Hardware Interested in a NAS, but should I get one over my current RP3 setup?

[DiscostewSM]

Been using my RP3 (Model B) as a Plex media server and for retro emulation, but atm, it connects to an ext drive that's attached to my router via USB 3.0. IT all works the way I want it to. The drive is kinda old though, and with 1TB+ of data on it, I'm getting a little worried that it could fail and I'd lose it all. The idea of a NAS popped into my head, one that offers Raid 1 so I could have 2 drives to protect my data should one go bad (And just replace the bad one). They could also act like a Plex media server too, as well as offer various other functionality.

But my question is if a NAS is worth it outside of the Raid configuration? Was thinking of getting the Synology DS218+ with 2 WD Red drives, using it for file hosting, Plex media server, bit torrenting (can I get ExpressVPN running on it so I won't have to use my laptop for bit torrenting?), and possible other things should they crop up. It could free up my RP3 to be used fully for retro emulation (could I mount the NAS's HDD to RP3?), though I have thought about getting a second Switch so my first (hackable) one could be for homebrew and retro emulation.

If a NAS is worth it, I'd appreciate suggestions other than the one I mentioned. I did hear offhand that there may be a way to get WD Red drives for cheap, but I don't recall how.

 

[Deleted User]

If you're particularly worried about losing any data that's on your hard drive (be it movies, ROMs, what have you) and don't really have any place to back the files up to, then yeah, a NAS server with RAID would probably be worth it. There's also the added convenience of being able to access your media collection via Samba or whatever, as well as the ability to host websites and web apps like Pomf, Danbooru, personal Discord bots, etc. if that tickles your fancy.

Granted, I've never really messed around with a dedicated NAS server myself; I've really only messed around with VPSes and really shitty laptops as servers. If you're only interested in storing media (which, judging from the article, you probably aren't), have a look into cloud storage solutions like Google Drive and MEGA and see if you can get enough storage for cheaper.

 

[Originality]

My experience is that downloading on a NAS is more convoluted than necessary compared to running your favourite client on your PC. But for using as a media server, file server, backup server, and potentially an IP surveillance station, a NAS works very well.

I’ve got an old Synology 2-bay NAS and it works well even now, however one limitation I’ve realised is that if you want to use RAID1, you must use drives of the same size. I replaced a failed 1TB drive with a 4TB drive, and only 1TB is accessible with no options unless I give up redundancy.

I’m considering upgrading to a 4 or more bay NAS so I can use storage pools instead of RAID and have much greater flexibility, especially as my usage slowly grows according to the video editing I do.