Why I use a Synology NAS and Why I Backup My Work

Being a photographer, storage of, access to and backup of my photographs is very important to me so I chose a Synology NAS to do this. So I have a reliable system, the NAS has 4 x drives using a raid with parity array to protect against disk failures so my data is safe. However, this does not protect against theft, fire or flood so an additional backup is required. To do this I employ the use of Synology's own built in backup software, Hyper Backup and I use two schedules to do this.

There were no additional costs involved because the external drives that I used prior to owning the NAS were re-purposed as the primary and secondary backup drives. So, one drive contains a backup that occurs fairly frequently based around the files I might change often. These consist of edited photographs and important documents etc. This drive remains attached to the NAS and serves as a grab and run if I need to leave the house urgently.

The second backup is much larger and contains everything on the NAS and is stored externally to the NAS. I bring this drive back into the house when the backup is due and take it away again once it is complete. This is my last resort backup which is required should the unthinkable occur.

I would like to add that the Hyper Backup software is easy to use and works seamlessly every time. The only problem I have encountered was my own fault when I relocated a folder that was part of the backup. Hyper Backup told me there was an issue and I quickly rectified it by editing the backup tasks. I regularly carry out test recoveries and it has worked every time without fail. This makes me confident in the software which is extremely important.

By purchasing a Synology NAS and utilising my old external drives, I have been able to setup an effective backup system at no additional cost to me. With these two backups in place combined with the RAID system in the NAS, I am pretty much covered for any eventuality save a meteor strike and my precious photographs are secure for years to come.

Dave