What it is good for
- Shared files for the whole family or company.
- Phone photos backed up automatically (for example Immich instead of Google Photos).
- Films and series played on the TV via Jellyfin or Plex.
- Computer backups and Time Machine for Macs.
- Apps in Docker: the Vaultwarden password manager, Pi-hole ad blocking, game servers.
RAID is not a backup
A NAS combines disks into a RAID array. RAID 1 mirrors two disks, RAID 5 survives one disk failure, RAID 6 two. It protects against disk failure, not against deletion, ransomware, fire or theft. For that you need a backup outside the NAS.
Access from outside
A NAS should not be exposed directly to the internet. It is safer to connect through a VPN or Tailscale, or publish services through a tunnel such as Cloudflare Tunnel. That is how this website runs.