Backup Conundrum

I have been reading a lot about NAS, DAS, cloud backup, cloud storage, RAID options and many many more. But still, I have yet to come up with the most cost effective solution and efficient solution to back up and archive my photos. First, there is always the traditional route of backing up my photos from an external hard drive and making periodic transfer every now and then. I am using a 2.5 inch portable hard drive as my main photo depository. Eventually that hard drive is going to be full and I would need a more future proof solution. The closest option based on my needs would be to invest in a NAS. But NAS requires an ethernet connection to the router that would then allow NAS access to a home network. I have tried the transfer speeds of files from the NAS to the network and onto my computer, and I am not liking the transfer speeds. I need something faster. Then there is DAS, or Direct Attached Storage, like the Drobo, WD My Book Duo, or Thunderbolt Duo. But those things costs a bomb! I don’t really want to invest so much money upfront just to backup my photos and eventually have a future proof solution to my storage needs. It’s just too expensive for my taste.

Recently, I have begun experimenting with cloud storage and backup solution. I tried crash plan and initially I liked it. It’s those set-it-once-forget-about-it kind of system. Unlimited storage space, (for a fee of course) but it allows you to periodically make backups to the cloud. While it may seem the most cost effective solution, backing up hundreds of gigabytes of data is going to take a tremendous amount of time! By my reckoning, based on the Crashplan’s estimates, it would take me more than 20 days of non-stop uploads to fully back up my entire photos collection. While it is cheap, its not efficient. Amazon Cloud Drive seems to upload photos slightly faster than Crashplan, but still doesn’t solve the slow transfer speeds. So what now? Do I really have to invest in a NAS or DAS?