Anyone using a NAS

[JohnW]

Looking to revamp my storage system and to be able to acess my images when I'm away from the computer or don't have my SSD drives with me . Been thinking about a NAS , but really don't know much about them. Currently have all image on external drives. Older images on a 1TB Gtech drive and backed up on a second 1TB Gtech. Also have a 2TB Gtech drive that I have the images backed up on as a 2nd backup and then a complete back up of my 2010 iMac.

Not using the iMac much these days except to watch dvd's as I'm now primarily using a 2019 13" MacBook Pro. All newer images are on an eternal 500GB T5 SSD with a backup to a second T5 SSD. Using a WD My Passport 2tb as a back up to my Macbook Pro and to also make a second backup of the images on my T5SSD.

Looking to make things a little simpler and if possible quicker. Images from the ssd's load fairly quick but when I'm accessing older images from the GTechs it can take longer to load.

Thanks in advance.

 

[PhilcTx]

There have been previous threads regarding backup systems including NAS use on this and maybe other BC forums. Using the forum Search tool should find them.

Numerous folks are using NAS units - I have an older Synology DS214 NAS that's plugged into our home network router/wifi system. It's used as the general backup system for both my PC and wife's iMac.

 

[JP Onstwedder]

I use Synology. Fairly tricky and tedious to set up but good backup and sync options. The new Drive app is excellent for access from phones and tablets.

 

[ruley74]

Yep, QNAP NAS, yeas to use and works well.

 

[joe43]

I do not use NAS. I buy HDD enclosure cases, some with fans and some without, for external HDD. The HDDs that I insert into them are the same drives you would use inside a desktop. One issue is the max size of the HDD that will work with the HDD case. usually they will work with HDDs much larger than what the specs call for. I have some HDD enclosure cases with 12 TB and 14TB drives in them. One fanless case I have is made by StarTech.

You can find enclosure cases for SDD drives too. But these drives might not be large enough for your needs.

 

[Woodpecker]

I used to have NAS in operation, not primarily for my photography, but for job reasons, but as it was there I used also for my hobby. After the situation changed and the NAS was only a "backup media deluxe" I decided to abandon it. Main reason was the transfer speed during backup. If you don't spend the money for a 10 GBit network infrastructure and a NAS with proper performance level a plain USB 3 transfer is much faster. The fastest I could get with my NAS (Synology DS214 with encrypted volumes) was about 40MB/sec, with the locally connected USB-3 docks for HDDs I get up to 240 MB/sec and more depending on the file sizes. The other thing is that I have direct access to the archived data on file level without any extra device or software. Just connect the disk to the computer and off you go.

Unless I wanted to impelement a private cloud or multi-user collaboration via network I don't see a reason for a NAS anymore.
And if you feel you should have RAID level safety in you local device there are alternatives on the market that run a RAID array internally and can be connected locally via USB 3.x or Thunderbolt.

And not to forget: Having a NAS at home does not prevent you from having a copy of your backup stored remote !

 

[SandyW]

There is no one solution that is perfect for everyone. I use a PC desktop with multiple drives (SSD/spinning combos) so I keep all my photos and working files on my main computer. These are also backed up daily to my Synology NAS using Syncback. The NAS also serves as my media player. Off site storage is important if your files are important to you. Natural disasters have become all too common. I rotate a couple spinning drives that are backuped off the NAS using Syncback. I use a safe deposit box for these drives. For me cloud backups are not an option. My upload speed at home is 0.7 Mbps on a good day.

 

[MartyD]

NAS can take on a lot of different forms so make sure you design and install a NAS that will provide the performance, storage capacity, and redundancy you require. I understand the speed of a NAS device relies on the speed of the network, the speed of the NAS device operating system and configuration, and the speed of the installed drives. RAID configurations can also have an impact on performance and cost of storage but does provide some protection from hardware failure.

In terms of accessing my files remotely using a NAS, not having fast internet upload speeds, I am always limited by the upload speed of my home connection which is 10mbs. My current files are all stored on a remote backup site so if I want to access images remotely I just pull them from my offsite backup. I have also used OneDrive or iCloud to store images I might need to access remotely frequently.