Anyone using a NAS?

[jaggedhorizon]

I'm tired of trying to remember on which HDD or SDD my photos are, and of manually making sure I keep two copies of everything.

I'm thinking of investing in a serious NAS with a capacity that would keep me going for a while (eg 8TB*2 but at current HDD prices I might as well do a four-bay NAS with 8TB*2*2), and which I can access on my wifi network so I can process photos directly on the NAS (I'd still keep the Lightroom catalogue on the laptop SDD).

Last time I tried to have a NAS, ages ago, the software seemed overcomplicated and the operation was slow. I ended up using it only as a backup with a direct wired connection, which made no sense.

Does anyone have any recommendations?

 

[ishwanu]

I'm thinking of investing in a serious NAS with a capacity that would keep me going for a while (eg 8TB*2 but at current HDD prices I might as well do a four-bay NAS with 8TB*2*2), and which I can access on my wifi network so I can process photos directly on the NAS (I'd still keep the Lightroom catalogue on the laptop SDD).

I don't process on my NAS, but I keep (among many other things) my permanent collection of photos and videos, which are managed by a standalone DAM running on Windows with its database on a local SSD. That means I do a lot of reading from the NAS but not typically a lot of writing to it. Also, I don't connect it with anything via wi-fi.

Last time I tried to have a NAS, ages ago, the software seemed overcomplicated and the operation was slow. I ended up using it only as a backup with a direct wired connection, which made no sense.

My computers are on gigabit Ethernet and I can get pretty close to maximum theoretical transfer rates in some scenarios - about the same as a mainstream USB 3 hard drive. That's satisfactory for me, but maybe my experience isn't of any help to you.

Does anyone have any recommendations?

I recommend exploring this YouTube channel for tons of good info on the many options:

https://www.youtube.com/@nascompares

 

[Ken Seals]

Windows or Mac? What is your backup plan in addition to having your working files on a NAS.

I am currently using a small Synology NAS solely as a JBOD for transferring files from my Win 11 systems to a Mac Book Pro that is located in a different area. You are right, learning the NAS OS is time consuming.

I am on Win 11 and the earlier version before. I used a NAS for years. It was kept in the garage (fire prone area) for a quick get away. I never really like the idea of a NAS because of the proprietary nature of the drive formats and the power supply. I need storage that I can immediately start using a backup drive for my main use in case the primary data HDD fails.

In your situation, I suggest at least two 16GB external drives. One for image files and one for backup. You would need another set of backups in addition to that for the best insurance. For best results, the drive with the main working data files would benefit from a thunderbolt or at least USB-C interface.

Another approach would to just keep your most recent working files on the internal SSD and move them to the external drives for long term storage. You can/should do that in Lightroom Classic Library module if that is what you are using.

If you are using Lightroom Classic, Photoshop or similar, the speed of the drives and connection is not as important because Lightroom Classic only accesses the original files for import, making previews, printing and export. Editing is accomplished using the previews Lightroom Classic create during import.

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[Ephemeris]

I'm tired of trying to remember on which HDD or SDD my photos are, and of manually making sure I keep two copies of everything.

I'm thinking of investing in a serious NAS with a capacity that would keep me going for a while (eg 8TB*2 but at current HDD prices I might as well do a four-bay NAS with 8TB*2*2), and which I can access on my wifi network so I can process photos directly on the NAS (I'd still keep the Lightroom catalogue on the laptop SDD).

Last time I tried to have a NAS, ages ago, the software seemed overcomplicated and the operation was slow. I ended up using it only as a backup with a direct wired connection, which made no sense.

Does anyone have any recommendations?

 

[Barleyman]

I use a NAS for all my raw file storage. Edit with Lightroom Classic.

I treat it like any other drive. Works really well on my Gb network.

 

[Ernie Misner]

I use a NAS for all my raw file storage. Edit with Lightroom Classic.

I treat it like any other drive. Works really well on my Gb network.

Which NAS do you use and like?

 

[Barleyman]

I use a NAS for all my raw file storage. Edit with Lightroom Classic.

I treat it like any other drive. Works really well on my Gb network.

Which NAS do you use and like?

I have a 2 bay Synology NAS with 2 4TB drives. Going to be upgrading with a 4 bay extension in the next few months.

The interface is good, Sometimes I load my files directly to the NAS, but lately, with Nikon Cloud, I just drag and drop via my PC.

 

[NEO54321]

I built a NAS/server from old parts; it runs on Truenas Scale. I also upgraded all my network connections to 10 GB from 1 GB. I can get consistently 4 GB speed and occasionally 5 GB; speed limited by the drives and configuration. All of the raw files are stored on the server while the catalog is on a local drive. I did not experience any access speed issues.

 

[sweebrew]

I'm tired of trying to remember on which HDD or SDD my photos are, and of manually making sure I keep two copies of everything.

I'm thinking of investing in a serious NAS with a capacity that would keep me going for a while (eg 8TB*2 but at current HDD prices I might as well do a four-bay NAS with 8TB*2*2), and which I can access on my wifi network so I can process photos directly on the NAS (I'd still keep the Lightroom catalogue on the laptop SDD).

Last time I tried to have a NAS, ages ago, the software seemed overcomplicated and the operation was slow. I ended up using it only as a backup with a direct wired connection, which made no sense.

Does anyone have any recommendations?

The quick answer to your question is yes. I am running a Synology 6 bay NAS. When doing the research 5 or 6 years ago, it seamed to be the best solution for me. I have no complaints regarding its operation and can recommend considering a Synology NAS. Spent a lot of time playing around with computers and did not understand RAIDs until getting the NAS. Good or bad I am running the Synology Hybrid RAID. At the time I was setting it up it appeared to be the best solution for me (considering storage needs and cost of hard drives at the time).

The longer answer is that I am using the NAS for redundancy and to have my own personal cloud. I travel with my Surface table and can connect to the NAS anywhere I have a wifi connection. I also travel with an external hard drive, but that is a post for another day. I used to play around with home theater computers and I have had several hard drives crash. Not that big a deal when the data lost can be replace. A sad day when you have lost years of pictures. I currently keep a subset of all my pictures on my main computer (currently about 8 years) with all of the image files (going back to 2003) stored on the NAS. I work directly with the files stored on my PC and only go to the NAS to back up image files (and video) or to retrieve files that are not stored on the PC hard drives. I also have an external hard drive that only gets turned on to back up files about once a year. Once filled, ideally that hard drive should be stored off-site.