6 Ways I'm Using My NAS

Network Attached Storage (NAS) servers are chiefly intended for backing up and storing files, but they tin besides bash a lot more. I’ve been utilizing a two-bay Synology DiskStation DS718+ NAS for adjacent to a twelvemonth now, and I’ve recovered immoderate chill ways to marque it much than conscionable a information dumping ground.

Many radical effort to usage location servers arsenic afloat replacements for unreality services, usually with self-hosted instances of NextCloud and different akin tools. I’m not rather determination yet—I don’t privation to be my ain IT guy for each my important data. For now, I’m mostly funny successful services that payment from 24/7 uptime, and ways to widen my existing unreality storage. Hopefully, this gives you a fewer ideas for your ain NAS oregon location server.

1 Computer Backups

This is 1 of the astir communal usage cases for a NAS. My 2 main computers are an M1 Mac Mini and M1 MacBook Air, and I person my NAS configured arsenic a backup destination for Time Machine successful macOS. This allows maine to reconstruct immoderate record connected my computers from the web backup, oregon I tin afloat reconstruct the computers successful the lawsuit of a catastrophic failure. It’s astonishing to maine that Windows inactive doesn’t person a akin built-in backup tool.

I don’t truly request the humanities timeline of my files to agelong backmost weeks oregon months, truthful I person the maximum retention quota adjacent to the computers’ ain retention capacity. As agelong arsenic each my existent section files are backed up determination else, I’m good.

2 Torrent Client With VPN

This is by far the astir amusive work I’m moving connected my NAS. I acceptable up the docker-transmission-openvpn Docker image, which runs the Transmission torrent client with a web interface. I tin add, delete, and negociate torrents from immoderate web browser connected my network, and the files are stored connected my NAS. It routes each net postulation done an OpenVPN-compatible connection—a P2P-compatible Proton VPN successful my case—giving maine an other level of privacy. The server stops moving if the VPN becomes disconnected, similar a kill switch.

This setup is overmuch easier than turning connected and disconnected VPNs for torrenting connected my computers, and it tin tally each time long. I tin adhd torrents from immoderate instrumentality connected my network, and erstwhile they’re done, I tin unfastened the files from the web thrust oregon transcript the information to different device. I tin besides support the torrents moving each time agelong for others to download.

I’ve added a clump of torrents for Linux distributions similar Fedora and Ubuntu, bundle projects similar LibreOffice, backup information collections from the SciOp project, and items from the Internet Archive. With this setup, I’m efficaciously donating my unused bandwidth and retention to different projects and organizations.

This is besides a large usage for drives that don’t person backups, oregon drives that aren’t successful a shared retention pool. If a thrust dies that you are utilizing exclusively for torrents, and astatine slightest 1 different idiosyncratic is inactive seeding each of those torrents, you tin conscionable swap successful a caller thrust and commencement rebuilding your copies. Most of my torrent files are connected my main mirrored thrust pool, but I’m besides using 2 aged flash drives arsenic throwaway torrent storage.

3 Cloud Storage Backup

I usage OneDrive arsenic my superior unreality retention for important files, photos, and videos. It wouldn’t beryllium a amusive clip if each those files abruptly disappeared, oregon I someway mislaid entree to my account. Thankfully, I tin harvester 2 tools to make regular section backups of my unreality storage.

The archetypal instrumentality is Synology Cloud Sync, which I acceptable up to reflector my OneDrive to a section folder connected the NAS. I tin besides entree that section cache from the web share, but OneDrive is straight installed connected my different devices, truthful I seldom bash that. I tin spot that enactment being much utile successful homes with constricted bandwidth, though—instead of aggregate devices perpetually trying to download and upload changes, each net synchronization lawsuit lone happens a azygous time.

The 2nd constituent is Synology Snapshot Replication, which creates point-in-time copies of folders—in this case, the OneDrive folder. I acceptable it up to make a snapshot of my OneDrive relationship erstwhile a week, which I tin past reconstruct to the OneDrive folder oregon transcript to different location.

This setup won’t assistance maine if I suffer entree to unreality information and my NAS stops moving astatine the aforesaid time. I could harvester this with regular off-site backups oregon immoderate different solution, but for now, I’m blessed to conscionable person some benignant of fallback.

4 Plex

Plex is different incredibly communal NAS application, allowing you to make your ain libraries of movies, TV shows, and music, and watercourse them to your ain devices. I don’t person immoderate mean media libraries acceptable up close now, but I americium utilizing Plex for streaming and signaling section unrecorded TV.

I antecedently had a Sling AirTV 2 for watching and signaling section TV stations, but the bundle acquisition wasn’t great, and it was constricted to 720p. I ended up buying a utilized third-generation HDHomeRun Dual tuner connected eBay for $32, acceptable it up implicit Ethernet, and connected it to the Plex server moving connected my NAS.

Even though that tuner is implicit a decennary old, it works perfectly successful Plex, and Plex’s TV usher and signaling interface is overmuch amended than what I had with Sling. I tin besides backup and transcript my recordings erstwhile needed, since they’re conscionable MPEG-2 video files connected my NAS.

5 IPerf3 Server

Internet velocity tests are a large mode to cheque your maximum web performance, but they can’t constrictive down your transportation problems. If you get a little download oregon upload velocity than you’re expecting, it could beryllium your section network, your net work provider, oregon both.

IPerf3 is simply a large inferior for investigating web speeds betwixt 2 section devices, and since my NAS is connected straight to my router implicit Ethernet, mounting up IPerf3 gives maine a Wi-Fi show trial I tin tally astatine immoderate time. I acceptable up a Docker instrumentality with an Alpine Linux image, with larboard 7575 unfastened to my section network, which runs this bid astatine startup:

/bin/sh -c apk update && apk adhd iperf3 && iperf3 -s -p 7575

I tin past instal iperf3 connected immoderate different device, similar the Mac mentation from Homebrew, and tally this bid with the IP code of my NAS:

iperf3 -c 192.168.50.100 -p 7575

There are besides iperf3 clients for iOS and Android, truthful I tin besides trial web show connected phones and tablets. The 1 drawback with my setup is that my Wi-Fi is susceptible of multi-gigabit speeds, but the Ethernet transportation connected my NAS is lone 1 Gig, truthful my velocity trial results can’t beryllium faster than that. That’s a bully crushed for my adjacent NAS to person a 2.5G oregon 10G port.

6 Orb Server

Orb is an net prime dashboard, giving you short-term and semipermanent accusation astir your web latency, dropped packets, speed, and wide reliability. It was released to the nationalist successful April 2025, and its creator was formerly CEO of Ookla, which runs Speedtest.net.

You don’t request a NAS oregon different server to usage Orb, but erstwhile it’s moving connected an always-on instrumentality similar a NAS, it turns into a large 24/7 monitoring instrumentality for your location internet. I tin spot erstwhile my transportation drops passim the day, and I get nearly-instant notifications connected my phone’s Orb app erstwhile my home’s net transportation drops retired and returns. That diagnostic requires a (free) account.