Encryption on NAS

[0th3r5id3]

Hi,

I am researching for my first NAS. I spent the last week reading the threads here, and need help to clarify some things.

My choices:
TS-251A
DS216+II
DS216J
2 x 4TB hgst

1. Disk encryption : QNAP : yes Synology: folder. Is this still the case until today?

2. My main concern is if someone steals my NAS or Hdd, thief will not be able to access the files in it, even if the person connects the hdd to another pc.
a. Do I have to encrypt the disk? if yes,
b. Will I significantly benefit on the AES-NI hardware of the intel N3060? if not really, I will just get the DS216j

I plan to follow Stevech and sfx2000 advise. no raid. just 2 separate volume. I will just choose the important folder on volume 1 to back up to volume 2. (Photos and GoPro videos)

Are you guys encrypting your NAS?

Hope someone can shed some light. Any input is appreciated.

 

[Internet Man]

I use FreeNAS with GELI full disk encryption. You definitely want hardware AES-NI support for this [source]. You can build a FreeNAS box from stuff you have lying around although the die-hard users will insist on a system with ECC RAM. My first FreeNAS box used an old single-core AMD Sempron 145 CPU (supports AES-NI) and 4GB of RAM. See A Complete Guide to FreeNAS Hardware Design. I use mirrored disks so that if one dies I don't lose the data. I also keep off-site backups of the really important stuff.

I would guess that QNAP and Synology are easier to use than FreeNAS but have no experience with them. This review says that the DS216j has a hardware encryption engine which diverts encryption tasks from the CPU.

 

[0th3r5id3]

Thanks Internet Man for your suggestion.

If ds216j has the same hardware encryption engine as the intel N3060, then there's no need for me to get the higher end model. Thanks!