[wim]

Synology is not as good anymore as it used to be, as QNAP has taken over top position, certainly with regard to the more consumer oriented products: faster, more features, cheaper, and as relaible or better.

Synology is not bad at all, just that QNAP is the choice of professionals these days, at least IME, and my discussions with hardware vendors, who offer both, amongst others. That's all.

HTH, warm regards, Wim

[stoppingdown]

"Overkill is always better when it comes to important data."

Definitely.

Why a home-made NAS (DAS+RPI) instead of buying one?

1. Flexibility. I can do whatever I want (and I usually find myself needing custom stuff).
2. Simplicity. NAS come with all the sort of stuff inside (e.g. support for torrents, etc...) that I don't need. With the RPI I can just install what I need.
3. Security. This has to do with simplicity and with the fact that I know very well Raspbian (and Linux in general), so I can manage and monitor it. With a NAS I couldn't have the same kind of control.