We live in a world bound by Privacy Policies and promises. Corporate companies make these promises to keep your data safe. But as technology grows, new hacking methods creep along side it. And we see breaking news stories quite often of corporate companies selling our data to other companies like it’s just another product for sale.

This short article isn’t here to fear monger but only to bring awareness to consumers abroad that there are ways to control your own data. To step away from the corporate giants that break these promises to keep your data safe.

Home Labs are becoming more and more prominent with today’s technology. You used to have to build your own server with dozens of parts and install software with a fairly large learning curve. Now there are devices like the Synology NAS. And if you didn’t read about it, would never even know it’s operating system is built on a Linux distribution.

Now I know NAS devices have been around for many years. But over the last decade, improvements and ground breaking software have changed the game for the NAS industry. Network Attached Storage is still a thing but now, thanks to new software, these devices have become more than just another external storage solution. They are mini servers and can be used to host a variety of applications using Docker ranging from email, photos, contacts, calendars and much more.

Synology ships with a complete suit of packages that allow you to take that leap of hosting your own essential applications. Most of them install with one click and require little to no knowledge of how hosting works. They make it so user friendly that even a small child could launch an application and have it running within minutes. However if you need help with their operating system known as DSM, it has a complete knowledge base built in making it easier than ever before.

Lastly, NAS devices come in all shapes and sizes to suit your needs. There are small box shaped ones with a small footprint that you can tuck away on your shelf or flat models made for a server racks. You can start out with small hard drives and seamlessly add more drives depending on how many drive bays it has if you need more storage.

Who would have ever thought a NAS could and does have it’s own operating system? It’s basically a small computer!

If you’re that person who’s looking for a solution, let this be your final stop. Make the leap. Start small and upgrade as you need. I promise you, once you start hosting your own data it becomes an addiction. But it’s a wonderful addiction that comes with a wonderful community of people willing to teach you new things.

Do you own a Synology NAS? How do you use it for your own data? Let us know in the comments below.

Learn more about building your own Home Lab. Check out the HomeLab subreddit for ideas!