I never knew I needed a NAS but getting one changed everything

Source: Rich Edmonds / Windows Primal

How many times have you acquired a piece of tech or software and wondered how y'all always lived without it? That'southward me correct now with a Synology NAS. I've used external and deject storage for years for various purposes, simply never really thought most attaching information technology to my home network.

Enter the NAS. Hoo male child. I've been missing out.

Here's the kicker. A NAS is much more than only a convenient identify to stash your files and access them from any device. It's a server, your own private niggling deject. The employ cases are and so far and wide I genuinely wish I'd got one sooner. If you're on the fence, peradventure this can help you lot determine.

A NAS is manner more than just storage

Source: Windows Central

My previously uneducated opinion just passed off a NAS as a fancy, very expensive hard bulldoze that I could utilise without having to get up and plug in a cable. In a sense that is still true, but information technology's so much more than than that.

Just have a read through some of the guides our resident NAS expert, Rich Edmonds, has written. Plex server? How virtually a repository for your home security photographic camera footage? Integration with your cloud storage providers? That doesn't fifty-fifty scratch the surface.

Source: Windows Central

I'one thousand using a Synology DS218+, far from the biggest, baddest NAS you can become, but even then and with, by PC standards, pretty average internals, information technology'south a seriously powerful little box. I've used it to set up upwardly a Plex server delivering on-need media, alive TV, and DVR capabilities to the whole house, I've used information technology to experiment with Docker, host email, and aye, equally network storage attainable from any PC.

The scope of what you can apply a NAS for is what surprised me the most and is likewise the reason I simply don't think I could live without one anymore. It's integrated into both my work and my entertainment, and there'southward room for a lot more.

The icing on the block with this Synology unit is how easy it is to access my files from outside my dwelling network. I didn't need to ready VPNs or any other complicated matter I don't really understand, Synology handled information technology. All I have to do is use a spider web browser and log in. So it's not even just network-attached storage for ane location.

A sandbox to play in

Source: Windows Central

One of my big self-promises in the latter part of 2022 and going into the new year is to learn some new It skills. And my NAS is something I can use for that, albeit with limitations. Docker, for example, is one of the most pop platforms on the planet for running containerized apps, and I've started to play around with it on my Synology NAS. I could do the aforementioned on my PC, simply inevitably I'll end upwards breaking something at some bespeak, and my NAS is a detached sandbox. I've got a bunch of files on there, but even if I interruption something, it'south a minor inconvenience.

Too, I've been able to endeavour out not only Plex once again but some alternatives to Plex, including Emby and Jellyfin, all with ease, minimal setup, and no requirement to get out my PC on 24/7 to access. The media lives on the NAS, the service that handles it lives on the NAS; it's the only thing that needs to stay on. My hotter, thirstier gaming PC gets to go to sleep at night.

That's ane of the things that's inverse my workflow the virtually. I'm not relying on finding that USB stick or that external SSD anymore to locate that file I needed on my laptop or leaving my desktop PC on all the fourth dimension in example I need to remote in for something. Everything important (so basically, piece of work) that'southward stored locally is on my NAS, and that's the merely device that needs to stay on.

Going back to Docker for a moment also, my NAS has been a key part of getting into cocky-hosting my own services that are more private and don't rely on someone else's deject working. I've since progressed on to having a full-fourth dimension home server online running these services, but I could have easily left them running on my NAS. That's where they all started.

I won't diameter yous with too many details, but thanks initially to my NAS and the capabilities information technology affords I started hosting my own local podcast server, a tracker-free front end to Reddit, and even a self-hosted version of Google search without all of the ads and tracking and full general Google junk all over information technology. All running in a Docker container, all based on my Synology NAS.

You don't need to go overboard

Source: Rich Edmonds / Windows Central

Along with just what I can at present practise with a NAS in my life, I was perchance about surprised by how even a more bones model like mine is notwithstanding perfectly capable of getting into all this fun stuff. Certain it's hardly a powerhouse, just its own operating organisation is and so lightweight it hasn't still struggled.

At that place are good reasons to take a multi-drive NAS setup in a RAID configuration, but every bit, if you just want to beginning small there are units out in that location that take a single difficult drive. The basic thought is the same whether you have a single drive or a whole rack of them.

We've got guides to assist you buy the best NAS for your home and too to help you out if you're specifically looking for a home entertainment solution to get the best NAS for Plex.

I approximate the overarching thought hither is that if you've been on the fence or you're non really sure what value a NAS tin can add together to your life, I've been there. And at present I wouldn't be without ane.

Source: https://www.windowscentral.com/i-never-knew-i-needed-nas-getting-one-changed-everything

Posted by: lewislovence.blogspot.com

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