Sorry Apple.. I made my OWN iCloud! - Synology DS923+ NAS Review!

Thank you @synologyinc for sponsoring this video!

[Max-fqbg]

Basically this is an ad - no details on how to set up and maintain - “it is very easy”

[rincosplayerX]

This is nice, but a critical part of a good back up strategy is having an off-site back up. Like, you know if your house burns down or has some other disaster. Then all of your stuff is gone. I know people hate paying subscriptions but each person needs to decide what the value of their data is, if it's worth risk losing..

[PersonSuit]

While I love my Synology NAS, this is not a great iCloud solution for multiple reasons. The foremost reason is that there is you can't tell iCloud to use a 3rd party storage solution. There is no way to have it automatically save your Photos, Videos, App settings, and other various things iCloud saves to a NAS. It does not integrate seamlessly. You also can't tell it to save your device backups for IOS devices to the NAS. The second biggest, and maybe the biggest is a RAID is not a backup, and definitely not in RAID 5, maybe RAID 10. Sure, RAID can be pretty stable and work just fine. But it can also fail causing a loss of data. It's not a back up. It's also on-site so its limited by your own internet connection when using it outside of the house. Lastly the upfront cost for the setup you showed is $1, 000. Now that for a good home NAS is not a bad deal for what you will get with Synonoly. But it is pretty bad as an iCloud replacement as it can't really replace iCloud.

All that aside, it would have been a great idea to have this video actually show the setup process. Just saying it's easy doesn't really help, and considering there is a lot of setup and things to consider when configuring the NAS, especially if you are trying to get as close as you can to an iCloud replacement, this video is just going to lead people to watch other peoples videos. Rather than it maybe being a destination for people trying to figure out how to do what your title claims.

This feels like it could have been a 60 second ad during another video.

[T]

Apple needs to bring back the time capsule with larger capacity! They discontinued the HomePod in 2021 and brought it back in 2023, so a time capsule like device shouldn’t be an issue going into 2025!

Rumor has it that they’re trying to expand their home device setup and more home storage is a great way to integrate everything with HomeKit.

[richardgrant]

Should we be surprised that Max is full of enthusiasm and does not mention even the most obvious limitations

I've been using it for couple years now. One of the best purcheses I've ever made. My entire family uses it

[horaceho]

I recently upgraded my Synology NAS to DSM 7.2.2, and now I’m facing some annoying issues. Videos encoded with HEVC, especially those recorded by cameras (e, g, Sony A7C2), used to play smoothly in Synology Photo, but after the upgrade, they either won't play or only the audio works.
I reported this to Synology, and they admitted it's their system”upgrade” problem but have no plans to fix it. They’re trying to cut costs by not paying for the video codec licenses.
As a consumer, I’m really disappointed because they promised video codec conversion when I bought this NAS. Now they’ve quietly removed this feature with the so-called upgrade, leaving us without a function we originally had.
Hoping you can bring attention to this issue and help us voice our dissatisfaction to Synology. Thanks!

[jayba]

I have been using my DS918+ for about 7 years. I never shut it down and still runs very well to serve the purpose of backing up all of my data and photos from all family members. It also can be the TimeMachine for my MacBook Pro that easily to backup everything of my Macs as well. I am really happy with the Synology NAS.

[DojoOfCool]

The one advantage of cloud storage is it is backed up, having your own NAS you still need to back it up and store the backup offsite. Backing up is a big topic, how often, how far back are you keeping backups, are the backups tested, where are the backups stored, and on and on.

[JBoya]

I have Synology NAS, and my biggest issue is drive noise. I wish there were larger SSDs. We have 24 TBs of storage which is pretty cheap and noisy with hard drives, but impractically expensive with SSD.

[joenowak]

I have a couple synology NAS I have used for over a decade. The Software and Hardware operation is very reliable. My uses are limited. I mostly use them for onsite backup such as auto synching a photos or media folder and as a Time Machine target for various Macs in the house. The synology photos software is not on par with Apple Photos and I am nervous allowing access from outside the network so I use it exclusively as part of my LAN but not outside my home network. I do also use backblaze for off site backup and iCloud for photos as well as Adobe Cloud. It is a very reliable PART of my solution but I am not comfortable using it as my sole external data repository.

[createmydvd]

It’s nice but he didn’t mention that you will lose the ios icloud feature that reduces the picture and video size on your phone when after they have been uploaded to iPhone. My 2tb is almost full from my iPhone but my iPhone storage is only 1/4 full. Also is there an easy way to copy my 2tb iCloud? Apple does not allow you to select all and download that I have found

[fshtank]

Love the idea. But what happens if a disaster at your physical location happens? then where is your cloud? And your backups?

[Tiana_Rakoto]

How much is it? I can't find the price

[tokelahti]

Was it mentioned, how many months of iCloud this NAS costed with hdd’s?

[waisinglee]

Does anyone know if I can plug in an external USB hard drive (not the flash drive as he did at 4:50) to the USB slots on a Synology NAS?

[Joyofvision]

Use a NAS for cold storage only, meaning client work older than one year. I have an ISCSI connection to my NAS, and use Backblaze to back it all up for 10 bucks a month of UNLIMITED backup. Best solution out there.

[Sam-wpzh]

Thank you for sharing your perspective. We appreciate feedback as it helps us provide better insights to potential users.

The device you mentioned costs around $1, 500 plus tax and shipping(or not depending on country), which can total approximately $1, 600 on average. With annual expenses of $260 as noted, the device would require over six years of use to reach its full value. However, it’s also important to factor in potential replacement costs for disks, upgrades, and ongoing support, especially if it is being used in a family or educational environment.

While external storage can be an excellent solution, it may not fully replace cloud services for users requiring less than 4TB per year. For those with heavier storage needs or who value complete control and privacy, the investment may be worthwhile.

Ultimately, the decision comes down to individual priorities—whether it’s cost, capacity, or the level of convenience and support needed.

We hope this clarifies some points and aids others in making informed decisions.

[oo--]

Nice advert. Though it isn't a bad thing to try and make your own cloud storage server. I think you can even use something like a rasbery pi to make it.

[sxc]

I have a ds1522 with the dx517 expansion bay. The 1522 replaced a series of Western Digital 'My Cloud' NAS servers that lasted 3 or 4 years each and were always very slow even though they were ethernet attached to the core router. The 512 came along when the Drobo went out of support about the same time Apple Silicon became a thing and never really worked well direct attached to the house server (an M1 Mac Mini). Its drive went into the 517 and so now I have 42 TB of NAS. I have the Mac backing up to there, the photos going to both iCloud and Synology (double backup) and I rsync my DropBox to the Synology as well. Dropbox is a specific use case where I needed features they had. I think it is safe to say I have a lot of NAS storage, so my take on it is that Synology blows the old Drobo and WD out of the water. Super easy to maintain. Fast. I know your post was a glorified ad, but in this case, it was not a lie. Synology makes the best NAS I have ever worked with for home use. It's like having a baby NetApp that is easier to use at the house.