Synology NAS for Mac use

[BaconMan]

Hey all,

 

I'm trying to help out a mate whos running a small business, she needs a nas setup that can hold large amounts of data, and expandable with a bit of redundancy, files are all for videos as she does a lot of video editing, these synology boxes seem like a decent setup although maybe a bit overkilll considering they're more meant for a mutli user setup, if she ran windows that would make it a lot easier for me to understand, but how do they go with macOS use? Are they able to be connected directly to system at all? Their marketing material isnt the best...

 

The system im looking at: DS1621+

https://www.scorptec.com.au/bundle/nas/5-8-bays/1495-bdl-1495

[Electronics Wizardy]

They work well with a mac, basically the same way as windows. Windows and mac os all use the same protocol for network filecopes, so there won't be an issue.

 

This is a nas, so it connects over the network to the computer, so there is no direct attached cable.

[DrMacintosh]

41 minutes ago, BaconMan said:

maybe a bit overkilll considering they're more meant for a mutli user setup,

A NAS is beneficial for having access from multiple computers or multiple users over the network or remotely. A NAS will use SMB as its file sharing protocol and is fully compatible with Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android.

 

However, for a single user, you might look at something like a DAS. OWC makes some higher end options, but cheaper products are available.

 

A DAS (direct attached storage) is simply an external enclosure over USB or some other protocol that houses drives. The OWC enclosure I linked uses the USB 3.1 Gen2 protocol and can theoretically transfer data at 10Gbps (10x faster than the 1Gbps Ethernet ports found on most consumer routers). While some NAS units may allow you to aggregate more than 1 Ethernet connection, without significant prosumer network hardware, a NAS is going to be slower than a DAS.

 

Keep in mind that RAID is not a backup. RAID simply allows you to speed up read/write speed and loose a drive or two. So going with a RAID option may or may not be worth it depending on the bitrate of the videos being edited and if traditional backups are ok.

 

I have the non-RAID version of the product I linked and I love it. I use it to store my Plex media library and personal files. The enclosure is hooked up to a 2018 Mac mini which is my "home server" so my PC, MacBook, and mobile devices can all access the data. I essentially built a more powerful NAS by using a consumer desktop and sourcing my own drive enclosure.

 

tldr: A single video editor is going to get better performance out of a DAS. Search "multi bay USB drive enclosure" on Amazon and sort by budget.

[BaconMan]

9 hours ago, DrMacintosh said:

A NAS is beneficial for having access from multiple computers or multiple users over the network or remotely. A NAS will use SMB as its file sharing protocol and is fully compatible with Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android.

 

However, for a single user, you might look at something like a DAS. OWC makes some higher end options, but cheaper products are available.

 

A DAS (direct attached storage) is simply an external enclosure over USB or some other protocol that houses drives. The OWC enclosure I linked uses the USB 3.1 Gen2 protocol and can theoretically transfer data at 10Gbps (10x faster than the 1Gbps Ethernet ports found on most consumer routers). While some NAS units may allow you to aggregate more than 1 Ethernet connection, without significant prosumer network hardware, a NAS is going to be slower than a DAS.

 

Keep in mind that RAID is not a backup. RAID simply allows you to speed up read/write speed and loose a drive or two. So going with a RAID option may or may not be worth it depending on the bitrate of the videos being edited and if traditional backups are ok.

 

I have the non-RAID version of the product I linked and I love it. I use it to store my Plex media library and personal files. The enclosure is hooked up to a 2018 Mac mini which is my "home server" so my PC, MacBook, and mobile devices can all access the data. I essentially built a more powerful NAS by using a consumer desktop and sourcing my own drive enclosure.

 

tldr: A single video editor is going to get better performance out of a DAS. Search "multi bay USB drive enclosure" on Amazon and sort by budget.

Thank you for that! I did look into the idea of a DAS, if we did what you suggest of attaching the das to an old Mac effectively making it into a NAS that would be handy down the road. Do any of them support easy expansion later on? I can easily see my friend filling the capacity of a few drives and want to add in more later on. 

[DrMacintosh]

5 hours ago, BaconMan said:

Do any of them support easy expansion later on?

Well, let’s analyze the idea of expansion. Some NAS units allow you to daisy chain additional units together to increase capacity. A DAS won’t really do that, instead to expand you would just connect another DAS to that machine. 
 

The best way to get around the need for expansion is to size your drives appropriately for the long haul. How much data does your friend have now? How much data do they create in a week? 

[BaconMan]

7 hours ago, DrMacintosh said:

Well, let’s analyze the idea of expansion. Some NAS units allow you to daisy chain additional units together to increase capacity. A DAS won’t really do that, instead to expand you would just connect another DAS to that machine. 
 

The best way to get around the need for expansion is to size your drives appropriately for the long haul. How much data does your friend have now? How much data do they create in a week? 

At her current rate of use she's doing like 1tb a month or so. She's deleting a lot that would like to be saved, there's also a high likely hood of getting a second editor in as well. 

I liked the idea of a Das so she could theoretically edit straight off of the array, but that likely won't work when another editor comes on. Unless there's such thing as a multi connection Das. Her router setup isn't close though and can't be moved so connection to a NAS would have to be done through Wifi.

 

Im just not exactly sure what the best route is, to me a nice nas with a few drive bays would be good with the possibility of extra being added later on but then she'd have to be well controlled and move the current project onto her editing machine and then off again when finished. If that's the best solution it'll just have to be that way I guess. 

[Electronics Wizardy]

8 minutes ago, BaconMan said:

At her current rate of use she's doing like 1tb a month or so. She's deleting a lot that would like to be saved, there's also a high likely hood of getting a second editor in as well. 

I liked the idea of a Das so she could theoretically edit straight off of the array, but that likely won't work when another editor comes on. Unless there's such thing as a multi connection Das. Her router setup isn't close though and can't be moved so connection to a NAS would have to be done through Wifi.

 

Im just not exactly sure what the best route is, to me a nice nas with a few drive bays would be good with the possibility of extra being added later on but then she'd have to be well controlled and move the current project onto her editing machine and then off again when finished. If that's the best solution it'll just have to be that way I guess. 

You can do a point to point network connection with the nas.  Put it next to the computer and run a ethernet cable. Will have to do a bit of network setup though.

 

You can also connect multiple pcs this way if you want.

[DrMacintosh]

1 hour ago, BaconMan said:

At her current rate of use she's doing like 1tb a month or so. She's deleting a lot that would like to be saved, there's also a high likely hood of getting a second editor in as well. 

You're going to run into the deletion problem with any NAS setup though. Archival is going to have to be considered at some point. Either that or you build into something much bigger, like a rack mount case that can house 20+ drives and continually add more. Or get absolutely huge drives, like 12TB+ that way one drive has about a years worth of data on it.

 

If multiple editors are a real possibility, you'll need a NAS and will have to invest in a multi-gigabit network.