When I first got my first NAS, I felt this burst of confidence, like I had built a data fort for myself in my living room. It became the destination for everything — from my photos and documents to device backups and work files. If a file existed, I moved it to the NAS. At that point, it all felt sorted and neat.

It actually made sense to have everything in a single place. It helped me stay organized because I knew that everything I wanted to find would be in the same spot: my NAS. But as they say, putting all your eggs in a single basket is not only risky but also inconvenient in the case of a NAS.

So, instead of relying on my NAS for every single thing, I have started to diversify my storage spaces, ensuring I wasn't adjusting to my NAS, but instead, my storage units were adapting to my varied needs. Here’s why I decided to go hybrid at last.

The illusion of centralization

One that broke not too long ago

A NAS is a magical middle ground between portable hard drives and cloud storage — it is quite convenient while still being as private as it gets. It’s fantastic for local storage of large files, making them quicker to access than relying on the slow internet.

However, as you move out of your local network, you have to deal with a lot of inconveniences. You have to be extra vigilant to ensure your transfers are secure and that you aren’t exposing your entire NAS to bad actors. There’s a lot that can break in the middle, from VPN to your dynamic DNS setup. It wasn’t as frictionless as I wanted it to be, drawing me back to cloud storage.

Not everything belongs in one place

Maybe decentralization isn’t bad after all?

At one point, I was forcing myself to use the NAS just because I spent a considerable amount of time putting it together, even though it wasn’t the easiest way to access my files. Google Drive is a far superior product, and the things that need to be routinely accessed now live there. And since it’s a Google service, it’s also easier to share my Documents with others.

I have long followed the dual app strategy for my photo backups, and that’s been working fine still. Full-resolution backups are stored on Synology Photos, while I primarily use Google Photos for its AI features and to create shared albums with my family and loved ones.

Meanwhile, file types such as raw media files and old projects are still stored on the NAS for safekeeping and backup.

Air-gapped backups are underrated

Never underestimate those portable drives

After upgrading to a NAS, I thought that I could finally get rid of those archaic portable hard drives. But as it turns out, they are far more useful than I had thought. For keeping backup copies not on an offline storage unit, businesses can surely invest in a second NAS for an off-site backup system, but for a home user like me, that’s not as feasible.

My next option is those good old portable drives that continue to fill my drawers. Their inconvenience is their biggest draw — you must manually plug it in to save backup copies. That’d come in handy if my NAS gets compromised, and I’d still be at peace because at least my data is safe in these drives.

Sync is not backup. Backup is not an archive

I wish I had understood this earlier

I made a lot of mistakes during my early days with the NAS, only to figure out the right way of storing my data. While syncing may seem like a solid backup strategy, but accidentally deleting files from one location will affect all devices. Similarly, archived files don’t need to be on the drives that are constantly spinning.

A strategy that I went for was to spread everything across devices. So now, the sync function only works for the folders that contain my in-progress tasks. I use my NAS and cloud storage to keep backup copies of my files. And finally, my collection of portable HDDs and SSDs is where I keep the files that I don’t need anymore.

NAS isn’t the only piece in the setup

But it’s still at the center of it all

My NAS became the only piece of my storage setup when it needed to be just a part of it. While it continues to be at the core of my system, I have now diversified my storage spaces so that they serve my needs — one that’s comfortable to me.

My current hybrid model has a cloud for its convenience, making things easier to share with anyone, not on my local network. NAS is in the middle, taking up the primary storage duties of keeping my files in sync across devices, ensuring everything important is backed up, and helping me access my files swiftly. And finally, my collection of hard drives lets me keep my archives safe.

It’s about flexibility over rigidity

I take pride in the NAS setup that I have built. Perhaps that was the reason I started relying on it completely and didn’t want to use anything else, becoming a bit rigid in the process. Over time, I have come to realize that I shouldn’t be forcing myself to use a particular device or service for its sake. When another app or a portable hard drive is able to serve me better, I should be flexible enough to make it part of my setup. That’s how I make the system work for me, rather than needing to adapt to my storage devices.