I recommend you move to a reliable and dependable backup/storage solution - Now. Photographers complain when a camera only has one storage media but following an important shoot they offload all the video/photos to their home computer for processing. You need a professional storage solution! - Synology offers pro-grade solutions at very reasonable prices. Why take the risk - your PC and external drives are prone to failure and will fail.
Benefits of a Synology Diskstation:
- Redundant storage - your data is protected even if a drive fails
- Remote access - access your files from anywhere
- Allow your customers to access your work
- Hundreds of Applications - set up your personal blog, photo portfolio, video feeds, and Podcast and share it with anyone!
- Backup your home PCs using Synology Drive Application - the ability to restore a failed PC
- Cloud services - Move data to and from other cloud services (Google, Amazon, etc)
- Establish a Home Surveillance System - 2 free IP Camera licenses are included with option to add more
When your Synology Diskstation is set up you have a dependable, reliable backup and storage solution for your once-in-a-lifetime media. I set up a large storage solution for my needs - Synology offers many Diskstations to meet your specific requirements.
Synology Diskstation is more than storage! Diskstation is a full business/home solution with hundreds of applications available that can be used to make your Diskstation more than just a storage solution. You can set up remote access, and from anywhere in the world upload/download files.
Local Disaster Protection: While the Diskstation can protect you from a hard drive failure it can not protect you from a total loss caused by fire. However, Synology Diskstation offers Glacier Services and other off-site cloud storage services. You can push and retrieve files from Amazon Glacier. The cost to store 6TB in Glacier is about $7.00 per month or $1.00 per TB per Month. Amazon Glacier is for archival use for emergency recovery in case your home burns down taking your Synology with it - forbid. Imagine the data losses following hurricanes and the fires in California when people kept their data locally on personal computers.
Does this sound familiar? I have a backup and I keep all my important data on external drives, or do I have multiple external hard drives with my media on them? Trust me, that is not a reliable backup. The problem is if a local disaster occurs your data most likely will be gone forever.
Having data spread across several external sources and not on a redundant RAID system is a recipe for disaster - which drive has what data?
Setting up your own Diskstation is simple, I recommend you buy a Diskstation with at least 4 bays which will offer at least one drive redundant failure or even 2 failed drives depending on how you set up your Diskstation. The actual setup is very simple, pop in your hard drives, plug in the Diskstation to your network, and fire it up. You use a Synology app to discover your Diskstation and start the configuration - that simple!
- Buy drives that meet your storage needs - 4, 6, and 8 TB drives are reasonably priced. Keep in mind your total storage will be reduced depending on how you set up your REDUNDANT system. EG., 4 x 4TB drives = 8TB using two drive redundancy, 2 drive redundancy = 4 TB total storage.
So, what did I do to future proof ? I purchased a Synology DiskStation 2415+ with a set of six 10 Terabytes of Pro NAS and six 10TB Surveillance drives, for a total of 12 10TB drives, and in a RAID setup you get about have the full volume size in RAID configuration. The Skyhawk is set up as two volumes to support 6 continuous IP camera recordings and a secondary backup of certain data from the main NAS which ensures I have 3 full copies of my most important data. While the IronWolfPros are set up to support my mass storage needs along with a wake-on-demand 20 terabytes of additional backups. I am covered.
What is my workflow and setup now: The Mass Storage Synology DS2415+ is set up in a redundant raid configuration, I use my PC to perform all edits and send the full set of images with the masters to the Diskstation. My older diskstation is used as secondary file storage. Local hazard like a flood or fire is protected using Amazon Glacier - off-site in the cloud. I now sleep without worrying about my data.
Use My Amazon Associate Link to get your Synology NAS: Get You Synology NAS
So where do I store my long-term archives for offsite storage?: I keep a copy of my data on Amazon Glacier, a low-cost solution for the protection of your data - do it for your protection! Stuff happens, be prepared. I have 6+ TB on Glacier, and at night rest assured my data is recoverable - fires, floods, or other disasters.
--Buy recommended hard drives/SDDs that are recommended by Synology for the Diskstation you choose - the link is here.
In Summary: Synology Diskstation not only offers a highly reliable storage solution but also has serious business applications that will improve the quality of presentation, access, and sharing of data. This is a no-brainer.