NAS Storage??

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Hi All,

I've recently decided to get a NAS storage device which ideally would have the ability to be accessed when not at home and/or allow external users to access files/folders (Family etc).

I considered the Time Capsule but as this cant be accessed away from home discounted it at this stage.

I brought a WD My Book Live but will be taking it back today as the transfer rates are very slow. It took over 2 days to transfer 80GB and accessing files from my Mac Book Pro is also slow.

So, my question is: Do you have any suggestions on which to go for? In terms of budget, I'd really like to get some thing in the $300-500 bracket and it will only be serving 1 laptop.

I like the look of LaCie products but wonder if I will have the same issues.

I hope that somebody can give me some guides...

Thanks in advance
:)
 
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Just realised that I have probably posted this in the wrong place.. I will try and move..
 
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Which NAS device??

Hi All,

I've recently decided to get a NAS storage device which ideally would have the ability to be accessed when not at home and/or allow external users to access files/folders (Family etc).

I also want to use it to store my iPhoto and iTunes library to free up space on my MBP.

I considered the Time Capsule but as this cant be accessed away from home discounted it at this stage.

I brought a WD My Book Live but will be taking it back today as the transfer rates are very slow. It took over 2 days to transfer 80GB and accessing files from my Mac Book Pro is also slow. Maybe this is the norm???

So, my question is: Do you have any suggestions on which to go for? In terms of budget, I'd really like to get some thing in the $300-500 bracket and it will only be serving 1 laptop.

I hope that somebody can give me some guides as I am not familiar in this field.

Thanks in advance
:)
 

vansmith

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Merged threads.
 

RavingMac

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Looks interesting. Be interesting to hear your comments if you go that way. I am using D-Link DNS-323 and it has been working well for me other than having to do a restart every week or so so that my Macs will see it on the network.
 
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It's very often your router that is the cause of issues here. I find the weak offerings supplied by ISP's just not up to the job. For a couple of years I used a Draytek cable router, just using the flashing bells and whistles "Thing" supplied by my iISP as a modem.

I have recently ordered a Pegasus 4TB array, and that will be using thunderbolt on my iMac. At present I have a 3TB TC taking care of backups...That's all it does though, and it works well.

For media streaming, make sure your wifi router is up to the job before buying externals etc.
 
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I also just got a WD Mybook Live and the speed over my home network just does not cut it especially for big video files. My first time machine backup to the NAS took a whole 24 hours!
As the NAS does not have any USB or thunderbolt ports my question is this; can I use a Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet Adaptor to transfer big files between my 2012 iMac (which has a thunderbolt port) and the NAS?
 

Raz0rEdge

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Once you leave the iMac, it's just regular Ethernet so that should be fine. Most NAS' support gigabit as well..
 
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what do you mean by 'leave the iMac'?

The packets. Once they leave the iMac (actually the thunderbolt to ethernet adapter), it's all ethernet.
 

Raz0rEdge

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Thanks Mike for filling in the missing piece..was posting from iPad in a hurry, so didn't elaborate..:)
 
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So in summary the files can be transferred from the iMac to the NAS via the ethernet adaptor and vice versa. In essence I will be able to use the NAS as any USB enabled external HD. Thanks guys!
 
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This is why they are Network Attached Storage devices.
 
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I see your point but just wished there was some way to increase the transfer speeds.
 

Raz0rEdge

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The thing to keep in mind that it Network Attached Storage, so you wouldn't connect it to your Mac directly and use it as a USB external HD or something. The vast majority of NAS' are clients on the network just like your Mac. So you put them onto the network and they will get an IP address (I'd suggest using a static IP address instead) and then you would mount the storage using SMB, NFS, AFP and go from there..

If you are using a Ethernet/wired network to connect all the devices, most NAS' can easily do upwards of 60-80 MB/s through a Gigabit connection. A lot of this also depends on your router..
 
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I see your point but just wished there was some way to increase the transfer speeds.

Sure there is... go direct attached with a faster attachment method. To do that, however, you would need new hardware.
 
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Thats where the Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet Adaptor comes in. Thought I should do some research before dishing out money.
 
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The Synology NAS boxes and more importantly the software are superb. I know it's overkill for this application but I have a 1812+ and its great. I can get 115mb/s transfers on large files.

Highly recommended.
 

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