Help me find a NAS solution!

[Hello man]

Hey guys,

While I am an avid system builder, I am new to the world of NAS, homespun, purchased or otherwise.

Here is my problem: I am a college student, but I am also a professional photographer. I handle sometimes upward of 700 30mb raw files at once, and I can't stand having them in decentralized locations for workflow reasons. I have three potential editing rigs-a Ryzen based desktop in a 900D with 16tb of storage (some redundant, some not), a MacBook Pro with only 512gb and a desktop back home with about 1.5 TB. I keep my files in at least two places at once usually, especially if they are on my laptop, a non-redundant environment, but I have an ardent HATRED for carrying external hard drives. They bother me, I have had multiple die, they get lost etc.

I want a NAS system that allows me to upload files to it if I am on my LAN in my dorm or if I am on my laptop on WIFI somewhere else, from Windows and Mac OS. I think a basic FTP server seems clunky-ideally I want Adobe Lightroom to be able to access it natively, which means it needs to show up in Finder or File Explorer, on LAN or not. I have tried sharing folders in Windows, then using a basic VPN configured in Windows. It sucked and was unreliable, not to mention some networks block PPTP connections.

No, I don't want to pay for cloud storage. That also annoys me. I want the drives, physically, in a location where I can own them and make backups, or send them for file recovery if something were to happen.

Ideas? It seems there are pre-built options, but I am also open to building my own with FreeNas or something. It doesn't need 8 drive bays, I want to keep it fairly cheap.

Thanks!

 

[ElectrO_90]

Synology is what I recommend. I have about 4 NAS servers I run in total, All Synology.
It just goes on Budget and how many HDD's you want to hold.
Synology has a good website that helps you decide.

 

[Hello man]

Synology is what I recommend. I have about 4 NAS servers I run in total, All Synology.
It just goes on Budget and how many HDD's you want to hold.
Synology has a good website that helps you decide.

What is their remote web access like? Haven't used one firsthand.

EDIT: Looks like I could probably access them via file explorer thru WebDAV? Hm. According to my knowledge WebDAV is also configurable in OSX, which is good, cause my Apple laptop is the one I am carrying with me. Just don't know if I can set up WebDAV on my school internet. Then again, I do work in IT, maybe I could pull some favors :lol:

 

[ElectrO_90]

They also do their own services where you can choose a name for your NAS and then log in that way.
I mainly use them for storage and camera recording/controlling. Sadly, I am not a developer just an end user.
But I can access everything remotely, I can do what I need to do from anywhere.

 

[bill001g]

I will not comment on particular nas since that is not my area of expertise. The largest issue you are going to have is the remote access. This is made even worse when you have no control over the network as it appears if you are using a schools network.

The problem you have is traffic from the internet need to have a way to find the NAS you want to access. Unless you can configure port forwarding in the main router you really can't access anything remotely.

Even VPN will not work unless you can find a way to get the NAS to initiate the connection to some remote ip address you are using. How would it know when to connect and where to connect.

The only partial solution to this is to use a method where the nas and your end pc meet at some server on the internet. This is how things like teamviewer work. The performance it not the best. You can also I suppose have the nas replicate files to some cloud storage site.

 

[Hello man]

I will not comment on particular nas since that is not my area of expertise. The largest issue you are going to have is the remote access. This is made even worse when you have no control over the network as it appears if you are using a schools network.

The problem you have is traffic from the internet need to have a way to find the NAS you want to access. Unless you can configure port forwarding in the main router you really can't access anything remotely.

Even VPN will not work unless you can find a way to get the NAS to initiate the connection to some remote ip address you are using. How would it know when to connect and where to connect.

The only partial solution to this is to use a method where the nas and your end pc meet at some server on the internet. This is how things like teamviewer work. The performance it not the best. You can also I suppose have the nas replicate files to some cloud storage site.

Hmm, yeah I was worried about that. I am wondering however if the network has some sort of automatic port forwarding rule -- if I could get a static IP associated with the NAS (again, my second job is working in IT -- might be able to pull some strings) then perhaps I could get it to work. A little scary tho, since that would also mean that I can't even set up a WebDAV server on a desktop, were I to build another (I have everything but an appropriately sized case).

 

[bill001g]

They are not going to give you a static internet IP. If you mean a static lan ip that is the trivial part.

From a security standpoint they would be massively incompetent if they allowed ports to be forwarded to a machine on their network they did not have full control over. They would be dependent on your abilities to setup a server securely, I am sure the senior security guy will have serious reservations about your ability.

Working in IT maybe a good experience for you and you will quickly find out how much bureaucracy you must go through to even get simple things.

 

[ElectrO_90]

Quickconnect is in the Synology. This is how I access the NAS from all over the world.
https://www.synology.com/en-global/knowledgebase/DSM/help/DSM/Tutorial/cloud_set_up_quickconnect

Have a read, maybe this will help you.

 

[punkncat]

Honestly, I would consider overcoming your hatred of cloud services for the time that you are using someone else's network. Your most straightforward approach will be to pay for space on Dropbox, which works well with Mac, or some space on Google Drive. They are both incredibly inexpensive and offer redundant backup that you won't have to worry about when in comparison to even buying one of the above quoted NAS units AND disks to go inside.

 

[ElectrO_90]

Honestly, I would consider overcoming your hatred of cloud services for the time that you are using someone else's network. Your most straightforward approach will be to pay for space on Dropbox, which works well with Mac, or some space on Google Drive. They are both incredibly inexpensive and offer redundant backup that you won't have to worry about when in comparison to even buying one of the above quoted NAS units AND disks to go inside.

I would always suggest cloud as like you said backup and redundancy. I also use 1tb dropbox for important type files but also I do have over 100TB of "stuff" on the Nas' I use.

 

[Hello man]

Honestly, I would consider overcoming your hatred of cloud services for the time that you are using someone else's network. Your most straightforward approach will be to pay for space on Dropbox, which works well with Mac, or some space on Google Drive. They are both incredibly inexpensive and offer redundant backup that you won't have to worry about when in comparison to even buying one of the above quoted NAS units AND disks to go inside.

Yeah, I may well have to. Damn shame seeing as the transfer speeds of the 'net on my campus are stupid fast...I get full gigabit downloads even at peak hours.

I know google drive is famous for rather...slow...upload/download. I use it to distribute photos to clients, and I would tend to agree. Dropbox better? Anyone know?

 

[Hello man]

This seems too simple, but what about something like Hamachi? I have used it in the past but never spent much time setting it up. In theory, if I ran a Windows based server/NAS platform, then set up Hamachi on it, I should be able to access said computers files at decent speeds right? I don't think Hamachi requires all computers meet at the same server side location/doesn't add a middleman.

 

[failboat]

For client interaction investing in a website seems like a good idea. Buy a domain and pay for hosting.
For data replication I think a fast pool like NVME would help you work faster with them and synced to a hdd pool and then synced online to something like backblaze. possibly a 2nd NAS onsite for current projects if getting data from backblaze isn't fast enough.

google or dropbox will charge a lot to store that much readily available data.

It really depends on what you stand to gain/lose. I feel like at minimum you should have 1 copy onsite and 1 copy offsite.

 

[punkncat]

As to Dropbox, I use it for work. In addition to keeping a cloud storage file, it also (can) occupy a local drive. The biggest issue with it would be sharing a file, in that anyone you share with should (optimally) have a DB account as well to make the most of the situation. You can overcome that with your already in place Google file sharing.
AFAIK you can set up a "free" account on DB, but cannot recall what the requirements and such are.

 

[Hello man]

For client interaction investing in a website seems like a good idea. Buy a domain and pay for hosting.
For data replication I think a fast pool like NVME would help you work faster with them and synced to a hdd pool and then synced online to something like backblaze. possibly a 2nd NAS onsite for current projects if getting data from backblaze isn't fast enough.

google or dropbox will charge a lot to store that much readily available data.

It really depends on what you stand to gain/lose. I feel like at minimum you should have 1 copy onsite and 1 copy offsite.

So my DREAM would be having a server set up with an SSD front end that receives files, then dumps them after a day or something in to the spinning storage. I have seen and heard of serves set up like this, but never done it myself. The issue comes back to accessing the damn thing sans port forwarding, assuming I can't forward ports on the network I am using.

 

[failboat]

For client interaction investing in a website seems like a good idea. Buy a domain and pay for hosting.
For data replication I think a fast pool like NVME would help you work faster with them and synced to a hdd pool and then synced online to something like backblaze. possibly a 2nd NAS onsite for current projects if getting data from backblaze isn't fast enough.

google or dropbox will charge a lot to store that much readily available data.

It really depends on what you stand to gain/lose. I feel like at minimum you should have 1 copy onsite and 1 copy offsite.

So my DREAM would be having a server set up with an SSD front end that receives files, then dumps them after a day or something in to the spinning storage. I have seen and heard of serves set up like this, but never done it myself. The issue comes back to accessing the damn thing sans port forwarding, assuming I can't forward ports on the network I am using.

Can you plug a router in or do you have to sign in? If you can get a router in your room then you can create your own lan.

 

[Hello man]

For client interaction investing in a website seems like a good idea. Buy a domain and pay for hosting.
For data replication I think a fast pool like NVME would help you work faster with them and synced to a hdd pool and then synced online to something like backblaze. possibly a 2nd NAS onsite for current projects if getting data from backblaze isn't fast enough.

google or dropbox will charge a lot to store that much readily available data.

It really depends on what you stand to gain/lose. I feel like at minimum you should have 1 copy onsite and 1 copy offsite.

So my DREAM would be having a server set up with an SSD front end that receives files, then dumps them after a day or something in to the spinning storage. I have seen and heard of serves set up like this, but never done it myself. The issue comes back to accessing the damn thing sans port forwarding, assuming I can't forward ports on the network I am using.

Can you plug a router in or do you have to sign in? If you can get a router in your room then you can create your own lan.

I don't have to sign in. There is no authentication whatsoever.

What I have set up right now is a cable to the wall, then to a 24 port gigabit managed switch. The switch goes to my Hue light bridge (yes, I have stupid hue bulbs in my dorm room, but it is a terrible room and that was all I could to to spruce it up), my desktop, a thunderbolt adapter for my laptop and to an AirPort express, making my own network because the WIFI gets super slow at peak hours. Now that AirPort Express is in "Bridge Mode" -- I.E. it is getting a signal that is already routed. In that sense I don't have access to the router, but it hardly seems like there is a firewall either. I think the network is basically an open public LAN.

 

[failboat]

I just bought one of these for my nas they are on sale. On backblaze their older model has very good failure rates. It's not a fast drive. It will be great for onsite backups though. Maybe the fast SSD in the workstation.

https://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Barracuda-Internal-3-5-Inch-ST8000DM004/dp/B075WYBQXJ/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1546547233&sr=8-3&keywords=seagate+8tb

 

[failboat]

You can use SAMBA for share and ssh keys / cronjob for rsync.
Being on an open network isn't advised though.
Generate very strong passwords for each user/Samba user + fail2ban

 

[ElectrO_90]

This thread is going a bit over complicated now, seriously though.
If you want what you want it's going to cost you a small fortune. Of course, if you got several thousand dollars spare you can have what you want. But for like $99 you can get 1TB storage on Dropbox.

 

[Hello man]

This thread is going a bit over complicated now, seriously though.
If you want what you want it's going to cost you a small fortune. Of course, if you got several thousand dollars spare you can have what you want. But for like $99 you can get 1TB storage on Dropbox.

I mean, it shouldn't be insanely expensive right?

I have several extra motherboards, CPUs and RAM. Older stuff, like 3rd gen and 4th gen Intel i7 and i3 but pretty capable, certainly enough for a NAS box. I've got a boot SSD, a windows product key or two along with all the other stuff I would need (including quad port gigabit PCI cards, hard drives, power supplies, GPUs etc.) just no case that is a little on the smaller side. Seriously, I hoard this stuff.

I probably only need to drop about $50 on a case, less if I can find one used. Everything else I believe I have covered. What else would I need? Expensive software?

 

[ElectrO_90]

Software is nothing, and it's good that you have all this spare equipment, but you still run into the same problem.
Accessing it at a decent speed anywhere you are working and allowing others to access it as well.
With Dropbox, everyone gets a decent speed no matter where in the world they are, it doesn't cost you a penny to run (you will burn through more than $100 in a year in electric) as well as possibility of a HD crash and losing it all.
Unless of course you do Raid 10, which I currently have on 12x12TB Drives, which are not cheap!

After analysing it and all, I will recommend still a Synology NAS as it works from the get-go and does everything and more or Dropbox for $99 1TB storage, or pay more for more storage and benefits.

 

[Hello man]

Software is nothing, and it's good that you have all this spare equipment, but you still run into the same problem.
Accessing it at a decent speed anywhere you are working and allowing others to access it as well.
With Dropbox, everyone gets a decent speed no matter where in the world they are, it doesn't cost you a penny to run (you will burn through more than $100 in a year in electric) as well as possibility of a HD crash and losing it all.
Unless of course you do Raid 10, which I currently have on 12x12TB Drives, which are not cheap!

After analysing it and all, I will recommend still a Synology NAS as it works from the get-go and does everything and more or Dropbox for $99 1TB storage, or pay more for more storage and benefits.

Ok! I have been actively shopping around for a good deal on one of the 4 bay ones. 2 just doesn't give many options in terms of redundancy.

The big question for me is still if I will be able to access files remotely from it without the ability to port forward?

 

[ElectrO_90]

Yep, you should do, that's how I access one of mine using their quick connect technique.

If you want 100% clarification, contact the boys at Synology, always great help.