NAS drives now full, what next

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NAS drives now full, what next

engine

4:35 pm on Jan 19, 2023 (gmt 0)

I acquired a new NAS enclosure and a couple of TB drives nine years ago, and all's been working fine. Yes, both hard drives are happily operating.

Upon checking, the drives are now almost full.

I have a number of options:-
1. Delete data to free up space: Easily done for a short period of time, but the data is not something to delete and lose.
2. Archive off data to free up space. A bit time consuming, but doable. Send some to an external hard drive.
3. Install new bigger drives in the existing enclosure. *a Note
4. Acquire a new NAS enclosure and new drives. An expensive option.
6. Stop using a NAS and go cloud-based.

*a Note: The software on the NAS drive is reaching end-of-life, so it's likely to be limited life on the NAS enclosure if there's a problem.

Is there something i've not thought of?

Do you have any suggestions or ideas?

tangor

8:39 pm on Jan 19, 2023 (gmt 0)

I've been using #2 for over a decade... plug and play drives of various sizes to archive data that I don't routinely address day-to-day but do not want to lose or dismiss.

EOL software is not a problem until the underlying OS will no longer communicate with it after upgrades, etc. Just keep adequate backups of the software as long as the NAS continues to be functional.

tangor

2:02 am on Jan 20, 2023 (gmt 0)

Additional thoughts...

If a personal machine? Figure out how much time you have left and plan accordingly. :)

If a business that one will pass intact/operational to company/partners, make the expense to either drive size or upgrade the NAS and keep in house. Cloud looks attractive, but you lose a portion of access and data control by utilizing third parties.