until recently...

Always mucked with fast external storage as the "main" solution -- firewire, thunderbolt, etc. This system is the main and had a few externals hooked up, that system had another, another over there for something else. It was a mess all around. How to back it all up??

Gave them all away -- bought a Synology

Then bought another (back it up :).

180-200M/sec throughput is the norm. On the network. Beats out most external drives I've ever come across. Everything ties into / backs up to the array. Home and work now too.

I use everything but Microsoft products. They're shit.

My filesystem is 60T w/ under 10T used today. I'll consider plugging in more drives or changing them out in the Synology somewhere between 2017 and 2020...

S3? Yuck. Their pricing is horrendous. I'd suggest crashplan.

http://www.code42.com/crashplan/
http://forum.synology.com/wiki/index.php/CrashPlan_Headless_Client

Although the synology forums are currently getting destroyed (guessing from this article).

Forum post so far:

Hello Everyone,

We’d like to provide a brief update regarding the recent ransomware called “SynoLocker,” which is currently affecting certain Synology NAS servers.

Based on our current observations, this issue only affects Synology NAS servers running some older versions of DSM (DSM 4.3-3810 or earlier), by exploiting a security vulnerability that was fixed and patched in December, 2013. At present, we have not observed this vulnerability in DSM 5.0.

For Synology NAS servers running DSM 4.3-3810 or earlier, and if users encounter any of the below symptoms, we recommend they shut down their system and contact our technical support team here: https://myds.synology.com/supp....

-When attempting to log in to DSM, a screen appears informing users that data has been encrypted and a fee is required to unlock data.
-A process called “synosync” is running in Resource Monitor.
-DSM 4.3-3810 or earlier is installed, but the system says the latest version is installed at Control Panel > DSM Update.

For users who have not encountered any of the symptoms stated above, we highly recommend downloading and installing DSM 5.0, or any version below:
-For DSM 4.3, please install DSM 4.3-3827 or later
-For DSM 4.1 or DSM 4.2, please install DSM 4.2-3243 or later
-For DSM 4.0, please install DSM 4.0-2259 or later

DSM can be updated by going to Control Panel > DSM Update. Users can also manually download and install the latest version from our Download Center here: http://www.synology.com/suppor....

If users notice any strange behavior or suspect their Synology NAS server has been affected by the above issue, we encourage them to contact us at security@synology.com.

Apologies for any problems or inconvenience caused. We will keep you updated with latest information as we address this issue.

Forum post so far:

Hello Everyone,

We’d like to provide a brief update regarding the recent ransomware called “SynoLocker,” which is currently affecting certain Synology NAS servers.

Based on our current observations, this issue only affects Synology NAS servers running some older versions of DSM (DSM 4.3-3810 or earlier), by exploiting a security vulnerability that was fixed and patched in December, 2013. At present, we have not observed this vulnerability in DSM 5.0.

For Synology NAS servers running DSM 4.3-3810 or earlier, and if users encounter any of the below symptoms, we recommend they shut down their system and contact our technical support team here: https://myds.synology.com/supp....

-When attempting to log in to DSM, a screen appears informing users that data has been encrypted and a fee is required to unlock data.
-A process called “synosync” is running in Resource Monitor.
-DSM 4.3-3810 or earlier is installed, but the system says the latest version is installed at Control Panel > DSM Update.

For users who have not encountered any of the symptoms stated above, we highly recommend downloading and installing DSM 5.0, or any version below:
-For DSM 4.3, please install DSM 4.3-3827 or later
-For DSM 4.1 or DSM 4.2, please install DSM 4.2-3243 or later
-For DSM 4.0, please install DSM 4.0-2259 or later

DSM can be updated by going to Control Panel > DSM Update. Users can also manually download and install the latest version from our Download Center here: http://www.synology.com/suppor....

If users notice any strange behavior or suspect their Synology NAS server has been affected by the above issue, we encourage them to contact us at security@synology.com.

Apologies for any problems or inconvenience caused. We will keep you updated with latest information as we address this issue.

That post is at http://forum.synology.com/enu/...

Beyond the quoted text, note that this also gives instructions on how to update the DSM software. Rough steps:

1. Start Synology Assistant (may be able to bypass this with other connection methods).
2. Select your DiskStation and click the Connect button.
3. Go to Control Panel and select DSM Update.
4. Tell it to Download and then Install the latest software.
5. Wait up to twenty minutes while it installs.

Unlike a desktop OS, browser, or other software, the DiskStation does not normally remind you to do this. You have to check manually.

If you don't want to install the latest software, it looks like you can get older versions from http://www.synology.com/suppor... (requires Javascript).

Incidentally, my DiskStation was still running the older software, which came installed on it. Shouldn't security updates get installed automatically for most people? I get that some want full control but shouldn't the default be to auto-install?

That post is at http://forum.synology.com/enu/...

Beyond the quoted text, note that this also gives instructions on how to update the DSM software. Rough steps:

1. Start Synology Assistant (may be able to bypass this with other connection methods).
2. Select your DiskStation and click the Connect button.
3. Go to Control Panel and select DSM Update.
4. Tell it to Download and then Install the latest software.
5. Wait up to twenty minutes while it installs.

Unlike a desktop OS, browser, or other software, the DiskStation does not normally remind you to do this. You have to check manually.

If you don't want to install the latest software, it looks like you can get older versions from http://www.synology.com/suppor... (requires Javascript).

Incidentally, my DiskStation was still running the older software, which came installed on it. Shouldn't security updates get installed automatically for most people? I get that some want full control but shouldn't the default be to auto-install?

There is no mention in the article of this being a zero day vulnerability, in fact the article specifically says "it’s not clear yet how SynoLocker’s operators installed the malware".

As others have said Synology is reporting the vulnerability was patched in December. Hardly a zero day.

I bought a Synology NAS and set it up with appropriate file sharing (and the Cloud Station Dropbox-alike). I now have my own personal cloud with several TB of storage, and it's all under my control. Tell me again why I'd want a teensy little OneDrive?

BTW, I like my Synology but almost any other modern NAS will give you the same features. Pick one you like and free yourself from relying on Microsoft/Google/Dropbox's good graces and government backups.

I have a "server" machine on my home network, with some big hard drives (inexpensive today). It is set up so on local network I can simply access the drives as though they were in my work machine, other than network latency of course. When away from home, I can use SSH and SFTP. (In fact I use SSH forwarding so I can access both the server and my regular work machine.)

Likewise. About 28TB of storage (about 16TB once the RAID overhead & hot standby is accounted for). It's all backed up a couple of times per week onto external USB drives as well.

Likewise, though I'm closer to 3-4TB on a Freebsd+ZFS box.

Very simple. Easy to set up. Probably more secure than Microsoft anything. And no third parties involved.

I don't need "streaming" anything. I don't need DLNA or other kinds of streaming services. If I am away from home, I just download the file and view or play it locally. Disadvantage: that can take a while. Advantage: no blips or burps or freezes in my media, because IT'S LOCAL, not streaming.

I can also sync folders, if I want, via BitTorrent Sync. Again, no third party involved.

We use DLNA streaming locally. Not over the net. Like you, I can copy stuff whenever I want to my device over a VPN, and view it locally.

Exactly, me too. Mediatomb+PS3 ftw here.

So, really: I don't need "cloud services". They offer me nothing I don't already do myself, and they add unreliability, privacy risks, and so many other things I really don't need to dick around with.

I would also like to find an NAS that doesn't have all those fancy bells and whistles, and doesn't make me pay for them. I just want it to "look like" a local drive on my home network. That is all. I will take care of the rest.

Have you tried the Synology boxes? They're not the cheapest, but we have three of them at home.

Interesting, I'll take a look into these.

I have a "server" machine on my home network, with some big hard drives (inexpensive today). It is set up so on local network I can simply access the drives as though they were in my work machine, other than network latency of course. When away from home, I can use SSH and SFTP. (In fact I use SSH forwarding so I can access both the server and my regular work machine.)

Likewise. About 28TB of storage (about 16TB once the RAID overhead & hot standby is accounted for). It's all backed up a couple of times per week onto external USB drives as well.

Very simple. Easy to set up. Probably more secure than Microsoft anything. And no third parties involved.

I don't need "streaming" anything. I don't need DLNA or other kinds of streaming services. If I am away from home, I just download the file and view or play it locally. Disadvantage: that can take a while. Advantage: no blips or burps or freezes in my media, because IT'S LOCAL, not streaming.

I can also sync folders, if I want, via BitTorrent Sync. Again, no third party involved.

We use DLNA streaming locally. Not over the net. Like you, I can copy stuff whenever I want to my device over a VPN, and view it locally.

So, really: I don't need "cloud services". They offer me nothing I don't already do myself, and they add unreliability, privacy risks, and so many other things I really don't need to dick around with.

I would also like to find an NAS that doesn't have all those fancy bells and whistles, and doesn't make me pay for them. I just want it to "look like" a local drive on my home network. That is all. I will take care of the rest.

Have you tried the Synology boxes? They're not the cheapest, but we have three of them at home.

If memory serves, most of Synology's non-intel NASes are Marvell based. Marvell's fastest device, in terms of general compute, is the MV78460. 4 cores, ARMv7, up to 1.6GHz. As documented here most Synology NASes ship with something slower than that.

For reference, a 1.6GHz 'Kirkwood' Marvell core is good for slightly under .2 meghashes/s. About half as fast as an Atom CPU, less than 1/4000th as fast as an AMD7970, and just plain embarassing compared to the ASICs that do most of the work these days. With devices that run on USB power alone pulling north of 1gighash/s, you could probably own every Synology ARM NAS in the first world and barely pay yourself for your time.

Exactly. It's not difficult to accumulate a considerable amount of data at home, so a well-thought-out backup & restore is essential.

We have 16TB of disks (8TB effective, in RAID) on our Synology DS414 file server at home, with automatic incremental backup every day via USB3 onto a pair of 4TB external disks. There's another 12TB of disks (6TB effective, in RAID) on an older Synology as our media server, with automatic incremental backup via USB2 onto two 3TB external drives. The external disks are cycled with another set every few weeks. I really wish USB3 had been invented a few years earlier, as the restore time is appalling on the media server (yes, I tested it).

This may not be the cheapest solution, but it's what I'm planning to do...

• Everyone acquires a NAS device (Drobo, Synology, etc) of an appropriate capacity, ideally something that can handle several TB and is expandable.
• Fill up with 4TB drives.
• Install BitTorrent Sync, and share out a portion of the NAS.

You can install the client on your desktop, mobile, linux, and freebsd devices, too (you'll want a supported NAS, so something linux-based or FreeNAS or such, unfortunately nothing MIPS-based.

I'm primarily planning on just dropping something (probably a Drobo 5N) off at my mom's (she & my step-dad aren't tech savvy), and setting everything up for them, including backups of their PCs to the device, sharing of photos & videos, etc. And then setting up replication of critical, irreplaceable data between their place and mine. On my side, I already have a Synology DS1813+ that I need to set up, first.

The Synology stuff also has the capability to deal with IP Cameras for monitoring (though I suspect that if you just set up a share to dump images to, you won't need a license for it). For streaming, I believe both Drobo & Synology (as well as others) have media servers, so app-enabled TVs, BluRay players, and game consoles should be able to stream appropriate movies and music as needed.

I'm thinking the NAS, my laptop (which I'll also start backups to the NAS, likely NOT shared), my VPS, and my mobile devices (phone, tablet) will all sync, as will my wife's laptop & devices.

Yes, this is probably heavily overdone, but it also avoids putting private data on systems that I don't control, and avoids the commercial cloud providers at the same time. And, not surprisingly, I play a sysadmin for my day job, so this ties in nicely with that, too.

You can buy one or more Synology NAS and sync your files with all devices. Even access them on the go, from mobile/tablet. http://www.synology.com/en-glo... The cost is quite small, you reuse what HDDs you have sitting around, and you only need to do parameterization.

The next version (beta version released) of the system that runs the Synology NAS will offer synchronizing from one NAS to another. And the available products from Synology are very reliable. I have been using their products for a few years now and is a very satisfied customer.

You can read about this new feature her.

Get two synology nas boxes. They support nas to nas backups. http://www.synology.com/support/tutorials_show.php?q_id=461

There are decent external drive enclosures with good power and heat management and excellent access to hot swap drives as required. For example, check out Synology.

What if added the stipulation that the data must be transferred in a single filesystem. This thing:

http://www.synology.com/products/product.php?product_name=DS2413%2B

...scales up to 96 TB w/ an expansion device and easily fits in a suburban. Using their estimate for travel time from NY to LA that comes to ~0.66 GB/s or ~6.6 Gbps. Fiber beats that by a factor of six. However, since they're standard NAS devices, you should be able to access them to read the data w/o much trouble, and you could probably cram six of them in a suburban.

I'm a Synology user myself, but this is definitely the right idea. If you want an appliance, buy one. Setting up my DS412+ involved inserting the drives, plugging it into power and ethernet, and running the Synology Assistant on my computer. Dead simple. Bonus: the DS412+ is an Intel Linux machine, so if you don't want to use their (very handy) software, you can just compile and run anything you like.

Get a Synology box like the DS-113 or DS-213 or some similar home NAS. It will do automated backups (to web storage or other NAS or external USB drives), and supports RAID if you get a multi-disk version. They also will provide your own "private cloud" services as well as web server, media server, and various other features which you may or may not find useful.

Hello Lordfly!
I understand you're basically trying to digitalize your library and allow some streaming features to all your digital devices (mac, windows, tablet, phone, etc).
Now there are various options available to you, there are some factors to consider:

* How much data are you looking to store?
* How much time do you want to spend tinkering around with it (looking for a hobby or a solution)?
* Are you looking to stream this data outside of your home and if so, do you have the bandwidth to support the stream?
* How bad would it be to lose your data due to harddisk failure, or a fire?


With all points to consider, based on what you said my guess is that you would be okay to spend a little extra and have the "full solution" in place.
A "NAS" (network attached storage) device sounds like the thing you need here, you can build those yourself, but is rarely much cheaper then grabbing a NAS device from a manufacturer (we're talking maybe 10~50 dollars you'd save here, not counting the hours you'd have to invest to get the software running). A NAS generally is a suite of different solutions and connection methods allowing you to make your storage widely available throughout your home.
Most come prepacked with nice proprietary software packages that offer you all the features right out of the box!
My personal favorite brand on NAS devices is Synology, relatively new but make very nice devices which they frequently update, even on older models.
I have a DS212j at home, with 2 x Western Digital Red 2TB disks in it running in a redundant RAID-1 setting.
http://www.synology.com/products/product.php?product_name=DS212j&lang=enu

Offering a wide selection of connection methods I managed to hook this device up to my PC, media center running XBMC, TV, Home cinema system, laptops and tablet.

Its icing on the cake is its webbased management interface which looks like a windows environment on it's own, very easy with all kinds of navigation windows, external software packages you can click&install and separate interface when using mobile devices or tablets. I can for example now stream my library using the integrated audio-player at work without even having to install any software there. there is also a download tool integrated, All in all it is a lot more then i'd get with a software package as FreeNas for example.

Some are suggesting a XBMC setup which is more of a media-center solution, not as much a storage solution.
I prefer to keep those separate as playing entertainment media and storing data are 2 different purposes each with their own requirements.

I hope this helped you with your choice!

PS. when getting disks, you'd want to go for the more durable series, desktop drives aren't really made for NAS devices and might give issues, my 2 cents, stick with western digital REDs, which are specially made for NAS devices, both cheap and pretty durable.

Your NAS will cost more than $4 in electricity per month.

Not for a home NAS.

A monthly increment of $4 on a typical US utility bill is equal to about 29½kWh of energy usage (according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average in the US was $0.135/kWh in summer 2012). Consider a Synology DS213 with 8TB in two disks. Even if the disks were perpetually spinning, it would consume 13kWh per month. If the disks were spun down the whole time, usage would be 6kWh per month. In fact, the disks spend the vast majority of the time spun down, so the energy usage is closer to the lower figure. So that $4 per month for electricity is equivalent to having three or four of these NAS units in typical use.

Where are all the good end-user tools for S3 now?

As others have mentioned, Dropbox and SugarSync are consumer interfaces to S3. I think the fact that Amazon references "objects" and "buckets" in S3 terminology is directly because they didn't really build S3 to be an "online file system" type service (though s3fuse provides it). They intended to be merely the backend for the consumer services you mentioned.

That being said, clients aren't always strictly downloadable software. My most-used S3 client is built into my Synology DiskStation NAS and provides nightly backups to S3 (hopefully they add support for Glacier). Also, I frequently use Panic Transmit for Mac OS X, which is an FTP client that also has support for S3.

I personally back up everything in my Wearable Personal Private Cloud (WPPC). The WPPC is amazing It can hold many GB's, is cheap for limited space but with a bit of money you can get a lot more space! The transfer speeds are amazing and I can access all my could data wherever I am as long as there is a computer, because it is the cloud it is always with me. It also has enhanced security an privacy features because it can be taken offline whenever I like it to be. In the old days the WPPC would be called a USB stick but that is just old! I hate it when the cloud label gets stuck on everything. A simple cluster with two nodes is now a cloud. Heck even a single synology nas with no reduncancy is now a cloud http://www.synology.com/support/video_your_cloud.php?lang=us In the old days it would be port forwarding not it is a cloud.

http://www.synology.com/products/product.php?product_name=DS2411%2B&lang=uk Still portable enough to do your backup then take offsite.

Two success stories...

The first was a small business with a dozen workstations wherein a Windows SBS was dismantled and retired. Everthing was migrated to a small Synology (currently running their DSM 4.x), OpenDNS and Google Apps. Works well.

The second is a medium size business I'm working with that has multiple sites. They're using Windows primarily for authentication. But all storage needs are taken care of by Synology DS1512+:
http://www.synology.com/products/product.php?product_name=DS1512%2B&lang=us
with WD RE4 drives in RAID 5:
http://wd.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=30
at each site.

Both companies are using either USB or eSATA portable drives to back up the NAS data nightly, which is managed by the Synology software. They really are solid and easy to manage.

Some businesses may need more infrastructure for their business needs, and will need a Windows foundation if the software they want to use requires it. Or maybe Linux and other open-source solutions under the right circumstances. But a decent Internet pipe and a Synology box can provide most of the infrastructure needed for small businesses running workstation-based software.

The main benefit you would lose by changing to a NAS is the centralized domain authentication, assuming you have one. If you don't have a domain then a NAS would work great. I've setup a couple of Synology before, they perform well and are easy to manage.

That was true a few years ago, but newer Synology boxes can be LDAP servers. My DS211 supports this, but my older DS207 does not.

I recently installed a small DS212+ for a small office of 5 using around 1tb of data. The NAS was chosen as a low cost option but after running it for a few weeks it's actually better than a windows box for this use case, mostly because of its excellent software and ease of use. It has a built in VPN server and access to a host of 3rd party apps. Highly recommended.

Agree with the recommendation for Synology; they're hard to beat on value although you can find cheaper NAS boxes. I presently have both a DS207 (1TB) and a DS211 (6TB), and they work like a charm. Both are configured with a pair of disks in RAID0 so they're fairly quick, and have automatic incremental backup to a group of USB drives. Synology's web server is solid enough, but you might want to harden it with suitable Apache configuration files and sensible policies. As parent said, there are excellent free applications available for download - we use their mail server, media server, and photo station, but there are also DHCP, VPN, LDAP, and ERP possibilities.

A DS1512 would absolutely blow away the DS211 in performance, and is marketed as being suitable for use by SMEs.

I'm more familiar with Synology NASes (albeit on the consumer side) and Dell servers (instead of that NAS). Coming from a Linux sysadmin background, I was impressed with how the Synology combined pretty easy GUI management while not preventing you from doing stuff on the back end Linux side. You can play around with Synology's web interface yourself online. It's pretty cool what they can do with a bunch of javascript.

These things are built for file serving, and it's about as easy as it gets to set up. They also package all sorts of stuff as add-on services, though I don't personally use DNS. My complaint with the home-designed versions in the past is that they skimped on RAM, making them less useful for any kind of real server application. The higher end models like the 1512+ do better, and for just DNS and file serving it should be more than sufficient. Don't expect it to compete with a $1500 server in terms of computational performance, obviously, but it should be able to pretty much max out the drives' performance.

I had a drive die on my personal NAS, and the process went exactly as it should: it emailed me saying there might be problems; I did an extended SMART test via the GUI to double check it; I obtained an RMA for the drive and installed it; it restored to the new drive without incident.

It looks like this could work well with a Synology configured for disk redundancy, plus a home router with VPN (dd-wrt or tomato).

I'm not sure but you maybe want to make this a challenge for yourself? I would personally go for the easiest route which you just set up and takes care of itself without complex problems. Dropbox (if you have enough storage) is the ideal answer as it will sync away in the background so freeing you to do things for yourself. Certainly the last dropbox update seemed to ask me if I want dropbox when I plug in a camera rather than using iphoto.

However I suggest getting a good NAS and my suggestion is a Synology Diskstation of some type (no financial interest, just very satisfied customer). You have your own server without the power overheads. Plus you can set it up for remote access and they have even released their "cloudstation" solution which is like having your own personal dropbox syncing, so would satisfy having pictures on your own server. Would go to http://www.synology.com/ and check it out. I'm sure you could set it up to backup things if you accidentally deleted locally. By the by if you're travelling abroad please do not data roam, it will beexpensive and very regrettable. Either switch off data roaming or get a local sim.

I haven't owned a Drobo so I can't comment on the quality or functionality. But QNAP and Synology are generally considered the leaders in the NAS market. SmallNetBuilder has pretty thorough coverage and benchmarks of your NAS options.

If you don't need a NAS, just some form of aggregate storage, non-networked alternatives are made by Mediasonic and Sans Digital. In my case I just needed something to throw my old drives in and power it on every couple weeks to backup my ZFS file server. So one of these connected via USB 3.0 or eSATA worked just fine.

I'm considering buying a Synology server and using this
http://www.synology.com/support/video_your_cloud.php?lang=us
Combine with a DDNS and you have your own self-hosted Dropbox/GDrive.

Anyone have any experience with this?

I use windows live sync to synchronize one main folder (to rule them all) across all my machines. Then, from one of the machines, I periodically dump that folder onto a NAS. On the NAS I have a script running that does snapshot backups (like time machine) of that folder. Losing data from an accidental delete is far more likely than a hard drive crashing.

The only disadvantage is that the machine that dumps to my NAS has to be at home on my local LAN.

I am thinking of trying out Synology's DSM 4.0: http://www.synology.com/dsm/index.php?lang=enu

If it claims to do what they say it does, it should be like my own dropbox in the cloud. Then I can sync my one main folder across all my machines and my NAS. This eliminates the need for windows live sync - and I don't have to be at home to dump data to the NAS. I can also setup a script to make periodic snapshots of the folder. The only issue is currently the synology only has windows clients - and all my machines are macs... so I am still waiting to pull the trigger.

All of our important files (even the kids' files) are on the server. It backs itself up automatically 3 times per week to external USB drives. I rotate the USB backup drives every few weeks. So we need do nothing special today, as the backup works fine.

We're up to 2 NAS units now, with 7TB[*] of disk space between them, all backed up on schedule. The USB backup drives are rotated every few weeks with another set kept in a secure place in the garage.

[*] One NAS unit doubles up as media server, so it's got a load of movies & music in addition to user files in its 6TB. The other one is our web server and email server with only 1TB of disk space.

99% of my library is in MKV format, which WMC does not care for

Apparently, WMC as-shipped lacks MKV support (how dumb can MS get?), but it can be added later. Use this Google-obtained advice at your own risk, etc. Our media server is a Synology box which runs Linux and handles many formats.

99% of my library is in MKV format, which WMC does not care for

Apparently, WMC as-shipped lacks MKV support (how dumb can MS get?), but it can be added later. Use this Google-obtained advice at your own risk, etc. Our media server is a Synology box which runs Linux and handles many formats.

Yeah, they have used Ext-JS for awhiel now, but HTML-5 support and features is new in DSM 3.2
http://www.synology.com/dsm/index.php

I had to look at similar options. I might take 50,000 pictures in a year, all raw, and I needed to find a good solution. Losing images means I could be sued (and I actually carry malpractice insurance for photography).

My conclusion: using only local storage or only remote storage is dangerous. Use both.

Using only local storage, no matter how many backups you have and how often you refresh them, is vulnerable to your house burning down or burglary. Even ignoring refreshing the data, storage media are vulnerable to obsolescence. Try reading a 9-track tape nowadays -- even if the tape is good, it'll be tough to get the data.

Using only remote storage is highly vulnerable to sites simply going out of business or deleting your images. And if a site goes down, they don't care if you sue them -- you still lost your images. Flickr has, in the past, simply deleted someone's archives and was unable to restore them.

Initially, my backups consisted of a USB HD stored in a fire safe. Nowadays, I use a combination of both local and remote storage. I purchased a "pro" account on an image hosting service (smugmug, in this case) which has unlimited image storage (and the option for backups of any file types), and I also have a 10TB NAS. The local NAS holds the raw image backups, and after they're processed, I upload them to hidden galleries on my pro account as JPGs. If my house burns, I might need to do a reshoot of the past week, but everything processed is backed up offsite in some usable format.

I highly recommend Synology NAS solutions for local storage, which are open source and actively encourage ports and enhancements to their systems, and they have an excellent admin panel. This is unlike Drobo, who has their system fairly locked down...

Some NAS devices support a complete email server, even if it's not always installed or active by default (usually it's not). We have a Synology NAS, and use its email server to combine local email (for our dyndns "domain") and accounts on a number of external hosts. Since it's on the NAS, useful features such as automated backup to external disk include the email with little extra configuration.