DIY NAS for Mac Solution

[doarrival]

Hello everyone! 

 

I am a young photographer and videographer and I am starting to amass a lot of data. I recently had to run out and buy a 3tb lacie external drive and I am more than half way through it already. I have a limited tech background but I do know about NAS setups. So I have been on the hunt to build one and my research lead me here. So here is what I need some help with: I want to build a NAS for MAC.

 

Ok so the first thing you all should know is I am poor. I cannot afford a $600 Buffalo Terastation. Or anything else on this list: http://www.tomsitpro.com/articles/nas-for-mac,2-750.html

 

Also you should know I do have an Apple Timecapsule and it is terrible for what I am doing. I actually had to move all my images and videos off it because they would bog down the timecapsule to the point it would restart. 

 

If it's at all possible to build something that can grow with me, that would be amazing. Currently I have a MacBook Pro but I am In the early stages of building a Hackintosh. Thanks in advance for any help. 

 

Oh oh and one last thing if anyone can suggest a great router to network all of this, that would be great. My timecapsule drive failed   

[Electronics Wizardy]

How much you want to spend?

 

You not gonna get a good nas with drives for under 600

 

OSX has support for nfs and cifs and will work almost any nas out of the bos just fine.

 

 

 

Just curous, why mac/hackintosh. Unless your using finalcut, almost all programs are faster on windows 7

[doarrival]

13 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

How much you want to spend?

 

You not gonna get a good nas with drives for under 600

 

OSX has support for nfs and cifs and will work almost any nas out of the bos just fine.

 

 

 

Just curous, why mac/hackintosh. Unless your using finalcut, almost all programs are faster on windows 7

Hey! 

I was hoping to spend $300-$400 but if I have no option but to spend $600 then I would at least like something I can expand. I can't give you a good reason why Mac. I have always had one and have all my editing programs with them. Its just personal preference I guess. Like how I shoot nikon instead of canon which pound for pound is a better camera system because they have way more lens options. 

[Electronics Wizardy]

46 minutes ago, doarrival said:

Hey! 

I was hoping to spend $300-$400 but if I have no option but to spend $600 then I would at least like something I can expand. I can't give you a good reason why Mac. I have always had one and have all my editing programs with them. Its just personal preference I guess. Like how I shoot nikon instead of canon which pound for pound is a better camera system because they have way more lens options. 

How much storage?

 

For that price id go with something like a https://www.amazon.com/Synology-Station-Diskless-Attached-DS416j/dp/B019ZUR5WQ

 

Then fill it with drives. If you want cheap(but used) drives, look up hitachi 2tb's. They can be found for about 40 a pop.

 

You can go diy, but your not saving money, and using more power.

[doarrival]

47 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

How much storage?

 

For that price id go with something like a https://www.amazon.com/Synology-Station-Diskless-Attached-DS416j/dp/B019ZUR5WQ

 

Then fill it with drives. If you want cheap(but used) drives, look up hitachi 2tb's. They can be found for about 40 a pop.

 

You can go diy, but your not saving money, and using more power.

Yea from digging around more I think you are right about DIY'ing a NAS for Mac. Everyone is talking about servers or repurposing another mac which is expensive. Thanks for the help. I think this is my best option for now.

[anotherriddle]

I see you do not have an unreasonable budget, so first take a look at of the shelf solutions.

Now brace yourself, here comes the DIY solution.

Two months ago I build a NAS for me and my family, the goal was to manage 2 printers, have a VPN Server, make periodic system image backups of 4 Windows PCs and one Mac (with TimeMachine), and most importantly store all our Photos (we are three hobby photographers and my sister now studies product design) which totals around 5 TB. I think you can imagine what that would have cost. I also wanted to expand my storage whenever it is needet with just buying new drives. So If you want to save money DIY ist the way to go. It is not too difficult to set up but be warned, you can not go to a manufacturer if anything breaks or does not work how you want. If you do not feel comfortable with this do not go down this road.

 

I used owncloud openmediavault (sorry, I always mix those two up), on top of Debian, as an operating system (it is really, really easy to set up) and bought basically parts for a simple PC (less than 200 Euros) because I wanted to save power, then I added two 3TB WD-RED drives for storage (about 112 Euros each).

The good thing about this solution is, I can have up to 6 drives without additional cost on the boards' SATA ports and if I need more just add a PCIe Card. The system uses 1.1 watt with wake on lan and about 20 watt when doing file transfers. If you want to go cheaper you can convert an old PC and if you don't have one you can buy an old one for maybe 50$.

 

There are also a lot of tutorials online to help. If you want I can give you a list of parts I used, I just need to find everything.

 

Advantages:

• Cost. I have a completely new system for ~425 Euros (I believe it was less, but around that figure) with 6TB storage
• If you don't care about electricity you can use a used system for maybe 50$
• I can add up to 4 additional drives without cost beside the drives, I can add even more if I want
• I can do other things with it than just storing data
• I can repair it myself if anything breaks (for some people a disadvantage, because of bad customer service all around an advantage for me)

Disadvantages:

• You have to build it yourself
• It does not work out of the box
• You have to repair and troubleshoot it yourself if anything breaks

Yes, on paper you can maybe find an of the shelf system that costs the same for 6 drives (only for storage) but it is possible to go cheaper and I have all the features I want.

 

If you still want to build it yourself, just say which direction you want to go. I just wanted to be upfront.

[anotherriddle]

3 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

How much storage?

 

For that price id go with something like a https://www.amazon.com/Synology-Station-Diskless-Attached-DS416j/dp/B019ZUR5WQ

 

Then fill it with drives. If you want cheap(but used) drives, look up hitachi 2tb's. They can be found for about 40 a pop.

 

You can go diy, but your not saving money, and using more power.

I have to agree with the idea for used hitachi drives. They are really reliable. You are probably even better of with a used hitachi than a new seagate

I have to disagree about not saving money on diy though.

[Mikensan]

Unless you want a higher electricity bill, that synology is going to be very hard to beat. If you are not a tinkerer and enjoy the thrill of fixing problems I'd advise against DIY. Something always goes wrong (big or small) and you end up digging / researching.

[samiscool51]

this is a great video on how to turn your mac into a fileserver (NAS)

it may be 2-4 years old but it is applicable to a modern mac running a later OSX version