Wireless hard drive?
Discussion
Looking at back up solutions for our devices. It’s obvious to me now that what I need is something that auto backs up our devices - Windows, Macs and Iphones.
Ideally, connected to the WiFi, as we walk in the house it auto syncs (or on a schedule)- a simple back up to keep photos etc... safe. Music and film streaming not a big consideration what with Spotify etc...
Any suggestions?
Ideally, connected to the WiFi, as we walk in the house it auto syncs (or on a schedule)- a simple back up to keep photos etc... safe. Music and film streaming not a big consideration what with Spotify etc...
Any suggestions?
Simplest would be a basic off-the-shelf NAS. Cheapest possibly a Raspberry Pi + USB drive and Openmediavault.
Either just plugs in to a spare port on your router to be visible on your home network.
Either just plugs in to a spare port on your router to be visible on your home network.
I can recommend the WD My Cloud Home solution.
It’s really simple to setup and you can connect/backup your smart devices via a downloadable app.
It’s not a NAS and shouldn’t be treated as such though.
Highlights
Content anywhere when on the move. I can stream my music in the car from my home network.
You can share folders with others and everyone can have their own private backup.
Can be used as a DVR with additional subscription.
I can stream all my content via AirPlay and AppleTV.
ETA
I went with a duo version as the drives mirror each other. 12TB so two 6TB drives; however you can turn this off and make use of the full 12TB.
It’s really simple to setup and you can connect/backup your smart devices via a downloadable app.
It’s not a NAS and shouldn’t be treated as such though.
Highlights
Content anywhere when on the move. I can stream my music in the car from my home network.
You can share folders with others and everyone can have their own private backup.
Can be used as a DVR with additional subscription.
I can stream all my content via AirPlay and AppleTV.
ETA
I went with a duo version as the drives mirror each other. 12TB so two 6TB drives; however you can turn this off and make use of the full 12TB.
Edited by barryrs on Sunday 21st June 16:22
barryrs said:
I can recommend the WD My Cloud Home solution.
It’s really simple to setup and you can connect/backup your smart devices via a downloadable app.
It’s not a NAS and shouldn’t be treated as such though.
Highlights
Content anywhere when on the move. I can stream my music in the car from my home network.
You can share folders with others and everyone can have their own private backup.
Can be used as a DVR with additional subscription.
I can stream all my content via AirPlay and AppleTV.
ETA
I went with a duo version as the drives mirror each other. 12TB so two 6TB drives; however you can turn this off and make use of the full 12TB.
This sounds like it could be my thing- all I’m after is a hard drive with wireless wheels! Simply walk into the house and it backs up (understood app is needed) so from my windows surface device to our iPhones to Nan’s Android. This sounds the ticket. Is it as simple as that? It’s really simple to setup and you can connect/backup your smart devices via a downloadable app.
It’s not a NAS and shouldn’t be treated as such though.
Highlights
Content anywhere when on the move. I can stream my music in the car from my home network.
You can share folders with others and everyone can have their own private backup.
Can be used as a DVR with additional subscription.
I can stream all my content via AirPlay and AppleTV.
ETA
I went with a duo version as the drives mirror each other. 12TB so two 6TB drives; however you can turn this off and make use of the full 12TB.
Edited by barryrs on Sunday 21st June 16:22
extraT said:
This sounds like it could be my thing- all I’m after is a hard drive with wireless wheels! Simply walk into the house and it backs up (understood app is needed) so from my windows surface device to our iPhones to Nan’s Android. This sounds the ticket. Is it as simple as that?
Pretty much.When you install the App on a Windows machine it creates a Z drive which you can use via windows explorer to drag and drop.
You will need to hardwire the drive into your home network. Mine is remote from my router so I installed a dedicated WiFi extender with a network cable input.
If you are going to share music you will need it in MP3 format so I had to spend some time converting as my collection was a mixture. Also check windows compatibility as I don’t know how far back support goes.
Rather than the WD cloud mirror dual drive, I opted for a 3tb WD cloud plus a 3tb WD my book.
Essentially it does the same thing with RAID back up redundancy but:
1. Cheaper to buy
2. Easier to replace one drive if the other fails
3. Both can be located in different areas of the home for security from theft and fire purposes etc.
Essentially it does the same thing with RAID back up redundancy but:
1. Cheaper to buy
2. Easier to replace one drive if the other fails
3. Both can be located in different areas of the home for security from theft and fire purposes etc.
Edited by manracer on Sunday 21st June 23:02
Edited by manracer on Sunday 21st June 23:04
A NAS is definitely want you want.
The wireless bit you think you need is a red herring. What you actually want is an SMB network share available for use with backing things up. It doesn't matter if your clients are wireless and your NAS is wired - they will all be on the same internal network at home. Thus the easiest thing to do is, as suggested, put a wired NAS on your router.
I don't know Android particularly well but on iPhones I use an app called Photosync which, when it comes into range of the wireless network, uses the NAS SMB share as a target for automatically copying new photos to. I'm sure there's similar on Android. If you want a really easy to use off the shelf solution then Synology NAS come equipped with companion apps and a nice web interface to manage everything.
With regards to your surface laptop, I strongly recommend Veeam. There's a free version. You leave it running on Windows, tell it your NAS SMB share location and it just sits there in the background keeping backed up copies for as long as you want without any intervention.
Don't worry about the term SMB share (you might also see the word samba) - it's a function all NAS have to create a portion of the NAS disk drive as accessible on the network so you can browse to it, copy to and from it and all manner of other standard things.
With regards to backing up your Apple devices then look for a NAS that supports a TimeMachine share. If it does then it's a bit like Veeam but much slicker from the end user point of view. You just set it and forget it really.
The wireless bit you think you need is a red herring. What you actually want is an SMB network share available for use with backing things up. It doesn't matter if your clients are wireless and your NAS is wired - they will all be on the same internal network at home. Thus the easiest thing to do is, as suggested, put a wired NAS on your router.
I don't know Android particularly well but on iPhones I use an app called Photosync which, when it comes into range of the wireless network, uses the NAS SMB share as a target for automatically copying new photos to. I'm sure there's similar on Android. If you want a really easy to use off the shelf solution then Synology NAS come equipped with companion apps and a nice web interface to manage everything.
With regards to your surface laptop, I strongly recommend Veeam. There's a free version. You leave it running on Windows, tell it your NAS SMB share location and it just sits there in the background keeping backed up copies for as long as you want without any intervention.
Don't worry about the term SMB share (you might also see the word samba) - it's a function all NAS have to create a portion of the NAS disk drive as accessible on the network so you can browse to it, copy to and from it and all manner of other standard things.
With regards to backing up your Apple devices then look for a NAS that supports a TimeMachine share. If it does then it's a bit like Veeam but much slicker from the end user point of view. You just set it and forget it really.
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