NAS or cloud: where your data sleeps when the drive fails

NAS or cloud: the real cost of storing 500 GB at home

An external hard drive holding 500 GB of files falls to the floor and stops reading. The files weren't vital, but rebuilding them means hunting them down on the internet again, and that comes at a cost in time and patience. The three-copy setup —PC, external drive and 15 GB of free Google Drive— falls short as soon as the volume grows. The alternative comes down to two options: setting up a home NAS or paying for the cloud.

The price of peace of mind: NAS vs subscription

The upfront cost of a Synology NAS with two mirrored 1 TB drives comes to around 320 euros: 220 for the unit and 100 for the drives. On the other side, S3-compatible object storage services like Wasabi, Backblaze B2 or iDrive charge from 3 euros per month per terabyte. Over five years, the cloud's cost eats up the NAS investment, but you also have to factor in power consumption and maintenance. A NAS switched off with Wake on LAN avoids the energy cost, though it takes five minutes to boot from your phone.

The lifetime purchase option, like the 4 TB of Pcloud bought in two instalments, eliminates the monthly fee but requires a large upfront outlay. And nobody guarantees that a "lifetime" service stays that way: sceptics prefer paying month to month over trusting a recurring model with a poisoned track record.

Fire, theft and the other secret copy

A NAS at home gives you full control, but a fire doesn't distinguish between your data and your furniture. That's why some people combine a NAS with an external copy kept at another home, updated through syncing or FreeFileSync. It's the cheapest solution and, for many, the most reliable: two separate hard drives, one of them off-site. There's no single formula for balancing convenience, cost and risk. As long as per-terabyte prices keep falling, the household dilemma between owning your data outright or renting it will remain open. The only consensus: the multiple-copy rule is still law, and a drive that hits the floor doesn't negotiate.