Uninterrupted power supply or UPS if one of the most important hardware to safeguard your NAS system in the event of a power outage. Network attached storage system (NAS) is basically a server and require proper shut down if you want to power it down. In the event of a blackout, if your NAS is still running, you might encounter data corruption and might cause damage to your hard disk drive.
If you use a UPS, you can prevent that from happening. Depending on your requirement, do you need the UPS to supply uninterrupted power to your NAS and internet router for a long period of time, or you only need a brief extra few minutes so that you will be able to initiate proper shut down in your NAS. If only extra electricity is needed, you can choose a smaller UPS with a smaller capacity to save cost.
Recommended UPS for Synology NAS | Synology UPS
There are many UPS systems in the market. Many are compatible for NAS. But bear in mind that you might want to find one that has a cable that can connect directly to your NAS. Why is this important? In the event of a power outage, your UPS will detect the power failure and resume power to your NAS. Your UPS will communicate with your NAS system to decide how long of power the system has before initiating proper shut down.
However, it depends on your needs actually. If you are using your NAS for home based system, not having that extra cable for NAS-UPS communication does not make a big of a deal. Since most of the time, your UPS will alert you by sound. And if you are in close proximity to your NAS system, you will be able to manually power down your network attached storage system (NAS). Since most of the time, power outages occur with notice in advance, so you can plan ahead.
UPS is helpful for those sudden power failures without notice. How to choose which UPS for your NAS depends on how much energy you need it to continue running. Does your area frequently experience power failures for brief seconds and resume? Then you can consider buying a UPS with smaller power capacity. Otherwise, always go for bigger capacities to have that extra time for you to resume your work.
Usually you will need to calculate how much power is required for your NAS and router. It is best to not plug in a power hungry device such as a laser printer directly to your UPS. Only plug in the most important device to conserve the required power.
Best UPS for home NAS
There is no single best UPS for everybody. No one size built for all. Decide on how you need your NAS to run. Is it critical to run 24/7 without interruption? If so, you will need larger capacity UPS that can supply enough power to last.
Home or business use? If it is for home use, you can afford to power down your NAS if you do not need to use it and power it back up once electricity is available. For business use, you cannot afford to have your employees lose access to critical data in your NAS server.
Basically go for the most basic, suit your budget and small in size if you are using for home NAS. Higher capacity UPS can be very heavy and bulky. If can take up a huge space at your home and might be a hazard if you have children running around at home.
So the best uninterruptible power supply system is the one that suits your own needs. Also bear in mind that you will need to replace the capacitors (or batteries) according to schedule so that your UPS can function at optimal condition.
NAS with Built in UPS
Currently there is no NAS with build in UPS available in the market. The logic is simple, NAS with built-in UPS can be very heavy. And not everyone’s UPS requirement is the same. Some only need a small UPS while big business users might need a higher capacity UPS.
It is also a hassle to remove the whole NAS system just to replace the capacitors or batteries in the UPS.
QNAP UPS | UPS for NAS Synology
Most UPS available are compatible whether you are using QNAP or Synology. In addition to that, there might be extra functions such as data communication cable from the UPS to NAS to tell how much power is left before you need to power it down. But those extra is not really necessary if you do not need to use it. And add-on functions can cost more in general.
Always look for one that is affordable and reasonably within your budget. You might want to spend that extra money by adding extra storage space hard disk drives or add more RAM to power your NAS to run more powerful applications.
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