Is NAS the right way to go?

[Richwz]

Hope you guys can give me some advice. I would like to setup a central depository for my family photos that is easily accessed from the internet so that my out-of-town kids can easily upload their photos to, download each others photos from, and be able to look at any of the photos at anytime. I would be "in charge" of backing up the depository and keeping it organised.
The internet part from my kids perspective would have to be as easy as possible. I am a complete newbie to all things NAS, but assuming NAS is the way to go on this, Synology or Qnap with WD red HDDs seem to be the general consensus best options that I can glean from the forum. My main concern would be the ease of use of the software, and reliability of the accessibilty from the internet which I can't find too much information on.

Media streaming is not a concern, so I am also wondering if Synology and/or Qnap might be overkill and something like WD, Seagate or other "Personal Clouds" would be adequate (and cheaper). Besides the above, I also want the NAS to be inactive (asleep) when not being accessed which would be most of the time, not sure if they all do this. Sorry for the long post, thanks in advance for reading and any advice. After selecting a unit, specific questions will surely follow

 

[coxhaus]

I think the security issue of opening your firewall is not worth the risk for uploading away from home. Try dropbox it will be much less of a security risk. When you receive the pictures you can perform the upload from home. I think this would be the best way for a basic user.

 

[stevech]

Yes, one of those two NASes.
Or if it's just photos... consider Google's free Picassa or one of the many free or almost free photo sharing services. But always keep 100% of the photos on your own triple-backup. Don't want to lose family photos. It happens too often.

 

[System Error Message]

you can have a NAS and online backup. Instead of port forwarding, use vpn. have user authentication for the NAS as well.

 

[Richwz]

Thanks guys. A NAS and online backup and using VPN with authentication sounds like what I want to accomplish. Now the BIG problem is educating myself on how to do all this and understand it all at the same time .

 

[sfx2000]

Media streaming is not a concern, so I am also wondering if Synology and/or Qnap might be overkill and something like WD, Seagate or other "Personal Clouds" would be adequate (and cheaper). Besides the above, I also want the NAS to be inactive (asleep) when not being accessed which would be most of the time, not sure if they all do this.

Do consider the WD/Seagate Personal solutions - and for photo sharing on the cloud with family/friends - might consider flickr or picassa...

If you decide you really do want a NAS box, then QNAP and Synology are strong choices, but consider your needs before you buy..

 

[Blind_Bandit]

Do consider the WD/Seagate Personal solutions - and for photo sharing on the cloud with family/friends - might consider flickr or picassa...

If you decide you really do want a NAS box, then QNAP and Synology are strong choices, but consider your needs before you buy..

Good point its always good idea to spread out your photos / data if you can. Another option to use with a nas or external hard drive is dropbox. But you do have to pay for the better features and more storage.

 

[stevech]

Dropbox = $$$$$$
Backups: A fat USB flash drive with all photos. Times 2 or 3. Store some at a relatives' house.

 

[Blind_Bandit]

Dropbox = $$$$$$
Backups: A fat USB flash drive with all photos. Times 2 or 3. Store some at a relatives' house.

No I agree, I just like the ability access your dropbox pretty much anywhere with internet. I know this can be promatic with some nas boxes.

 

[Richwz]

Dropbox = $$$$$$
Backups: A fat USB flash drive with all photos. Times 2 or 3. Store some at a relatives' house.

I heard that Dropbox is dropping photos anyway. The trouble with online clouds is most of them don't support raw formats to view.

 

[Blind_Bandit]

I heard that Dropbox is dropping photos anyway. The trouble with online clouds is most of them don't support raw formats to view.

Where did you here that from. They added Carousel just for pictures. If you mean a dedicated picture folder they no longer do that.

 

[Richwz]

Where did you here that from. They added Carousel just for pictures. If you mean a dedicated picture folder they no longer do that.

Just read that awhile ago. https://www.thurrott.com/cloud/62838/dropbox-gets-back-to-basics-drops-email-and-photo-services

I know this can be promatic with some nas boxes.

That is one of my biggest concerns as to get my kids to upload their photos to "my cloud", it can't be problematic.

 

[Blind_Bandit]

Just read that awhile ago. https://www.thurrott.com/cloud/62838/dropbox-gets-back-to-basics-drops-email-and-photo-services

That is one of my biggest concerns as to get my kids to upload their photos to "my cloud", it can't be problematic.

Aww I see. Just to be clear dropbox still has photo functionality its main app. And from I can gather they might just merge it back with their main software.

The personal cloud through NAS or Routers are interesting. But I'll be honest I don't have enough experience to know if there really as easy to use.

 

[stevech]

I use/like Adrive at $25/yr for 100GB

 

[Richwz]

I use/like Adrive at $25/yr for 100GB

I know I'm stuck in my ways somewhat being 70+, but I just am not comfortable ceding control to a second party. I still have hard feelings toward Apple (especially the late Steve Jobs) when promised the Apple II GS line would be continued after the MAC was introduced. The $$ invested at the time was a good chunk of my income but I wanted my kids to be on the ground floor of the personal PC revolution. The Apple 2 line continued about six months and that was it. It took me a few years to pay off the debt. I still have the like new Apple II GS sitting in storage. I'll quit ranting now .

 

[stevech]

Adrive... I just avoid uploading anything private / sensitive to any cloud service.
And I won't pay the high prices some charge for on-line storage that is backup or shared data - such as passworded family photos

Apple... I think they don't really want to be in the computer biz. More $$ in soft goods... music, social networking, etc. Apple's never been my thing, nor have I drunk their kool-aid.

 

[KenZ71]

How many different locations / users are there?

Would it make sense to have a NAS at each location and setup replication across all? This would give you redundant off site backup for everyone. For the replication rsync could be used.

By having local storage everyone would have faster access.

 

[sfx2000]

I know I'm stuck in my ways somewhat being 70+, but I just am not comfortable ceding control to a second party. I still have hard feelings toward Apple (especially the late Steve Jobs) when promised the Apple II GS line would be continued after the MAC was introduced. The $$ invested at the time was a good chunk of my income but I wanted my kids to be on the ground floor of the personal PC revolution. The Apple 2 line continued about six months and that was it. It took me a few years to pay off the debt. I still have the like new Apple II GS sitting in storage. I'll quit ranting now

Well, they did keep the ][ GS around until around '93, and just recently, one of the A// user groups did a SW release for GS/OS...

With regards to photo/video sharing - Picasa or Flickr (even though I might hold off from Flickr until Yahoo! figures out what they want to do there) - anyways, both services have a fair amount of granularity with users/groups and permissions, along with folder/directory hierarchies..

Don't need a NAS for this...

 

[Richwz]

Thanks everyone. Many things to mull over the holidays (or is it mull over over the holidays).

 

[sfx2000]

Many things to mull over the holidays

Amen, and time to spend with those family and friends...

Best wishes for the holidays!