NAS or ?? Best backup setup for multiple computers in different states

FWIW, I have a Synology DS916+ NAS. It can support both Time Machine backups for Macs and be accessible from a remote location. This should handle your remote Macs. On the other hand, iOS devices can only be backed up to either iTunes (locally) or to iCloud (remotely) and the NAS will not help with this feature.

However, all of your devices should be able to use the NAS as a file server. In addition, the Synology NAS offers VPN server service so that you can connect from a remote location securely.

Finally be aware that remote backups will be slow. They will depend on the upload speeds available at each of the remote locations, as well as, the remote router's capabilities.

iCloud and other such synchronization services are not backups. I suggest each device have its own local external drive backup scheme. Backing up over the Internet will be very slow. In addition I would also set up a remotely accessible NAS. If the only backup can only be accessed over the Internet that is an issue if: the Internet goes down; a local user is having connectivity issues; or the remote server/storage goes down.

The unit Im looking at is a Synology 218 with 2Gb DDR4 ram. The HD's Im looking at are WD Red's/5600 rpm. Either 2 or 4tb each. I may use the second one as the duplicate in case of a failure.. Any thoughts on that?

The only issues I see are data recovery & RAM. With only two drives, you will be very limited to RAID 0 or RAID 1 configurations. I suggest a 4-bay model ... and if your needs grow, most of them include the option to get a drive expansion unit.

For example, my DS916+ comes with 4 bays, but I have the option to get the 5-bay expansion unit for a total of 9-bays to fill up. With this configuration all RAID options are available to me.

The other area is the amount of RAM. The more it has, the better it performs. Just letting you know from experience. Remember this NAS is basically a mini computer with built-in drives. Just as your desktop or notebook performance is improved by additional memory, so will this NAS.

Remember that RAID is NOT backup. You STILL need a separate backup, even with two copies inside the RAID.

RAID just stretches the time to Repair. It provides no defense about a raft of problems including crazy software and accidental deletion by users.

Thanks for your comments.

Remember that RAID is NOT backup. You STILL need a separate backup, even with two copies inside the RAID.

Correct, it isn't directly, but if you use a NAS for Time Machine and one of those drives fail, you could be out of that backup. However, with a properly configured RAID, you lessen that chance by being able to replace "hot-swap" that drive with another without losing any data.

FWIW. I use a NAS as one part of a four-part backup strategy. This has worked well for my for many years.

Ref: macOS Backup Strategy - Apple Community

A local disk drive is the best solution for backups. An expensive fast drive is not a requirement and actually provides no additional benefit for Time Machine.

In my opinion, Time Machine is a good "fire and forget" solution to the backup problem, because you do not schedule separate times for just making backups. Time Machine works at low priority in the background, without derailing your regular work. So Time Machine is the backup that gets done, and when you need it, it is there to serve you.

If you ALSO want to share files, there are LOTS of solutions for that issue, but it is NOT the same issue as Backup. Do not conflate the two, or the solution you choose will not be a good solution for either problem.

If what you are saving on the NAS is exactly a Backup, and not the original files, you make a good point.

But if you have several drives available, it seems superior to make two different backups than to have a mirrored backup.

Hi,

What about iCloud? It suits your purpose, I guess.