Music Producer Looking for NAS Recommendations.

[DiabeticAnna]

I'm looking for a NAS solution for me and my fiance, who both do music/audio and video production and editing for work. I need something that fits the following criteria:

• Multiple-simultaneous lossless streaming of audio from disk. (I am okay with solid state, it needs to be fast enough)

• Something with the capability of incremental upgrades.

• Repair friendly, without any subscriptions or anti-consumer nonsense.

• Something that would work well with an offsite backup service, like Backblaze.

• Price isn't a huge concern, but cheaper options are welcome.

For context, the software we use are: Ableton Live, Pro Tools, Adobe Premiere Pro, as well as sampler instruments that load large (several gigabyte) libraries from disk into RAM.

[Electronics Wizardy]

16 minutes ago, DiabeticAnna said:

• Multiple-simultaneous lossless streaming of audio from disk. (I am okay with solid state, it needs to be fast enough)

•  

What bitrate are we thinking of here?

 

16 minutes ago, DiabeticAnna said:

• Price isn't a huge concern, but cheaper options are welcome.

 

Do you have a budget in mind? 400? 1000? 2000?

 

HOw many tb of storage do you need? What is your local network speed?

 

Id probably suggest something like a synology ds420+. Id start with something like 2x8tb drives, and add more as needed.

[DiabeticAnna]

10 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

What bitrate are we thinking of here?

 

Do you have a budget in mind? 400? 1000? 2000?

 

HOw many tb of storage do you need? What is your local network speed?

 

Id probably suggest something like a synology ds420+. Id start with something like 2x8tb drives, and add more as needed.

I'm not sure what bitrate it runs at, the program in question is Ableton Live. Its not "streaming" in a traditional sense where files are loaded into RAM, instead the files are played back in real-time at original quality as a project moves along.

 

My router acts as my switch, with my PC and the NAS hardwired. Gigabit ethernet ports.

I'd love to stay under 500$ if possible. Synology DS420+ looks like a good option; however, how would I go about using SATA SSD's is there a reputable adapter that works well in the drive bays?

[Electronics Wizardy]

8 hours ago, DiabeticAnna said:

I'd love to stay under 500$ if possible. Synology DS420+ looks like a good option; however, how would I go about using SATA SSD's is there a reputable adapter that works well in the drive bays?

If your on a gigabit network, there is very little benfit to using ssds instead of hdds. You will be almost always network limited here. Id save the money and get ssds.

 

But the included trays in a synology can fit 2.5in drives

[DiabeticAnna]

4 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

If your on a gigabit network, there is very little benfit to using ssds instead of hdds. You will be almost always network limited here. Id save the money and get ssds.

 

But the included trays in a synology can fit 2.5in drives

Gotcha. What kind of network speeds could realistically make use of SSD's? 2.5GB/s? I noticed this unit lists two Gigabit ethernet connectors, would this unit be able to take advantage of upgraded network speeds?

Also, how would the NAS work with an external file backup? (I have no experience with these kinds of devices, pardon the noob)

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 hour ago, DiabeticAnna said:

Gotcha. What kind of network speeds could realistically make use of SSD's? 2.5GB/s? I noticed this unit lists two Gigabit ethernet connectors, would this unit be able to take advantage of upgraded network speeds?

Also, how would the NAS work with an external file backup? (I have no experience with these kinds of devices, pardon the noob)

Depends on your use, probably 5-10gbe is where ssds vs hdds make a big difference. But a large hdd array can get pretty high sequentical speeds.

 

There isn't really a great way to get 2gbit with the 2 connectors. Teaming really only works with multiple clients, and smb3 multichannel isn't really supported on these. If you want faster than 1gbe, probably best to get a nas with the faster port or a expansion slot.

 

What do you want to back the nas up to? I think there are utilities included for most cloud storage solutions, and backing up to usb hdds.

[DiabeticAnna]

On 4/24/2022 at 2:02 PM, Electronics Wizardy said:

Depends on your use, probably 5-10gbe is where ssds vs hdds make a big difference. But a large hdd array can get pretty high sequentical speeds.

 

There isn't really a great way to get 2gbit with the 2 connectors. Teaming really only works with multiple clients, and smb3 multichannel isn't really supported on these. If you want faster than 1gbe, probably best to get a nas with the faster port or a expansion slot.

 

What do you want to back the nas up to? I think there are utilities included for most cloud storage solutions, and backing up to usb hdds.

The rule of "have two copies locally, and one offsite" guides me to doing cloud storage. I'd like to use something similar to Backblaze or similar.

[Electronics Wizardy]

11 minutes ago, DiabeticAnna said:

The rule of "have two copies locally, and one offsite" guides me to doing cloud storage. I'd like to use something similar to Backblaze or similar.

Most nas boxes like the synology can backup to S3 storage in the cloud. You can't use the backblaze backup that desktops and laptops can use, you need to use b2, which charges about $60 per tb per year. You can also use other servicies like google cloud, synologies own cloud storage, or many others. There is a nice utility for this in the synologies