2025-02-13, 12:35 AM
To start, RAID is not a backup. It exists to protect against downtime.
If you're really worried about losing data, you need to have a backup of your data on an actual 2nd machine and/or location.
As @TheDreadPirate states, the Synology NAS doesn't do anything special that you can't imitate without it.
I just want to point out that a NAS at its core is just plain storage located anywhere on a network.
That's what the name implies.
NAS = "Network Attached Storage"
There exists DAS which stands for "Direct Access Storage". If you want to get into technicalities, anything directly plugged into the current PC you're using counts as a DAS.
The reason people confuse a NAS as being specially made for data storage (when it comes to data protection) is because it usually goes hand-in-hand with that concept.
NAS boxes get sold with the expectation that people will fill them with lots of data.
The companies that make these NAS devices usually provide their own OS that has relevant software pre-installed.
Things like SMART tests, data scrubs, and RAID software are examples of what they shove into their OS.
These things are not exclusive to them. You can use these things yourself provided your OS supports them.
Synology uses the BTRFS filesystem, while other NAS OS's like Truenas can use ZFS.
ZFS and BTRFS are special in that they are a COW filesystem which enables things like snapshots.
You can use snapshots to roll back to a previous instance of how your files were set. Kind of like if you took a picture of them (hence the name, a "snapshot").
COW also provides other benefits which are amazing for long-term data storage.
However, when it comes to something like Jellyfin, it's better to use a non-COW filesystem as COW lowers the performance of Jellyfin's config files.
Truenas, as an example, forces you to only use ZFS. Synology does allow you to use EXT4, but you give up the COW features.
Ideally, you would want to use ZFS/BTRFS for data storage, and something else like EXT4 for your app data storage.
If you're really worried about losing data, you need to have a backup of your data on an actual 2nd machine and/or location.
As @TheDreadPirate states, the Synology NAS doesn't do anything special that you can't imitate without it.
I just want to point out that a NAS at its core is just plain storage located anywhere on a network.
That's what the name implies.
NAS = "Network Attached Storage"
There exists DAS which stands for "Direct Access Storage". If you want to get into technicalities, anything directly plugged into the current PC you're using counts as a DAS.
The reason people confuse a NAS as being specially made for data storage (when it comes to data protection) is because it usually goes hand-in-hand with that concept.
NAS boxes get sold with the expectation that people will fill them with lots of data.
The companies that make these NAS devices usually provide their own OS that has relevant software pre-installed.
Things like SMART tests, data scrubs, and RAID software are examples of what they shove into their OS.
These things are not exclusive to them. You can use these things yourself provided your OS supports them.
Synology uses the BTRFS filesystem, while other NAS OS's like Truenas can use ZFS.
ZFS and BTRFS are special in that they are a COW filesystem which enables things like snapshots.
You can use snapshots to roll back to a previous instance of how your files were set. Kind of like if you took a picture of them (hence the name, a "snapshot").
COW also provides other benefits which are amazing for long-term data storage.
However, when it comes to something like Jellyfin, it's better to use a non-COW filesystem as COW lowers the performance of Jellyfin's config files.
Truenas, as an example, forces you to only use ZFS. Synology does allow you to use EXT4, but you give up the COW features.
Ideally, you would want to use ZFS/BTRFS for data storage, and something else like EXT4 for your app data storage.