Volumes

[Enquiries]

I am a photographer and filmmaker in need of storage of my work media. I also plan to add two other users, my partner and our son, for basic files, backup and photos. I have purchased a Synology 1522+ and wonder what is the best way to set up the Pool and Volumes for the best longevity. Can you help with any suggestions?

[ed]

Thanks for reaching out, and congratulations on your new Synology 1522+ — it’s a solid choice for both creative work and family use.

Since you're starting with 3x16TB drives, you have a good amount of space and flexibility. For the best balance of longevity, performance, and data protection, here’s what I’d recommend:

1. Storage Pool Configuration
Start by creating a Storage Pool using Synology Hybrid RAID (SHR) with one-disk fault tolerance.

Why SHR? It offers the flexibility to expand the pool later with different-sized drives, which is useful if you plan to add more storage over time.

1-disk fault tolerance means your data stays safe even if one drive fails, which is important for storing media and backups.

This setup gives you around 32TB of usable space (from 3x16TB), while still providing redundancy.

2. Volume Setup
Once your pool is ready, create a single Btrfs volume on top of it.

Why Btrfs? It enables features like snapshots, versioning, and better data integrity protection — very useful for creative work and user backups.

You can set quotas per shared folder or user later if you want to separate space (e.g., one for you, one for your partner, and one for your son).

3. User and Folder Management
Create individual user accounts with appropriate permissions for each family member.

Set up shared folders such as:

Media_Archive (for your photo/video projects)

Family_Photos

Backups

Documents (for daily use)

This keeps everything organized and gives you control over who can access what.

4. Backup Suggestions
Use Hyper Backup to back up the NAS to an external drive or cloud service.

Enable Snapshot Replication to protect against accidental deletions or ransomware — this is especially helpful when others are using the NAS.

If you plan to expand in the future (e.g., going from 3 to 4 or 5 drives), SHR makes this simple — you can add drives and grow the pool without starting over.