I need local storage but don’t really know what I’m looking for….

[PlaneMan]

I take a LOT of photos, some 4K/8K video clips and a few HD timelapses.

It’s all backed up to my Google drive (I pay for the 2TB  option yearly) but I’d like something here that doesn’t go online that I can drag/send files via WiFi.

Ideally it would work with Android (a must), Chrome OS (lots of Android apps work on my Chromebook but not all play nicely) and Windoze (lowest priority).

I don’t wan’t to spend a lot of money (don’t have it spare right now),  1/2TB will do nicely but the option to expand would be nice.

Has to be as low power drain as possible.

I’m just confusing myself.

T.I.A

[JayCeeDee]

Maybe a NAS would do you – I bought THIS earlier this year. There are cheaper NAS’s and smaller drives that may suit better.

Dave is probably the go to guy for that answer.

[PlaneMan]

Thanks JCD.

That was my initial thought but I don’t need all the ‘extras’.

I’m just after something basic.

It’s the search terms I’m struggling with, no idea what I want is called. I can’t put what I want into words.

Yay for autism! 🙄🤣

[Ed P]

JayCeeDee wrote:

but I’d like something here that doesn’t go online that I can drag/send files via WiFi.

If that really defines your requirements then why not just add extra storage to your main PC box? Maybe something like a 2TB USB3 box. With this, if you have some huge files on the Android then just disconnect it from your PC and use an OTG connector to directly link it to the Android, or even your Chromebook assuming it has some sort of USB port. Sometimes the old plug/unplug routine is a lot easier than setting up software, it is also a bit more secure!

[PlaneMan]

Thanks Ed.

That’s a good point.

Seems like I may have forgotten the old mantra Keep It Simple Stupid.

A external WiFi SSD seems to be what I’m after. That way I can just stick it the corner of the room and ignore it.

All my devices are portables, only my Chromebox is left in place and that’s only used for the odd streaming service that doesn’t play well natively on my LG TV so isn’t on very often.

[Drezha]

Does your router have a USB port that would allow you to set that up as a NAS? Simple purchase of a 2.5″ hard drive would then plug in to it and allow you a basic NAS without the extra functions.

The MyCloud devices are also cheaper than a more bells and whistles NAS device and do the job for wireless access inside a network – we used to use one in my old cadet unit.

"Everything looks interesting until you do it. Then you find it’s just another job" - Terry Pratchett

[Dave Rice]

The way to do it painlessly is via a NAS, of that there’s no doubt. There’s plenty of WiFi storage about but they lack the apps and are just bit buckets.

With a NAS you get the apps, both on the NAS to organise the photos, and on the devices to automatically upload photos as well as view / organise them. With Synology all interaction with the NAS on a “PC” (i.e. not a mobile device) is via a browser so the o/s doesn’t matter.

A DS118 1-Bay Enclosure will cost you £155, 2TB £43, 3TB £65 plus the cost of an external drive to back them up to. So you’re looking at the thick end of £300.

However these are tough boxes and there is a second hand market out there on E-Bay. All but very old ones run the same o/s – DSM 7 – but the + models can run more business orientated apps. The hardware just affects how quickly it runs. You can check by Googling Download Center and the model name.

[PlaneMan]

I don’t have a router.

No fixed line broadband here. It’s all done through my phones hotspot over 5G.

[Dave Rice]

Your only option is the cloud then.

[PlaneMan]

Sorry Dave.

I didn’t see your first post.
<p style=”text-align: left;”>Must have gone live after I typed my reply to Drezha.</p>
Anyway, it’s on hold for a while anyway.

Just found out my brother is visiting next week. First time for over 2 years!

[Dave Rice]

Good news on your Bro, I spent a week in Cornwall catching up with the family – came back with Covid 🙂 It was worth it. Absence make the heart grow fonder is very true, Zoom is no substitute.

Anything you could plug into an OTG port (or even a router USB port) will be no more than a bit bucket and an unwieldy one at that. Mobile devices (and Chromebooks) are not designed to manage local storage in anything but a basic fashion, like manually pushing files from here to there. Apps are all front ends to cloud based back ends.

Which is exactly what a Synology NAS is, your own private cloud but a cloud solution nonetheless. There are legacy protocols like SMB (the old drive letter way of doing things) but it’s all about Synology Drive now. Attached locally or via the internet, it will work out how to connect, SMB can’t do that. The same with the Photo app, it all just works IF everything can connect and the model is local Wi-Fi connected to the internet via a router with some Ethernet ports.

You could have someone else, like your Mum, host the Synology but you would be limited by their upload speed and streaming 8K video? Forget it.

You either have to go back to the old landline model or totally embrace the cloud and I think you know which one makes most sense financially as well as suiting your lifestyle and it’s not a landline.

If you ever need to store anything particularly important somewhere off-grid there is always space on my servers and it can all be encrypted, all you need do is ask. That goes for all of you too.

[PlaneMan]

Thanks for the info and offer Dave.

Much appreciated.

I’ll look into it again when my bank account has recovered but it certainly seems that cloud storage is the way for me.

[Ed P]

Just to add a Devil’s Advocate for your decision. The following comes from a NAS/Cloud naysayer.

https://www.inputmag.com/guides/you-dont-need-a-nas

[Dave Rice]

What a load of tosh, especially on RAID. No mention of backup at all, or sharing your files with other devices.

It totally misses the point that a Synology or QNap NAS is not just a bit bucket, which is exactly what a USB enclosure is. They aren’t that cheap either! The Sabrent is £200 and why any home user would want a 4 Bay is beyond me. £182 buys you a 12TB WD Elements including the drive if all you want is huge lumps of storage.

Biggest loads of bollocks I’ve seen since the last PMQs.

[Drezha]

Dave Rice wrote:

What a load of tosh, especially on RAID. No mention of backup at all, or sharing your files with other devices. It totally misses the point that a Synology or QNap NAS is not just a bit bucket, which is exactly what a USB enclosure is. They aren’t that cheap either! The Sabrent is £200 and why any home user would want a 4 Bay is beyond me. £182 buys you a 12TB WD Elements including the drive if all you want is huge lumps of storage. Biggest loads of bollocks I’ve seen since the last PMQs.

Only reason these days I can see for a multi box like that is a DAS if you need faster speeds, but I would suggest that’s rare for the majority of home users. And if you did, then an external SSD is probably a better bet.

I did consider the QNAP Tr-002 at one point, purely to use some of the drives that I have lying around for more game space, but I ended up getting one of those 12TB drives – and in moving to it, found that the 6TB drive I had would have been fine, had I formatted it with a sensible block size (I blame macOS, as you can’t set the block size and it formatted it with a 2MB block size – meant that game installs were HUGE).

I have debated going down the route the article went down, including Drivepool, as I feel that I don’t use all the features of the NAS, but then I use enough to make it worthwhile still!

"Everything looks interesting until you do it. Then you find it’s just another job" - Terry Pratchett

[Dave Rice]

Local storage for serious video content creators is the only application I can think of. I wouldn’t be looking at a Taiwanese USB box in those circumstances though. A Drobo via Thunderbolt would be my go-to, very MAC friendly too as this is the application where MAC still rules. I have helped some serious (but not true professional) content creators with Wintel kit and it’s a minefield of hardware compatibility and software issues.

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