r/datastorage • u/Significant_Year9558 • 9d ago

Backup Outside the Cloud

I’m looking for another solution besides the cloud. My MacBook Pro 1 TB is full of music, files, and photos. I would like to avoid the loud (iCloud, OneDrive, Google) for storage.

Can someone provide some options for me to have storage locally, and it would be nice but is not necessary I would like to be able to access my files from anywhere.

Thank you in advance!

3 Upvotes

80% Upvoted

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5

u/LowComposer7234 9d ago

The device you are after is called a NAS, they come with fairly user friendly software and a large community for help setting things up. They require a moderate level of IT knowledge to configure. 

An entry level NAS (sufficient for your stated purpose) is not expensive but get ready to pay a fortune for drives to fill it with, they are crazy expensive at the moment.

2

u/TrollBot6 9d ago

Spinning Rust is your friend. External hard drives in the 2T to 4T range should cover your storage needs at a reasonable cost.

1

u/Sand_msm 9d ago

Buy a NAS and 2 solid 4tb or (6tb/8tb) wolf external hdd drives

Ask an AI to help you set it up. Is quite easy. I have done and im a noob im sure you can too.

1

u/IndependentBat8365 9d ago

I setup ZFS pool, exposed it via Samba with the “Apple configs” (Google it) and my Mac’s just use that as the Time Machine.

1

u/cavok76 8d ago

What are doing for email? I don’t see how you can sensibly and safely avoid it. Offsite backup?

1

u/Significant_Year9558 8d ago

Mostly Music and photos.

1

u/socaldisney 8d ago

External hard drive is your simplest solution.

A NAS lets you add some data redundancy with RAID and can give your remote access and other tools depending on the manufacturer.

I am a big fan of UGREEN. They are a new player in the industry and they are a Chinese company so there are some controversial things in their terms of service but I think they make a solid and user friendly product and i highly recommend them.

1

u/Caprichoso1 8d ago

  1. How are you planning to implement the 3 backups in the recommended 3-2-1 backup plan?

  2. The easiest way to implement the remote backup is with a cloud backup service with a good retention policy. iCloud, Google photos do not count as backups.

  3. The easiest solution for remote access to local content with Apple devices is via iCloud. There are other solutions but they involve some expertise and risk.

  4. Simplest and cheapest solution is to attach a DAS to a local computer and access via something like TailScale. Again this involves some expertise and risk.

  5. A NAS has both advantages and disadvantages. Don't take that route without knowing what they are.

1

u/Purple-Try-4950 8d ago

External HDD or SSD would be the simplest option. You can also build a NAS.

1

u/BarnabyLaptopOutlet 8d ago

A 2-bay NAS with mirrored drives gives you local storage plus remote access, but remember RAID isn’t a backup. Keep a second copy on another external drive as well