Synology NAS

[sallynewcomb]

I've decided to get a Synology NAS, but am not sure whether to get a DS214 or a DS414. Also, I'm not sure whether to get a +, play, j ??
I shall keep my working LR catalog on my rMBP.

Any suggestions?

 

[Modesto Vega]

May I ask what are you getting the NAS storage for? For backup? To store your RAW images? How are you planning to connect the NAS to your rMBP by a network cable?

P.S.: You need to keep the catalog on your rMBP, this means on the SSD drive or on a drive you attach via USB.

P.S.2: I have a La Cie NAS

 

[sallynewcomb]

For a better backup solution. I currently have a growing pile of ehd's and it's getting messy. My working catalog will remain on my rMBP. I've just discovered this useful info: https://www.synology.com/en-us/solution/photographer but still any tips from you guys very welcome. Such as is it safer to get 2 x 2bay NAS's than 1 4bay NAS?

 

[Modesto Vega]

For a better backup solution. I currently have a growing pile of ehd's and it's getting messy. My working catalog will remain on my rMBP. I've just discovered this useful info: https://www.synology.com/en-us/solution/photographer but still any tips from you guys very welcome. Such as is it safer to get 2 x 2bay NAS's than 1 4bay NAS?

Assuming that you are going to use the Time Machine for your backups and you have a regular backup schedule I don't think you would notice much of a difference under normal circumstances. The only time I have noticed a difference was when I returned from a long trip abroad and the backup took a considerable amount of time and the Time Machine gave me a couple of headaches.

The D424 has twice the raw storage capability of the D214 - i.e., before RAID is configured, has 2 LAN connections supporting fail over and link aggregation, and supports more raid configuartions.

More storage and support for more raid configurations are definitely an advantage. The dual LAN link is only useful if you have a computer with 2 network cards, an rMBP doesn't, or you are going to connect 2 computers. Personally, I am happy with RAID-1 on my La Cie NAS and think that RAID-5 will significantly reduce performance; but I also think that a NAS capable of supporting RAID-10 is a good choice.

In addition, the D424 is going to require more technical knowledge than the D214.

 

[clee01l]

In addition, the D424 is going to require more technical knowledge than the D214.

From what I've gathered, Sinology requires more technical knowledge period. I switched to OS X because I got tired of staying on top of all of the settings and tweaks required for Windows and Windows apps. I opted for a Time Capsule as one of my Time Machine backups. I've gotten burned with proprietary RAID filesystems. At first look they are fine, but the weak point is a single RAID controller. When the RAID controller fails, you can not easily recover your data on any of the RAID volumes. My one RAID NAS is a Netgear STORA running an ancient version of Windows and the NTFS file system. As for the RAID component, it as only one of the slots occupied.

Recently for travel I got a 2TB WD My Passport Pro with a Thunderbolt cable. I reformatted the two 1TB drives as one 2TB JBOD instead of the RAID 1 that it shipped with.

I too have a growing pile of ehd's. Eight are connected to my iMac I keep my older master images on one and use two for some form of backup (TimeMachine and Crashplan) The other 5 are for temporary or disposable data. These 5 are connected via USB2 and the backups are Firewire800

IMO nothing can be simpler than the Time Capsule. Once set up, you can forget about it. It even can do extra duty as a wireless router.

 

[sallynewcomb]

Assuming that you are going to use the Time Machine for your backups and you have a regular backup schedule I don't think you would notice much of a difference under normal circumstances. The only time I have noticed a difference was when I returned from a long trip abroad and the backup took a considerable amount of time and the Time Machine gave me a couple of headaches.

The D424 has twice the raw storage capability of the D214 - i.e., before RAID is configured, has 2 LAN connections supporting fail over and link aggregation, and supports more raid configuartions.

More storage and support for more raid configurations are definitely an advantage. The dual LAN link is only useful if you have a computer with 2 network cards, an rMBP doesn't, or you are going to connect 2 computers. Personally, I am happy with RAID-1 on my La Cie NAS and think that RAID-5 will significantly reduce performance; but I also think that a NAS capable of supporting RAID-10 is a good choice.

In addition, the D424 is going to require more technical knowledge than the D214.

I have to admit that I have no idea what all that means! lol - so perhaps I should get a time capsule as it will be very easy to use I guess.

 

[sallynewcomb]

From what I've gathered, Sinology requires more technical knowledge period. I switched to OS X because I got tired of staying on top of all of the settings and tweaks required for Windows and Windows apps. I opted for a Time Capsule as one of my Time Machine backups. I've gotten burned with proprietary RAID filesystems. At first look they are fine, but the weak point is a single RAID controller. When the RAID controller fails, you can not easily recover your data on any of the RAID volumes. My one RAID NAS is a Netgear STORA running an ancient version of Windows and the NTFS file system. As for the RAID component, it as only one of the slots occupied.

Recently for travel I got a 2TB WD My Passport Pro with a Thunderbolt cable. I reformatted the two 1TB drives as one 2TB JBOD instead of the RAID 1 that it shipped with.

I too have a growing pile of ehd's. Eight are connected to my iMac I keep my older master images on one and use two for some form of backup (TimeMachine and Crashplan) The other 5 are for temporary or disposable data. These 5 are connected via USB2 and the backups are Firewire800

IMO nothing can be simpler than the Time Capsule. Once set up, you can forget about it. It even can do extra duty as a wireless router.

I need ease of use, so I probably should go for a time capsule. Shame as the DS214 did sound fairly straightforward and I liked the idea of 2 bays of 3tb and the possibility of buying further disks in the future (or have I got that wrong?)

 

[Jim Wilde]

If I remember correctly from my own Synology research last year, some of the models allow for an expansion unit to be daisy-chained, which could then be used as an automatic backup to the main unit. It all looks very appealing, though in the end I didn't go that route as my prime need was for a NAS unit that I could use as a simple additional backup device (for all family systems on the network), as well as a very useful device for transferring test data between my Windows desktop and my MacBook Pro laptop.

I went with a single-bay Synology unit, which works very well and very seamlessly, no regrets. I have a couple of friends, whose opinion I respect greatly, and both swear by their Synology systems.

If all you need it for is backup, then you probably don't need to pay the premium for Raid.....that's how I looked at it. You just need to work through the issue you have, and then find the best solution to fix that issue. In my case Time Capsule wouldn't do what I wanted, whereas the NAS would (and really Cletus, the only slightly difficult part in configuring it was working out how to get the MBP to mount it automatically....whoever would have thought I had to mess about in the Users & Groups area? On Windows, it just worked.)

 

[Modesto Vega]

Sally,

Cletus has made a good point, any NAS requires technical knowledge or, at least, a degree of technical curiosity. If you are not technically minded, maybe a NAS is not for you unless you know somebody who can help. Having said this once installed and configured they are very simple to use; mine even has the option of telling it when to switch off or on each day of the week. Of course if something goes wrong with the NAS, you might need help.

My only concern with the Time Capsule is that it is not redundant storage, it does not support RAID. Conceptually RAID is not very complicated, take RAID 1 as an example, if you have a Synology NAS with 2 disks, just to keep it simple, of 2TB each, you have 4TB of raw storage. Now, if you configure the NAS storage for RAID-1, the NAS would write each backup twice, once per disk. The logic behind it is that it is less probable to have 2 disks fail simultaneously than 1. In the event of a single disk failing, the Synology NAS would still be able to recover a backup from the 2nd healthy disk.

Something I would recommend researching are warranties. I opted for La Cie, instead of Synology because of the warranty, but Synology is good.

 

[sallynewcomb]

Sally,

Cletus has made a good point, any NAS requires technical knowledge or, at least, a degree of technical curiosity. If you are not technically minded, maybe a NAS is not for you unless you know somebody who can help. Having said this once installed and configured they are very simple to use; mine even has the option of telling it when to switch off or on each day of the week. Of course if something goes wrong with the NAS, you might need help.

My only concern with the Time Capsule is that it is not redundant storage, it does not support RAID. Conceptually RAID is not very complicated, take RAID 1 as an example, if you have a Synology NAS with 2 disks, just to keep it simple, of 2TB each, you have 4TB of raw storage. Now, if you configure the NAS storage for RAID-1, the NAS would write each backup twice, once per disk. The logic behind it is that it is less probable to have 2 disks fail simultaneously than 1. In the event of a single disk failing, the Synology NAS would still be able to recover a backup from the 2nd healthy disk.

Something I would recommend researching are warranties. I opted for La Cie, instead of Synology because of the warranty, but Synology is good.

Actually, I am quite technically minded...I can build websites etc., it's just this language is new to me, so I need to learn it....and I am fast! Still tempted by the Synology DS214+

 

[Jim Wilde]

So was I!!!!!

 

[Modesto Vega]

Actually, I am quite technically minded...I can build websites etc., it's just this language is new to me, so I need to learn it....and I am fast! Still tempted by the Synology DS214+

If you can build websites, you can configure a NAS. The DS214+ is a good entry level choice. If you decide to buy it just a couple of things:

1) Amazon UK sells the enclosure empty and you have to buy and fit the hard drives separately,
2) Amazon UK offers a bundle with 2 3TB drives; if you can afford it buy the enclosure with 2 6TB drives instead, this way you would be able to use the full capacity of the NAS (12 TB)

 

[clee01l]

Sally,

Cletus has made a good point, any NAS requires technical knowledge or, at least, a degree of technical curiosity...

Having the knowledge and wanting to "get under the hood" are two different things. I've been running RAID NAS for at least 10 years. When I still worked, I was a Network Admin and Database Admin among the different hats that I wore. A background and understanding of LINUX helps too. I've been burned by RAID systems failing so I'm careful to point out that pitfalls of RAID controllers and proprietary filesystems. Unless it is a filesystem common to Windows, OS X or LINUX, I don't recommend putting critical user data in RAID.

Time Machine will backup to multiple targets. So having redundancy in a Time Capsule is not essential. Having redundant backups is essential for any system backup.

 

[sallynewcomb]

Having the knowledge and wanting to "get under the hood" are two different things.

Yes, you're right. I'm going to order a Time Capsule.
Thank you guys for sharing your knowledge with me. Incredibly helpful

 

[Jack Henry]

The problem with any wireless backup solution such as time capsule is that you need to restore your computer wireless network settings BEFORE you can reconnect to the backup drive.

 

[Modesto Vega]

I don't recommend putting critical user data in RAID.

Time Machine will backup to multiple targets. So having redundancy in a Time Capsule is not essential. Having redundant backups is essential for any system backup.

Cletus - Did you really mean to write that in the way you wrote it? RAID is commonly used by businesses to protect critical user data as part of their disaster recovery strategies. This is accepted best practice; I do agree that RAID controllers can fail but this where your second contribution comes into play.

Having redundant backups is essential for any system backup.

This is indeed essential best practice and I would add that one backup should be kept away from your home/premises.

 

[clee01l]

Cletus - Did you really mean to write that in the way you wrote it? RAID is commonly used by businesses to protect critical user data as part of their disaster recovery strategies. This is accepted best practice; I do agree that RAID controllers can fail but this where your second contribution comes into play.

RAID is used in business (at least the businesses that I was associated with) when you need 24/7 uptime for your data. RAID is not backup. RAID is data redundancy. Hot swapable and failover proof. Businesses use dedicated backup systems that provide sophisticated backup of critical data. There is always an offsite component in any business disaster recovery system Businesses can afford to have redundant RAID controllers and duplicate RAID systems. It is the proprietary filesystem formats that can keep you critical user data hostage when the raid controller fails. And it is the proprietary RAID filesystem format that I caution against.

 

[clee01l]

The problem with any wireless backup solution such as time capsule is that you need to restore your computer wireless network settings BEFORE you can reconnect to the backup drive.

Time capsule is both wired and wireless router. Both of these can be bypassed and the TimeCapsule can be reached via the same local subnet that it is connected to. This wired and wireless router capability has nothing to do with the backup capability of the NAS that is called TimeCapsule.

 

[Modesto Vega]

RAID is used in business (at least the businesses that I was associated with) when you need 24/7 uptime for your data. RAID is not backup. RAID is data redundancy. Hot swapable and failover proof. Businesses use dedicated backup systems that provide sophisticated backup of critical data. There is always an offsite component in any business disaster recovery system Businesses can afford to have redundant RAID controllers and duplicate RAID systems. It is the proprietary filesystem formats that can keep you critical user data hostage when the raid controller fails. And it is the proprietary RAID filesystem format that I caution against.

Very good summary, I don't disagree with anything you wrote. As you said, redundancy is essential in any sound backup strategy.

Re - "the proprietary RAID filesystem format that I caution against"; locking customers into proprietary systems is the bread and butter of technology companies, I don't have to stretch myself too far to conclude that things like the Creative Cloud and the removal of perpetual licenses is a way of locking customers into proprietary systems. But this is not the subject of the thread.

 

[theoldwizard1]

From what I've gathered, Sinology requires more technical knowledge period. I switched to OS X because I got tired of staying on top of all of the settings and tweaks required for Windows and Windows apps.

Let me start by saying I am not a LR users. I am the "tech support" for a small professional photography company that specializes in image of "exotic" destinations. A one week photo shoot can result in over 5,000 images. 3 are planned for this year. We have bee using a Synology DS510 with Windows 7 for awhile now and it has been flawless. We are about to add a DX514.

Synology's DSM operating system does not really require much in-depth knowledge. Stick with the setup wizards/screens and you will be fine. About the only thing you need to understand are the various different RAID choices (RAID 1, RAID 5, etc) and which is really optimal for your situation. No odd tweakings or settings have been required. I DO high recommend installing a "retail" version of Windows 7 over whatever your manufacturer gave you. The bloatware that comes with most system is ridiculous.

I have even figure out how to the Master Catalog as well as it backups on the NAS, something LR tries hard to block. I don't recommend doing this, especially as cheap a SSD are these days. Put the OS ( C: ) on a SSD including the .lrcat file; but the backups on your old system drive reformatted and mounted as a data disk ( D: ). Put your images on the NAS.

 

[Modesto Vega]

I am the "tech support" ...

If you are the tech support, even if it is enclosed between quotes, you have the technical knowledge.

 

[Victoria Bampton]

Synology's DSM operating system does not really require much in-depth knowledge.

I'd agree with this. If you can build a website, you can use the Synology UI. In fact, I think my father could probably figure out the Synology OS, and he's definitely not techie! It's no worse than using Windows.

 

[wblink]

I'd agree with this. If you can build a website, you can use the Synology UI. In fact, I think my father could probably figure out the Synology OS, and he's definitely not techie! It's no worse than using Windows.

Thank you...... kuph