Weekly Report 1 NAS is Fun｜Restoring Accounting Habits｜How to Receive Foreign Currency

I bought a NAS that I had wanted for a long time, and now I only regret that I bought it late. Since I was not familiar with NAS, I asked several people for model recommendations. As a result, everyone recommended different models, which made me struggle for a long time. In the end, I chose the more basic Ugreen DXP4800, thinking I would try it out first, and I found it quite good.

Usage of NAS#

Media Center#

This is the part I have tinkered with the most. Initially, I tried to download using BT/PT, but after a lot of effort, I felt it was very troublesome. Finding resources was difficult, and downloading was also a hassle. Later, I decided to use cloud storage instead; Ugreen supports direct downloads from Baidu Cloud, while Aliyun Cloud requires me to download it on my computer first and then upload it to the NAS. Since the Aliyun Cloud membership only provides 10GB of high-speed traffic per month in third-party applications, I didn't want to pay for an additional membership for that. On the NAS, I can create a one-way sync task that automatically syncs to the NAS after downloading. Note to ignore the .part files during the download.

The Ugreen media center felt quite good to use initially. Video information can be recognized very well.

One downside of tinkering with the NAS is that it has increased the demand for network bandwidth. My home network was previously 100M, and after tinkering with the NAS, I upgraded to 1000M... The initial payment was 799, and then 40 yuan per month, which feels okay. Now both Baidu Cloud and Aliyun Cloud can fully utilize the bandwidth, and uploading from the computer to the NAS is basically at a similar speed.

Docker and Virtual Machines#

Another use case for me is running Docker. First, I can move all the containers I need for development to the NAS, so I don't have to run OrbStack on my laptop anymore. Secondly, I can run various application services, but I haven't tinkered with this part too much yet. An interesting application is bili-sync, which can conveniently sync Bilibili videos to the NAS. However, before happily running Docker, you need to pull a shell clash image on your computer, manually upload it to the NAS, and then configure the proxy for Docker; otherwise, you might not be able to pull the image.

Regarding virtual machines, I tried using it to run OpenWRT as a bypass router, but I eventually found that controlling the proxy on various devices was more flexible, convenient, and easier to maintain, so I stopped. If you're interested, here are two videos you can refer to:

It is important to note that this may have some impact on your network environment, such as being unable to access domestic networks, which may require you to find some solutions.

Resuming the Habit of Keeping Accounts#

Starting from 2025, I resumed the habit of keeping accounts, and the first entry I recorded was the money spent on accounting software. I use icost, and I feel it's quite good. Keeping accounts satisfies my obsessive-compulsive thinking while also bringing me an additional burden. I want to record every transaction clearly, even the small interest from my Yu'ebao account.

Recording each financial transaction is very similar to marking every place I go, both of which satisfy my compulsive thinking.

How to Reduce Losses When Receiving Foreign Currency#

Speaking of which, I only recently realized the difference between local bank transfers and international transfers. The former can arrive quickly without fees, while the latter takes at least a day and incurs a fee, usually several dozen dollars. So when you have a local bank that corresponds to the currency, it's best to use the local bank for transfers. Even if you need to convert to other foreign currencies, you should first transfer to the local bank and then use Wise to convert to other currencies. In such cases, Wise generally does not charge for deposits and offers better exchange rates.

As a side note, after everyone received the news of the refund last time, I found that I could still use OCBC and did not receive any emails. However, I no longer dare to put a lot of money in it.

Conclusion#

At the end of this weekly report, I will share my current desktop setup. After upgrading the broadband, the Unicom plan provided a router, so I moved the original Redmi AX5 to my room. This way, when I mess around with the network, it won't affect the people at home.