I want to make backups at home. NAS or build a server?

Question

Iron

It is necessary to organize daily copying of information from a working laptop and servers to a separate device at home, which will be connected to the network 24 hours.

Tell me, does it make sense to buy a NAS (for example, Synology DS411j is interesting) with the organization of disk mirroring, or is it better to build a server?

What are the pros/cons of each option?

Answer 1

First, there is not enough data to answer. In simple terms, what is the ultimate goal: get the result tomorrow or have fun and profitably spend a week or two?
In the first case, it is obviously necessary to take a ready-made solution. In the second - it is better to collect yourself.
Remark: RAID, especially RAID-1, in my opinion, is redundant for backups at home. Useful, yes, but redundant. Backups are the second copy, and in itself it is already a “mirror” of your data.
Yes, if you, in addition to the current one, keep many more past versions, for example, with a retention period of a year, and soberly assess the need for them, then yes, it makes sense. If you, as is usually the case, simply mirror the current state, I doubt it.
Also consider storing old copies in online storage sites on the Internet. This somewhat increases the data restore time, but practice shows that if the data has not been accessed for a week, then in 90% of cases they will never be accessed again. Pour them on some Amazon S3/Glacier.

Answer 2

Another point that can significantly affect the final decision is the size and appearance of the system. The same box from Synology is very compact and (for my taste) looks a little more aesthetically pleasing than a regular system unit, you can put it on a shelf and it will be almost invisible. As track rightly said, in order to achieve the same functionality as Synology , you will have to work hard.
If the decision is made towards an independent project, then it makes sense to take a small motherboard with passive cooling - here is ASUS or Tyan (for sure, there are others) The fewer fans, the quieter the house.

Answer 3

If there is not a lot of data, then, as mentioned above, take a closer look at online storages.
If the task is reduced only to a reserve, then it is worth looking at a NAS, in comparison with a computer, a smaller amount of power consumption, noise, and dimensions. If in the long run you want something more, then obviously a computer.

Answer 4

It seems to me that within the framework of the task set by the author, he needs an online backup service like crashplan.
But if you need a piece of iron at home, then it's a matter of course for us. Its power is just enough for home needs now and in the future (the torrent tracker is there if you want to put it or something else). And this is with adequate power consumption, passive cooling.
You probably still have a router if you need to perform some scheduled tasks on your home network.
The server is needed if you want to distribute all hosting for example. And it is already easier for these purposes to order hosting from another host and be an intermediary.
If you need a powerful computer (US is certainly not powerful), then you can order it as a service from Amazon, for example, a virtual machine.
Although I re-read the question:daily copying of information from a working laptop and servers
And he began to doubt - apparently there is a server room at the author's house.

Answer 5

Thanks everyone for the replies! I decided that I would take a NAS. Enough for my needs.
The online solution is also used in this way (dropbox, google.drive), but I would not like to store especially important files on external servers.

Answer 6

Since you don’t want to store especially important files on third-party servers, make sure that you have two backup copies so as not to cry with burning tears if, when trying to restore, it turns out that the backup is broken.