Synology NAS Always On: Yay or Nay? (2024)

Synology NAS Always On: Yay or Nay? (1)

Should your Synology NAS be always on, or can you turn it off from time to time? First of all, you need to know that a Synology NAS is built to stay turned on 24/7 without it ever needing to be turned off. It is also essential to connect a good UPS to it so that it never loses power. Is your router always on? It probably is. Then your NAS will have to be too. As I explained in a previous article, a NAS consumes very little power.

Synology NAS can be a cloud storage server like Dropbox, OneDrive etc. that enables you to store and share your files online. What does that mean? It means that you can store and back up your files online for easy access from anywhere, whether it’s your home computer, your work computer, or your mobile device. Your files are stored on the NAS server and can be synchronized, or automatically kept up-to-date, on all of your devices. This service needs to always be online so the NAS should always be on.

If you are using your NAS for web hosting like I am, you need to keep it online 24/7.

An offline NAS server serves no purpose, therefore, if someone ever asks you if they can turn off their Synology NAS, answer them like this: yes, you can, but why do it if all the services connected to it will automatically go offline once you turn it off? Why did you buy a NAS in the first place if you didn’t plan on always keeping it turned on like it’s supposed to be to do its job properly?

This post was updated on Sunday / June 25th, 2023 at 9:19 PM

Synology NAS Always On: Yay or Nay? (2024)

FAQs

Synology NAS Always On: Yay or Nay? ›

Your files are stored on the NAS server and can be synchronized, or automatically kept up-to-date, on all of your devices. This service needs to always be online so the NAS should always be on. If you are using your NAS for web hosting like I am, you need to keep it online 24/7.

Why is my Synology NAS running all the time? ›

Activity can be from Apps running, media being indexed, anti virus running. I had the issue but found an excellent video on setting up the firewall in the NAS and I set it only for the stuff I need and that allowed the NAS to hibernate.

Is it good to turn off NAS? ›

ASUSTOR NAS can run continuously for a long time and has good durability and stability. However, in order to protect the NAS hardware and data, it is recommended to perform shutdown and reboot operations periodically.

What is the best use of Synology NAS? ›

Synology NAS devices are used in particular to…
  • centralise and store large data volumes.
  • back up data.
  • back up workstations.
  • share files.
  • collaborate on documents.
  • synchronise files between devices.
  • conduct video surveillance.
  • create a media center with all its media.
Jan 9, 2024

Does NAS use a lot of power? ›

When a NAS is in operation, the main power consuming parts are the hard disks and the CPU, most NAS CPUs are low-power, while the power consumption of the hard disks depends on the specifications and number of the disks themselves.

Should I leave my Synology NAS on all the time? ›

Your files are stored on the NAS server and can be synchronized, or automatically kept up-to-date, on all of your devices. This service needs to always be online so the NAS should always be on.

Should I turn off my Synology NAS when not in use? ›

A Synology DiskStation is, like any NAS or Network-attached storage device, built to be powered 24/7. That said, there may be reasons to switch off your device. But because you do this so infrequently, you may not know how graceful to shut it down.

Can you put Synology NAS to sleep? ›

Deep Sleep

You can configure the expansion unit and paired Synology NAS to idle for different periods of time. Therefore, the expansion unit can be set to enter deep sleep while the paired Synology NAS remains online. During deep sleep mode: All LEDs of the expansion unit will be off.

Does Synology NAS use a lot of power? ›

If you use SSD disks, power consumption for each disk will be 2.5 W, amounting to 25 W power consumption. Basically, a Synology NAS with two discs consumes approximately 30 W/watts, the energy usage of a modern led light bulb.

How safe is Synology NAS? ›

Secure encryption

Synology DSM is designed to keep data highly secure using industry-standard encryption protocols. With support for modern cipher suites using TLS 1.3, AES 256, and RSA 4096, your critical files and information are well protected.

What does adding more RAM to Synology NAS do? ›

The overall performance of your Synology NAS, including the data transmission speed and system response while multi-tasking, can be enhanced by adding memory capacity.

What is the main disadvantage of NAS? ›

The weaknesses of NAS primarily revolve around scalability and performance. If more users need access, the server might struggle to keep pace. If you overprovisioned your NAS, you may be able to add storage.

Are NAS drives worth it for home use? ›

Think of NAS as your own faster, less expensive home server for photos, music, movies, important files, work documents—you name it. That means more security for the stuff that really matters, like your taxes. More space for the content you want on hand, like a growing collection of movies.

How much RAM is good for a NAS? ›

If you choose to expand it, the NAS will perform and multitask better as well. For basic use, 4GB or 8GB will suffice. If you have a business Synology NAS, we would recommend at least 16GB. If more people open and save their work on the NAS at the same time, this is very demanding for the RAM.

How do I make my Synology NAS shut down automatically? ›

At Control Panel > Hardware & Power > Power Schedule, you can set the system to start up or shut down automatically at a specified time.

Why is my Synology using so much RAM? ›

Memory usage remains high because the system stores frequently accessed data in cache, so the data can be quickly obtained without accessing the hard disk. Cache memory will be released when overall memory is insufficient.

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