I was a skeptic when it comes to NAS and would normally rely on an external storage device or cloud storage until I finally got my hands on a NAS by chance. Things have never been the same since then and I’m totally glad that I have made that jump.
I’m currently using a Synology DiskStation DS220+ now as my main NAS and in this article, I’ll share with you 5 ways how I take advantage of the DS220+ for work, file sharing, and backup, as well as a content server for personal entertainment.
I can work almost anywhere
The nature of my work as a reviewer usually requires me to work on different devices and having a NAS allows me to set up my very own Google Drive alike service.
As long as I have an internet connection, I can upload the photos and data required for my work and easily sync all of them to the NAS and across devices, as well as 3rd party cloud services so I can access these data whenever I need with the help of packages like GoodSync.
I can also work on the fly using Synology Office and Synology Drive Server packages. These packages offer features that are very similar to what you get with Google Docs and Google Drive services, and you have full control of all these data.
Backup important files from my personal VPS
Aside from my work, I’m also a hobbyist programmer and I have a VPS for me to deploy my personal projects. While there are services like SourceForge, Bitbucket, GitHub, GitLab, etc to manage these projects, there is still some important data I don’t want to upload to these places, especially tokens or private assets.
Just like how I do with the data for my work, I have the project folder on my VPS synced to my NAS but to a different folder. I have an issue with my previous VPS host just recently and I just lost the VPS alongside everything on it just like that, but thanks to the data sync which I have configured to run every day, I managed to recover pretty much everything on the new VPS host I’m on right now.
Offload the download job to the NAS
Downloading big files that require me to leave my computer on overnight can be troublesome but that’s no longer an issue since I started using a NAS.
I can just offload these download jobs to the NAS using the Download Station package, an indispensable package for Synology NAS users that supports file download through BT, FTP, HTTP, NZB, FlashGet, QQDL, and eMule.
If you’re a heavy downloader that is constantly downloading all kinds of stuff to your hard drives, I highly recommend this.
Share files securely with friends and family members
I did mention that you can technically create your own Google Drive alike service on the DS220+ and yes, you can even share files with your friends and family members using a similar method.
By right-clicking the files you have uploaded to the NAS, you can get a link that allows anyone to download the file. If you want the file to be only accessible by authorized users, you can even click on the ‘Enable secure sharing’ checkbox so only specific users can access the file.
Not only that, but you can also set a validity period and the number of access allowed so that the file cannot be exploited in event of the link getting accidentally leaked out.
A personal media serving server
If you enjoy video or music streaming services but don’t feel like paying a premium for them, you can also set up your very own using the DS220+. Using packages like Audio Station and Plex Media Server, I’ve configured my very own video or music streaming services which I can access anytime and anywhere.
The DS220+ can easily handle 2 devices streaming at the same time and since I’m the only one who has full access to the NAS, I have yet to experience any performance hiccups while using these services.
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