I am seriously considering purchasing a ReadyNas NV+ network backup system to hook up to my cable network router. What would be the advantages and disadvantages of using a NAS vs a non-nas system? What would be the best ReadyNas configuration? Does Netgear have the best - bang-for-the-buck Nas systems?
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Couple of comments. First, I've owned the ReadyNAS NV+ for a year now. It has run continually with 4 Seagate 500 Gb drives in it in a RAID 5 configuration. It has never failed. I've upgraded the software several times over the web and from that perspective it has been problem free.
It has 1.5 TB of usable space. I keep RAW images on it and currently there are about 60,000 RAW files from a variety of cameras on this as well as some backups from other machines on the network.
I intend on keeping the box and likely this fall will upgrade the drive sizes on it to 4 1 TB drives (likely Seagate but you have to check the hardware compatibility list). What I have found is that using it (even on a gigabit network) is too slow for useful work on many large images in LR and PS. So I've changed my workflow slightly.
What I do now is to keep a 1st copy of all my image files (mostly RAW) on a local HD. I also have my LR catalog local and this allows rapid access to data. Each night I use SynBack to synchronize my local directories to the REadyNAS and so I have a backup of all my files (and catalogs) on the network server that is also available for others on the network to use. This works seamlessly.
Once a week I also mirror the ReadyNAS directory to an external eSATA 1 TB drive for a 3rd copy of my images and working directory structure.
All in all, I like the system and am happy with the purchase. I wish it were faster and would actually love a system that could be accessed by both eSATA and ethernet. Small issue.
