DocGreen
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I'll do some more research (or rather, have Amanda do more, lol)... It sure would be awesome if some of them were Windows users.
NAS Recommendations for Professional Photographers
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Skyhooker
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I haven't seen it mentioned yet, but I've been playing around with NAS4free, and I'm putting together a home file server from salvaged parts. One of the main "selling" points (it's free, so no selling) is the ability to use the ZFS file system. I'm no expert, but here's an excellent video explaining the benefits:
ZFS - Home server - Why?
I've installed several Synology boxes as well, so big thumbs up for those, too.
ZFS - Home server - Why?
I've installed several Synology boxes as well, so big thumbs up for those, too.
Freedom PC Solutions
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That is indeed an excellent video. I find myself now downloading NAS4free and finding out how to get ZFS. I am stuck in my ways as I do not like to learn other OS's (i.e. linux) but this lady has me convinced I should try it. Thanks for the idea.
Tony_Scarpelli
Rest In Peace Tony
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I think a few are getting the message but most of us are still clueless.
But looking at the offerings from HP/Dell energy and heat efficiency are definitely on the horizon. Those little plug in boxes of raid 1/5 for under $199 look pretty effective but since HT Pentium 4 there has been energy management in PC's so if you DIY with one of those it shouldn't be too much of a pig. Or even an ITX box. I like the idea of using free parts in the parts room and turning it into something useful.
A 350 power supply is supposed to average drawing 175 watts or less when in demand. that works out to cost about 11-23 cents every 5-6 hrs. However if you have all these ac/dc inverters for laptops, lcd screens, phones, and other chargers or such plugged in you are wasting 35-50 watts ea. Many of the chargers use electricity even when they are not plugged into the device. It is an interesting subject and easy to do some power slim down in a home but at work where you have to train a dozen folks its a hard battle.
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YeOldeStonecat
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I've done a few of those home built NAS units...for myself at home, and at work. Mostly FreeNAS...but have tried a few others.
However, I am not fond of doing Frankenstein units for clients. Scrap together a bunch of hardware and throw a freebie open source product on it. The hard part is hardware support. Consistency. And low cost. Nobody in the SMB/SOHO range needs a full blow Pentium 4/Pentium D/C2D/iX processor driven system for a NAS. You want nice little low power devices, running on new reliable hardware, compatible hardware, with a proven track record with whatever OS you plop on it.
When you shop for quality hardware to build a good low power low noise RAID storage system, and you look at the costs in your shopping cart...you'll find it's easier to just get a ready to go product from Synology or QNap. Easier for your to support, for your client to support, or for the next IT support they use to support.
Tony_Scarpelli
Rest In Peace Tony
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I agree with Cat. When someone asks for a NAS. I was thinking more along the lines of using left over equipment going to waste and adding some value to someone who is not going to buy a NAS or storage server...who knows maybe the power savings over 5 years pays for the silly thing.
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And that's where I end up even for my own home use, I don't want the thing to fail and have to screw around with it at all, plus fan noise and heat and space taken up if it's in a bedroom closet
Can you please give a little more detail as to how this works? I like Netgear ReadyNAS, but in order to get functionality like you describe above , you have to purchase an almost $200 software license. The plus side is, you can create & manage sync jobs via a web GUI from anywhere, get email alerts, etc.
Does the synology have features like that? Is it a constant sync, scheduled jobs, what?
Thanks!
IMO, you're way over-complicating and over-thinking this.
You've already settled on a NAS for file storage. ALL files should go there. Period. Keep it simple.
Create an active/working share and an archive share.
Get them a secondary NAS for backup - I know that Netgear has this and apparently Synology has this functionality to sync the contents of two NAS.
If/when they outgrow a single NAS, then you can get them a brand new one for active/working files (by the time this happens, the new NAS will be better/faster anyway) and shift the old one to only store archive data.
If these people care about their data at all - archive or not - then it should be centralized and backed up.
YeOldeStonecat
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The Synology are mile and miles above the Nutgears......oodles better.
Can you give some specific reasons as to why?
I'm particularly interested in the remote syncing/backup option....can you give more info on that?
Thanks
KH58
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This has been a great thread and I'm learning a lot. I can only give you my perspective as a user in this case. But maybe it'll give some more insight into what solution you come up with.
I'm a photographer (and I love working with computers and provide systems support and software training to many artists) who is dealing with this very issue....several USB and Firewire drives and lots of dvds and cds that are full of valuable photos. I was just preparing to shop for new HDDs for storage of current projects and other "active" files. Now i may just delve into the NAS arena!
With the kind of work I do in photography I never know when I'll need to access an image. A magazine might call and want to use a photo I shot years ago. I have to find it and not waste all day reconnecting multiple drives, or loading 10 DL DVDs looking through folders and folders of files for that shot. But I still do on occasion! Gotta get that under control
In the "good old days" the photos were stored in filling cabinets and organized by some method or another, usually one devised by the individual photographer. Type up a key sheet for categories. Find the right one. Not too much trouble to dig down to the proper drawer, pull slide pages, or negative sleeves, throw them on the light table and find the correct frame. I, for one, do not miss that. Today, asset management software is something most shooters are already using in some capacity.... ACDsee, Aperture, Portfolio or another that can catalog several TB of images for quick retrieval via any combination of search criteria. The NAS will need to work in conjunction with that type of cataloging. I can easily shoot 10-30-or more GB of data on a single assignment.
What commercial photographers need is to archive the RAW image files and a large number of processed or retouched files. That can and should be done off site and could be doubled "in office" for redundancy. On a more local basis, versions of those processed files in various sizes and file formats need to be readily available for any number of uses. That's a lot of data. And that is where the NAS is needed. While large full-resolution files could be pulled back down from cloud storage it would not be convenient, to say the least. I often have single photos that can each be well over 100MB in size. Multiply that by hundreds of image files that I want may want to access to now.
I use both apple and windows pcs. I can connect to both remotely via my ipad or iphone. And i have both platforms networked in my office. There are things I love from both OS. I choose the Mac for photo editing because its what I learned on...and it works every time – elegantly and smoothly.
This addresses the "artists" you're dealing with and the old Windows-vs-Mac thing.....
IMO, I'd suggest that it's counterproductive to try and convince them that they "need" to switch from Mac to PC. Particularly if its already working for them --they are familiar and comfortable with the current setup, they have hundreds and hundreds of dollars invested n specialized software, they have several workstations that are nearly always attached to large, or multiple, color-calibrated monitors which are profiled for specific cameras, the deadline is always looming, and so on. Many will have little time or desire to learn something new. You'll lose a potential client. Just provide a storage and backup solution that works with their exiting platform, whatever it is. They'll be forever grateful!
Sorry this was so long. You guys are the pros and I'm glad to be able participant in this forum. Learning something new daily.
Ken
I'm a photographer (and I love working with computers and provide systems support and software training to many artists) who is dealing with this very issue....several USB and Firewire drives and lots of dvds and cds that are full of valuable photos. I was just preparing to shop for new HDDs for storage of current projects and other "active" files. Now i may just delve into the NAS arena!
With the kind of work I do in photography I never know when I'll need to access an image. A magazine might call and want to use a photo I shot years ago. I have to find it and not waste all day reconnecting multiple drives, or loading 10 DL DVDs looking through folders and folders of files for that shot. But I still do on occasion! Gotta get that under control
In the "good old days" the photos were stored in filling cabinets and organized by some method or another, usually one devised by the individual photographer. Type up a key sheet for categories. Find the right one. Not too much trouble to dig down to the proper drawer, pull slide pages, or negative sleeves, throw them on the light table and find the correct frame. I, for one, do not miss that. Today, asset management software is something most shooters are already using in some capacity.... ACDsee, Aperture, Portfolio or another that can catalog several TB of images for quick retrieval via any combination of search criteria. The NAS will need to work in conjunction with that type of cataloging. I can easily shoot 10-30-or more GB of data on a single assignment.
What commercial photographers need is to archive the RAW image files and a large number of processed or retouched files. That can and should be done off site and could be doubled "in office" for redundancy. On a more local basis, versions of those processed files in various sizes and file formats need to be readily available for any number of uses. That's a lot of data. And that is where the NAS is needed. While large full-resolution files could be pulled back down from cloud storage it would not be convenient, to say the least. I often have single photos that can each be well over 100MB in size. Multiply that by hundreds of image files that I want may want to access to now.
I use both apple and windows pcs. I can connect to both remotely via my ipad or iphone. And i have both platforms networked in my office. There are things I love from both OS. I choose the Mac for photo editing because its what I learned on...and it works every time – elegantly and smoothly.
This addresses the "artists" you're dealing with and the old Windows-vs-Mac thing.....
IMO, I'd suggest that it's counterproductive to try and convince them that they "need" to switch from Mac to PC. Particularly if its already working for them --they are familiar and comfortable with the current setup, they have hundreds and hundreds of dollars invested n specialized software, they have several workstations that are nearly always attached to large, or multiple, color-calibrated monitors which are profiled for specific cameras, the deadline is always looming, and so on. Many will have little time or desire to learn something new. You'll lose a potential client. Just provide a storage and backup solution that works with their exiting platform, whatever it is. They'll be forever grateful!
Sorry this was so long. You guys are the pros and I'm glad to be able participant in this forum. Learning something new daily.
Ken
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