My first NAS (Network Attached Storage) - Any advice?

[MJCM]

5 hours ago, KhunHeineken said:

Remote access is one of the main features why I purchased my NAS.  I travel a lot, and take a lot of photos. 

 

My NAS is also connected to the OUTSIDE world, but NOT direct via that Synology QuickConnect

 

To connect to my NAS, I have to setup the Wireguard connection and then I can access that NAS as if accessing it locally.

 

I posted a Picture (later in that thread) that I can access my NAS from a Remote Location. (You of course don't share the Wireguard Config files.) And have a strong enough password and maybe SETUP 2 Factor Authentication on your NAS!!

 

5 hours ago, KhunHeineken said:

I set up the VPN to the NAS, as you have done.  Couldn't a virus or malware just be encrypted and decrypted in the VPN tunnel? 

I have no idea what you are talking about! But I take a guess, if any if your PC's catch a virus then your NAS could also be infected. That is why to upload pictures you do that via a Normal User ID and not via the Admin. Also when a Virus starts deleting files from your NAS then the files will be still recoverable via the recycle bin!!

 

Also in the my previous post I said to enable .SSH keys, but apparently that  causes a lot of confusion with some members here on AN.

 

So better you disable SSH access and have a really strong password for your Admin user.

 

https://mariushosting.com/synology-ssh-attack-how-to-disable-ssh/

Edited March 15, 2022 by MJCM

[GrandPapillon]

  

On 3/12/2022 at 5:25 AM, KannikaP said:

What am I doing wrong. All my data is on my One Drive which I can access via any of the PCs and phones on my Network.

If I want to share anything with someone else, I send them a link. 

that works fine for small NOMAD solutions and like Dropbox, it's fine for 99% of Windows users

 

using a NAS gives you more control and options for your storage needs,

Edited March 15, 2022 by GrandPapillon

[GrandPapillon]

11 hours ago, KhunHeineken said:

The logical solution was to look at a 2 bay NAS, and while they can't do a RAID configuration

Actually they do, RAID0 for stripping and RAID1 for mirroring.

 

You are probably referring to RAID0+1 that needs a minimum of 3 disks to be effective, as the last disk is used to "validate" the first two.

Edited March 15, 2022 by GrandPapillon

[KannikaP]

40 minutes ago, GrandPapillon said:

  

that works fine for small NOMAD solutions and like Dropbox, it's fine for 99% of Windows users

 

using a NAS gives you more control and options for your storage needs,

My storage needs are very simple...I need to store my data, safely and accessible on my network and to share with family & friends. I don't use Dropbox and am not a NOMAD (whatever that is). I am one of the 99% happy with One or Google Drive. Thanks

[KhunHeineken]

On 3/15/2022 at 2:00 PM, MJCM said:

My NAS is also connected to the OUTSIDE world, but NOT direct via that Synology QuickConnect

 

To connect to my NAS, I have to setup the Wireguard connection and then I can access that NAS as if accessing it locally.

 

I posted a Picture (later in that thread) that I can access my NAS from a Remote Location. (You of course don't share the Wireguard Config files.) And have a strong enough password and maybe SETUP 2 Factor Authentication on your NAS!!

I haven't tested remote access yet, but will do shortly.  I tried with hotspotting my phone, but I don't think my celluar data speed was good enough.  I have set up Open VPN back to my NAS.  I was under the impression that once I connected to my home network via VPN, I could just go into the NAS by clicking on the Synology Assistant app and entering username and password.  Being the connection is via VPN, I thought this was safe.

 

On 3/15/2022 at 2:00 PM, MJCM said:

I have no idea what you are talking about! But I take a guess, if any if your PC's catch a virus then your NAS could also be infected. That is why to upload pictures you do that via a Normal User ID and not via the Admin. Also when a Virus starts deleting files from your NAS then the files will be still recoverable via the recycle bin!!

I have set this up.  Thanks for the tip.

 

What I mean was, can't a virus be encrypted and decrypted over a VPN, just like all the other data you send over a VPN tunnel? 

 

On 3/15/2022 at 2:00 PM, MJCM said:

Also in the my previous post I said to enable .SSH keys, but apparently that  causes a lot of confusion with some members here on AN.

 

So better you disable SSH access and have a really strong password for your Admin user.

Ok.   

[KhunHeineken]

On 3/15/2022 at 8:08 PM, GrandPapillon said:

Actually they do, RAID0 for stripping and RAID1 for mirroring.

 

You are probably referring to RAID0+1 that needs a minimum of 3 disks to be effective, as the last disk is used to "validate" the first two.

Ok.  I didn't know mirroring was given a RAID category, but you are correct.

 

One thing I don't quite understand is "parity."  You can have a 4 bay NAS, and somehow, on the the 4th HDD for example, the data of the other 3 HDD's is stored on it to rebuild a HDD should it go down.  

 

How can one HDD store the same data as the other 3 HDD's, or, have I got it wrong and the data of each HDD is spread over the other HDD's, so all of the other HDD's can rebuild the HDD that went down? 

 

In some of my research they talk about needing a HDD for parity, and I took this to mean one whole HDD will be used for nothing else but parity.   

[GrandPapillon]

16 minutes ago, KhunHeineken said:

Ok.  I didn't know mirroring was given a RAID category, but you are correct.

 

One thing I don't quite understand is "parity."  You can have a 4 bay NAS, and somehow, on the the 4th HDD for example, the data of the other 3 HDD's is stored on it to rebuild a HDD should it go down.  

 

How can one HDD store the same data as the other 3 HDD's, or, have I got it wrong and the data of each HDD is spread over the other HDD's, so all of the other HDD's can rebuild the HDD that went down? 

 

In some of my research they talk about needing a HDD for parity, and I took this to mean one whole HDD will be used for nothing else but parity.   

yes, it comes from the legacy RAID5 now replaced with RAID0+1

 

first you should know that RAID1 and RAID5 storage is slower than RAID0, because you constantly need to "duplicate" and "checksum" data for the parity drive.

 

IMO, those RAID things are things of the past, and why RAID+ storage is dying a slow painful death since 2007. New storage techniques are far more efficient in the cloud storage space. This is just my opinion.

 

Why a parity drive for RAID0+1 or RAID5? data is stripped on all non-parity drives, and the last drive (drive 3 or 4 or 5) is there to calculate the "checksum" of the data stored in the non-parity drives. Which makes the whole process painfully slow, and why nobody is using this for fast "hot storage". Maybe for "cold storage" it could make sense, still it would be costly, so not worth it in my opinion. Clouding your data with a webapi is much faster in the long run.

 

again, you need to define the urgency and "alternatives" for storage before using RAID algos. I think only RAID0 make sense these days. RAID0+1 are too costly in technical terms and there are plenty of great alternatives to "secure" your data online and offline. Syncing your storage to AWS is much better and probably faster than RAID5 or RAID0+1

[GrandPapillon]

this all comes to data ownership and the financial and technical costs associated with it,

 

RAID was a hot debate in the 90s and early 2000s, now it's a forgotten technology for cheap NAS solution like Synology

Edited March 16, 2022 by GrandPapillon