Desktop PC archive and backup

From Cloud to Control: Why We Switched to NAS for Our Business Backups

Like many small businesses, our IT setup has evolved organically over time. We currently manage a mix of three Windows PCs, four Linux boxes, a couple of Chromebooks, and three laptops. all interconnected via a LAN secured behind firewalls and segmented subnets. While much of the work involves standard business documents, we also rely on a variety of software tools tailored to our consulting work.

With so many devices in play, a hard disk failure would be more than just inconvenient, it could be both costly and disruptive. That’s why we’ve always maintained regular, daily backups. These are stored separately and air-gapped from the rest of our network, ensuring we could recover even in the event of a complete loss of access to our office, something that’s critical given that our work often takes us off-site or even overseas.

When the Cloud Got Expensive

Our data needs have grown significantly over the past year. The introduction of GoPro cameras and drones for fieldwork caused a spike in storage usage — particularly with large video files. Until recently, we were backing everything up to AWS S3. It worked reliably, but the monthly costs began to creep up, around £45 per month just to store 2 TB. And while uploading was painless, the Amazon interface wasn’t exactly user-friendly for quick restores.

We experimented with a more budget-friendly solution: USB-attached hard drives paired with EaseUS backup software. Unfortunately, during test recoveries, we found it lacking in reliability and speed. Cheap, yes but not something we could count on during a real crisis.

Moving to NAS: Why Synology Was Worth It

Eventually, we decided it was time to bring storage back under our own roof. After some research, we opted for a Synology NAS system. While the hardware cost was a bit higher than other options, the added value in terms of built-in software, usability, and long-term savings made it an easy choice.

The benefits were immediate:

• RAID support for drive redundancy
• Hot-swappable enterprise-grade drives
• Integrated UPS backup control
• FTTP-enabled remote backups to a secondary off-site location
• Seamless local and remote file sharing across all our devices
• Disk capacity upgrades are easy.

Best of all, we now have four times the storage capacity we had with AWS, and we own the infrastructure. Based on our current and projected usage, the system will pay for itself in under three years.

Setup was surprisingly quick, under two hours, and required no special tools (not even a screwdriver). We also appreciated being free from proprietary cloud ecosystems like Microsoft OneDrive, while still maintaining the flexibility to access data globally. We've also given the Synology box its own APC UPS to provide at least 30 minutes backup power.

Final Thoughts

For our business, this move was about regaining control. AWS S3 served us well, but it became increasingly expensive and a bit opaque to manage. Our new NAS setup gives us performance, scalability, and peace of mind — all with the simplicity we need and the flexibility to grow.

If you’re a small business grappling with rising cloud storage costs and complex recovery procedures, investing in a NAS might be the best IT decision you’ll make this year.