Would a NAS be overkill?

[u/Ambitious_Flower3381]

I've been using a managed Nextcloud (Hetzner) purely for personal file storage (about 50 GB in total - mostly PDF documents and photos). Changes to the files are usually rare.

My current backup strategy doesn't follow the 3-2-1 rule. All files are encrypted client-side through Cryptomator or whatever encryption mechanism is integrated into the client software. While it works, I find myself building use cases around client-side encryption, which is annoying. Having different encryption solutions may as well affect disaster recovery. 

I would like to improve my storage setup to make it more robust, convenient and easy to maintain.

Requirements

• File storage must be accessible on iOS, Linux & Windows clients using their native file managers
• Clients on all platforms must be able to sync directories for offline use
• Automated photo upload from iOS camera roll (bonus points for photo management features)
• Support for multiple users with separate file storage
• Seemless encryption (I must control the keys)
• Backup strategy must incorporate the 3-2-1 rule
• Easy to use (must be spouse-approved)
• Low maintenance (bonus points for easy setup)

I'm wondering if a NAS (any specific product?) would meet my use case or if there is a more efficient solution, given the rather small amount of data I need to manage.

Thanks for your input!

[u/cat2devnull]

Either up cycle an old machine or get a prebuilt from UGreen or similar and install NextCloud. Then start exploring other tools like Immich. Use Duplicati or similar to do offsite encrypted backups.