Backup NAS for Multiple Macs

Started by Slappy, April 13, 2020, 06:59:45 PM

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Slappy

For home use, Wife & I both have MacBook Airs with smallish SSDs and starting to feel the squeeze of minimal internal storage. Any recommendations for a NAS I can hang off of the Router to store pics & media and maybe even ideally be Time Capsule compatible?

Already use separate external HDs for each machine's Backup so the Time Capsule isn't a huge priority, more the ease of use to drop media & categorize it for retrieval later.
A little diddie 'bout black 'n cyan...two reflective colors doin' the best they can.

Joe

I've always read good things about Synology NAS units but have never had one.

We use Netgear ReadyNAS Pro's at work, I have a lesser model Neatgear ReadyNAS at home with 8 TB of storage. It has these protocols available.
Mac OS Sonoma 14.2.1 (c) | (retired)

The seven ages of man: spills, drills, thrills, bills, ills, pills and wills.

scottrsimons

We have the Synology units here at work, and I really like them. We replaced our Netgear NAS (multiple) with them. And have been so happy. Granted since they are newer, they have a better frontend than the old Netgear, which I would assume Netgear has updated their frontend.

The Synology frontends are very user friendly. And depending on the model you get, there are a lot they can do besides just file server and TimeMachine backups. Which we have one at the shop, just for that. I haven't needed to restore from it, yet, so can't say how easy that is. But at least we have backups.
"Your superior intellect is no match for our puny weapons!" - Homer J. Simpson

DigiCorn

We have Netgear at one shop and Synology at the other. Personally, I like the Netgear better because it seems to have fewer Mac related issues. At home I have a MacBook Air, an iMac, a Chromebook, and 4 Windows 10 boxes and I have one Seagate NAS and one Netgear NAS, and again I prefer the Netgear. It's just easier and offers more control than the Seagate. In the past I had a different Seagate and a Buffalo, but both crashed and burned after a few years.
"There's been a lot of research recently on how hard it is to dislodge an impression once it's been implanted in someone's mind. (This is why political attack ads don't have to be true to be effective. The other side can point out their inaccuracies, but the voter's mind privileges the memory of the original accusation, which was juicier than any counterargument ever could be.)"
― Johnny Carson

"Selling my soul would be a lot easier if I could just find it."
– Nikki Sixx

"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut."
― Ernest Hemingway

Slappy

Thanks all! I'd looked at the Synology models for work, but I'll go back & see if there's something reasonable for home use. Also Netgear, I hadn't realized they did NAS devices too.
A little diddie 'bout black 'n cyan...two reflective colors doin' the best they can.

Joe

I like Netgear hardware but hate their support. Their forums are run by assholes.
Mac OS Sonoma 14.2.1 (c) | (retired)

The seven ages of man: spills, drills, thrills, bills, ills, pills and wills.

DigiCorn

Quote from: Joe on April 15, 2020, 04:27:27 PM
I like Netgear hardware but hate their support. Their forums are run by assholes.
Linksys used to make good stuff before Belkin took over. Now it's run by window lickers.
"There's been a lot of research recently on how hard it is to dislodge an impression once it's been implanted in someone's mind. (This is why political attack ads don't have to be true to be effective. The other side can point out their inaccuracies, but the voter's mind privileges the memory of the original accusation, which was juicier than any counterargument ever could be.)"
― Johnny Carson

"Selling my soul would be a lot easier if I could just find it."
– Nikki Sixx

"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut."
― Ernest Hemingway

Slappy

Quote from: DigiCorn on April 14, 2020, 10:19:44 AMI have one Seagate NAS and one Netgear NAS, and again I prefer the Netgear.
Which model(s) do you have? I see the Netgear line goes from a single "Home" device to 4 more Office geared ones. Not sure I need the extra horse power of a mid-tier model but I wonder if the bump in processor at least would be beneficial at some point.
A little diddie 'bout black 'n cyan...two reflective colors doin' the best they can.

Joe

If you have any kind of video collection the ones with the higher end Intel processor can process full stream HD where as the cheaper models cannot. For example you can run something like Plex Server on the NAS and serve HD video to devices on your home network and the NAS does all the heavy video processing.
Mac OS Sonoma 14.2.1 (c) | (retired)

The seven ages of man: spills, drills, thrills, bills, ills, pills and wills.

DigiCorn

I DO run Plex server... on my desktop, Netgear NAS and Seagate NAS. The Seagate doesn't really seem to have the power to pull it off. Even the Netgear, which does have a quad core 1.4ghz cpu, doesn't seem to drive as well as my regular desktop unit, which is an AMD quad core 3.0ghz cpu.

The Netgear is a ReadyCloud with 4 bays. I have 4 2tb drives in it. I think you can put 4 6tb drives in it. I looked at Amazon and didn't see one like it. It identifies as a ReadyNAS 214 (https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-ReadyNAS-Diskless-Personal-Processor/dp/B015S0Y50C/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=readynas+214&qid=1587150893&s=electronics&sr=1-1) but I only paid about $200 at Fry's, but I had a $50 gift card and a return... I think the one I got is about $300+ list, not including the drives, but Amazon wants waaaaaay more, but I think Amazon gives you 24tb of HDs while mine came empty - mine doesn't *quite* look like the picture, but close. I did buy 2 2tb drives, and I had 2 2tb drives I removed from my Buffalo Pogoplug that went kaput. The Buffalo said the drive corrupted, but a reformat proved wrong. I configured the Netgear to run a backup, so it gives me almost 5tb storage, with a redundant backup. You can easily replace and/or upgrade drives.

The Seagate is a personal cloud, and unlike the Netgear, the drives are not accessible easily, and not hot swappable; it's a 2-bay, with two internal 4tb drives. It's model SNR22C and I got an open box used one from Amazon for about $150. This isn't it, but, *it's it*. https://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Personal-Storage-Device-STCS4000100/dp/B00PZZZEAG Again, like the Netgear, I run it like a RAID with a redundant backup of almost 4tb. I can't seem to track down the cpu specs, but most reviewers say this is a good unit, but that there are better ones out there (specifically synology).
"There's been a lot of research recently on how hard it is to dislodge an impression once it's been implanted in someone's mind. (This is why political attack ads don't have to be true to be effective. The other side can point out their inaccuracies, but the voter's mind privileges the memory of the original accusation, which was juicier than any counterargument ever could be.)"
― Johnny Carson

"Selling my soul would be a lot easier if I could just find it."
– Nikki Sixx

"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut."
― Ernest Hemingway

Joe

Yes the faster the CPU and the more RAM you can put in it the better the results for running a Plex server. My Netgear NAS at home has an ARM CPU and it won't even let me install Plex on it.
Mac OS Sonoma 14.2.1 (c) | (retired)

The seven ages of man: spills, drills, thrills, bills, ills, pills and wills.

DigiCorn

I'm getting more RAM today  :cheesy:
"There's been a lot of research recently on how hard it is to dislodge an impression once it's been implanted in someone's mind. (This is why political attack ads don't have to be true to be effective. The other side can point out their inaccuracies, but the voter's mind privileges the memory of the original accusation, which was juicier than any counterargument ever could be.)"
― Johnny Carson

"Selling my soul would be a lot easier if I could just find it."
– Nikki Sixx

"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut."
― Ernest Hemingway

Slappy

Quote from: Joe on April 17, 2020, 12:49:43 PM
If you have any kind of video collection the ones with the higher end Intel processor can process full stream HD where as the cheaper models cannot. For example you can run something like Plex Server on the NAS and serve HD video to devices on your home network and the NAS does all the heavy video processing.
I have zero plans for that, at least right now. All I want is easy, remotely accessible backup/storage for the 2 Macs.

Having said that, in a few months I'll be eating those words but that's ok too!
A little diddie 'bout black 'n cyan...two reflective colors doin' the best they can.