[SOLVED] NAS: Using just a synology Router w/ USB or the real thing?

[sticmatic]

Hi! Maybe you guys can help... Are there significant downsides to beginners wanting to use this as a NAS via USB/CardSlot? I've never used a NAS before and I'm wondering if I maybe use this instead of an entry-level Synology NAS like the DS220j, which is really affordable... - My thought was: I'd be happy to every now and then plug in/out a SD-Card to physically carry instead of accessing it through an outside network. But doesn't that defeat the purpose, though? My current routers at home and in the office are super-basic, so I'd be considering switching to this anyhow, ...

Thanks in advance, and greetings from germany

 

[kanewolf]

Hi! Maybe you guys can help... Are there significant downsides to beginners wanting to use this as a NAS via USB/CardSlot? I've never used a NAS before and I'm wondering if I maybe use this instead of an entry-level Synology NAS like the DS220j, which is really affordable... - My thought was: I'd be happy to every now and then plug in/out a SD-Card to physically carry instead of accessing it through an outside network. But doesn't that defeat the purpose, though? My current routers at home and in the office are super-basic, so I'd be considering switching to this anyhow, ...

Thanks in advance, and greetings from germany

Performance is usually the downside. The overhead of using USB vs native SATA, combined with the lower performance CPU in the router limits performance.
A Synology NAS has many features beyond file sharing or storage. Look at the description/demo of their NAS software -- https://www.synology.com/en-us/dsm

 

[sticmatic]

Hi! Maybe you guys can help... Are there significant downsides to beginners wanting to use this as a NAS via USB/CardSlot? I've never used a NAS before and I'm wondering if I maybe use this instead of an entry-level Synology NAS like the DS220j, which is really affordable... - My thought was: I'd be happy to every now and then plug in/out a SD-Card to physically carry instead of accessing it through an outside network. But doesn't that defeat the purpose, though? My current routers at home and in the office are super-basic, so I'd be considering switching to this anyhow, ...

Thanks in advance, and greetings from germany

Thanks! Makes sense...
Can I "backup everything" just with a simple routine on a synology NAS? From different devices, like 2 desktops 1 laptop 1 mobile? Is it a hassle setting it up?
I'm very new to this realm of servers and NAS and networks in general, even though almost a digital native, I skipped on that for too long...
Thanks for your insights.

 

[kanewolf]

Thanks! Makes sense...
Can I "backup everything" just with a simple routine on a synology NAS? From different devices, like 2 desktops 1 laptop 1 mobile? Is it a hassle setting it up?
I'm very new to this realm of servers and NAS and networks in general, even though almost a digital native, I skipped on that for too long...
Thanks for your insights.

The backup software running on clients is independent of the network storage. I use acronis for my backup software. Many people use macrium reflect free version.
I don't know about mobile devices. They are usually more public cloud centric for backups.
If you do have high upload bandwidth, then the Synology NAS can upload to public cloud storage.

 

[sticmatic]

You might got me wrong: I actually want to backup to NAS. I guess, synology can easily do that? Acronis can access it, can't it?

 

[kanewolf]

You might got me wrong: I actually want to backup to NAS. I guess, synology can easily do that? Acronis can access it, can't it?

Yes. The NAS will have folders that are accessible from Windows. You set your output target in Acronis to the network folder.