NAS advice?

Having just experienced my first iMac HD failure and all the joy that goes with it, I am now considering for my home network of PC's and Mac's an external storage device by Buffalo with intriguing feature of Web access, allowing files to be shared/accessed by browser from remote locations and it supports iTunes, so this would be nice to get this off iMac's internal HD(as this was the hardest thing to resurrect).
My question is if any iMac users have had experience with Buffalo NAS server and care to comment on the experience?
http://www.buffalotech.com/products/network-storage/linkstation/linkstation-live /

I bought the 500 meg version of this NAS, Itunes ready means you can share out the library "just" like when you share out of itunes... Your NAS shows up as a shared library in itunes on your other devices.
The Web based Media sharing works as advertised, but depending on network congestion the response can be kinda slow (Especially for video which it tries to cache locally), however the interface? It's kinda butt ugly.

Similar Messages

Aperture Library Issues on NAS - Advice Needed

List-
Need some practical advice here. I've got a 90GB Aperture library that resides on a NAS (QNAP 419P II) that is experiencing major issues. Understood that having the library live on a non-HFS+, non-local drive is not advised by Apple, but it's been there for two years with no issues to speak of.
I had a power failure occur that seems to have done some damage to the library in some way. Upon opening the library, I got an error that said that there were inconsistencies with the file and that it needed to be repaired. I repaired it, and noticed something strange. In almost all files, the picture resolution was poor and both the camera and lens information was gone--in addition to the fact that the Adjustments capability was disabled.
I ran the Aperture first aid and ran all three processes--concluding with the full library rebuild. It looked to be successful and resolution, previews, and picture info returned--but halfway through the preview reprocessing the process just stopped and the beach ball of death ensued. I let it run overnight and it never recovered. I had to force quit and now if I reopen the file it say that there are inconsistencies and that the library needs to be repaired, which won't help.
I also tried to move the library off of the NAS an onto the local drive, but encountered an Error - 50 message--something that apparently is well known in the NAS world where Mac permissions get screwy when dealing with non HFS+ drives.
I have a backup of the original library, but it is sitting in a cloud repository (CrashPlan) that will take time and money to restore.
All of the masters are intact in the Aperture directory, and I have very few major adjustments made to any photos. Aperture is really just a repository for me.
So any practical advice would be appreciated as to how I can create a new local Aperture library and get all of the existing photo files there. I am pretty much giving up on the idea of getting the existing NAS-based library to work properly, so this is more of a real-world question on how to create a new library and eliminate whatever issues there are with the other Aperture files. It looks like everything in the Aperture package is in place, but the library itself is just malfunctioning.
I am also considering moving everything into iPhoto as well, as Aperture may simply be more than I need for my usage. If is is faster and a but simpler to manage, that could be the right answer as well.
Thanks in advance for any ideas or guidance.

The problem is most likely with the library itself being located on the NAS.
But you can have a hybrid solution where the library is located on your internal drive while the actual image files are located externally, eg on your NAS. Image files stored within the Apeture library are called "managed" while image files stored externally are called "referenced". Whichever approach you take, the process is the same:
If you try to make a new Library from your masters, you will lose your project structure. The resulting mess will be in accordance to how you created your projects. Basically, if you look at your Masters folder, that's what you'll end up with when you import your masters. If that isn't a problem, the process is simple
Step 1: Prep.
Move or copy your masters out of the library bundle to a folder (to make them more accesible in finder).
Step 2: Create new library.
Within Aperture, from the File menu "Switch to Library -> Other/New..." to create a new Library on your internal drive.
Set the preferences to indicate previews/faces etc. I'd turn these off for now as they will slow you down.
Step 3: Import your images.
Within your new library, File -> Import - Folders as Projects. This gives you a dialog where you specifiy what and where to import.
If you choose "Import folders as: Folders and Projects" you will get a folder structure that matches the Masters folder, with projects at the end of the chain with names like 20120213-200100.
If you choose "Import folders as: Projects and Albums" you will get a single Project called "Masters" with a folder and Album structure that matches the Masters folder.
Neither of these will look particularly great. If you want to avoid this mess, here's what I'd try.
Fix your library again like you did before. After the rebuild, go to the Aperture activity window (SHIFT + CMD + 0) and cancel the preview generation process before it has chance to hang. This should give you a sem-functional library, hopefully functional enough for the next step:
Select all images and use File -> Relocate Original to move your original files out of the library. During this process you can specify that the originals are stored in sub-folders that match the project name, within a parent folder if required.
This gives you a much neater structure for importing into your new library where the projects will get the folder names (which will be your existing project names). It may not be perfect, for example if you have the same project name in different folders and don't/can't segregate them, but it's a lot cleaner than just importing your masters folder.
Andy

Moving to NAS- need advice

Hi all,
I am in the market for a NAS device to store my music, photos and videos. Once I get one (suggestions are welcome), I will need to move the iTunes and home video libraries off the iMac and move my photos off the MBP onto the device and figure out how to allow both machines to access the library files externally on the NAS.
I have 3 questions:
1) iTunes 7 will allow 2 machines to access and add to the same library- correct?
2) Will the network be too slow to effetively access photos and videos? I am using the Airport Extreme...
3) Has anyone else done this successfully and would recommend this strategy? How about equipment?
Thanks in advance!
Mark

I guess I must be on the cutting edge if no one has implemented this solution. Either that or it is not easily done.
Any comments on where I am: cutting edge or off track?

How to Advice/help on setting up Time Machine using 3rd party NAS please

I have a mixed home network with both Macs and PCs. All use a NAS device (Buffalo) to store data. I then back up to another drive which I attach via a USB socket on a PC once a week using Acronis. This is a 24-carat pain. I have another NAS device and would like to use Time Machine to back up (a) The Buffalo (b) The Home Folders on the Macs. Actually I haven't managed anything (a) Time Machine only looks for wireless devices (b) Any documentation I've read suggests Terminal commands which might or might not work, sparse images which I don't understand and the rest... I understood from reading that this can work but I can't see how. Does anyone have a "Painting by numbers" scheme for making this work? TM seems such a clever system it seems a shame to have to resort to a normal back-up program. Thanks for any help!

mouson wrote:
I ... would like to use Time Machine to back up (a) The Buffalo
some NAS(es) can be used as destination for time machine backups, however, time machine will not back up networked drives such as a NAS.
a 3rd party tool like ChronoSync may be able to back up NAS (A) to NAS (B) but i haven't tested this.

Advice TimeCapsule or NAS?

Firstly I really must apologise if this has been answered somewhere before, but I have been trawling these forums and others and keep going round in circles without a definitive answer.
I`ll explain the predicament.
I was(am) mainly a Win-PC user, on that device i have over 400gb of music that I am using Itunes to access.
We have recently purchased an iMac, a Macbook pro and a time capsule.
I would like to be able to access media (itunes library) from the WinPC, MBP and the Imac, and also back it up.
Currently all my media is on an internal drive on my winPc but ideally i want to move this to a networked drive so that all pcs can access them using one or two itunes libraries, and not have to leave the win-pc on....
What I have read from these forums is that using a TC for the itunes media library is a no-no and is better as a backup device only.
OK, so maybe it was a bad purchase, buts thats fine I could use it to back up my media once I decide where to place the media.
The advice I am after....
What would be the optimal solution for the above setup? i.e a media drive such that I can access it from all 3 devices (which are on the same network) for Itunes media.
After the warnings about using a TC, I have started at looking at getting another network drive, which I am happy to do, providing it doesnt make the TC redundant.
Could I then plug that network drive into the TC?
Or should i simply connect that network drive to my router, and then back it up to the TC that way?
Sorry if this isnt explained very well or if its been answered a million times before.
Richard

I can explain a bit but you might really be better in asking in the itunes section of the forum.
itunes is really not a server system.. although everyone sort of talks about itunes as a kind of server.
Sharing a library is really not what apple want you to do.. iTunes is very much wrapped up in security of the source material. They do not want that source material being spread around without payments being made.
Even a single computer with multiple users there are specific instructions.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1203
Apple have a definite method of sharing itunes in the network.
http://www.apple.com/au/support/itunes/library/
Look particularly at the sharing section.
Others try and share the library.
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-57596801-263/how-to-share-itunes-libraries- between-user-accounts-in-os-x/
I think you will find plenty of similar posts if you search.
In the end a computer must be running. Pick the computer that is on most of the time and put the library on external hard disk on that computer.. then you can backup that computer to TC via the normal TM backups or whatever else you use.

Advice please: Time Capsule as backupable NAS solution?

*_The situation:_*
My girlfriend and I each have a laptop that are on a home wireless network. I've got a number of design work files that are currently on FireWire drives because my laptop HD isn't large enough to hold them all. We both use Time Machine to backup our individual systems to separate external hard drives.
I'm typically use my laptop in various rooms around the house so I tend to move around with it a bit. As such, having an external hard drive tethered to it is kind of a drag and I'd love to have some kind of file server that I can access wirelessly which will also be backed up.
*_My plan:_*
Buy a USB 2.0 hard drive for all the work files and attach it to a Time Capsule which I want to backup (1) the USB drive with all the work files (2) my laptop, and (3) the girlfriend's laptop.
*_What I want to know:_*
Is this a good idea? Will it work? Will accessing files from the attached USB drive be horribly slow? Am I risking anything in this approach? Is there a better solution?
Thanks in advance,
B.

You mean when I go into Time Machine on my Mac, that drive won't show up in the drives to include/omit section?
Yes, that is correct.
I guess I'm kind of baffled that the Time Capsule is billed as this great backup device, but can't back up the drive that's connected directly to it.
Yes, I would have to agree to that as well. It would be reasonable to expect that it could, but I guess the design goal was aimed more to making it easier for folks to back up their computers as seamless as possible.
Can you recommend a better solution for what I'm trying to accomplish?
Two that come to mind are solutions based on either Microsoft's Windows Home Server or FreeNAS, but either of these would require additional hardware. Both however support Time Machine backups.

I want a new and more powerful (non-Apple) wireless router but I still want to use my existing Time Capsule to continue with my Time Machine backups and I still need the Time Capsule's Network Attached Storage (NAS) features and capabilities

THE SHORTER STORY
My goal is to successfully use my existing Time Capsule (TC) with a new and more powerful wireless router. I need a new and more powerful wireless router in order to reach a distant Denon a/v receiver that is physically located in a master bedroom some 50 feet away from my modem. I need to provide this Denon a/v receiver with an Internet connection so that it can obtain its firmware updates and I need to connect this Denon a/v receiver to my network in order to use its AirPlay feature. I believe l still need the TC's Network Attached Storage (NAS) features because I am not sure if the new wireless router will provide me with the NAS like features / capabilities I need to share files between my two Apple laptops with OS X 10.8.2. And I know that I absolutely need my TC's seamless integration with Apple's Time Machine (TM) application in order to continue to make effortless backups of my two Apple laptops. To my knowledge nothing works with TM like Apple's TC. I also need the hard disk storage space built into the TC.
I cannot use a long wired Ethernet cable connection in this apartment and I cannot use power-line adapters. I have read that wireless range extenders and repeaters are difficult to successfully set-up and that they will reduce data speeds, especially so when incorrectly set-up. I cannot relocate my modem and/or primary base station wireless router.
In short, I want to use my TC with my new and more powerful wireless router. I need to stop using the TC to connect to the modem. However, I still need the TC for seamless TM backups. I also need to use the TC's built in hard drive for storage. And I may still need the TC's NAS capabilities to share files wirelessly between laptops because I am assuming the new wireless router will not provide NAS capabilities for OS X 10.8.2 (products like this/non-Apple products rarely seem to work with OS X 10.8.2/Macs to provide NAS features and capabilities). Finally, I want to continue to use my Apple laptop and AirPlay to wirelessly access and play my iTunes music collection stored on the TC's hard drive. I also want to continue to use my Apple laptop, AirPlay and Apple TV to wirelessly watch movies and TV shows stored on the additional external hard drive connected to the TC via USB. Can someone please advise on how to set-up my new Asus wireless router with my existing TC in such a way to accomplish all of this?
What is the best configuration or set-up to accomplish my above goals?
Thank you in advance for your assistance!!!
THE FULL STORY
I live in an apartment building where my existing Time Capsule (TC) is located in my living room and serves many purposes. Specially, my TC is at least all of the following:
(1) Wi-Fi router connected to Comcast Internet service via Motorola SB6121 cable modem - currently the TC is the Wi-Fi base station that connects to the modem and has the gateway address to the Internet. The TC now provides the DHCP service for the Wi-Fi network.
(2) Wireless router providing Internet and Wi-Fi network access to several Wi-Fi clients - two Apple laptop computers, an iPod touch, an iPad and an iPhone all connect wirelessly to the Internet via the TC.
(3) Wired Ethernet router providing Internet and Wi-Fi network access to three different devices - a Panasonic TV, LG Blu-Ray player and an Apple TV each use one of the three LAN ports on the back of the TC to gain access to the Internet.
(4) Primary base station in my attempt to extend my wireless network to a distant (located far away) Denon a/v receiver requiring a wired Ethernet connection - In addition to the TC, which is my primary base station, I am also using a second extended Wi-Fi base station (a Netgear branded product) to wirelessly extend my WiFi network to a Denon receiver located in the master bedroom and requiring a wired Ethernet connection. I cannot use a wired Ethernet connection to continuously travel from the living room to the master bedroom. The distance is too great as I cannot effectively hide the Ethernet cable in this apartment.
(5) Time Machine (TM) backup facilitator - I use my TC to wirelessly back-up two Apple laptops using Apple's Time Machine (TM) application. However, I ran out of storage space on my TC and therefore added external storage to it. Specifically, I added an external hard drive to my TC via the USB port on the back of the TC. I now use this added external hard drive connected to the TC via USB as the destination storage drive for my TM back-ups. I have partitioned the added external hard drive, and each of the several partitions all have enough storage space (e.g., each of the two partitions used by TM are sized at three times the hard drive space of each laptop, etc.). Everything works flawlessly.
(6) Network Attached Storage (NAS) - In addition to using the TC's Network Attached Storage (NAS) capabilities to wirelessly back-up two Apple laptops via TM, I also store other additional files on both (A) the hard drive built into the TC and (B) the additional external hard drive connected to the TC via USB (there are additional separate partitions on this drive for these other additional and non-TM backup files).
I use the TC's NAS feature with my Apple laptop and AirPlay to wirelessly access and play my iTunes music collection stored on the TC's hard drive. I also use my Apple laptop, AirPlay and Apple TV to wirelessly watch movies and TV shows stored on the additional external hard drive connected to the TC via USB. Again, everything works wirelessly and flawlessly. (Note: the Apple TV is connected to the network via Ethernet and a LAN port on the back of the TC).
The issue I am having is when I try to listen to music via Apple's AirPlay in the master bedroom. This master bedroom is located at a distance of two rooms away from the TC's current location in the living room, which is a distance of about 50 feet. This apartment has a long rectangular floor plan where each room is connected to the next in a straight line. In order to use AirPlay in the master bedroom I am using a second extended Wi-Fi base station (a Netgear branded product) to wirelessly extend my WiFi network to a Denon receiver located in the master bedroom and requiring a wired Ethernet connection. This additional base station connects wirelessly to the WiFi network provided by my TC and then gives my Denon receiver the wired Ethernet connection it needs to use AirPlay. I have tried moving my iTunes music directly onto my laptop's hard drive, and then I used AirPlay on this same laptop to connect to the Denon receiver. I always get a successful connection and the song plays, but the problem is that the connection inevitably drops.
I live in an apartment building and all of the many wireless routers in this building create a great deal of WiFi interference on both the 2.4 GHz and 5GHz bands. I have tried connecting the Netgear product to each the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands, but neither band can successfully maintain a wireless connection between the TC and the Netgear product. I also attempted to maintain a wireless connection to an iPod touch using the 2.4 GHz band and AirPlay on this iPod touch to play music on the Denon receiver. Again, I was able to establish a connection and successfully play music, but after a few minutes the connection dropped and the music stopped playing. I therefore have concluded that I have a poor wireless connection in the master bedroom. I can establish a connection, but it is intermittent with frequent drops. I have verified this with both laptops by working in the master bedroom for an entire day on both laptops. The Internet connection in this master bedroom proved to drop out frequently - about once an hour with the laptops. The wireless connection and the frequency of its dropout are far worse with the iPod touch and an iPhone.
I cannot relocate the TC. Also, this is an apartment and I therefore cannot extend the range of my network with Ethernet cable (I cannot drill through walls/ceilings, etc.). It is an old building with antiquated wiring and power-line adapters are not likely to function properly, nor can I spare the direct power outlet required with a power-line adapter. I simply need every outlet I can get and cannot afford to block any direct outlet.
My solution is to use a more powerful wireless router. I found the ASUS RT-AC66U Dual-Band Wireless-AC1750 Gigabit Router which will likely provide a better connection to my wireless Internet in the master bedroom than the TC. The 802.11ac band of this Asus wireless router is totally useless to me, but based on what I have read I believe this router will provide a stronger connection at greater distances then my TC. And I will be ready for 802.11ac when it becomes more widely available.
However, I still need to maintain the TC's ability to work seamlessly with TM to backup my two laptops. Also, I doubt the new Asus router will provide OS X 10.8.2 with NAS like features and capabilities. Therefore, I still would like to use the TC's NAS capabilities to share files on my network wirelessly assuming the Asus wireless router fails to provide this feature. I need a new and more powerful wireless router, but I need to maintain the TC's NAS features and seamless integration with TM. Finally, I want to continue to use my Apple laptop and AirPlay to wirelessly access and play my iTunes music collection stored on the TC's hard drive. I also want to continue to use my Apple laptop, AirPlay and Apple TV to wirelessly watch movies and TV shows stored on the additional external hard drive connected to the TC via USB. Can someone advise on how to set-up my existing TC with this new Asus wireless router in such a way to accomplish all of this?
Modem
Motorola SB6121 SURFboard DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem
Existing Wireless Router and Primary Wi-Fi Base Station - Apple Time Capsule
Apple Time Capsule MC343LL/A 1TB Sim DualBand (purchased June 2010, likely the Winter 2009 Model)
Desired New Wireless Router and Primary Wi-Fi Base Station - Non-Apple Asus
ASUS RT-AC66U Dual-Band Wireless-AC1750 Gigabit Router
Extended Wi-Fi Base Station - Provides an Ethernet Connection to a Denon A/V Receiver Two Rooms Away from the Modem
Netgear Universal Dual Band Wireless Internet Adapter for TV & Blu-Ray (WNCE3001)
Addition External Hard Drive Attached to the Existing Apple Time Capsule via USB
WD My Book Studio 4TB Mac External Hard Drive Storage USB 3.0
Existing Laptops on the Wireless Network Requiring Time Machine Backups
MacBook Air (11-inch, Mid 2012) OS X 10.8.2
MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2010) OS X 10.8.2
Other Existing Apple Products (Clients) on the Wireless Network
iPod Touch (second generation) is model A1288.
iPad (1st generation)
Apple TV (3rd generation) - Quantity two (2)

Thanks Bob Timmons.
In regards to a Plan B, I hear ya brother. I am already on what feels like Plan Z. Getting WiFi to a far off room in an apartment building crowded with WiFi routers is a major pain.
I am basing my thoughts on the potential of a new and more powerful router reaching the far off master bedroom based on positive reviews on cnet.com, pcmag.com and pcworld.com. All 3 of these web sites have reviewed the Asus RT-AC66U 802.11AC wireless router as well as its virtual twin cousin 802.11n router. What impressed me is that all 3 sites rated this router #1 overall in terms of both range and speed (in both the 802.11n and 802.11AC flavors). They tested the router in real world scenarios where the router needed to compete with a lot of other wireless routers. One of the sites even buried this Asus router in a media room with thick walls and inside a media cabinet. This Asus router should be able to serve my 2.4 GHz band wireless clients (iPod Touch and iPhone 4) with a 2.4GHz Wireless-N band offering some 50 feet of dependable range and a 60 Mbps throughput at that range. I am hoping that works, but it's borderline for my master bedroom. My 5 GHz wireless clients (laptops) will enjoy a 5GHz Wireless-N band offering 150 feet of range and a 200 Mbps throughput at that range. I have no idea what most of that stuff means, but I did also read that Asus could reach 300 feet and I got really excited. My mileage may vary of course and I'm sure I'm making some mistakes in my interpretation of their data. However, my Winter 2009 Time Capsule was rated by cnet.com to deliver real world performance of less than that, and 802.11AC may or may not be useful to me someday. But when this Asus arrives and provides anything other than an excellent and consistent wireless signal without drops in the master bedroom it's going right back!
Your solution sounds great, but I have some questions. I'm using OS X 10.8.2 and Airport Utility (version 6.1 610.31) and on its third tab labeled "Wireless" the top option enables you to set "Network Mode" to either:
Create a wireless network
Extend a wireless network
Off
Given your advice to "Turn off the wireless on the TC," should I set Network Mode to Off? Sorry, I'm clueless in regards to how to turn off the wireless on the TC any other way. Can you provide specific steps on how to turn off the wireless on the TC? If what I wrote is correct then what should the rest of this Wireless tab look like, or perhaps it is irrelevant when wireless is off?
Next, what do you mean by "Configure the TC in Bridge Mode?" Under Airports Utility's fourth tab labeled "Network" the top option "Router Mode" allows for either:
DHCP and Nat
DHCP Only
Off (Bridge Mode)
Is your advice to Configure the TC in Bridge Mode as simple as setting Router Mode to Off (Bridge Mode)? If yes, then what should the rest of this "Network" tab look like? Anything else involved in configuring the TC in Bridge Mode or is it really as simple as setting the Router Mode to "Off (Bridge Mode)"?
How about the other tabs in Airport Utility, can they all stay as is assuming I use the same network name and password for the new Asus wireless router? Or do I need to make any other changes to the TC via Airport Utility?
Finally, in regards to your Plan B suggestion. I agree. But do you have a Plan B for me? I would greatly appreciate any alternative you could provide. Specifically, if you needed a TC's Internet connection to reach a far off corner of your home how would you do it? In the master bedroom I need both a wired Ethernet connection for the Denon a/v receiver and wireless Internet connection for the iPhone and iPod Touch.
Power-Line Adapters - High Cost, Blocks at Least One Wall Outlet and Does Not Solve the Wireless Need
I actually like exactly one power-line adapter, which is the D-Link DHP-540 PowerLine AV 500 4-Port Gigabit Switch. This D-Link power-line adapter plugs into your wall outlet with a normal sized plug (regular standard power cord much like any other electronic device) instead of all of the other recommended power-line adapters that not only use at least one wall outlet but also often block the second outlet. You cannot use a power strip with a power-line adapter which is very impractical for me. And everything about my home is strange and upside down. The wiring here is a disaster and I don't have faith in its ability to carry Internet access from the living room to the master bedroom. And this D-Link power-line adapter costs $90 each and I need at least two to make the connection to the Denon A/V receiver. So, $180 on this solution and I still don't have a dependable drop free wireless connection in the master bedroom. The Denon might get its Ethernet Internet connection from the power-line adapter, but if I want to use an iPhone 4 or iPod Touch to stream AirPlay music to the Denon wirelessly (Pandora/iTunes, etc.) from the master bedroom the wireless connection will not be stable in there and I've already spent $190 on just the two power-line adapters needed.
Extenders / Repeaters / Wirelessly Extending the Wireless Network
I have also read great things about the Amped Wireless High Power Wireless-N 600mW Gigabit Dual Band Range Extender (Repeater) SR20000G and the My Net Wi-Fi Range Extender. The former is very powerful and the latter is easier to install. Both cost about $150 ish so similar to a new Asus router. However, everything I read about Range Extenders points to them not being very effective for a far off corner of your house wherein it's apparently hard to place the range extender in the sweet spot where it both gets a strong enough signal to actually effectively extend the wireless signal and otherwise does not reduce network throughput speeds to unacceptable speeds.
Creating a Roaming Network By Hard Wiring with Ethernet Cable - Wife Would Say, "**** No!"
Even Apple seems to warn against wirelessly extending your network (see: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4145#) and otherwise strongly recommends a roaming network where Ethernet cable is used to connect two wireless base stations. However, I am in an apartment where stringing together two wireless base stations with Ethernet cable would have an extremely low wife acceptance factor (WAF). I cannot (both contractually and from a skill prospective) hide Ethernet wire in the walls or ceiling. And having visible Ethernet cable running from room-to-room would be unacceptable, especially to the wife.
So what is left? Do you have a Plan B for me? Thanks in advance for your help!

Never owned a Mac, thinking of buying a Mac Pro, could use some advice...

Hey guys,
I know this was a lot to read, but I sincerely hope someone will take the time to answer my questions:
As the title of my post implies I've never owned a Mac in my life. I've always built my own desktops and usually gone to HP or Dell for my laptops. I'm approaching that time again where my custom-built desktop is looking outdated and I'm getting the upgrade itch. I'm looking at all the parts I need to order to build a computer and I can't help but think I'm older now with a full-time job and a one year old daughter in the house. Do I really want to go through the hassle of building a desktop from scratch again? Not really. So I started evaluating things a bit. As I get older I’m really just getting sick and tired of Microsoft’s antics (Vista was a huge disappointment for me) so I decided this could be the year for me to take the Mac plunge.
Now I’m an IT guy, so I have a pretty atypical setup at home. I’m currently running both Windows and Linux on all my computers. Rather than dual boot or use virtualization software I have a pretty intricate system in which I use a product called Acronis Trueimage to experiment with operating systems. What I do is perform a a clean install on an operating system, tweak it as needed for security and to use resources on my LAN than back up the customized OS install to a server a an image file. I have pre-built images for XP, Vista, Ubuntu and OpenSuSE that I can roll out to one of my machines in an average of 15 minutes whenever I get the urge to switch operating systems. I also serve all my data off a NAS box, so since data and OS are kept separate on the network I don’t have to worry about erasing something when I swap between Linux and Windows (as loading an image literally destroys the previous OS install).
So you can see I’m pretty highly specialized. I even have things down to the point to where I have custom images for specific purposes. For instance I have one XP image customized for development, one XP image customized for gaming, etc. Naturally if I got the Mac Pro I’d like to have the freedom to create a similar set of custom OS deployment images (Windows, Linux and OSX) for it as well. In researching the Mac Pro I have some concerns my current system might not work if I go that route. Am I correct in assuming that in order to run an alternative operating system on a Mac I’ll have to run boot camp or something like it? Or upon unboxing my Mac and tweaking Leopard will I be able to use disk imaging software to make a backup image of my preinstalled Leopard hard drive and then do a clean install of Windows XP or Ubuntu and set it up to function like a PC? I guess I’m asking if it’s possible (now that Macs are Intel-based) to run Windows or Linux exclusively on the Mac hardware?
Also I have some concerns about the proprietary nature of the Mac platform. From what I can gather in my research it seems the hardware is pretty locked in. One area that has me really concerned is gaming. I pretty much use Ubuntu exclusively at home for productivity and web surfing. However I still like to load that XP image every now and then to play some games on the LAN with my buddies. I’m not a fan of virtualizing for gaming because of the obvious performance hit you take, so I’d have to be able to run Windows XP free and clear. Also I checked Nvidia’s site and I see no OSX drivers listed there for their cards. Under the Windows platform they are always releasing driver updates to squeeze more game performance out of your card. What if I want to upgrade my video card? How do drivers work on OSX? Does Apple just integrate drivers for just a few specific video cards into the OS? Will I be stuck only able to pick from a handful of video cards approved by Apple?
Thanks in advance to anyone who can offer advice!
Message was edited by: ZeusABJ

Hi Zeus
I may be able to answer some of your questions. And sorry in advance if this sounds like yet another of those "religious conversion" stories
I'm a software developer/architect, mostly doing Microsoft .NET/C#/Web Services coding. I'd been a loyal Microsoft guy since I started on the original IBM PC back in the 80's. Like a lot of people (or so it seems) I just got fed up with Microsoft's high-handed and self-important ways. More importantly, the company always seemed to be lagging behind technically. Looking at beta versions of Vista did not bode well for the future - it just seemed awful. When Vista came out it it was the last straw - I just could not get enthusiastic about this bloated, slow, mess of an operating system. I really hated it. Still do. Even with a top-spec machine, Vista didn't run in the snappy, responsive way it I thought it should. Nothing seemed well thought out.. yuck!
Then, by chance, I was staying for a few days with somebody who had a Mac. Now, for years and years I not even considered Macs as remotely serious machines. My only experience of them was in the late 80's when somebody at work had one. He took delight in pushing a floppy disc into the machine so that it would respond "Ah, it's so big!". Great, just a toy. Not for serious programming work. So, encountering Mac OS X Tiger on my friend's iMac was something of a shock. It was so responsive, clean and elegant. When you turned it on it only took about 30 seconds or so for the thing to be ready for use, etc, etc.
Long story short, I bought an iMac, then a newer, bigger, faster iMac, then a MacBook Pro and now I have a Mac Pro. I still have to work with Windows to do my .NET-related day job. But 95% of the time I work on the Mac using various VMWare virtual machines. I can switch between Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP in a few seconds and still be working in a Mac environment. And the performance of running Windows inside VMWare is even better than on my dedicated top-spec Windows laptop! I have a selection of virtual machines to choose from and, because these virtual machines are just files, I can back them up, revert to saved copies, etc. I've tried Bootcamp but it's much less convenient and performance inside the virtual machines is never an issue (although I don't do any gaming). So, you could keep virtual machines on your NAS box or local Mac hard drive.
With regard to graphics drives, etc. I've never had any problems whatever in this respect. For example, when I installed Windows XP on VMWare it automatically recognised all my hardware (including some obscure audio interfaces, USB-based MIDI interfaces, etc.) and made it available. I must admit that when I was new to the Mac I expected to have driver issues, but never have had... So, my guess is that you'll be able to run all your Windows and Linux distros on the Mac without too many problems.
You mention Apple's hardware as being "locked-in". I don't think that's the case. Certainly the consumer Mac models like the iMac can't be upgraded (by you or me) internally, expect for memory. The Mac Pro though is very easy to upgrade - though there may be some limitations with regard graphics cards.
Re your questions about graphics card drivers. Yes, these come with OS X in just the same as as with Windows. Because I've also used the card that comes "with the box" this has not been an issue for me. However, unless you get a Mac Pro you can't swap-in your existing graphics card. And even then I think you may find restrictions. However, other, more knowledgeable Mac users on this forum may have other thoughts.
Overall though, the experience of using the Mac in terms of software is very much the reverse of Windows - the OS is very open and well documented. It really is an IT person's dream machine - so much to fiddle around with (particularly if you know anything about Unix!). Unlike Microsoft who charge a FORTUNE for their development tools, Apple give them to you for free. And very good they are too!
Finally, one bit of advice. If you are considering buying a new Mac, join the Apple Developer Connection scheme as a Select member. It'll cost you around $400 to join but they give you a hardware discount for Apple-store purchased items that will save you a ton of $$$'s - absolutely definitely worth doing.
Hope this helps (and good luck)!
Russ

Advice appreciated on a MacBook pro HDD issue

Hello,
I've just suffered my first real system problem and even though I have a few ideas for how to fix it I thought I'd post here and ask for some advice to see what you guys think.
First the problem... Basically my MacBook Pro's HDD has an issue and won't boot. I don't think it's a physical problem with the hardware (although I'm open to advice on this too), I think it just needs a reformat and fresh install of the OS. But obviously I need to get my files off of there first and this is the problem, but read on for more details.
So that's the problem in a nutshell, but here's the full detail.
It's a MacBook Pro, late 2011, 17", 750GB HDD, 8GB RAM, bought in Miami September 2011 while I was on holiday there (I live in the UK), came with Snow Leopard installed, was upgraded to Lion a few days after purchase and then upgraded to Mountain Lion about a month ago.
Last week I was using it when it suddenly restarted itself. I let it restart, then began using it again and about five minutes later it restarted again, but this time it didn't boot properly.
It stayed on the grey screen with the apple logo and spinning clock-type wheel. There was a progress bar at the bottom of the screen, it took ages to move, then finally got to about 33% and the machine restarted itself again.
I tried lots of restarts but every time it did the same thing or it never even showed the progress bar, and just had the spinning clockwheel forever.
So I held down alt and booted from Mountain Lion's recovery partition instead. I launched Disk Utility and tried to verify / repair the drive but it came back with errors and said that it couldn't fix them. Apologies, I realise typing this that anyone reading would probably quite like to read the error long but I can't remember it and I'm not currently at home. If needed I'll run it again and post.
Anyway, the basic point is that Disk Utility is giving a message saying to copy all my files off the drive and reformat because it can't fix it. Incidentally the SMART status of the drive is fine / normal. Not showing any problems there, which is why I'm hopeful it's not a hadware issue.
So I need to copy my files off, and this is the real reason I'm posting this thread, because I don't mind doing a reformat / fresh install of Mountain Lion, but my last backup is a couple of months old (I know, naughty me) so while it wouldn't be the end of the world to copy files back from that, I would lose a bit of data so would like to get them off the MBP's HDD now.
At this point, let me list the kit I have at my disposal:
- At home I have the aforementioned patient (MacBook Pro), a 2TB external HDD with USB2 / FireWire 800 and a NAS box that sits on my network. I also have one of those cables that lets you connect an internal HDD via USB (more on this later, as I suspect it's going to be my best hope).
- At work I have a Windows 7 PC which I do not have any admin rights to, A Windows XP PC that I do have admin rights to and an iMac that is running Leopard (10.5.8) and cannot be upgraded due to various boring work reasons I won't go into here.
So the first thing I tried was booting into the recovery partition, launching Disk Utility and trying to clone the HDD over to the external 2TB drive I have. Cloning the drive like-for-like gives an error message (again apologies, I can't remember it) and trying to copy to an image file on the external drive gets all the way to the end (takes ages because Disk Utility keeps going to sleep) but then when I try to mount the image it gives an error and fails, so I don't trust this method.
So booting to recovery and using Disk Utility seems to be no good.
I thought about trying to take the MBP to work and launching it in target disk mode, then copying files, however I read that you can only have one FireWire device (the target computer) connected when doing this and my iMac at work doesn't have enough internal HDD space to copy all my MBP's files off, so I would need to have an external drive connected to the iMac in addition to the MBP, which sounds like it's not a good idea, or not supported by Apple anyway.
I thought about making a bootable Mountain Lion USB stick as I have a 16GB USB stick I could use for this, however I don't know how to make the bootable USB using my iMac as it's on Leopard (can't be upgraded for work reasons) and doesn't even have the Mac App store on it for me to re-download the Mountain Lion install file.
I think I have the Snow Leopard DVD that came with my MBP so could probably boot off this, but does that allow me into Finder or anything that would let me copy docs from my internal HDD properly over to the external drive? Or is it just going to look similar to the Mountain Lion recovery partition, with Disk Utility and a few other options?
I don't know whether the Mountain Lion recovery partition lets me install Mountain Lion onto my external drive? Or a USB? I was a bit scared to start clicking through options to see whether it would ask me which drive I wanted to install to, just in case it doesn't and begins erasing the main HDD as one of the first things it does.
So this leaves the cable that allows me to connect internal drives via USB. This cable has saved my bacon in the past and I suspect it may be my best option once more. Obviously this means I'm going to have to open up the MBP and remove the HDD but I installed the extra RAM myself and I've installed full-size (3.5") HDDs in the past so I should be able to handle that, unless there's anything radically different with 2.5" drives I'm not aware of.
I've heard people mention DiskWarrior in the past but to be honest if I'm going to spend that sort of money I'd prefer to just put it towards an new, larger HDD, probably a 2TB model.
So there we are, thanks for reading this far. If you have any advice about another (or better) way to get my files off the MBP I'm all ears.
I've never actually done a fresh install of Mac OS before either, only upgrades downloaded from the Mac App Store so any advice around that might be handy too, but mainly it's the file copying I want help with as I'll probably just boot from the recovery partition to reformat and reinstall Mountain Lion.
Thanks

Yes, on your profile.. But, did you phone update just before this happened?
I want you to view this image on both your phone and computer: Fiery Sunrise | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
If it looks different, it is not your images, but rather your iPhone....
Benjamin

Accessing Storage from another network - NAS?

Ok. Noob question here. My friend and I run a small design business. Luckily, business is good and our client list is growing out of control. We have a lot of big photoshop files, 3D models, etc. for hundreds of clients. Since most of the people who work for us work remotely (like in other states even) dropbox has been a huge help for collaborating and sharing files. But now, we are out of space.
Down to the point. We are looking for a way to access external hard drive space from any network. I don't know anything about NAS, but we do have an old G4 tower that we could utilize. I've looked into a product called pogoplug biz and that seems good except that you have to go through the web service to get files remotely. We'd like to be able to access those drives via finder when on a different network.
heres a breakdown of what we need.
Remote access (different networks)
multiple users
secure access (password, login)
2TB + storage
secure backup
If anyone has any advice - even if its just pointing me to an article of how to get started it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

What type of internet connection do you have?
If it is not business class (ie, dynamic cable modem) look into dynamic dns, and a router that supports it.
You can then set up an FTP share on your G4. System Preferences >Sharing>File Sharing>options
You should then setup the G4 with a static IP locally, and have the router forward FTP requests to it via port trigger/port forwarding. Using a non-standard port is advisable for FTP.
You should then be able to access the share using ⌘-K, type in ftp://yourshares_ipaddress:portnumber and it should mount as a disk.
Good luck!

How can i monitor network traffic to debug video playback issues from a NAS?

I am having problems playing videos on my new Mini that i am using as an HTPC.
I have a brand new Mac Mini running Lion with a 2.7 i7 processor and 8GB of RAM with a wired connection to a switch. .
My switch is a NETGEAR ProSafe GS108T-200NAS set to default settings. I haven't had a chance to start messing with VLAN settings or anything else. There is a bit of a learning curve on my part on this end.
My NAS is a ReadyNAS Pro (RNDP6000) with 3 x 1 TB hitachi ultrastar (HUA722010CLA330) drives and a 1.5 TB seagate (ST31500341AS) drive setup in RAID config using X-RAID2.
The problem I am having is video playback when accessing large video files off of the NAS. These are typically 1080 HD mkv files.
I have tested movies as small as 7.5GB with only slight stutters on occasion. I tried a 10.5GB movie and the stalling was much more pronounced. Movies larger than 11GB are completely unwatchable stalling every minute or so.
I have also tried large movies on the local drive and that is not a problem at all - they play back just fine. Beautiful playback in hidef. Mind you, some of these are the same files that were stalling over the network.
I have also noticed that some other network devices get kicked off the network when a movie is playing.
I think it has something to do with the transfer speed of files over the network and the switch - i am no expert at this mind you.
I am wondering if there is some sort of utility that i can use to monitor network activity on the mini so that i can fix my problem. Or has anyone made chages in their switch settings to optimize data trasfer speeds.
Any advice or recommendations on.
Thank you all!

OK, I did a couple of things and ran things a couple of times.
First what I did settings wise:
I enabled jumbo frames on the Mac Mini, ReadyNAS Pro, and the Netgear GS108T switch. All with MTU set to 9000.
I went ahead and enabled jumbo frames on the rest of the computers on the network just in case.
After these changes I ran into the same problems with videos timing out - very annoying and frustrating as you can imagine.
Then I started playing with device configurations. My original configuration was NAS > Netgear switch > Mac Mini. I went ahead and switched the switch to an Airport Extreme I have as my WAP and the setup looked like this - NAS > Airport Extreme > Mac Mini.
Well, long story short, no go. It appears to me that the NAS is the one having issues providing the necessary data at the proper speed. I also tried playing sopme movies off of the NAS onto a desktop i have and had the same issues - choppy frames and crashing movies. I even tried connecting wirelessly to see if that would work.
BTW, I have the Mac accessing the file system using CIFS.
I don't know what else I could do.
I am going to have to go to the Netgear forums to see if i can figure this out. Hopefully, I can get things going to be able to help some people out.
If anyone has any ideas, they would be greatly appreciated.
My only other alternative is spending $2000 for the thunderbolt capable NAS that Apple sells - it's only money!
Cesar

Frustration of connecting a NAS to macbook pro

Hello friends, I have been having hard time trying to directly connect my newly purchased ds111 to my macbook pro via ethernet cable. It needs to be connected directly rather than going through router as the route is currently at another room. Basically, I have set a static ip for my ds111 at 192.168.1.50 with the subnet 255.255.255. and a static ip for my macbook pro at 192.168.1.51 with the same subnet, 255.255.255.0. I have luck connecting my ds111 to my macbook pro but whenever that happened, i will not be able to connect to internet and vice-versa. It has been getting really frustrating! Would really appreciate it if someone could offer some advice on the setup, thanks!

Does the Airport give you the same IP scheme as you are using for the NAS? In other words, does it start with a 192.168.1.x range with a 255.255.255.0 subnet? If so, you will need to change one or the other. If you changed the NAS to 192.168.0.32 and your Ethernet to 192.168.0.40, for example, with a subnet of 255.255.255.0, you may be able to get everything to work. If it still does not seem to want to work, you could give yourself and the NAS an IP within the 169 range. What this does is that your computer KNOWS that is not an internet routable path, so it should not go in that direction. You could assign your Ethernet port to 169.254.145.112 and give the NAS 169.254.145.118 with a subnet of 255.255.255.0. That should work.

Need advice on on a Mac Pro 1,1 Media Center

I currently have a 2009 Mac Mini running as my home media center, but I recently came by a FREE Mac Pro 1,1 and have decided to repurpose it as my media center so I can migrate my Mac Mini to my bedroom TV where it will live an easy life doing nothing but run Plex Home Theater, Netflix, and EyeTV. This machine falling into my lap was also quite timely because my 4-bay Drobo is running low on available expansion and another Drobo isn't in the budget at the moment.
This vintage mac pro is running Lion 10.7.5, has 1 old and crusty 500GB hardrive, dual x5160 processors, 4GB RAM (one stick i'm pretty sure is toast judging by the red light and the kernel panics), and the standard NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT 256MB graphics card. It will be used primarily for the following: network storage for iphoto and itunes libraries, streaming video, Plex Media Server & Plex Home Theater, and Handbrake encoding. I also have a goal of safety of data for my movies, photos and music as this machine will supplement my current Drobo storage.
My plans are for a 128GB SSD boot drive installed in one of the PCIe slots and then to load up all 4 of the 3.5" drive bays with WD Green hard drives. I have also ordered 4GB of replacement RAM, so upon removal of the faulty unit I will have 7GB.
Here is where I need advice because I am not very familiar with RAID and the differences between hardware or software raid. Am I better off getting four drives of the same size and setting them up as RAID 5 (I think) using Apple's RAID utility or should I throw in three 1TB drives and then install a fourth 3TB or 4TB drive as a Time Machine backup for the other three?
Should I upgrade the OSX to the technically unsupported latest version? Or is it not worth the trouble for this application?
Also, is there any benefit to upgrading the graphics card to the ATI Radeon 5770? Would this yield an improved image quality? I am outputting to a Denon AV Reciever and subsequently to a 100" projection screen, if that makes a difference. I also noticed the 5770 has an HDMI port, wich would be nice, but not necessary since I can use a DVI converter and woud still need to use the optical audio out anyway.
Much obliged for any input

My plans are for a 128GB SSD boot drive installed in one of the PCIe slots and then to load up all 4 of the 3.5" drive bays with WD Green hard drives. I have also ordered 4GB of replacement RAM, so upon removal of the faulty unit I will have 7GB.
PCIe cards that use or support SSD are not bootable until you get to 2008 (and that is limited too).
Green are not suited for any form of array unless say NAS and WD RED. Better option would be 3 x 2TB WD Blacks in a mirror, and too many people only use two drives, well 3 is much easier safer and works better. Might want to invest in www.SoftRAID.com product even.
Best price and quality, got my 1,1 with 8 x 2GB (ideal is 4 or 8 DIMMs)
2x2GB FBDIMM DDR2 667MHz @ $25
http://www.amazon.com/BUFFERED-PC2-5300-FB-DIMM-APPLE-Memory/dp/B002ORUUAC/
With price of 250GB SSD $155 I'd go with that or stick with $89 for 128GB .

How to consolidate iTunes from MAC & PC on to a NAS box?

=== Background ===
I've got 2 MACs & 2 PCs (WinXP) and I want to get the iTunes data consolidated to the network.
I've got iTunes data (including purchased songs) on both MACs and 1 PC.
MACs have iTunes 8.02. PC has iTunes 7.4.3.1 (but I can upgrade if that helps).
All purchased songs have DRM and were bought using the same Apple ID.
All the machines are on the same 10/100 network.
I have a NAS box (BuffaloTech) that can be viewed from each machine.
=== Challenge ===
I'd like to move all the iTunes content to the NAS box so that:
- all songs/playlists, etc are in 1 place
- I can use iTunes on any machine MAC/PC to see/play the same libraries
- I can use iTunes from any machine to buy/add more songs to the libraries
=== Questions ===
How hard is all this?
Does the answer get more complex if some of the MACs have multiple accounts?
I'd like each account to be able to see all the songs.
I've read about moving iTunes to an external drive. I figure I can use the same process
to move iTunes from one machine to the NAS. I wasn't able to see much about merger the other iTunes libraries in with the first. Should I do this through my iPhone/USB rather than through the network 10/100?
Once I have the iTunes setup/consolidated on the NAS, how to I get the iTunes on each machine
to use the data on the NAS. Will I run into issues (e.g. file locking) when more than one machine uses the iTunes database at the same time?
What should I watch out for?
Any recommendations regarding this sort of configuration?
Thanks for any advice,
-Dave

Hey u2sweetestallie,
Thanks for the question and detailed information. If your backup drive (in your example, drive A) included the iTunes Library files, you can open the library by following these steps:
iTunes: How to open an alternate iTunes Library file or create a new one
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1589
If the hard drive did not include the iTunes Library files, but instead just the music, you may wish to re-link or re-import the music:
iTunes 11 for Mac: Import music and video already on your computer
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH12285
iTunes: Finding lost media and downloads
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1408
Thanks,
Matt M.

Seeking advice regarding networked attached drive

I am considering two options to share our family's EyeTV library, 1080i home videos, photos, and iTunes music over our home network of several Macs. We have one G4 Mac Mini running OS 10.4.8 (the last OS that runs Classic), but only OS 10.6.x / 10.7.x (when avail) systems will use the networked drive. I will NOT put Time Machine on the networked drive using option #1, but I might consider TM on a NAS:
(1) AEBS with an OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro single HD enclosure + 2 or 3 GB HD.
(2) Synology NAS, such as DS411slim or DS410 with four drives in Synology Hybrid RAID. (Synology claims to have full Time Machine compatibility; Synology owners seem to agree.)
I have done lots of reading on both options and I am aware that risks/problems exist with each approach. Option #2 will probably be about twice as expensive as #1, but it will offer much greater capacity and peace-of-mind RAID redundancy. Our home is hard-wired, and I do not plan on using WIFI often.
Future-proofing is about guesswork and hearing what people have to say. I welcome the Forum's recommendations, and any other ideas people have.

MacHound wrote:
Yes, I hear you re: Time Machine. I actually do most of my backing up with SuperDuper because of all the TM issues. But there's something to be said for redundancy, and hourly backups do add redundancy beyond bootable backups.
Regarding the main question of (1) versus (2), do you have any advice?
Backing-up via an Airport Extreme is still "iffy" and +*not supported by Apple.+* See [Using Time Machine with an Airport Extreme Air Disk|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Airport.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum). Nobody knows what may be coming, but there's no indication it will be.
A third option, which I didn't mention, is to stick to local drives only, then do wake-on-LAN when I need HD contents on another Mac. That's probably the simplest and cheapest solution.
Yes, that's the simplest and most reliable, as in the last paragraph of my previous post. See #22 in [Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum) for setup instructions to back up laptop Macs.

NAS advice?

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