As much as QNAP seems to push it as some kinda do-everything server, I recommend keeping it mostly closed to the Internet, and sticking to using it for backups and fun things on your local network.

Some things I use mine for:

• Downloading and seeding torrents.
• Holding all my media like books, movies, music, PS2 ISOs, that can then be accessed by other devices (a laptop with Kodi plugged into the telly, a hacked PS2, a tablet connected to the stereo…).
• Hosting a private wiki where we put restaurant notes, recipes, pictures of our cat…
• Syncing files between computers, phones.
• Syncing calendars, tasks, and address books.

When the time comes to get a new NAS though I'll probably just build my own :)

For Windows (and Mac?) it's pretty straightforward, but for Linux you have to use rsync (or some third-party packages for restic, bacula, (etc.)), the tricky thing being that you need to setup SSH access for the user you want to backup as, as by default it's only for the admin. And it uses some funny SSH config that gets rewritten when the system reboots.

So!, you need to - SSH in as an admin and add the username you want to backup as to /etc/ssh/sshd_config, line AllowUsers. - Restart the SSH service with (you have to do the whole command, even if you're in the directory) /etc/init.d/openssl_signature.sh restart. - (If that doesn't work do /etc/init.d/services.sh restart to restart all services)

The documentation for third-party packages is near universally garbage. Rarely do links to things like tutorials point to anywhere relevant to using on a QNAP, and often they point to pages that don't even exist! Seems like it's only a few people adding the majority of them, and most seem to have been quickly added, then abandoned. Everything's out-of-date. Still, it's useful!

• Install our repository

• https://old.reddit.com/r/qnap/comments/f1p770/how_to_create_qnap_qpkg_packages/

• Hard drives spindown issues

• https://www.qnap.com/en-au/security-advisory - Subscribe to security updates via E-mail or RSS.
  Subscription seems to be unavailable now? — 2020/11/10 05:46

Upgrading to disks to higher capacity ones was a bit obtuse. Installing is fine, just hard to find the right menu to be in to increase their allocated space.

1. Storage & Snapshots > Storage:Storage/Snapshots > Manage > Manage > Replace Disks One by One
   • Click on disk and press 'Change'.
   • NB: Good to wait a bit for the disk to stop properly?
   • NB: Might want to set the 'priority' higher temporarily.
2. Storage & Snapshots > Storage:Storage/Snapshots > Manage > Manage > Replace Disks One by One
   • Click on Expand Capacity (yeah, fucking hidden)
   • Don't be afraid if it says something about 'execution' instead of 'expansion' D:'