What is a Virtual Machine and Why Should I Install One on my NAS

Buying your first Network Attached Storage (NAS) device can be a remarkably daunting task! Even for the most technologically knowledgable, a NAS is a very different kind of device than most of the hardware in your environment. At its heart, it is just a computer (like most things are when you break them down to the basics) that is built for a specific task. However, there are numerous elements of a NAS (such as it always being ON, the constant remote accessibility and focus on storage primarily) that set it apart from most other devices, and this si where a lot of people get a bit intimidated by it. There is always the option of using cloud services, such as DropBox, Google Drive, OneDrive and more, but these are often paid monthly subscription services, involve your data being shared across other services and (most worrying of all) leaves your precious data in a position to be used for analytics without your knowledge OR open to hacking because of the sheer size of the target. Add to this the fact that in most cases, a severed connection to the internet means a severed connection to your data, and the appeal of moving away from 3rd party cloud and on to a NAS is pretty clear. The industry of NAS has been in constant growth for over 30 years, with big players like HP, Dell and IBM steadily losing the home and SMB market to the likes of Synology, QNAP and more. The brand diversity in the field of NAS servers has continued to grow right up until 2021, with the benefit that the way you can interact with your data, what NAS devices can do and the price point of this technology being exceedingly affordable (with fully featured solutions WITH storage media arriving as low as £200). So, today I want to talk about what NAS is, what a NAS can do, and which NAS Brand you should consider buying in 2021.

This description contains links to and Amazon. These links will take you to some of the products mentioned in today's video.

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Are you interested in all things data storage? Perhaps you are a Mac user and want to know if this NAS, DAS, Cable or Drive will work for you? That is where and Robbie can help. For over 20 years has been helping companies and individuals worldwide with their digital archive and storage needs. Alongside that Robbie (Robert Andrews if you want to be delightfully formal) has been spending the last few years keeping you up to date on all things data and won't shut up about it!

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[gomezadams]

Only 942 views at the time of this comment? Surprising because I thought you explained virtual machines quite well.

[DennisDinges]

Does a VM on disk need to run completely local on the NAS regarding CPU or can the disk image only reside on the NAS and a (powerful) desktop or laptop run the VM instructions?

[MRrwmac]

Good info Robbie. Thank you!
Perhaps you could tell (or make a dedicated video) for those of us that watch you in the USA why purchasing from Span would be advantageous for us?

[rafaelrodriguez]

Could I add 3 virtual machines in one Synology? For example DS1019+

[MusicLoversGate]

I have a question to the expert: is it possible to create and access VM using WD PR4100? DO i need then upgrade RAM, currently standard 4GB? Thank you for all your videos

[User-fizf]

Loved this video, unfortunately only could not follow you at 10´:30“ to learn which Qnap models you were recommending to be used as VM server. You are talking so quickly and YouTube (even premium account which i am using) does not have possibility to set the play speed :—( Thanks anyway was very helpful video

[johnbecich]

This is a good introduction, on an important subject. But the enthusiasm of the moderator causes diction muddiness @ minute 10... hard for a Yank like me to follow. Moreover, he speaks ambiguously of "machine" and (thankfully) embellishes enough so that, through context, I can decipher his caveats: I must have a quad core CPU, intel or AMD, in my ... local workstation? or... aha! the NAS. Gee, let me check my new DS218+ NAS to see if it has the horses to run a Virtual Machine within.

To summarize. I appreciate the tutorial but, as a neophyte, I would appreciate more explicit instructions... painfully non-ambiguous, if you will.