If you think your homelab is complete with just one NAS—think again. I run multiple NAS servers in my homelab, and it's actually improved my workflow and homelabbing experience way more than I expected. Here's why you should run more than one NAS in your homelab.
One NAS for speed, one NAS for capacity
It's easier to build out two NAS systems then to have one do-it-all setup
Patrick Campanale / How-To Geek
When I started out building my homelab, I had just one NAS. That meant one system stored all of my data, and I really only had one way to access that data: slow. The system was running Unraid , and, while I did have 3TB of NVMe storage to work as a cache frontend for transferring files to the NAS , pulling data from the NAS was painfully slow thanks to the single-drive read speeds Unraid has.
This meant I really didn't pull a lot of data from my NAS. It was primarily a storage destination where archived data went. Eventually, I got another NAS to supplement my main one— an all-SSD NAS . Having an all-SSD NAS gave me the ability to have one system designed for mass storage (my Unraid server) and another designated for fast storage access.
Eventually, I got a NAS that gave me the best of both worlds—fast array read/writes and NVMe support. However, I still run my Unraid server in addition to that as it's focused on purely archival information where I'm not needing to read a lot of data from, while my other NAS handles the information that I'm constantly reading/writing from.
Backing up to a local device is better then not backing up at all
If cloud backups are out of the question, having a second NAS is the next best thing
While off-site backups are the gold standard for keeping your data actually safe and secure, there's another option: two local copies in separate rooms of your house. I've seen some homelabs handle backup this way. Simply build two nearly identical or identical NAS systems and then have the main system mirror to the secondary system.
Of course, this isn't ideal because, in the event of a natural disaster, electrical problem, flood, or any other catastrophic damage, you would very likely lose both systems at the same time. However, having two NAS units where one backs up to the other does help prevent from data loss due to hardware failure, especially if you plan it right.
If you want to ensure the best chance of success, don't buy your hard drives for both systems from the same distributor to have the best shot of getting drives not from the same batch. Also, make sure you don't do a RAID rebuild on both at the same time. Only rebuild one RAID at a time.
Doing both of these things will make it so that way if you lose data from a RAID rebuild or hardware failure on one system, you very likely won't suffer the same fate on the other system. Plus, if you want, you could always move that second NAS to a friend or family member's house to actually have off-site backup.
Optimize your NAS devices for different workloads
One for transcoding, one for backups
Patrick Campanale / How-To Geek
Every NAS has a different set of capabilities. Some are great at storing tons of data, others are great at handling transcoding and the like. So, lean into your NAS's strengths.
For example, have one NAS that's purely for running your homelab apps. This type of NAS doesn't need a ton of storage, but having a mix of fast and slow storage gives you a lot of flexibility. You could mount slow drives for NVR storage , fast drives for Docker storage, and everything stays running 24/7 no problem. A NAS with these directives in mind will need a solid processor, a good amount of RAM, and likely the ability to handle hardware transcoding either through the iGPU or a dedicated graphics card.
Then, you have a NAS that's purely for bulk storage. A NAS that only has to handle storage doesn't need near the specs as one that has to handle a bunch of apps, too. You don't need as powerful of a processor, there's no transcoding need, and even RAM usage will drop pretty significantly.
Having two NAS systems that are separate from each other for these tasks also begins to diversify your homelab. Now that I have two primary NAS systems in my homelab, I'm able to really dial in how my workflow goes. My largest NAS , which is also my weakest NAS, is just a big bulk file server.
It handles all of my Plex data and that's it. My other NAS, which doesn't have nearly as much raw storage, but has way more compute power, is now a primary apps node for me, and also is where I put any of the files that I need fast access to thanks to its speedier array.
Being able to have a specific NAS for different workflows has become a core part of my homelab. In fact, I'm about to spin up a third NAS for one singular purpose: photo and document storage. This new NAS will be a small 2-bay unit that's not fast or powerful, but designed with purpose in mind to give me a system to replace Google Photos and Google Drive for me.
Build your homelab out with purpose
I'll be the first to admit that I didn't build my homelab out in the smartest way possible. I went from one rack-mount server to three, and trippled my homelab's electric cost and heat output without tripling its capacity or capability.
If I had to do a lot of it over again, I would start out with the route that I lay out above: two NAS systems that have specific purposes in my homelab. From there, I'd expand into mini PCs, as t hat's where the magic really happens in my homelab now .
