N.A.S. Recommendation

my99svt

my99svt

I identify as a lesbian
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Dec 25, 2016
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Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
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My MacBook Pro keeps filling up and I’m running out of room for editing Garmin videos. I’m looking for a good home use network attached storage. I’d like it to support both Mac and windows so both my wife and I could use it. I’m leaning towards Drobo. But don’t want to just buy it and not know whether it’s the right choice.

HELP!


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ohanacreek

ohanacreek

My EcoBoost has I4WD
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My MacBook Pro keeps filling up and I’m running out of room for editing Garmin videos. I’m looking for a good home use network attached storage. I’d like it to support both Mac and windows so both my wife and I could use it. I’m leaning towards Drobo. But don’t want to just buy it and not know whether it’s the right choice.

HELP!


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Literally JUST figured this out for myself, I tried Synology, WD, Drobo, several Chinese/Korean/Taiwan brands. None worked right kept losing connection, large file transfers would error out, TimeMachine would never completes backup.

Ended up buying a base Mac mini and a USB 3.0 5-bay RAID with (5) 3TB drives, gave me 12TB configured RAID5. It was cheaper than all those options I’d tried over the last month(Thank goodness for Amazon Prime returns!) You can share the drive to the network and it works PERFECTLY every time (MAC and even for lesser Windows machines). I started using it as a server for movies and music to our AppleTVs.

5-Bay Enclosure https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CH94GMK/?tag=sxsweb24-20
 
my99svt

my99svt

I identify as a lesbian
Lifetime Member
Dec 25, 2016
1,267
5,248
113
Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
Ownership

  1. Talon X

  2. Talon R
Awesome, I have a Mac mini that is already apart of my entertainment system. Just need to upgrade it to the latest OS.
I will explore this route further.
 
Landman

Landman

The Great Bearded One
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I use synology - have an older 4 port at home with 12TB, an 8 port with 20TB here in OKC that's used partially for work and personal, and I set up an 8 port for my sister that she uses for video/picture storage. My 1812+ is used for file storage for work and personal, video storage for streaming movies to Raspberry Pi/Kodi players, iSCSI LUN storage for Linux/Windows VM's that are controlled by a VMware ESXi server I built.

I don't use it for MAC services though, so couldn't comment as to how well they work with that. But, I've never had any issues with them.
 
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my99svt

my99svt

I identify as a lesbian
Lifetime Member
Dec 25, 2016
1,267
5,248
113
Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
Ownership

  1. Talon X

  2. Talon R
Literally JUST figured this out for myself, I tried Synology, WD, Drobo, several Chinese/Korean/Taiwan brands. None worked right kept losing connection, large file transfers would error out, TimeMachine would never completes backup.

Ended up buying a base Mac mini and a USB 3.0 5-bay RAID with (5) 3TB drives, gave me 12TB configured RAID5. It was cheaper than all those options I’d tried over the last month(Thank goodness for Amazon Prime returns!) You can share the drive to the network and it works PERFECTLY every time (MAC and even for lesser Windows machines). I started using it as a server for movies and music to our AppleTVs.

5-Bay Enclosure https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CH94GMK/?tag=sxsweb24-20

Ok, So I just got done upgrading the OS to High Sierra. I was looking at your link and was thinking, Would a thunderbolt one be much quicker?
Or should I stick to the USB 3.0?
Also, What drives do you recommend? The WD Red or Seagate Ironwolf?
 
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Landman

Landman

The Great Bearded One
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Central Arkansas
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USB 3 is limited to 5 GB/s, thunderbolt is 10 GB/s per channel with two channels. Think the trade off is devices with thunderbolt cost more.

I've been using WD Reds from the start. From my initial order, one was defective out the static bag and one 4GB drive started going out about 2 years after use, both replaced by WD with no issues, replacements have been working fine.
 
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my99svt

my99svt

I identify as a lesbian
Lifetime Member
Dec 25, 2016
1,267
5,248
113
Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
Ownership

  1. Talon X

  2. Talon R
USB 3 is limited to 5 GB/s, thunderbolt is 10 GB/s per channel with two channels. Think the trade off is devices with thunderbolt cost more.

I've been using WD Reds from the start. From my initial order, one was defective out the static bag and one 4GB drive started going out about 2 years after use, both replaced by WD with no issues, replacements have been working fine.

I saw that but, that is only the speed to the computer it’s attached to. I’ll be wifi from that computer to my laptops. The speed won’t really matter then right?


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ohanacreek

ohanacreek

My EcoBoost has I4WD
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I saw that but, that is only the speed to the computer it’s attached to. I’ll be wifi from that computer to my laptops. The speed won’t really matter then right?


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Right which is why I saved a few bucks and went USB3

I’m with him use the reds for NAS
 
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my99svt

my99svt

I identify as a lesbian
Lifetime Member
Dec 25, 2016
1,267
5,248
113
Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
Ownership

  1. Talon X

  2. Talon R
Was thinking of software raid available in OS X high Sierra.
But maybe will go with hardware raid. I’m still debating.


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ohanacreek

ohanacreek

My EcoBoost has I4WD
Moderator
Lifetime Member
Jul 25, 2013
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Shelby County, Alabama
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Could do either but I wasn’t confident in getting the raid going again if the mini crapped out.
 
my99svt

my99svt

I identify as a lesbian
Lifetime Member
Dec 25, 2016
1,267
5,248
113
Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
Ownership

  1. Talon X

  2. Talon R
I'm about to pull the trigger on the one you recommended, Last question. Can I install 2 drives now mirrored and then 2 later and make it mirrored striped?
 
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ohanacreek

ohanacreek

My EcoBoost has I4WD
Moderator
Lifetime Member
Jul 25, 2013
11,346
32,050
113
Shelby County, Alabama
Ownership

  1. 1000-5
Yes but you’ll have to format the drives to change the setup when you add drives.
 
ohanacreek

ohanacreek

My EcoBoost has I4WD
Moderator
Lifetime Member
Jul 25, 2013
11,346
32,050
113
Shelby County, Alabama
Ownership

  1. 1000-5
I just bought them all because since it’d be a NAS it’d take days to retransfer the data.
 
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