Low power surveillance NAS project challenge

[David Morrow]

I have a challenge on my hands. It's a project for my friend Jim. My friend is a bit of a cheapskate ( we call him "frugal", when he's in the room ). 

Jim has a cottage on an island on the British Columbia coast. He is off grid but does have a pretty decent sized solar panel array and storage batteries. So power isn't a big issue, but can't be ignored. Jim "borrows" internet access from a neighbour via Wifi.

The project is to create a very simple, low power, low cost surveillance system just to check to see who is coming up the road onto his property and be able to view the images when he is back home here in Vancouver. A single camera is going to be sufficient. It will capture based on motion activation only so there is no continuous stream.

My background : I have a Synology and a QNAP NAS and am quite familiar with their use. I'm also reasonably familiar with both Tailscale VPN and Syncthing. I have 5 Reolink POE cameras set up around my home which FTP's their jpg's and mp4's to my old QNAP NAS. I also view them via Home Assistant which I set up as a virtual machine. I have a GL.iNet MT3000 travel router and understand its interface well. This will all be important as you will see below.

The plan that I have in my mind is to have a single Reolink POE camera mounted outside the cottage to watch the road. The camera and the NAS will then be connected via ethernet cables to a little 4 port D-Link POE switch in the cottage. The switch will connect to a GL.iNet MT3000 travel router. The NAS must be able to run Tailscale so that I can login from my home. The NAS must also be able to run Syncthing to sync the jpg and possibly the mp4 files to another NAS here in Vancouver.

The Challenge : which NAS / device should I use to collect and sync the jpg and mp4 files from the camera ? Even a 2 bay QNAP or Synology would likely be to expensive. If I could find one cheap enough, I'd install a single 1 Tb SSD as they are cheap and use little power. I'm not sure how much power the fans use though. I've thought about a Raspberry Pi 5 but I'm not too sure than I want that learning curve. The Pi can be loaded with its own OS or with Ubuntu. Using Ubuntu may make the installation of Tailscale and Syncthing more straight forward. Maybe a Zima device. I thought about an old laptop but I don't want Windows constantly clogging the Wifi with housekeeping crap. I would be happy to use an SD card / micro-SD card for storage. Back home, I can use Syncthing to delete files from the sync'd folder at home which will sync the deletion with the SD card on the cottage SD thereby freeing up space.

I have this well sorted out in my own mind but am not sure if I am clear in my descriptions.

I'd love to hear any thoughts on the NAS or the configuration in general.

[ed]

You've got a really interesting project on your hands, and it's clear you've thought through many of the details. Given Jim’s "frugal" nature and the off-grid setup, the goal is to find a low-cost, low-power solution that can still reliably capture and sync surveillance footage. Let's go over some potential solutions that might fit your needs:

1. Low-Power NAS Alternatives:
Raspberry Pi 4 or 5: Although you’re concerned about the learning curve, a Raspberry Pi running Ubuntu Server or Raspberry Pi OS is actually quite capable of handling Tailscale, Syncthing, and basic file storage. The community support for Raspberry Pi is excellent, and you’ll find plenty of tutorials to guide you through the setup. The power consumption is minimal, especially if you use an SSD via USB rather than an HDD.
Pros: Low cost, low power consumption, and flexible software options.
Cons: Learning curve, limited storage expansion.
ZimaBoard: This is a more powerful alternative to the Raspberry Pi and is designed as a single-board computer for DIY NAS setups. It runs Linux-based OSes and can easily handle Tailscale and Syncthing. It’s slightly more expensive but still within a reasonable budget.
Pros: More powerful than Raspberry Pi, still low power, and supports more robust NAS functionalities.
Cons: Slightly higher cost, not as widely supported as Raspberry Pi.
Odroid HC4: This is another single-board computer designed for low-power NAS setups. It has dual SATA ports, making it easier to connect drives directly. It’s more powerful than a Raspberry Pi and should comfortably handle the software you need.
Pros: Dual SATA for direct HDD/SSD connection, low power, and reasonable cost.
Cons: Limited availability and community support compared to Raspberry Pi.
2. NAS Setup and Configuration:
Tailscale: Once you’ve selected the device, installing Tailscale on any of the above options should be straightforward. Tailscale works well on Linux, so whether you choose Ubuntu on a Pi, ZimaBoard, or Odroid, you’ll have no trouble setting it up.
Syncthing: Syncthing will work smoothly on any Linux-based system. It’s efficient in terms of power usage and will keep your data synced back to your NAS in Vancouver without clogging the WiFi too much.
3. Power Considerations:
Power Efficiency: All the recommended options above are highly power-efficient, which is ideal given the off-grid solar setup. Using SSDs rather than HDDs will further reduce power consumption, as SSDs draw less power and generate less heat, meaning fans (if any) will work less.
Fanless Designs: If noise and power consumption are big concerns, going with a fanless design like the Odroid HC4 could be beneficial. This way, the only power draw is from the board and the connected drives.
4. Storage Options:
SSD vs. SD Card: While SD cards are extremely low power, they might not offer the durability or capacity needed for constant write operations like video recording. A 1TB SSD connected via USB or SATA is a more reliable option and still within the low-power budget.
Micro-SD for OS: If you go the Raspberry Pi route, using a micro-SD card for the OS and an external SSD for storage could be a good balance. For other boards, booting from SSD directly would be ideal.

[David Morrow]

That's great Ed; thank you so much for the detailed reply. I think the R Pi will be the way to go because I know that the hand holding will be front and center to get started. Time to jump in at the deep end.