Nobody can argue that you shouldn't back up your data, but there are differing opinions on how to go about the task depending on the scale you're working at. For home users, having a NAS to centralize backups and storage at home is the best option for large amounts of data, although cloud storage services are also goodif your data usage is fairly modest or if you want to park data for a long time. Both of these options are simple to implement and are designed for anyone to set up and maintain.

When you reach the levels of data your average corporation needs to manage backups for, it's time to talk about data center strategies. Keeping data integrity intact is a given these days, but the magic number is availability. Even backups need to be constantly accessible unless they're part of designed airgapped systems or for cold storage so that any individual files can be restored at a moment's notice if accidentally overwritten. While the same basic tenets as NAS backups still apply, the realities of dealing with data at scale make a big difference in how those backups are handled.

6 Architecture and functionality

It's all about the approach to storage and what else is running on the machine

To an extent, data storage is data storage, but it's handled in very different ways for home users with a NAS and enterprise users with traditional network backups over a server or SAN (Storage Area Network). For a start, NAS backups are designed with a file-level access architecture and are typically used to centralize data storage and backups in one location for easy access.

NAS devices, for the most part, use standard Ethernet connections, so they are designed around the limitations of 1 GbE or, in some cases, 10 GbE, and work best when backups are set to run when nobody is using the network so performance isn't degraded. They are designed for stand-alone use, with only a few enterprise-level models designed to link together as clusters. While they used to be intended as a focused storage device, companies are increasingly adding more features to NAS OSes, so they are becoming more server-like in their scope.

In an enterprise environment, you're more likely to use a SAN, which uses consolidated block-level storage that transfers data at a very high speed and only backs up the changed data blocks inside a file. SANs are built on a dedicated fiber network (or sometimes on iSCSI), so even if the LAN goes down, the storage is still accessible. That also means the network isn't affected by backup transfers, so users have the same level of performance at all times.

You might also be using servers for backup purposes, and those servers might be set up purely as file servers. They might also be designed to run a host of functions, like print servers, database servers, or web servers. These are usually more powerful than NAS devices but are similar in function set if not scope.

5 Scalability and performance

One is designed for several users, while the other could serve thousands

For many home users, using external hard drives to manage their data is enough. However, once you're juggling multiple hard drives between multiple devices, it makes more sense to use a NAS. That switch from one drive connected via USB to a NAS enclosure with multiple drives connected over Ethernet is a good example of scaling hardware based on needs. These devices can be scaled only as far as the number of storage drives they can handle. For many home or SMB users, a NAS provides most of their data backup needs, although a hybrid storage arrangement with backups either in the cloud or at a second location is still the best practice.

Once your needs grow further, a NAS isn't likely to be able to keep up. As companies have found over the last few decades, simple operational needs generate a ton of data, and that pace is increasing rapidly. One centralized device isn't enough for the hundreds or thousands of employees to log in to, let alone back their devices onto. Servers and SANs are designed to distribute that data to avoid bottlenecks so that everyone has a similar level of performance. They're also designed to scale as the company's backup needs change.

4 Backup strategies

The programs backing up your devices might be very different

NAS backups and traditional network backups are designed on different timescales. NAS backups are for real-time or close to real-time data duplication, which enables quick recovery from deletions or other issues. That means your data backups have high availability and can be tuned for application-specific needs like the databases behind running services. It also means it's running constantly, copying changes immediately so that the backups are synced.

Traditional network backups follow a periodic, scheduled basis to create longer-term backups for data retention or recovery from specific time periods. Since data could be backed up from multiple clients, this could result in multiple copies of the same files. More modern backup solutions handle deduplication and other tasks to reduce the number of duplicates.

3 Security and redundancy

Both accomplish the same goals, but the implementation is different

Nowadays, NAS devices offer plenty of security options, including multifactor authentication tied to individual user accounts, encrypted storage, and on-device firewalls to restrict the IP addresses or devices that can access them. It's important to note that the security here is usually handled by the NAS OS and not by the rest of the network.

In contrast, in traditional network backups, the software used in the client-server architecture is often in charge of security, backed up by the physical network architecture of the enterprise environment. Not every network backup is stored as encrypted files, and it depends on compliance needs and if the data contains PII (personally identifying information). The design of the SAN or server network will also handle redundancy, where several copies of the data will be spread among multiple servers or locations.

2 Cost and maintenance

Home users don't have enterprise budgets to play with

NAS backups are a cost-effective way of securing your data when dealing with household or SMB levels of file storage. The costs involved are limited to the drive capacities used, and maintenance is handled in-house. Most home NAS units come with backup software and tools and can be set up fairly easily.

The scale of traditional network backups alone requires a larger maintenance team and higher associated costs. Servers and drives aren't the only costs, as the physical hardware of the network comes into play, and maintaining those connections adds to the overall figure.

1 Ease of use and management

NAS are simplified for the end user while network backups are handled by an IT team

NAS devices are designed for user-friendliness and can be hooked into the backup solutions already baked into computer operating systems, like Apple's Time Machine. Even if not, they usually have at least one backup client solution, and some NAS providers have several, depending on the type of backup strategy you want to implement. That makes them suitable for smaller companies or home users who are unlikely to have extensive IT support.

Traditional network backup solutions require some level of IT knowledge to set up. Even a single server-client link can be complex depending on the software package used, and the complexity ramps up sharply once you get into larger networks. That makes them more used by corporations and other sites with IT departments to handle the setup and management.

With the proliferation of the home lab, NAS backup strategies are closer to traditional network backups than ever before

NAS backup strategies aren't that far off from traditional network backups, with the hardware and management involved being the most significant changes. If you want to have a home server and set up backup software, then go right ahead, but the simplified setup involved with NAS devices makes them more suited to home use.