Media management

SandLake

I hesitate to say backup but that is probably what I am looking for. I have a reasonable library of various media and am getting to the point where I really wouldn't like to lose it. Currently sitting on a 2Tb external hard disk. I also want to be able to stream it which I currently do using Plex.

Thinking that maybe a FreeNAS server is the way to go but I get confused about the storage options. Some sort of raid setup would be very nice but I keep thinking that is overkill, a once a week/month backup would probably suffice.

The worst thing about backups (in my opinion) is the human fallibility part (maybe it's just me) but I would like it to be automatic.

Any advice or guidance?

woodworm001

I have a 2xHDD Synology NAS (DS213j) that is configured in a mirrored RAID. I then have an external USB hard disk plugged into to it that automatically backs everything up once a week and sends me an email to say it's complete.

edit - RAID isn't the same as backup, it's for hardware failure, not you or a virus deleting everything!

Ideally you will also have an offsite backup, but then you would need:

1. A second external USB HDD that you would have to swap around each week or month
2. Backup to cloud service, but may be expensive depending on how much data you have
3. A second Synology NAS in a different location as you can setup a secure VPN and backup / sync between them. Maybe an option if you have a friend relative with similar NAS. You could achieve a similar scenario with a remote PC elsewhere.

You can stream media from the Synology as you can install Plex server onto that - I don't know how well it works as I don't do this.

Sorry, I don't have much experience with FreeNAS but if you have suitable hardware you can donate to it then it's probably capable of everything you want.