Up until a while ago I had the problem that I kept losing pictures due to hard disk defects. It couldn't go on like this because over the years there were quite a few pictures that are simply gone.
So I thought about what can I do that will no longer happen. So I decided to buy a NAS.
Since I didn't want to spend that much money, I decided to:
ZYXEL NSA320 External 2Bay NAS:
There were also 2 3TB 24/7 WD Red NAS hard drives and 3 TB Western Digital hard drives.
I configured the NAS so that the two three GB disks totaled 6 GB. Back then I bought a 2 bay USB housing for data backup where you could put the disks together so I now had 6 GB of storage space as on the NAS.
But as the devil wants it, you forget to back up the data.
After 2.5 years, not a hard drive broke, but the Zyxel NAS, the built-in network card stopped working. So I thought you were chewing a new NAS. It is not that expensive. Zyxel rebuilds the hard drives and then it works again. In the meantime, the ZYXEL NSA320 was no longer available, so I bought the successor.
Quickly installed the hard drives, but the stupid thing didn't swallow the old hard drives. Error message Foreign operating system, please format hard drives. Unfortunately, my last backup was a little over 3 months ago. I not only lost pictures but also business and video films, because such a NAS is also a great video and music player if the TV is DNLA capable.
I was looking for software to read the hard drives from the Zyxel back but it only worked to a limited extent. I was 180 inside.
Then I said to myself that it never happens to me that I lose data. Because if you calculate the time it takes to re-program what was previously programmed and the data loss that can no longer be obtained, then a professional solution is worth every penny, even though it is expensive.
Since I not only use the NAS for business, but also as a music player, video player and data storage (photographs and self-made videos), I only considered equipment from the professional sector.
So I came to the QNAP TVS 473 with two 6 GB hard disks.
QNAP TVS 473
The QNAP TVS-473 is basically a NAS for bussiness but the TVS series has an HDMI connection so the TV does not need to be DNLA capable. In addition, it can convert videos into the appropriate format on the fly. But I've never used that because my TV can play quite a lot of video formats.
The QNAP TVS-473 is completely oversized for normal households. A smaller NAS from QNAP is enough.
Since the QNAP should no longer work as I did with the Zyxel, I thought ok to install 2 6 GB disks in the Zyxel and then you use the Zyxel for pure data backup.
Unfortunately I had made the calculation without the Zyxel. I didn't get access to the Zyxel NAS from the QNAP NAS.
Since I was 200 inside.
I was so upset about the Zyxel story that I removed the 2 6 GB disks from the Zyxel and bought a second QNAP NAS. However, no longer a QNAP TVS 473, but a QNAP TS-431p.
QNAP TS-431p
I then equipped the Zyxel with two 3 TB disks and gave it to my godchild. My godchild now uses the Zyxel NAS as a video player and music player.
The QNAP TS-431p is a cheap and ideal NAS for home use. The price is around 280 euros plus the hard drives and is a 4 bay NAS, just like the TVS-473. My QNAP TVS-473 is now my main NAS, if I change anything with the data, this happens in real time on the QNAP TS-431p.
No matter what breaks a NAS or a hard drive, I no longer lose data.
I know this solution was not cheap, but it was cheaper than losing data, but you don't necessarily need the double NAS solution for home use. The small Qnap TS-431p with two 3 TB Seagate Cyclewolf hard drives is priced at just under 500 euros. In addition, the space with 2 hard drives should not be enough, there are still 2 bays free to expand it. Of course, larger hard drives can also be installed.
The two NAS have been running faultlessly for just over 3 years now.
