# is NAS what I need?



## wonderings (Jun 10, 2003)

Right now at work there are 2 production machines (print shop - pre press). My MacBook Pro and a 24 inch iMac. Currently all files are stored on the iMac. I work off my MacBook Pro, new files I keep on my machine, but when done I file them on the iMac. This is not the best solution, especially if I am not there and my co-worker needs to take over a project, it is rare, but still happens sometime.

So I was looking some large storage that was fast and could connect to both computers at the same time, so both could be accessing the same information, and storing jobs that are being worked on. 

I am not really a networking guy, so dont know if this really is the best thing, but it seems that way to me. I am looking at this: Synology Network Attached Storage - Products :: DiskStation DS411j

For our network right now, just using an airport extreme basestation, latest model and a switch. Not sure if that would all be fast enough for adobe CS files, mainly indesign stuff, nothing super heavy, but some jobs do get big, picture heavy and such.

Is NAS going to be what I need to have one hard drive, with backup, in one unit with 2 computers using it at the same time?


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## chimo (Jun 9, 2008)

I just purchased that model a couple of weeks ago for our home. 

I have transferred the iMacs iTunes Library to it (~1.5TB by the time I will be finished) and I use it for the Time Machine Backups for my 24" iMac and MBP. You can assign disk quotas to ensure the TM Backups don't eat up the whole space.

I started with a RAID 0 (no data protection) with 2x 2TB drives. Last weekend I picked up another 2x 2TB drives and re-configured it as a RAID 5 (you can lose one drive and not lose data). My recommendation is to buy 4 identical drives from the start (2 or 3 TB) and configure it as a RAID5. Don't plan to start small and then upgrade as you will have to back-up the device and then re-configure. It takes a while for it to configure and verify the drives. You may want to check this site: macsynology for some additional reading.

Since it can stream HD movies through the iMac Library to my AppleTV 3 I would think it would be OK for a small office. If not, Synology makes faster versions. The device supports internet access so you can access your files from outside the office, however, the speed depends on your ISP bandwidth (most are asymmetrical - at home I have 1Mbps up and 28Mbps down).

The device also supports cloud access and sync but the Mac app is not out yet. There are iPhone/iPad apps as well for access/monitoring.

In all, I am happy with the device but I have not had it very long. I chose it over other models based on its level of Mac support. I believe there are some other members on this board that have had it for longer. Good luck!


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## simon (Nov 2, 2002)

wonderings said:


> Is NAS going to be what I need to have one hard drive, with backup, in one unit with 2 computers using it at the same time?


I am in a similar situation for my own design shop and from personal experience I would steer clear of a NAS solution. The NAS we ended up with is flaky at best for access - you can log in sometimes, and sometimes not - and once accessed the file transfer is slow as molasses on a cold winters day.

In doing more research I found that most NAS are designed from a PC side of things with Mac access usually an afterthought. It works, but expect frustrations.

That being said, I went for a "server solution". For our client files and such I have a Late 2009 Intel Mac Mini running regular Mac OSX 10.6.x that I upgraded with an internal 500GB 7200rpm HDD + 4GB RAM and added a OWC Firewire 800 external drive with a 2TB HDD. This Mini only runs as a file server and it runs 24/7 headless and serves all files to our small office. I find that this solution was a little more expensive than the NAS but for the past 2 years it has operational without any major issues. And of course it easily connects wirelessly to the office's Airport network. I was considering upgrading to the Lion Server and have it do more but it works fine as is and why tempt fate.


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## wonderings (Jun 10, 2003)

simon said:


> I am in a similar situation for my own design shop and from personal experience I would steer clear of a NAS solution. The NAS we ended up with is flaky at best for access - you can log in sometimes, and sometimes not - and once accessed the file transfer is slow as molasses on a cold winters day.
> 
> In doing more research I found that most NAS are designed from a PC side of things with Mac access usually an afterthought. It works, but expect frustrations.
> 
> That being said, I went for a "server solution". For our client files and such I have a Late 2009 Intel Mac Mini running regular Mac OSX 10.6.x that I upgraded with an internal 500GB 7200rpm HDD + 4GB RAM and added a OWC Firewire 800 external drive with a 2TB HDD. This Mini only runs as a file server and it runs 24/7 headless and serves all files to our small office. I find that this solution was a little more expensive than the NAS but for the past 2 years it has operational without any major issues. And of course it easily connects wirelessly to the office's Airport network. I was considering upgrading to the Lion Server and have it do more but it works fine as is and why tempt fate.


The one I linked in my original post gets decent reviews for working with Mac's

I did not think of the server idea, basically I just wanted tons of hard drive space, 2 TB, that everything could be stored on and accessed on by 2 users at the same time.

How do you connect to your MacMini Server? via wifi? I would imagine be hard wired in would give the best speeds, and ultimately thats what I want as well, hard drive space and speed.


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## simon (Nov 2, 2002)

wonderings said:


> The one I linked in my original post gets decent reviews for working with Mac's
> 
> I did not think of the server idea, basically I just wanted tons of hard drive space, 2 TB, that everything could be stored on and accessed on by 2 users at the same time.
> 
> How do you connect to your MacMini Server? via wifi? I would imagine be hard wired in would give the best speeds, and ultimately thats what I want as well, hard drive space and speed.


The NAS I used and eventually sold was advertised as friendly with Mac too. In my case IF i could access the NAS the transfer speeds were horrendously slow and for a 3GB file it took over 6 hours to transfer over WiFi with a full signal.

The OWC enclosure I bought was the same shape and colour of the 2009 Mini and stacks nicely under it so it looks like one unit. I don't know if they make it any more as I could't find it on their site. It's limit would be the one drive. Other solutions OWC offer have up to 4 drives with RAID. 

The Mac Mini runs headless (no monitor, keyboard or mouse) and is kept on a storage cabinet that also houses the ISP modem. It is directly connected to the main Airport Extreme Router but all the computers in the office are wireless. When I have to access the Mini I access it through Remote Desktop. Of course you will find better speeds being hardwired to each other but I can live with WiFi limits for my needs.

It's a simple tech solution to my storage needs and always on. I could use it as a Time Machine Backup but I find that's better suited to a dedicated large green drive located directly in my main Mac Pro workstation.


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## chimo (Jun 9, 2008)

simon said:


> The NAS I used and eventually sold was advertised as friendly with Mac too. In my case IF i could access the NAS the transfer speeds were horrendously slow and for a 3GB file it took over 6 hours to transfer over WiFi with a full signal.


I was curious so I just tested a 4GB file transfer from the MBP on WiFi and the same file from the iMac on a wired connection. I have an Airport Extreme.

The results: 

WiFi: ~6min 45sec
Wired: 2min

There must have been something wrong with your setup.


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## CanadaRAM (Jul 24, 2005)

The Synology and QNap NAS units are well known for Mac compatibility and good speed. Budget NAS devices like the DLink ones can work but ar quite a bit slower. Bottom of the barrel units are NDAS units that need special software to access and are to be avoided at al costs. 

Make sure you have Gigabit Ethernet capability on all devices in your network chain. Hub/switch, router, wiring, NAS.

Remember that a network attached drive is limited by the speed of the network and the overhead of network transfer. A directly attached FireWire drive or internal drive will always be faster. So you may want to work on files on your local drive and my transfer them to the NAS when you are done working on them for the session. You will obviously need to have a workable system t prevent two operators from working on the same files simultaneously. Speed wise, word processing on a network hosted file is no problem. Heavy Photoshop editing on a network stored file may however bee noticeabl slower.


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## CoderMummy (Sep 9, 2011)

It completely depends on the following:

*1. How much storage do you need?*

It sounds like you have been operating with internal drive space, so I'm not sure if a NAS solution is really the right option for you unless you like the idea of separate drives for separate tasks (backup and storage) versus partitioning. You may be able to pick up a 3GB external Hard Drive (Firewire Connection recommended). If you need more space, then perhaps NAS is the way to go.

*2. Network Backup*

There are really only 2 options I'd consider for this using Time Machine if you aren't Network Saavy and want something to "just work" right out of the box. 

a) Attach your external volume(s)/NAS to an Airport Extreme
b) If 3TB is going to be enough, you may want to consider Apple's Time Capsule​
Both of these have Wireless or Wired capability and will allow you to configure Time Machine to perform network backups for all of your Macs. The key consideration is to factor is add the maximum HD space of all machines together then multiply it by 2. Presto... that's how much Backup Space you need.

*3. Configuration*

There will be several opinions on this but only one right answer for you. If cost is a concern you will want to make sure you get the most bang for your buck... and this means getting you enough storage space while also providing enough space for backup.

*Example:
*
Macbook Pro: 500GB HD
iMac: 500GB HD
External Storage Space: 1TB

In this scenario, you would want a minimum of 3TB of external storage. This can be comprised of two separate drives (in a NAS enclosure unit or daisy chained together... NAS would be faster access), or one single drive partitioned twice (1TB and 2TB) using Disk Utility. Name the 2TB partition "Backups" and the 1TB partition "Storage". Voila! You're done!​
Lacie makes some great products for storage. This one in particular would be worth looking at:

LaCie - LaCie 5big Network 2


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