Synology

I get asked a lot about how I backup my images (and videos, now that I’m shooting more of them). So I finally wrote it down, along with alternatives that might better suit you, as your circumstances are likely to differ from mine in some way. It’s all online now in this article I wrote for ExtremeTech.com. The essential element to whatever system you choose is to make sure it protects you against all, or at least most, of the issues that can arise. That includes disk “bit rot,” disk failure, controller or computer failure, human error, buggy backup software, and ultimately even major disasters that affect everything on premises.

The Achilles heel of network server storage for home and small business use has always been performance. Network drives are just not as fast as local drives, dollar for dollar. Even over Gigabit networks, you’re limited to just over 100MB/second maximum throughput. 10 Gigabit has been around for awhile, but has been out of the price range for most of us. Now, for less than $1,000, you can get a Synology DS-1517+ ($700) high-performance 5-bay NAS and an optional 10-Gigabit adapter (for $270). You’ll still need to add drives, and you need to spend another couple hundred bucks for a 10-Gigabit adapter for your computer, if you don’t already have one. I’ll be doing a field-test of one of these units for ExtremeTech soon, and will keep you posted here when that’s out, but wanted to give you a heads up.