NAS vs Cloud Backup: Which Does Your Business Need?
A NAS and cloud storage are not rivals. Each covers the other's weak point, and a sound backup plan uses both.
What a NAS does well
- Fast backup and fast restore over the office network, even for hundreds of gigabytes
- A one-time cost, with no fee that rises as data grows
- Your data stays on your premises and under your control
- Works when the internet connection is down
What cloud backup does well
- It is off-site by nature, so fire, theft and flooding at the office cannot touch it
- No hardware to maintain
- Easy to start small
Where each falls short
A NAS in the office is exposed to whatever happens to the office. Cloud backup depends on your upload speed: restoring a terabyte over an ordinary connection can take days, and the monthly cost keeps climbing with your data.
Using both
The usual design is local first, cloud second. Everything backs up to the NAS, which gives quick day-to-day restores. The NAS then sends an encrypted copy to cloud storage or to a second NAS at another site. That satisfies the 3-2-1 rule, and the large restores that need speed come from the local copy.
Common questions
Is a NAS cheaper than cloud storage?
For more than a few terabytes kept for several years, usually yes, because the NAS is bought once. Cloud storage is cheaper to start and for small amounts of data.
Is OneDrive or Google Drive a backup?
They are sync services. They protect against a lost laptop, but deletions and encrypted files sync too, and version history is limited. A backup keeps independent copies for a set period.
Can a NAS back itself up to the cloud?
Yes. Synology, QNAP and Asustor all include tools to send encrypted backups to services such as Amazon S3 and Azure.