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Geek @ Coastguard NZ
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#3112424 6-Aug-2023 16:48

NAS is a standalone small PC at its core with 1 or more drives, dedicated just for file storage over a network. Best to go for 4 bay+ but then you need to populate those 4 bays with matching drives if you want redundancy.

Not cheap as such, but they work well.

I have an old 2 bay one I use for external backups. That then gets backed up occasionally to a portable external drive for safety - if my house burns down, having a NAS ain't gonna do squat :)

As someone else mentioned, a cloud backup is also an option - I can vouch for Backblaze as well, came in handy when my home server got hit by ransomware years ago - just formatted the drive, setup Backblaze again and down came all my files. :)

OneDrive/GoogleDrive is NOT a backup solution.

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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simon14

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#3112428 6-Aug-2023 17:03

nzkc:

shrub: Do you have any backup plans?

This!

If you're storing family photos please ensure you have some offsite backup plan. I personally use Backblaze and recommend it highly!

Currently use One Drive for off site backup, but approaching the 2tb limit

simon14

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#3112449 6-Aug-2023 17:25

Would this be a good NAS?

https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/NASQNP2314/QNAP-TS-231K-Work-Group-SOHO-NAS-Server-2-Bay-Quad

Would it work with this 4TB HDD?

https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/HDDSE3022/Seagate-BarraCuda-4TB-35-Internal-HDD-SATA-6Gbs

What does it mean by "Come with 8 Camera License"s? What's it got to do with cameras????

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#3112452 6-Aug-2023 17:48

Yes, it'll be happy with dual 4TB drives - they'll run in a RAID for redundancy - so if one drive fails, your data will be safe - keep in mind tho, this means you only get 4TB of storage, not 8TB (2x 4). Recommend NAS specific drives though, not standard desktop ones. Desktop ones will work but theyre not suited for NAS usage.

The NAS will be able to run all sorts of other services as well as file storage, so the camera licenses are just one of those services if you were running security cameras etc.

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simon14

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#3112456 6-Aug-2023 18:07

xpd:

Yes, it'll be happy with dual 4TB drives - they'll run in a RAID for redundancy - so if one drive fails, your data will be safe - keep in mind tho, this means you only get 4TB of storage, not 8TB (2x 4). Recommend NAS specific drives though, not standard desktop ones. Desktop ones will work but theyre not suited for NAS usage.

The NAS will be able to run all sorts of other services as well as file storage, so the camera licenses are just one of those services if you were running security cameras etc.

Thanks. Is the HDD provided above not a standard desktop HHD? How do you tell what a NAS specific HDD is?

I would initially only have 1 x 4tb drive - would expand to anotehr 4tb drive later down the track, but wouldn't need this RAID feature... as the data will also be manually backed up to extenrla hard drives off site or OneDrive. I don't have to use the RAID feature do i?

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#3112466 6-Aug-2023 19:06

No, you don't need it to have RAID enabled, its just highly recommended - and as I mentioned before, OneDrive is NOT a backup solution. Its a syncing solution -so if something got onto your system and deleted/encoded everything, that happens on your oneDrive as well.

Seagates NAS drives are Ironwolf - https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/HDDSE8141/Seagate-IronWolf-4TB-NAS-Internal-HDD-SATA-6Gbs

If funds are an issue at the moment, keep saving and use something like Backblaze for now. https://www.backblaze.com/cloud-backup/personal

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dpf81nz

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#3112474 6-Aug-2023 19:46

xpd:

No, you don't need it to have RAID enabled, its just highly recommended - and as I mentioned before, OneDrive is NOT a backup solution. Its a syncing solution -so if something got onto your system and deleted/encoded everything, that happens on your oneDrive as well.

Seagates NAS drives are Ironwolf - https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/HDDSE8141/Seagate-IronWolf-4TB-NAS-Internal-HDD-SATA-6Gbs

If funds are an issue at the moment, keep saving and use something like Backblaze for now. https://www.backblaze.com/cloud-backup/personal

To an extent, but onedrive does have versioning so you could still potentially recover in that scenario but it'd probably be a real PITA. Onedrive/Google Drive etc still a heck of a lot better than having no offsite storage at all and losing everything in a HDD failure which is quite common among non tech folk

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mdav056

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#3112533 6-Aug-2023 22:20

It seems to me, @Simon14, that you need something rather like what I have -- which is a PBTech prebuilt "family" I5 from about a year ago, which I am very happy with -- I immediately swapped the drive for 1 TB Samsung NVME, and added a TPM-2 module in case I got wild and moved to Win 11 (haven't dared yet). It has 16 GB RAM. But I also have a 2-bay ASUSOR NAS (2 x 4 TB IronWolves) that I use as backup for all my stuff and that of others on the household just for peace of mind. I also back up (using EASUS backup software) to OneDrive (not using it as a sync device, just as storage), which keeps more than 1 full backup there. I also back up (EASUS again) to another very cheap PBTech second-hand machine (now with a NVME drive, bought a TEMU card for this, cheap!) on the network. My main machine came with Win 10 Pro, which was important for me -- I run quite a few remote machines too.

I do a lot of data analysis, statistical analysis (SPSS). and also use pretty intensive plotting programs, and it runs fine with these. I do store a few old family videos, and it plays these fine. Never have I waited for anything. It will do me for the next 4 years, DV. I don't game, except for occasional forays into Chicken Invaders...

However, things you should check -- my prebuilt machine didn't come with WIFI (bought a card for this, but it's only a backup for the ethernet), and that the machine has a TPM-2 slot -- my other el cheapo doesn't.

I don't believe you really need a NAS (which are pretty expensive) if you back up to OneDrive. Just a satisfactory machine that does the job.

gml

alinz

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#3112545 7-Aug-2023 04:42

You could save upwards of $950 if you face the fear of building.

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Deepcool Matrexx 30

$735.50 delivered w/ $20 off coupon from a combination of Extreme PC and 1stWave.

xpd

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#3112573 7-Aug-2023 06:30

mdav056:

I don't believe you really need a NAS (which are pretty expensive) if you back up to OneDrive. Just a satisfactory machine that does the job.

From another site........ "OneDrive is not a backup, its a cloud location of your docs."

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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simon14

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#3113285 8-Aug-2023 13:24

Hi guys, any advice on this NAS? any issues i should be aware of?

https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/NASQNP2314/QNAP-TS-231K-Work-Group-SOHO-NAS-Server-2-Bay-Quad

Or should i stick with Synology?

mdav056

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#3113338 8-Aug-2023 14:06

xpd:

mdav056:

I don't believe you really need a NAS (which are pretty expensive) if you back up to OneDrive. Just a satisfactory machine that does the job.

From another site........ "OneDrive is not a backup, its a cloud location of your docs."

Depends on how you use it, can be either

gml

simon14

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#3113688 9-Aug-2023 13:10

So i purchased this off lease PC and it's perfect, really quick for what i need:

https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/EXWKSHP80874217/HP-Elitedesk-800-G2-Mini-A-Grade-Off-Lease-Intel-C

However, this morning when i turn it on, i got below error message:

Did a hdd test as per HP website and get this:

But it works if i proceed to Windows.

I've let PB tech know, waiting for reply.

If its a fault, why does it still work? Would replacing the HDD fix this error?

Cheers,

xpd

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#3113739 9-Aug-2023 14:59

Yes, replacement drive will fix it.

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Qazzy03

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#3113795 9-Aug-2023 17:04

simon14:

If its a fault, why does it still work? Would replacing the HDD fix this error?

Cheers,

Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology (S.M.A.R.T.) is a system intended to identify the signs of failing HDDs and report symptoms before failures cause data loss

https://datarecovery.com/rd/smart-hard-disk-error-301/

It still works because the SSD isn't dead.... yet. The software at start up is detecting a chance/likehood that it will die.

This is why you can go on to windows, SSD still works and if there is an issue with it, it isn't where the windows files are currently stored.

Recommend to not hold any data/info on the PC you can not lose.

You have a 12 month warranty take it back to them.

If you logged a query online with PB Tech it might take around 5 working days or a normall week-ish.

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