Reddit reviews Synology Disk Station 2-Bay Network Attached Storage (DS215j)

Just 250 GB of free space? This will give you a redundant TB.

$140 Synology DiskStation 2-Bay

$65 (x2) 1 TB Western Digital Red

Total: ~$270

If it's purely for backup, this might not matter as much, but like /u/comnam90 mentioned, I'd advise you to bump up to the $200 variant if you have the cash for better performance.

That would take the build up to ~$330

Self hosting. One of the easiest ways is probably with a synology nas or similar product.

Has pretty much everything you need. You can install gitlab on it, or you can install individual components you need (apache, php, git, mantis bug tracker, etc)

The upfront costs are a bit high and disks are sold separately.
I assume you have to search for a local seller though if there's a trade embargo going on.

I say the benefits outweigh the costs though:

• You can simultaneously use this as general file storage and your project host. You can limit access the way you like.
  
• Has lots of packages, installation of things like VPN server or other components is pretty much "point and click"
  
• Two disks for redundancy (using software RAID 1)
  
• You can SSH into it
  
• No monthly costs apart from power consumption
  
• Not having to trust a 3rd party with your data
  
• Not depending on a 3rd party upholding their contract
  
• Can connect to PPPoE networks (DSL) and cable networks when configuring the ISP supplied modem as bridge, acting as your modem/firewall. This makes port forwarding unnecessary.
  
  The only real downside of self hosting is that it depends on your internet connection. You have to forward ports and if your internet is down, your collaborators can't reach your service. This is less important for git but other things they might want (issue tracker, files, automatic builds) will be inaccessible.

At 15gb per month of photos it would take 22 years to fill 4TB. I know you'll use it for other things too, but a 4TB raid 1 NAS setup sounds like a great start for you.

One of these: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00OZ0CTAU/ref=psd_mlt_bc_B00OZ0CTAU

Two of these: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00EHBERSE/

Setup as a mirror/RAID 1, put all your data on there, do something about backups (will crashplan cloud backups run on one of these?) and you're good to go.

You may start with local disk backups but there's something nice about paying $5/mo for worry free backups to the cloud.

P.S. A backup isn't a backup until you've tested it. Check every once in a while to make sure it's working and that you can actually restore files.

Thanks everyone, I ended up going for this one https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00OZ0CTAU/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A2OAJ7377F756P I think It'll do.

http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00OZ0CTAU?keywords=215j&qid=1452886717&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1 ...not for me

the newer, 215j, is only $199 :) http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OZ0CTAU?keywords=215j&qid=1452886717&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1

Definitely recommend a Synology - cost me £130 for the 2 bay enclosure, and got 2x 3TB drives.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00OZ0CTAU?keywords=synology&qid=1450343996&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1

Streams all my media content to the PS4, Amazon Fire TV stick and phone (plex can also sync to devices for offline viewing) - probably my best purchase of the year. Also incredibly easy to set up and user friendly thanks to the web interface.

• Switch wise, any gigabit port is fine - try this, or this which is what i have. They're unmanaged so no config is needed, just plug and play. Try to ensure your PC is using a gigabit port if possible. a card is only a tenner or so if not, and its worth the upgrade from 100meg.
  
• For the storage system, a good bet is a NAS (Network Attached Storage) device. You can make one from a spare PC and using software like FreeNAS (I do), or you can buy a dedicate one (something like this )
  
• Does your telly support upnp? if so, that might be all you need. If not you might want to buy a low power tiny PC like this, and install Kodi on it. Its a Linux OS thats based around an old Xbox media player, and its excellent. Failing that, you could buy a chromecast to stream from your PC to your telly.
  

Weird. It's available in Spain.

http://www.amazon.es/Synology-DS215J/dp/B00OZ0CTAU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422062382&sr=8-1&keywords=ds215j

To be honest, today's the first day I'm hearing about the DS215j too from an earlier post in this subreddit. Amazon's already pre-selling it here http://www.amazon.co.uk/Synology-DiskStation-DS215j-Attached-Storage_Parent/dp/B00OZ0CTAU/ although it isn't on Synology's News page https://www.synology.com/en-uk/company/news