NAS storage
 

Hi,
We are working on 2 computers at home for our photo & videoproductions.
Until now we always worked on external disks via eSata, but we have so many disks and you can only work on 1 disk on 1 computer.

So my idea is to go for a NAS system so we can store all the files on it and work on it at the same time, but I have no idea what to choose. Drobo ? Lacie ? Iomega ?
Anyone any suggestions ?

I use a NAS system and it works just fine - except that moving video over 1Gb/sec ethernet is time consuming. Functionally OK, just performance challenged.

If there's any natural affinity (ie most of the video work is an computer A and occasionally computer B or photos usually on A but sometimes on B) then it could make sense to put an HDD on each system and let each machine access the other disk as a network share. In this scenario it would make sense to use a striped RAID like a G-tech to get high speed for the videos.

There are a lot of nice higher end solutions (Fiber Channel SAN etc) but they tend to get pricey pretty quick

Stay away from the Drobo as it isn't really a NAS because it must be connected directly to a computer. A NAS is connected to a router or switch. There are other reasons to avoid the Drobo which can be found by searching here.

The best option is iSCSI because the hard drives appear as 'local' drives rather than a network share. Many programs have issues with network shares and iSCSI solves this problem. For example, Premiere Pro and AE don't like network shares but work great with iSCSI.

There are many options for iSCSI from Thecus, Enhance Technology, QNAP, Netgear and others. They differ in price based upon Raid levels offered, # of drives, # of Gigabit ports and speed. Here is a good site for testing NAS/iSCSI: NAS Performance Comparison Charts - 1000 Mbps File Copy Write Performance - SmallNetBuilder

You want at least 2 gigabit ports that support 'Teaming' aka 'Bonding' which combine both ports for greater speed. The technical term is '802.3ad' and also called Link Aggregation. For Bonding to work, there are 2 more requirements: 1) each computer must have 2 identical gigabit ports that support Bonding and 2) you must use a 'Smart' or 'Managed' switch. I use a Netgear Smart switch http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833122381 You can read its review on the site I listed above. If you have 2 PCI Express slots open, then using 2 of these Intel NICs is the best for the money http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833106033