I think that the ReadyNAS212 will work for my business but, before I purchase it, I would like to make sure it will do the following 3 things for me. I am looking to back up my 5 office computers to a NAS that I would have at my house (off-site from my business).
1. Will I be able to sync folders between the NAS and the PCs if the NAS is not on-site with the PCs?
2. Will the NAS keep older versions of updated files and, if yes, is the number of versions permitted defined in the setup?
3. Will I be able to perform backups to the NAS if the NAS is not on-site with the PCs?
In reading the online documentation, my understanding is that I will be able to do #1 and #3.
I can't find anything about #2. I emailed Netgear support a few weeks ago but didn't get a response.
1. Will I be able to sync folders between the NAS and the PCs if the NAS is not on-site with the PCs?
Sync isnt quite the same as backup. With ReadyCloud, you can sync one folder on each PC with the NAS. If you want to sync more than that you'd need a different solution. Personally I wouldn't rely on ReadyCloud to make my backups. Instead I use Acronis TrueImage to back up my 5 home PCs to my NAS. That NAS is on my local network, though I could have used ZeroTier or OpenVPN if I wanted the NAS to be off-site.
2. Will the NAS keep older versions of updated files and, if yes, is the number of versions permitted defined in the setup?
The built-in backup jobs in the NAS (and ReadyCloud) just copy files to NAS shares with no versioning. You can enable snapshots on the destination share - the snapshots will hold older versions. You can set retention of snapshots using the "custom" snapshot setting for the share(s).
Though another option is to use backup software on the PC that does versioning (and which supports a network share as a backup destination).
3. Will I be able to perform backups to the NAS if the NAS is not on-site with the PCs?
There are a couple of ways to do this
ReadyCloud
OpenVPN (VPN connecting the PCs to your entire home network)
ZeroTier (VPN connecting the PCS to each other and the NAS)
Another way is to put the NAS on the office network, and keep NAS backups off site. You could do that with two NAS (backing up the office NAS to your home), or with rotating USB drives.
Most people underestimate how much they'll use a NAS before they actually have one. You may want to consider a 4-bay, or even larger, NAS with just the two drives to start. That will make expanding the storage much easier later.
That will make expanding the storage much easier later.
Also much cheaper over the long run. If you have an empty slot, you can just pop in an additional drive. If not, you need to upgrade two working drives to larger ones.
If you get a 4 bay NAS, and start with 2 disks (XRAID/RAID-1) you can more than triple the starting capacity before you have to upgrade existing drives.
For instance, if you start at 2x8TB you'd have 8 TB of space. Adding an additional 8 TB would double the space to 16 TB, adding another 8 TB you bring you to 24 TB. If you added two 12 TB drives instead, you'd end up with a 30 TB volume.
