You can say that again. I've had a Raid 1 system fail me, both disks at the same time. I am pretty bummed about that one. I recovered some data off one of the drives, but lost quite a bit.
You can say that again. I've had a Raid 1 system fail me, both disks at the same time. I am pretty bummed about that one. I recovered some data off one of the drives, but lost quite a bit.
Have you considered abusing the google TOS on GSuite? The business version of google drive claims they have a limit of 1tb per user, but in reality it's more like 1tb upload per user per day. A...
Have you considered abusing the google TOS on GSuite?
The business version of google drive claims they have a limit of 1tb per user, but in reality it's more like 1tb upload per user per day. A lot of people on reddit's /r/datahoarder seem to use it as unlimited storage for $10 per month.
I've personally had bad luck with those portable RAID enclosures. They're slow and prone to failure. 2.5" drives are generally a little less reliable than full size drives, but modern ones aren't that bad.
I'm not sure what your best option is. I guess maybe if I was in your situation I'd try and delete media down to 4TB, then buy 2x 4TB 2.5" USB drives, from different manufacturers or at least different batches. Copy everything to both, put one aside as backup.
Another option might be a very large laptop. Some laptops have space for multiple 2.5" drives, and they have either RAID built in, or at least you could do software RAID. As an example, I set up such a system for a friend using a HP Zbook 15. The laptop is big clunky and heavy, with limited battery life, but it's really powerful and can house two 2.5" drives in RAID1 mode, plus a boot SSD.
How big is your NAS, is it mulitple HDD's? You can get single external HDD's at 8TB capacity nowadays. What capacity is your laptop hdd? You could swap it out with a high capacity 2.5" laptop hdd...
How big is your NAS, is it mulitple HDD's? You can get single external HDD's at 8TB capacity nowadays.
What capacity is your laptop hdd? You could swap it out with a high capacity 2.5" laptop hdd and then use an 'unlimited backup' solution, you just have to watch out for their 'deletion' property, some like Backblaze only keep 'deleted' data for 30 days.
You could also ask parents, relatives or friends(with uncapped internet) if they would let you network your external HDD there. You'd essentially be getting cloud-storage for free.
As for travelling, if you're like meeting new people and like free accommodation you should check out couchsurfing.com, it's a community of millions that let travellers stay with them for free, it's based on reputation and reviews so you can see who is a trusted member of the community before you commit to anything.
"It's just pushing my clutter onto someone else." -- that's one of those adages for physical item cleanup that I hadn't really thought about for digital clean up as well. Makes sense though.
"It's just pushing my clutter onto someone else." -- that's one of those adages for physical item cleanup that I hadn't really thought about for digital clean up as well. Makes sense though.
If you want to absolutely minimize the space that you take up, you could use m.2 drives. It would be pretty expensive, look pretty trashy, and make people sad you're using flash for bulk storage,...
If you want to absolutely minimize the space that you take up, you could use m.2 drives. It would be pretty expensive, look pretty trashy, and make people sad you're using flash for bulk storage, but you could grab three or four of the 2TB ones ($400/ea), connect them up over USB 3 or SATA, and probably squeeze them inside your NUC case, since minus wiring, they'd take up an amount of space somewhat smaller than that of a 2.5" drive. That would be somewhat advantageous if you were planning on going on the road with it, since you don't have to worry about bumps and shocks like you would for a mechanical drive.
If you're okay with the drives taking up a bit more space, 2.5" SSDs have a significantly lower cost/GB while still beating out mechanical drives for volume/GB. Couldn't fit all of them inside,...
If you're okay with the drives taking up a bit more space, 2.5" SSDs have a significantly lower cost/GB while still beating out mechanical drives for volume/GB. Couldn't fit all of them inside, but you could velcro a stack of like four to your NUC. That's one of the nice things about SSDs, they're light and you can stick them anywhere without complaints.
No, I get it. It's just that I grew up relatively poor, and my first computer was a secondhand 486 that I had to buy myself in 1996, and the only software it had was PC-DOS 6.1. So my perspective...
I know this is weird, especially coming from a tech nerd perspective.
No, I get it. It's just that I grew up relatively poor, and my first computer was a secondhand 486 that I had to buy myself in 1996, and the only software it had was PC-DOS 6.1. So my perspective is that it isn't sensible to get rid of working hardware, but to use it until it fails.
It might make sense to buy a USB HD enclosure. You could then buy a pair of 6TB Seagate Barracudas, make two copies of your NAS' contents, and sell the NAS. Hell, depending on your asking price and the shipping costs I might buy it off you myself; I could use it to back up all of the CDs I buy and rip to FLAC. :)
I like your quest. It's a good thought experiment, but the answer is basically, no, you can't. The best you could do would be to move to a 2 bay NAS with mirrored 8tb drives or something like that...
I like your quest. It's a good thought experiment, but the answer is basically, no, you can't. The best you could do would be to move to a 2 bay NAS with mirrored 8tb drives or something like that (6tb is probably fine though). lmost anything else s super expensive.
Perhaps the NAS annoys you because it's single purpose? What if you crammed it into an htpc case and used it for gaming as well?
Idle non-suggestion: Find a nerd buddy or two that you trust, cut back to a single disk, and peer storage with each other. Use duplicity to keep the data private with gpg or something. The only problem would be getting a disk with "fair" storage on it. You'd want to offer at least what you backed up and 10GiB on a single disk is pretty prohibitive.
I'm actually looking at my Synology with more interest because their apps have become more functional; specifically the PhotoStation (with Memories) and VideoStation apps. Plex was always a bit...
I'm actually looking at my Synology with more interest because their apps have become more functional; specifically the PhotoStation (with Memories) and VideoStation apps. Plex was always a bit more than I needed so VideoStation has been working very well so far and newer transcoding options makes it even easier (I'm usually fine with 720p\AAC or 1080p\AC3 for most of my video though so it's not too taxing either way). Now with Docker being available on newer models to host some functions that were too unwieldy for me to want to manage myself (self hosted solutions for things like Diaspora and BitWarden) it looks like an even better option for de-Googling and is still spouse friendly.
It's really hard to give up the affordability of Project Fi ... are Apple devices considered a less personal data mining option? I have nothing against iPhones, I just figured Apple collected data there just as much as Google on Android. I'm sure an unlocked iPhone or rooted Android could clear that up as well but I'm curious about that aspect of your data self reliance.
Thanks for your perspective about the iPhones - I've used and supported them for work but never really thought about the personal info\privacy aspect until recently. An InfoSec friend goes with...
Thanks for your perspective about the iPhones - I've used and supported them for work but never really thought about the personal info\privacy aspect until recently. An InfoSec friend goes with LineageOS on a Nexus\Pixel for his privacy and security comfort. Plus, iPhones can be backed up, restored and sync'd via local iTunes instead of through iCloud if desired. That's not as easy with Android. Something for me to think about I guess.
VideoStation definitely has the DTS limitation - which kinda sucked when they removed it - but I don't mind transcoding myself occasionally (Subler and Remux handle it well on a Mac). I usually grab AAC, and occasionally AC3, for more compatibility when trading the files around to family and friends that need it to just play without fiddling with which device to use. The occasional bug I've had hasn't been too impactful for me but since my files are already natively supported on most devices there are fewer chances for hangups I think.
I have been renting digital videos more often than pirating these days though so I don't really have the library I used to have when I was hoarding titles just in case I wanted to watch one again some day - something I changed perspective on previously as my VHS and then DVD collections became unwieldy and then translating that to my digital collection eventually as rental and streaming services became more complete libraries.
PhotoStation I've heard good things about particularly since Moments kicked in - but again some quirks since it's a newer product. It is hard to beat Google Photos but Apple Photos seems to work pretty well too.
I'm hoping Synology will get it worked out and then I can get back to self hosting more services now that home internet upload speeds make that more feasible these days and Docker availability on Syno makes setting up those services easier.
Bit of a longer reply than necessary; put in a bit more detail than maybe you needed about my setup but thought it might be useful to others who are looking at some of the same options. I've been trying to back away from the digital\tech based life a bit more as well - not quite to the degree you're heading though I see the appeal - and particularly as managing tech and users is part of my job I'm finding that I look for "human solutions" instead of tech solutions more these days as part of that distancing (information\education\process changes instead of software solutions for assumed pebcak, human submits ticket when needed instead of some automated ticket script that fails occasionally, etc). Reading some of the the content here from you and others have given me a bit more to consider and options for it. Thanks!
I think that sounds smart, consolidation is probably the only viable route to keep the data local. I have plex running off a compact rack server that I keep in my office which also doubles up for...
I think that sounds smart, consolidation is probably the only viable route to keep the data local. I have plex running off a compact rack server that I keep in my office which also doubles up for network storage etc, and it works really well. Not as compact as a NUC, but one it's great advantages is that it runs a mini-itx ASUS board which has a remote access console, meaning it can be controlled entirely via a network cable, which is a huge bonus if you are looking to simplify. No keyboard / mouse / display ever required.
Yeah, you can cycle the power, and it forwards the console, so you can totally manage anything that requires an interactive input (including unlocking say an HSM if you were into that). I...
Yeah, you can cycle the power, and it forwards the console, so you can totally manage anything that requires an interactive input (including unlocking say an HSM if you were into that). I installed the OS entirely via the RAC. The only trick of course is knowing what ip address got assigned to the RAC via DHCP but on a home network it's easy enough to get it from your router or nmap if you have it handy. I am self-employed too, so by office I meant home office. I wish you best of luck in your efforts and would certainly be interested in a follow up.
Ok I'm about to talk about something I don't fully grasp, but I go have good knowledge of Plex, Synology, etc. See this comment from /r/DataHoarder about re-encoding your media files. That might...
Ok I'm about to talk about something I don't fully grasp, but I go have good knowledge of Plex, Synology, etc. See this comment from /r/DataHoarder about re-encoding your media files. That might be a little bit extreme. It's still some useful knowledge about reducing file size if you decide you want to host it somewhere.
Got any friends with Plex/NAS and extra space? Could you pay them a little bit to share?
Gotcha. And I agree. I've never done it, but it looks very time consuming. Ahh! I see. And to confirm, when you say "internet access", you're including mobile in that, right? In theory, you could...
I could reencode my files, or just download them in lower-quality encodes. Certainly not out of the question. Unfortunately, reencoding takes so long to do and that's not how I want to spend my time. Redownloading in lower quality isn't really an option on my very crummy DSL connection.
Gotcha. And I agree. I've never done it, but it looks very time consuming.
I'm trying to keep this data all local as I don't know if I'll have decent internet access for a few years at least. And I may even hit the road in an RV full-time, and I'd like to have some low profile, low power gear to feed me entertainment :)
Ahh! I see. And to confirm, when you say "internet access", you're including mobile in that, right? In theory, you could find any friend/family member with a decent internet connection, set your Synology up as is with the same device, HDDs, and Plex account but put it on their network. Then you can do one of two things for playback depending on your price sensitivity for mobile data plans: 1) stream directly from the server over LTE and spend more on mobile data, or 2) use the Plex mobile app Sync function to save whatever files you need to your mobile device whenever you find free wifi (or overnight on DSL for now). If you have Android, that could expand your mobile/local storage because Sync works with SD cards.
Also here's a thread about affordable RV wifi solutions. And apologies if it sounds like I'm harping on certain ideas - I figured I'd dig into a cheap, easy solution that preserves your Synology as is. Plus others gave great offline external recommendations above in the thread.
What would your RV situation be like? Small TV? Just some kind of tablet or phone for watching?
Before I got married I was living aboard a sailboat (25' Catalina) for a while. It might sound big, but I can assure you that it is not big at all when you are living in it full time! I had a...
Before I got married I was living aboard a sailboat (25' Catalina) for a while. It might sound big, but I can assure you that it is not big at all when you are living in it full time! I had a storage unit with most of my stuff, and only the necessities aboard the boat. I had two drives in my laptop, along with a larger external where most of my data resided. If I had it to do over again I would have built a NAS and WAP into a nice out-of-the-way corner of the hull.
You can get the WD 8TB externals, shuck the drives, and put together a fairly decent home server that doesn't occupy too much space, if you take your time and shop sales/used then you can get it built at a reasonable price. JDM_WAAT over on reddit posts some powerful budget builds using second-hand gear you might find interesting. I am collecting parts to build my own in the near future and plan to do the same.
When you pare down your life certain sacrifices must be made. I had a lot of tools that I was unwilling to get rid of, as well as some other keepsakes that did not belong on a boat and I was unwilling to part with, so I had to cheat and get a storage unit. I tethered my cell phone for WiFi, but I didn't use it as much as I thought I would. I read a lot more, and spent more time writing, as well as enjoying nature or other people's company. For me, the whole point was to make life less complicated, and shedding technology was a big part of it.
If I knew I would be doing some backpacking across the globe I would be going down to a cheap laptop I am not afraid to lose, cram everything digital that I couldn't live without online somewhere, and enjoy the journey without worrying about being hampered by technology. I traveled all over Europe years ago and that is one regret of mine, not enjoying it to the fullest and wringing out everything I could from every waking moment I was there.
What you need is colocation! Basically, you pay a company to house your hardware in their datacenter. You can typically pay for different tiers of bandwidth, and only you have access to your...
What you need is colocation! Basically, you pay a company to house your hardware in their datacenter. You can typically pay for different tiers of bandwidth, and only you have access to your hardware (well, the employees do in case of non-payment or emergencies, but other customers shouldn't be able to mess with your hardware; the companies I've known keep each customer's equipment isolated with separate physical keys). However, you'd need to adapt your Synology for rack mount. Ask companies if you can just bring a rack-mount shelf (literally a shelf that fits in a server rack for mounting equipment that isn't designed for rack mount, e.g. monitors and keyboard/mouse; I've seen them on Newegg), or if they have any they rent out. Synology (or someone on AliExpress or Ebay) might even make a rack-mount for the NAS. Alternatively, if you feel like splurging, you could build a fileserver with ZFS in a standard rackmount chassis (you'd probably be looking for a 3U-4U device for your needs).
So, why go with colocation over a single drive or safety deposit box? You can reuse your existing hardware, get really good Internet (sometimes a static IP), and typically these datacenters have insurance in case your hardware is damaged in a burglary, fire, etc (though you should always check beforehand). Most large cities will have at least 1 colocation company.
Edit: And unlike a safety deposit box, you can still access your files on the device.
The downside is that if you are on vacation or otherwise away from your hometown and a drive dies, you'll have to wait until you're back in town to fix it (though this also applies if it were at home). You also end up paying more than if this device were to be at a friend's house or your own home. Some companies require you buy a minimum of X slots in a rack, or even an entire rack. However, if you're willing to travel, you can definitely find what you want at a decent price. Just make sure you setup a VPN on the device; it's nice to have and you don't have to expose the device to the Internet, reducing the attack surface of the device.
Edit: Added note about using safety deposit boxes.
Edit 2: If you can have an isolated network for it and your boss doesn't mind, you might even be able to have the NAS at your work. But if security is of any priority (e.g. medical, educational, finance, defence, or government work), it'll probably be shot down immediately. I've heard of small IT shops doing this, but they don't have much sensitive information to worry about.
Sure, if you were try to recreate the whole thing all at once, probably a lot of work. But realistically, what's going to happen? Maybe at some point you'll be in the mood to watch a movie. The...
Everything I have, I could pretty easily get again (as things stand right now). But it would be a lot of work.
Sure, if you were try to recreate the whole thing all at once, probably a lot of work. But realistically, what's going to happen? Maybe at some point you'll be in the mood to watch a movie. The effort to find a new source for that one movie when you want to watch it will be minimal. Or you'll want to listen to an album. But you'll have some easily accessible streaming service available that you can use instead. And the cost for those random replacement media sources is probably going to be less than what you'd spend on a "solution" now. Digital entertainment is the most easily accessible product in the world right now.
After this, I could move into an RV and travel, maybe move overseas and live out of a backpack, maybe build a tiny house.
I feel like you're resisting dropping this one bit of baggage out of some sort of emotional attachment, while you've otherwise been very successful at downsizing. And at some point you're going to need to let it go anyway if you continue down this path. Just get rid of it. Or give it to someone to hang on to for a while, and prove to yourself that you don't miss it after 6 months have passed, and then get rid of it.
I don't have an answer for you, but I can tell you I've made the mistake of keeping a single drive and having it fail. Redundancy is key.
You can say that again. I've had a Raid 1 system fail me, both disks at the same time. I am pretty bummed about that one. I recovered some data off one of the drives, but lost quite a bit.
Have you considered abusing the google TOS on GSuite?
The business version of google drive claims they have a limit of 1tb per user, but in reality it's more like 1tb upload per user per day. A lot of people on reddit's /r/datahoarder seem to use it as unlimited storage for $10 per month.
I've personally had bad luck with those portable RAID enclosures. They're slow and prone to failure. 2.5" drives are generally a little less reliable than full size drives, but modern ones aren't that bad.
I'm not sure what your best option is. I guess maybe if I was in your situation I'd try and delete media down to 4TB, then buy 2x 4TB 2.5" USB drives, from different manufacturers or at least different batches. Copy everything to both, put one aside as backup.
Another option might be a very large laptop. Some laptops have space for multiple 2.5" drives, and they have either RAID built in, or at least you could do software RAID. As an example, I set up such a system for a friend using a HP Zbook 15. The laptop is big clunky and heavy, with limited battery life, but it's really powerful and can house two 2.5" drives in RAID1 mode, plus a boot SSD.
AMA over in ~talk? Congrats, any parts that were particularly difficult in letting go of Google or running from its grasp?
How big is your NAS, is it mulitple HDD's? You can get single external HDD's at 8TB capacity nowadays.
What capacity is your laptop hdd? You could swap it out with a high capacity 2.5" laptop hdd and then use an 'unlimited backup' solution, you just have to watch out for their 'deletion' property, some like Backblaze only keep 'deleted' data for 30 days.
You could also ask parents, relatives or friends(with uncapped internet) if they would let you network your external HDD there. You'd essentially be getting cloud-storage for free.
As for travelling, if you're like meeting new people and like free accommodation you should check out couchsurfing.com, it's a community of millions that let travellers stay with them for free, it's based on reputation and reviews so you can see who is a trusted member of the community before you commit to anything.
"It's just pushing my clutter onto someone else." -- that's one of those adages for physical item cleanup that I hadn't really thought about for digital clean up as well. Makes sense though.
If you want to absolutely minimize the space that you take up, you could use m.2 drives. It would be pretty expensive, look pretty trashy, and make people sad you're using flash for bulk storage, but you could grab three or four of the 2TB ones ($400/ea), connect them up over USB 3 or SATA, and probably squeeze them inside your NUC case, since minus wiring, they'd take up an amount of space somewhat smaller than that of a 2.5" drive. That would be somewhat advantageous if you were planning on going on the road with it, since you don't have to worry about bumps and shocks like you would for a mechanical drive.
If you're okay with the drives taking up a bit more space, 2.5" SSDs have a significantly lower cost/GB while still beating out mechanical drives for volume/GB. Couldn't fit all of them inside, but you could velcro a stack of like four to your NUC. That's one of the nice things about SSDs, they're light and you can stick them anywhere without complaints.
How big/heavy is this NAS? Why not just keep it?
No, I get it. It's just that I grew up relatively poor, and my first computer was a secondhand 486 that I had to buy myself in 1996, and the only software it had was PC-DOS 6.1. So my perspective is that it isn't sensible to get rid of working hardware, but to use it until it fails.
It might make sense to buy a USB HD enclosure. You could then buy a pair of 6TB Seagate Barracudas, make two copies of your NAS' contents, and sell the NAS. Hell, depending on your asking price and the shipping costs I might buy it off you myself; I could use it to back up all of the CDs I buy and rip to FLAC. :)
Did you see the NewEgg link I included? You could get a 6GB drive for $160 plus shipping. You wouldn't have to give up any of your data.
Fair enough. Good luck finding a solution.
I offsite my backup in a bank safety deposit box.
I like your quest. It's a good thought experiment, but the answer is basically, no, you can't. The best you could do would be to move to a 2 bay NAS with mirrored 8tb drives or something like that (6tb is probably fine though). lmost anything else s super expensive.
Perhaps the NAS annoys you because it's single purpose? What if you crammed it into an htpc case and used it for gaming as well?
Idle non-suggestion: Find a nerd buddy or two that you trust, cut back to a single disk, and peer storage with each other. Use duplicity to keep the data private with gpg or something. The only problem would be getting a disk with "fair" storage on it. You'd want to offer at least what you backed up and 10GiB on a single disk is pretty prohibitive.
I'm actually looking at my Synology with more interest because their apps have become more functional; specifically the PhotoStation (with Memories) and VideoStation apps. Plex was always a bit more than I needed so VideoStation has been working very well so far and newer transcoding options makes it even easier (I'm usually fine with 720p\AAC or 1080p\AC3 for most of my video though so it's not too taxing either way). Now with Docker being available on newer models to host some functions that were too unwieldy for me to want to manage myself (self hosted solutions for things like Diaspora and BitWarden) it looks like an even better option for de-Googling and is still spouse friendly.
It's really hard to give up the affordability of Project Fi ... are Apple devices considered a less personal data mining option? I have nothing against iPhones, I just figured Apple collected data there just as much as Google on Android. I'm sure an unlocked iPhone or rooted Android could clear that up as well but I'm curious about that aspect of your data self reliance.
Thanks for your perspective about the iPhones - I've used and supported them for work but never really thought about the personal info\privacy aspect until recently. An InfoSec friend goes with LineageOS on a Nexus\Pixel for his privacy and security comfort. Plus, iPhones can be backed up, restored and sync'd via local iTunes instead of through iCloud if desired. That's not as easy with Android. Something for me to think about I guess.
VideoStation definitely has the DTS limitation - which kinda sucked when they removed it - but I don't mind transcoding myself occasionally (Subler and Remux handle it well on a Mac). I usually grab AAC, and occasionally AC3, for more compatibility when trading the files around to family and friends that need it to just play without fiddling with which device to use. The occasional bug I've had hasn't been too impactful for me but since my files are already natively supported on most devices there are fewer chances for hangups I think.
I have been renting digital videos more often than pirating these days though so I don't really have the library I used to have when I was hoarding titles just in case I wanted to watch one again some day - something I changed perspective on previously as my VHS and then DVD collections became unwieldy and then translating that to my digital collection eventually as rental and streaming services became more complete libraries.
I was thinking about switching from Google Music to a mix of Spotify and AudioStation (AudioStation for my local library instead of Google Music hosting it) and testing with my Sonos setup, which I really like, has worked just fine but I haven't hit it very hard yet for testing. Fiancé got her laptop and backup drive stolen when her apartment got burgled so lost most of her MP3s (except for the favorites she had on her iPod) and Spotify as a replacement has been working fine for us (renting again instead of owning).
The Syno apps have definitely had their quirks but luckily the service and support from the company is pretty good and quick to correct bugs. That being said, Plex definitely has a larger pool and more implementations to pull data to resolve issues quickly. It's generally to feature dense for my fiancé though and the simple setup of VideoStation has worked well for her techie comfort level on both Roku and her iPad.
PhotoStation I've heard good things about particularly since Moments kicked in - but again some quirks since it's a newer product. It is hard to beat Google Photos but Apple Photos seems to work pretty well too.
I'm hoping Synology will get it worked out and then I can get back to self hosting more services now that home internet upload speeds make that more feasible these days and Docker availability on Syno makes setting up those services easier.
Bit of a longer reply than necessary; put in a bit more detail than maybe you needed about my setup but thought it might be useful to others who are looking at some of the same options. I've been trying to back away from the digital\tech based life a bit more as well - not quite to the degree you're heading though I see the appeal - and particularly as managing tech and users is part of my job I'm finding that I look for "human solutions" instead of tech solutions more these days as part of that distancing (information\education\process changes instead of software solutions for assumed pebcak, human submits ticket when needed instead of some automated ticket script that fails occasionally, etc). Reading some of the the content here from you and others have given me a bit more to consider and options for it. Thanks!
I think that sounds smart, consolidation is probably the only viable route to keep the data local. I have plex running off a compact rack server that I keep in my office which also doubles up for network storage etc, and it works really well. Not as compact as a NUC, but one it's great advantages is that it runs a mini-itx ASUS board which has a remote access console, meaning it can be controlled entirely via a network cable, which is a huge bonus if you are looking to simplify. No keyboard / mouse / display ever required.
Yeah, you can cycle the power, and it forwards the console, so you can totally manage anything that requires an interactive input (including unlocking say an HSM if you were into that). I installed the OS entirely via the RAC. The only trick of course is knowing what ip address got assigned to the RAC via DHCP but on a home network it's easy enough to get it from your router or nmap if you have it handy. I am self-employed too, so by office I meant home office. I wish you best of luck in your efforts and would certainly be interested in a follow up.
Ok I'm about to talk about something I don't fully grasp, but I go have good knowledge of Plex, Synology, etc. See this comment from /r/DataHoarder about re-encoding your media files. That might be a little bit extreme. It's still some useful knowledge about reducing file size if you decide you want to host it somewhere.
Got any friends with Plex/NAS and extra space? Could you pay them a little bit to share?
Gotcha. And I agree. I've never done it, but it looks very time consuming.
Ahh! I see. And to confirm, when you say "internet access", you're including mobile in that, right? In theory, you could find any friend/family member with a decent internet connection, set your Synology up as is with the same device, HDDs, and Plex account but put it on their network. Then you can do one of two things for playback depending on your price sensitivity for mobile data plans: 1) stream directly from the server over LTE and spend more on mobile data, or 2) use the Plex mobile app Sync function to save whatever files you need to your mobile device whenever you find free wifi (or overnight on DSL for now). If you have Android, that could expand your mobile/local storage because Sync works with SD cards.
Also here's a thread about affordable RV wifi solutions. And apologies if it sounds like I'm harping on certain ideas - I figured I'd dig into a cheap, easy solution that preserves your Synology as is. Plus others gave great offline external recommendations above in the thread.
What would your RV situation be like? Small TV? Just some kind of tablet or phone for watching?
Before I got married I was living aboard a sailboat (25' Catalina) for a while. It might sound big, but I can assure you that it is not big at all when you are living in it full time! I had a storage unit with most of my stuff, and only the necessities aboard the boat. I had two drives in my laptop, along with a larger external where most of my data resided. If I had it to do over again I would have built a NAS and WAP into a nice out-of-the-way corner of the hull.
You can get the WD 8TB externals, shuck the drives, and put together a fairly decent home server that doesn't occupy too much space, if you take your time and shop sales/used then you can get it built at a reasonable price. JDM_WAAT over on reddit posts some powerful budget builds using second-hand gear you might find interesting. I am collecting parts to build my own in the near future and plan to do the same.
When you pare down your life certain sacrifices must be made. I had a lot of tools that I was unwilling to get rid of, as well as some other keepsakes that did not belong on a boat and I was unwilling to part with, so I had to cheat and get a storage unit. I tethered my cell phone for WiFi, but I didn't use it as much as I thought I would. I read a lot more, and spent more time writing, as well as enjoying nature or other people's company. For me, the whole point was to make life less complicated, and shedding technology was a big part of it.
If I knew I would be doing some backpacking across the globe I would be going down to a cheap laptop I am not afraid to lose, cram everything digital that I couldn't live without online somewhere, and enjoy the journey without worrying about being hampered by technology. I traveled all over Europe years ago and that is one regret of mine, not enjoying it to the fullest and wringing out everything I could from every waking moment I was there.
What you need is colocation! Basically, you pay a company to house your hardware in their datacenter. You can typically pay for different tiers of bandwidth, and only you have access to your hardware (well, the employees do in case of non-payment or emergencies, but other customers shouldn't be able to mess with your hardware; the companies I've known keep each customer's equipment isolated with separate physical keys). However, you'd need to adapt your Synology for rack mount. Ask companies if you can just bring a rack-mount shelf (literally a shelf that fits in a server rack for mounting equipment that isn't designed for rack mount, e.g. monitors and keyboard/mouse; I've seen them on Newegg), or if they have any they rent out. Synology (or someone on AliExpress or Ebay) might even make a rack-mount for the NAS. Alternatively, if you feel like splurging, you could build a fileserver with ZFS in a standard rackmount chassis (you'd probably be looking for a 3U-4U device for your needs).
So, why go with colocation over a single drive or safety deposit box? You can reuse your existing hardware, get really good Internet (sometimes a static IP), and typically these datacenters have insurance in case your hardware is damaged in a burglary, fire, etc (though you should always check beforehand). Most large cities will have at least 1 colocation company.
Edit: And unlike a safety deposit box, you can still access your files on the device.
The downside is that if you are on vacation or otherwise away from your hometown and a drive dies, you'll have to wait until you're back in town to fix it (though this also applies if it were at home). You also end up paying more than if this device were to be at a friend's house or your own home. Some companies require you buy a minimum of X slots in a rack, or even an entire rack. However, if you're willing to travel, you can definitely find what you want at a decent price. Just make sure you setup a VPN on the device; it's nice to have and you don't have to expose the device to the Internet, reducing the attack surface of the device.
Edit: Added note about using safety deposit boxes.
Edit 2: If you can have an isolated network for it and your boss doesn't mind, you might even be able to have the NAS at your work. But if security is of any priority (e.g. medical, educational, finance, defence, or government work), it'll probably be shot down immediately. I've heard of small IT shops doing this, but they don't have much sensitive information to worry about.
Sure, if you were try to recreate the whole thing all at once, probably a lot of work. But realistically, what's going to happen? Maybe at some point you'll be in the mood to watch a movie. The effort to find a new source for that one movie when you want to watch it will be minimal. Or you'll want to listen to an album. But you'll have some easily accessible streaming service available that you can use instead. And the cost for those random replacement media sources is probably going to be less than what you'd spend on a "solution" now. Digital entertainment is the most easily accessible product in the world right now.
I feel like you're resisting dropping this one bit of baggage out of some sort of emotional attachment, while you've otherwise been very successful at downsizing. And at some point you're going to need to let it go anyway if you continue down this path. Just get rid of it. Or give it to someone to hang on to for a while, and prove to yourself that you don't miss it after 6 months have passed, and then get rid of it.