NAS for home use

[Laura]

Hello! Need your advice!
Over time, I've gathered quite a large collection of photos and videos, and now I'm researching the best way to store them. Could you let me know if a NAS is suitable for home use, and how exactly does it work?

 

[Rusty]

Could you let me know if a NAS is suitable for home use

Short answer, yes. Long answer, best to 1st review Synology's website and KB site (knowledgebase). On top of those, you could have a look at the Resources section here on the site as well.

Can NAS offer you hosting of your photos and videos, ofc it can. How can this be done? Synology Photos app might be a great starting point for you.

 

[Laura]

Thank you for your response!
The Synology Photos app seems excellent; I've heard it's reliable and user-friendly. However from what I gather it stores data in the cloud and I'm interested in an alternative method something akin to a flash drive but more dependable and with ample capacity along with the ability to create automatic backups.
Nonetheless I'm determined to explore all potential options in greater depth. Now I know where to start.

 

[Telos]

what I gather it stores data in the cloud

It stores your photos on the NAS.
Synology Photos

Try out the demo.

 

[fredbert]

There is the live demo of Synology DSM where you can access a virtual instance of the NAS. DSM is the Synology operating system that runs on their NAS hardware, and enables application packages to be installed, as well as using it for general file storage. The demo is refreshed for each request, so useful to check out features but doesn't retain your stuff.

You can access it here:

DSM Online Demo

DiskStation Manager (DSM) is the unified operating system that powers every Synology NAS and makes managing and protecting your data intuitive. It enables businesses and individuals to focus on what matters the most, instead of IT management tasks.

demo.synology.com

Once running you can access the pre-installed packages from the Main Menu (top-left icon, four squares), or Package Center. It looks like Synology Photos is already installed.

Once launched, Synology Photos can be configured by accessing Settings in the dropdown menu, under the user icon. Note that administrator users of DSM get more settings to manage users and available package features.

You will see the image files that are accessible from within Synology Photos are also accessible in File Station. The Personal Space is in the user's /home/Photos folder, while the Shared Space uses the separate /photo shared folder (it's empty in the demo).

 

[Coop777]

If you are looking for centralized storage and need a significant amount of space, a NAS will work well for you. Recommend a " + " model.