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> You are far better off getting cheap hardware and running TrueNAS or Unraid on it as they actually get regular software updates and don't have a history of ma

by ajross 3y ago

> You are far better off getting cheap hardware and running TrueNAS or Unraid on it as they actually get regular software updates and don't have a history of major security issues. Unpopular opinion: really you'd be "far better off" using Dropbox or Drive or whatever. By demanding to store your junk yourself you've already walked away from the clearly most robust solution. Obviously this will engender the standard HN freakout about privacy and Big Tech and whatever, and I won't engage. But at the narrow level of robustness and security, the cloud experts are going to do this objectively better than anything under your personal control, probably by more than an order of magnitude.

derekp7 3y ago
You are leaving out the other primary reasons for a local NAS -- upload bandwidth, data caps, and special usage scenarios. Not to say that cloud-hosted solutions purely for backup purposes don't have their place, but it is just one component of a 3-2-1 backup policy.
beeboobaa3 3y ago
Have you seen how much those services charge for even just 10tb of storage? It's insane.
- ajross 3y ago
  Looks like $15 a month at Dropbox (it's true that the other providers don't count that high[1] in their standard rates, so you end up having to do it as more expensive overage). Seems like a bargain for not getting backdoored to me. But then I did say it was an unpopular opinion. [1] I do chuckle at the use of "just 10tb". Obviously the real issue here is that these NAS boxes are deployed in service of movie and porn collections that people don't want to leave with a third party. But my point was about reliability and security, not legality or propriety.
  - beeboobaa3 3y ago
    From what I can tell dropbox will charge you E14.50*3=43.5/month (Business plan with a minimum of 3 users) or E522/year for 9TB, but maybe I'm missing something in their pricing? > I do chuckle at the use of "just 10tb" It's 2024. 2TB SSDs can be bought cheaply, and so can 16TB HDDs.
    - IshKebab 3y ago
      Yeah but the fact that you can buy a 10TB disk doesn't mean it's normal to need to store 10TB of data. I think bandwidth is a bigger issue with cloud storage. Most people have terrible upload bandwidth.
      - beeboobaa3 3y ago
        It's not normal for you.
        IshKebab 3y ago
        It's not normal full stop. A tiny fraction of people might need it but it's definitely not the norm.
        beeboobaa3 3y ago
        Shrug. Neither is posting on HN or caring about other people their data retention preferences.
      - BenjiWiebe 3y ago
        My upload bandwidth is 3Mbps. My NAS is an old computer running Linux and samba. Due to the bandwidth issue cloud is a complete non-starter.
  - aborsy 3y ago
    Dropbox speed is low. Even in Dropbox plus, ordinary features are behind paywall. Not interesting. Also, it’s not a good idea to store TBs of personal information on someone else’s computer or potentially the internet.
  - arp242 3y ago
    It shows "€12/user/month" for Business (9TB), but that's with a 3 user minimum, so €36/month. The "Essentials" package for individuals is €16.58/month, but has only 3TB of storage. I don't know what it would cost to add extra storage for that (doesn't show a price), but I would be surprised if it was less than €25/month, and wouldn't be surprised if it was quite a bit more than that.
starky 3y ago
Those aren't an equivalent solution at all. A NAS is for storage of lots of data, even the biggest options from the companies you mentioned wouldn't provide as much data as I have on my NAS. If I were to host the data in a real solution for larger amounts of data such as with Backblaze I'd have to pay nearly $1000/year. There are multiple different tiers of data that I keep: on device, encrypted snapshots, cloud, and NAS. There is differing amounts of money and effort I'm willing to spend depending on the type of data, but no one solutions is sufficient for everything.
- dvngnt_ 3y ago
  seems pretty cheap tbh
lupusreal 3y ago
If you're using a NAS as regular storage as I do, having it on your LAN gives you far superior performance. NFS exposed only over wireguard is secure enough for me and I've never had any worries about "robustness". Inb4 the old "dropbox/ftp HN suggestion" meme. I'm not recommending my setup for common users, or even for you. It suits my needs and that's all that I really care about.

by ajross 3y ago

derekp7 3y ago

You are leaving out the other primary reasons for a local NAS -- upload bandwidth, data caps, and special usage scenarios. Not to say that cloud-hosted solutions purely for backup purposes don't have their place, but it is just one component of a 3-2-1 backup policy.

beeboobaa3 3y ago

Have you seen how much those services charge for even just 10tb of storage? It's insane.

ajross 3y ago
Looks like $15 a month at Dropbox (it's true that the other providers don't count that high[1] in their standard rates, so you end up having to do it as more expensive overage). Seems like a bargain for not getting backdoored to me. But then I did say it was an unpopular opinion. [1] I do chuckle at the use of "just 10tb". Obviously the real issue here is that these NAS boxes are deployed in service of movie and porn collections that people don't want to leave with a third party. But my point was about reliability and security, not legality or propriety.
- beeboobaa3 3y ago
  From what I can tell dropbox will charge you E14.50*3=43.5/month (Business plan with a minimum of 3 users) or E522/year for 9TB, but maybe I'm missing something in their pricing? > I do chuckle at the use of "just 10tb" It's 2024. 2TB SSDs can be bought cheaply, and so can 16TB HDDs.
  - IshKebab 3y ago
    Yeah but the fact that you can buy a 10TB disk doesn't mean it's normal to need to store 10TB of data. I think bandwidth is a bigger issue with cloud storage. Most people have terrible upload bandwidth.
    - beeboobaa3 3y ago
      It's not normal for you.
      - IshKebab 3y ago
        It's not normal full stop. A tiny fraction of people might need it but it's definitely not the norm.
        beeboobaa3 3y ago
        Shrug. Neither is posting on HN or caring about other people their data retention preferences.
    - BenjiWiebe 3y ago
      My upload bandwidth is 3Mbps. My NAS is an old computer running Linux and samba. Due to the bandwidth issue cloud is a complete non-starter.
- aborsy 3y ago
  Dropbox speed is low. Even in Dropbox plus, ordinary features are behind paywall. Not interesting. Also, it’s not a good idea to store TBs of personal information on someone else’s computer or potentially the internet.
- arp242 3y ago
  It shows "€12/user/month" for Business (9TB), but that's with a 3 user minimum, so €36/month. The "Essentials" package for individuals is €16.58/month, but has only 3TB of storage. I don't know what it would cost to add extra storage for that (doesn't show a price), but I would be surprised if it was less than €25/month, and wouldn't be surprised if it was quite a bit more than that.

starky 3y ago

Those aren't an equivalent solution at all. A NAS is for storage of lots of data, even the biggest options from the companies you mentioned wouldn't provide as much data as I have on my NAS. If I were to host the data in a real solution for larger amounts of data such as with Backblaze I'd have to pay nearly $1000/year. There are multiple different tiers of data that I keep: on device, encrypted snapshots, cloud, and NAS. There is differing amounts of money and effort I'm willing to spend depending on the type of data, but no one solutions is sufficient for everything.

dvngnt_ 3y ago
seems pretty cheap tbh

lupusreal 3y ago

If you're using a NAS as regular storage as I do, having it on your LAN gives you far superior performance. NFS exposed only over wireguard is secure enough for me and I've never had any worries about "robustness". Inb4 the old "dropbox/ftp HN suggestion" meme. I'm not recommending my setup for common users, or even for you. It suits my needs and that's all that I really care about.