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Upfront Cost vs Monthly Fees
A 2-bay NAS with 2x 4TB drives costs ~£400-500 upfront (NAS unit + drives). Google One 2TB costs £80/year. iCloud+ 2TB costs £107/year. The NAS breaks even in 4-5 years but provides 8TB raw (4TB usable in RAID 1) vs 2TB cloud — and you own the hardware.
5-Year Cost Comparison
NAS (8TB raw): £500 upfront + £30 electricity = £530 total. Google One 2TB: £400 over 5 years. iCloud+ 2TB: £535 over 5 years. Dropbox Plus 2TB: £600 over 5 years. A NAS provides 4x the usable storage at similar 5-year cost.
The Best Approach
Use both. A NAS for primary storage and local backup. Cloud storage (even a free tier) for off-site backup of critical files. This 3-2-1 backup strategy (3 copies, 2 media types, 1 off-site) provides the best data protection.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a NAS cheaper than cloud storage?
Over 3-5 years, a NAS provides significantly more storage per pound than cloud subscriptions.
Can a NAS replace Google Drive/iCloud?
For local storage and backup, yes. Synology Drive and QNAP cloud apps replicate cloud sync features. You lose the convenience of built-in phone backup integration.
Recommended NAS Hard Drives
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How we verify this guide
We cross-reference compatibility figures against manufacturer specifications where available, official service manuals, and the standards that govern fit — memory type and speed (DDR4 / DDR5 / LPDDR5), maximum supported capacity and slot count, SSD form factor and interface (M.2 2280, NVMe PCIe vs SATA, keying), and charger wattage and connector (USB-C Power Delivery, GaN). We’re explicit about soldered or non-upgradeable parts, prioritise primary sources over retailer listings, and re-verify the data on a regular cycle. More on our method →
