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Wanting to upgrade my home nas and backup solution.

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Sandman

Occasional Visitor
I have a box running WHS 2011. It's getting a little old and won't support larger drives in the backups. I'm considering replacing it.

So far, I believe I have these as my requirements.

  • First and foremost, this solution should be reliable.
  • 4 disks
    • Primary internal drive to store everything.
    • Secondary internal drive to backup the primary drive. Right now I don't think I'll RAID, but I'm not totally against it.
    • External drive to backup the the primary internal drive. This drive would be swapped out on occasion and moved offsite. As such, I would like to encrypt the contents of this drive.
  • I want to be able to recover the data on the disks if the nas fails.
    • I've seen a lot of NAS systems use EXT4, which i believe I can read from Ubuntu.
    • If I'm recovering the external drive I need to be able to decrypt
  • I would prefer to purchase a NAS, but after the discussion below, I don't think i'll be able to find an off the shelf solution that meets my needs. So I'll be looking at building something.
    • Nothing fancy, I don't need to do transcoding, running containers, etc.
  • I would like to occasionally verify the integrity of the data on the backup drives both internal and external.
  • Has to be able to operate without connecting to the internet
I do have a cheap Asustor 1002t that I'm toying with, but I don't think it'll satisfy my requirements. Namely the ability to recover the encrypted data if the nas fails as well as the integrity check.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

*side question, why is the format fine for this list on the web, but jacked up on tapatalk?
 
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Ok, I've had quite a few views, but no responses. So, let me ask my main concern.

I want to be able to get data off my disks without the nas. As far as I have researched, the typical nas vendors like qnap, synology, and asustor have not provided a way to decrypt the data they have encrypted. Has anybody found a way to do this?

Is there a better way to do encrypted backups such that I can pull the disk and decrypt it elsewhere?


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I use my Macrium Reflect backup software to encrypt my backups before they go to the NAS rather than the NAS encryption. There are plenty of utilties that enable you to read a EXT2/3/4 file system on a windows computer if you need to recover the backup files from the disks if the NAS unit itself fails
 
I use my Macrium Reflect backup software to encrypt my backups before they go to the NAS rather than the NAS encryption. There are plenty of utilties that enable you to read a EXT2/3/4 file system on a windows computer if you need to recover the backup files from the disks if the NAS unit itself fails

Are you talking about backing up your PC to the nas? That's not a bad idea.

What about files you actually want to store on the nas as the central location of storing? On the nas storage I don't mind them being decrypted. For my offsite nas backup I want the entire disk encrypted.


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Yes i use Macrium Reflect on my PC's to do an automatic encrypted daily backup to the NAS. Other files that I just hold on the NAS I encrypt with DiskCryptor if needed, most of the NAS centrally stored files are music and movie files I dont encrypt. The NAS is then backed up automatically to cloud storage and manually to a hard drive that is stored off site.
 
Yes i use Macrium Reflect on my PC's to do an automatic encrypted daily backup to the NAS. Other files that I just hold on the NAS I encrypt with DiskCryptor if needed, most of the NAS centrally stored files are music and movie files I dont encrypt. The NAS is then backed up automatically to cloud storage and manually to a hard drive that is stored off site.

Are you using an off the shelf nas, or did you build your own? In either case, which nas system did you go with?


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Are you using an off the shelf nas, or did you build your own? In either case, which nas system did you go with?


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I use a QNAP TS-231 in Raid 1 with WD 2TB red drives. Its about 4 years old and has been totally reliable. It can max out a gigabit ethernet link during back up so plenty fast enough for my use and with 4/8/16 TB hard drives available these days I can expand storage if i need without replacing it. So no need for a larger and more expensive NAS with more drives and Raid 5 or SSD for my use.
 
Other files that I just hold on the NAS I encrypt with DiskCryptor if needed, most of the NAS centrally stored files are music and movie files I dont encrypt.

Ah..I think I misunderstood this. The other files you encrypt and then store on the nas right? I thought you had your nas using DiskCryptor somehow.

Is that correct?


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Thanks for the feedback and info.

I really want the encryption to happen on the nas so I don't have to worry about where the files come from. I guess it's not in the interest of the nas manufacturers to provide a way to decrypt outside of their system.


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Thanks for the feedback and info.

I really want the encryption to happen on the nas so I don't have to worry about where the files come from. I guess it's not in the interest of the nas manufacturers to provide a way to decrypt outside of their system.


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Yes I think you would need to have an identical NAS enclosure to plug the drive into to easily recover an encrypted hard drive from a failed NAS enclosure. Other recovery methods are much more complex. Automatcally backing up the encrypted NAS to another encrypted NAS or external drive would give you an easier recovery option if the primary NAS enclosure with encrypted drives fails
 
Where are you storing the backup drive where you feel the need to encrypt?
Also, what data are you storing that needs encryption?

I think you're just asking for trouble.

I keep only a few files with personally identifiable information information on my computer. That may sound crazy or difficult, but it's not when you think about what that info is. Thing's with SSN's and b-days. So really, it's only copies of my taxes. I protect those files (PDF's) individually with passwords. I don't keep scans of birth certificates; we make hard copies if we need to give them to someone (i.e. for sports).

What I'm trying to say is, consider not encrypting. That might simplify everything. Even if you get an identical box, it's likely that the encryption key is tied to a chip and thus the key will be different and you won't be able to open the files.

If you really want to encrypt the files and they are REALLY important, then maybe consider paying for a safety deposit box. If that's out of the question, then use a safe at the remote location. You can find relatively small ones and maybe even used on craigslist.
 
Thanks for the thoughts. I had considered many of these points. I don't want to worry about what I throw on the external drive, I just want to encrypt it all.

The encryption key shouldn't be tied to the hardware and I would not go with a solution like that.

Given my requirements in the OP, can anybody suggest a nas solution? I've begun looking at some like free as, but there are quite a few out there.


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QNAP NAS at least support migration of the HDD from a failed QNAP enclosure to a new QNAP enclosure. Lots of limitations on the source enclosure versus the new enclosure in doing the migration but the encryption itself does not appear to be linked to the hardware and does not inhibit the migration

https://docs.qnap.com/nas/4.2/SMB/en/index.html?system_migration.htm

Backing up an encrypted NAS to a suitably protected / encrypted external HDD is also be possible with the various automatic backup approaches available on the NAS.

Of course an encrypted HDD in the NAS or in the backup external HDD does not give guaranteed protection as there are various approaches to by pass this if you search the Web. Most involve hacking the network or the NAS or external HDD when they have been unlocked for access.

cheers
Rohan
 
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Of course an encrypted HDD in the NAS or in the backup external HDD does not give guaranteed protection as there are various approaches to by pass this if you search the Web. Most involve hacking the network or the NAS or external HDD when they have been unlocked for access.

Since the encryption is entirely for the offsite backup (I'll move it via sneaker net, and it won't be on when offsite), then I think most of the issues you described I don't have to worry about.

But, I look at the encryption as a door lock. It'll keep most people out. If you're really determined, I'm sure you can get in.
 
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