12 Days Of Paperless Gifts – Personal Cloud Storage

12 Days Of Paperless Gifts – Personal Cloud Storage

12 Days Of Paperless GiftsThis is Day 6 in a 12 Post series: 12 Days Of Paperless Gifts. If you know someone who could use some help going paperless, or if you’d like to drop some hints, this series is for you. Don’t worry, the regular DocumentSnap tips will still be flowing.

The holy grail of going paperless is being able to access the document that you need right when you need it, regardless of where you are.

However, many of us don’t feel comfortable storing our information on some company’s servers, no matter how good they say their security is.

That’s where personal cloud storage comes in. These devices let you access your documents or other files from anywhere, but your information stays on a device that you control.

Here are some options:

Synology DS214

Synology DS214

  • Who is it for?: Home or small office users who want expandable and redundant storage, with lots of apps and functionality.
  • What does it do?: The DS214 is a Network Attached Storage (NAS) which means you can put files of any type on it, and access them via the network and beyond. You buy and put in 2 drives and you have redundant storage in case one of them fails. There are also all sorts of apps that can run on it, and has an easy(ish) to use GUI.
  • How big is it?: 10 x 9 x 9 inches
  • How much storage?: You can add up to 2 4 TB hard drives.
  • Where can I buy it?:
    US Amazon
    Canada Amazon
    UK Amazon

QNAP TS–251

QNAP TS-251

  • Who is it for?: Home users who want a fast NAS with an HDMI port.
  • What does it do?: The TS–251 is a Network Attached Storage (NAS) which means you can put files of any type on it, and access them via the network and beyond. You buy and put in 2 drives and you have redundant storage in case one of them fails. There are also all sorts of apps that can run on it, and it has an HDMI port if you want to use it for a media server.
  • How big is it?: 8.86 x 6.63 x 4.02 inches
  • How much storage?: You can add up to 2 4 TB hard drives.
  • Where can I buy it?:
    US Amazon
    Canada Amazon
    UK Amazon

WD My Cloud

WD My Cloud

  • Who is it for?: Anyone that wants to store files on an external hard drive but access it from outside the home or office.
  • What does it do?: You can backup or store your documents on the drive, and then access them from a PC, Mac, tablet, or smartphone. It’s an easier introduction to network storage compared to the Synology or QNAP.
  • How big is it?: 5.5 x 1.9 x 6.7 inches.
  • How much storage?: You can buy it with 2, 3, 4, or 6 TB.
  • Where can I buy it?:
    US Amazon
    Canada Amazon
    UK Amazon

About the Author

Brooks Duncan helps individuals and small businesses go paperless. He's been an accountant, a software developer, a manager in a very large corporation, and has run DocumentSnap since 2008. You can find Brooks on Twitter at @documentsnap or @brooksduncan. Thanks for stopping by.

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