What is the best? NAS or SAN??

Hi all,
What do you think is the best NAS or SAN??
Regards,
Paulo Portugal.

Effectively ... most of the configurations I've seen boil down to:
- SAN provides LVMs on a closed network loop (using fibre)
- NAS provides file system on an open network loop (using GB ethernet)
Documentation on the differences and similarities is available from SAN and NAS vendors ... look at EMC site for SAN and NetApp (Network Applicance) for NAS.
Personal preference is NAS for SME and workgroup RAC, and SAN for MLE (medium to large enterprise which can afford trained storage professionals)

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What's the best storage solution for a large iLife? RAID? NAS?

I'm looking for an affordable RAID storage solution for my Time Machine, iTunes Library, iMovie videos, and iPhoto Library. To this point I've been doing a hodgepodge of external hard drives without the saftey of redundancy and I've finaly been bitten with HD failures. So I'm trying to determine what would be the best recommendation for my scenario. Small Home Office for my wife's business (just her), and me with all our media. I currentlty have a mid-2010 Mac Mini (no Thunderbolt), she has an aging 2007 iMac and 2006 MacBook Pro (funny that they're all about the same benchmark speed). We have an AppleTV (original), iPad2 and two iPhone 4S's.
1st Question: Is it better to get a RAID and connect it to my Airport Extreme Base Station USB port as a shared disk? OR to connect it directly to my Mac Mini and share through Home Sharing? OR Should I go with a NAS RAID?
2nd Question: Simple is Better. Should I go with a Mac Mini Server and connect drives to it? (convert my Mac Mini into a server) or Should I just get one of those nice all-in-one 4-bay RAID drive solutions that I can expand with?
Requirements:
1. Expandable and Upgradeable. I don't want something limited to 2TB drives, but as drives get bigger and cheaper I want to easily throw one in w/o concerns.
2. Simple integration with Time Machine and my iLife: iTunes, iMovie, iPhoto. If iTune's Home Sharing feature is currently the best way of using my media across multiple devices then why mess with it? I see "DLNA certified" storage on some devices and wonder if that would just add another layer of complexity I don't need. One more piece to make compatible.
3. Inexpensive. I totally believe in the "You Get What You Pay For" concept. But I also realize sometimes I'm buying marketing, not product. I imagine that to start, I'm going to want a diskless system (because of $$$) to throw all my drives into, and then upgrade bigger drives as my data and funds grow.
4. Security. I don't know if its practical, but I like the idea of being able to pop two drives out and put them in my safe and then pop them back in once a week for the backup/mirroring. I like this idea because I'm concerned that onsite backup is not always the safest. Unfortunately those cloud based services aren't designed for Terabytes of raw family video, or an entire media library that isn't wholey from the iTunes Store. I can't be the only one facing this challenge. Surely there's an affordable way to keep a safe backup for the average Joe. But what is it?
5. Not WD. I've had bad experiences with Western Digital drives, and I loathe their consumer packaged backup software that comes preloaded on their external drives. They are what I meant when I say you get what you pay for. Prettily packed garbage.
6. Relatively Fast. I have put all my media on an external drive before (back when it fit on one drive) and there's noticeable spool-up hang time. Thunderbolt's nice and all, but so new that its not easily available across devices, nor is it cheap. eSata is not really an option. I love Firewire but I'm getting the feeling that Apple has made it the red-headed step-child of connections. USB 3.0 looks decent, but like eSata, Apple doesn't recognize it exists. Where does that leave us? Considering this dilemma I really liked Seagate's GoFlex external drives because it meant I could always buy a new base and still be compatible. But that only works with single drives. And as impressive as Seagate is, we can't expect them to consistently double drive sizes every two years like they have been -cool as that may be.
So help me out without getting too technical. What's the best setup? Is it Drobo? Thecus? ReadyNAS? Seagate's BlackArmor? Or something else entirely?
All comments are appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I am currently using WD 2TB Thunderbolt hard drive for my iTunes, which i love and is works great. i am connected directly to my Mac Book Pro. I am running low on Memory and thinking of buying a bigger Hard drive. My question is should I buy 6TB thunderbolt HD or 6TB NAS drive to work solely for iTunes. I have home sharing enabled for my Apple TV
I also have my time capsule connected just as back up only.

Using the new iPad, what's the best way to watch video files (away from home) which are stored on a NAS (WD My Book Live)? Any help would be appreciated!

Using the new iPad, what’s the best way to watch video files (away from home) which are stored on a NAS (WD My Book Live)? Any help would be appreciated!

Before you go, move the files to I tunes and sync them down. There is no viable way to stream from your nas drive to the pad.

What is the best NAC appliance mode to deploy if I have 1 NAS and 1 NAM ?

Hi folks,
I am planning to implement NAC at my customer site, I have only one NAM and one NAS, the customer has WLC, IP Telephony, campus users and VPN customers.
what is the best mode that can fit implementing the above four areas ? is it possible that one mode can serve all of them ?
I have understood that implementing posture assessment for VPN customers means that I should go for OOB+L3
if I want to implement the posture assessment for the campus users then it is recommended to go for OOB+VG since the subnet of the authentication vlan and the trusted VLAN will not change.
If I want to assess the WLC users then I have to go for IB mode , but if I go for inband mode then I will create bottle neck in my customer's network.
should I tell my customer that he needs to buy another NAS to be dedicated as IB for the WLC users ?
I am confused and I need your advise.
Best regards,
Conceptzone

Sorry for the mistake, it should be (I have understood that implementing posture assessment for VPN customers means that I should go for IB)

What is the best way to have access from two separate computers on a network to a large group of data files and be able to modify the dat from each system?

Have three systems: MacBook Air, iMac 27, running current software and an older iMac 24 running earlier version of OS-X. All connected using Airport through a Linksys router. Have a large number of folders (2800 equal to 1.5 TB) and need to be able to update from both MB Air and the 27 as well as have some sort of at least weekly backup. What is the best approach to accomplishing this? This is a small home network used to store audio books for the blind.

I would recommend a proper NAS.. Synology or QNAP are top brands.
OR, getting another lightweight computer as a server. eg newest Mac Mini or second hand one with large storage, USB3 or thunderbolt.
Apple routers could be pressed into service but are not designed for this task.. they will be slow, and without ability to backup.

What's the best overall solution for managing books and eBooks?

I have a lot of eBooks (in .mobi and PDF format). I'd like to find a solution (software/system/scheme) such that
1) The actual content syncs to several devices (Mac, iPad, iPhone) and can be read even when network is not present.
2) There is a searchable, convenient database of what books are there.
3) The database can be added to by barcode scanning the ISBN tag
4) Some entries in the database are linked to full content. That is, I'd enter books that I have in electronic format, but also books from my library that exist only in paper form.
I'm looking for a total solution to manage all my books - list them all, plus enable ready access to the content for the ones I have. I'd like to have it sync to several devices. What's the best system - anyone have it set up like this? What's the best reader, database app, and way to hang it all together (with iTunes?). Thanks in advance,
Mike

I am currently using WD 2TB Thunderbolt hard drive for my iTunes, which i love and is works great. i am connected directly to my Mac Book Pro. I am running low on Memory and thinking of buying a bigger Hard drive. My question is should I buy 6TB thunderbolt HD or 6TB NAS drive to work solely for iTunes. I have home sharing enabled for my Apple TV
I also have my time capsule connected just as back up only.

What's the best way to import ALL of my photos (34k +) and then share?

*Part I - importing:*
I've got approximately 34,400 photos on a networked drive that I need to be able to control using iPhoto. I want these files to stay on the network drive, but also be controlled by iPhoto (organized by date). Right now our photos folder on the network drive is a bit of a mess, some folders are named by date only and some are named by the event itself ("birthday 2009", etc.). I want this naming to go away in place of the iPhoto method (by date only). FYI, I am familiar with how to get to the "original" and "modified" folders/files within the iPhoto Library.
Question: Is there a way to get iPhoto to organize the photos (all by date) an leave the original photos on the networked drive? or do I need to:
> Import ALL photos into my iPhoto with the "import photos into iPhoto Library" option checked (iPhoto copies all original files to my laptop hard drive)
> Then manually move the file structure (all new folders created - by date) back to my networked drive
> THEN...remove all photos from the iPhoto Library and re-import the newly organized photos from the network drive but unchecking the "import photos into iPhoto Library" option.
Right now, both of our MacBook Pro's use iPhoto to access those photos independently of one another (each laptop does their own thing). This also creates problems because when files are imported on my laptop they are saved locally (on my laptop) and not on the network drive, same goes for my wife's laptop. Then she's not able to see those new photos.
*Part II - sharing:*
I'm also in the process of trying to figure out the best way to share all of our photos between our different laptops. Using the "sharing" function in iPhoto isn't ideal since that requires both laptops to be on.
My understanding of sharing the iPhoto library itself (having it saved on the networked drive) between two laptops is that only one laptop can access this library at a time, or there's potential of having the files become corrupt (two laptops trying to access the file at the same time).
Question: What's the best way to share photos between two laptops?
Thanks in advance

RONBO
Is there a way to get iPhoto to organize the photos (all by date) an leave the original photos on the networked drive?
Yes there is. But I don't recommend it as a way of working with iPhoto.
Simply go to iPhoto Menu -> Preferences -> Advanced and uncheck 'Copy Files to the iPhoto Library on Import'.
Now iPhoto will not copy the files, but rather simply reference them on your HD. To do this it will create an alias in the Originals Folder that points to your file. It will still create a thumbnail and, if you modify the pics, a Modified version within the iPhoto Library Folder.
However, you need to be aware of a number of potential pitfalls using this system.
1. Import and deleting pics are more complex procedures
2. You cannot move or rename the files on your system or iPhoto will lose track of them on systems prior to 10.5 and iPhoto 08. Even with the later versions issues can still arise if you move the referenced files to new volumes or between volumes.
3. Most importantly, migrating to a new disk or computer can be much more complex.
The problems arise when you change the path to the Files. iPhoto has no way of reconnecting that path and you could find yourself resolving aliases one at a time for all 34k Photos.
Other apps, such as Aperture have a command to re-connect with the master files.
FYI, I am familiar with how to get to the "original" and "modified" folders/files within the iPhoto Library.
Good for you but never, ever access the files this way. Period. Within the iPhoto Package File there are no user sercviceable parts.
All your work gets done in the iPhoto Window. Everything you need to do can be done from there - and must be.
Then manually move the file structure (all new folders created - by date) back to my networked drive
Never, ever break up the internals of the iPhoto Package File. You'll break iPhoto if you do.
Also, what format is that Networked Drive? iPhoto needs to have the Library sitting on disk formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Users with the Library sitting on disks otherwise formatted regularly report issues including, but not limited to, importing, saving edits and sharing the photos.
Question: What's the best way to share photos between two laptops?
If simultaneous sharing is your goal then you need to use a Media Server app. iPhoto isn't one.
The key really is the format of the NAS. IF you can make it Mac OS Extended (Journaled) then you can easily store your Library on it and share it. Otherwise you need to use another application for the job.
Regards
TD

What is the best method of backing up my digital files (catalog) in the Photoshop Elements Organizer

What is the best method or service for backing up my digital files (catalog) in the Organizer from Photoshop Elements 12. Since there no longer is the automatic Elements sync available I do not know what to choose. I have tried to back this up using my external drive, but I cannot find the digital images per se. I see the entire program but not the catalog of pictures. Also, I have a windows operating system and Adobe Revel offers no edit capabilities with this OS.

I'm in a similar situation including movies I've purchased from iTunes...
Here's my setup:
I have all my iTunes data (music, movies, etc.) as well as about 10 GB of photos stored on a nework storage device that uses RAID-5 with SATA disks. This is basically a little toaster-sized NAS machine with four hard drives in it (www.infrant.com). If one of these drives dies, I get alerted and can insert a new one without missing a beat since the data is stored redundantly across all drives. I can also just yank out any one of the four drives while the thing is running and my data is still safe (I tried this after I bought it as a test).
That's how I prevent problems with a single disk... Redundancy
Now onto "backups"...
Nightly, my little RAID toaster automatically backs itself up to an attached 250GB USB drive. However, these backups are only of my critical data... documents, photos and home movies... I don't bother backing up my "Hollywood" movies since I can live without them in a disaster.
... I actually don't permanently store anything I care about on a laptop or a desktop. It all goes on the NAS box (Network Sttached Storage) and then my other computers use it as a network drive. It's attached via Gigbait to my main computer and via wireless to most everything else.
My achilles heel is that I don't store anything outside of my house yet. If I was smart, I'd alternate two USB drives attached to my NAS box and always keep one of them somewhere else (Safe Deposit Box?).
...and that's just one way to do it.
-Brian

What is the best way I should restore or start over after a complete meltdown and loss of files?

In May I moved all of my itunes content (movies, music, podcasts, app, books) to a networked attached storage device. Long story short, recently I had problems with some content missing/being deleted. Lacie, the hard drive mfg, told me the public share had become corrupted and I needed to delete it and start over. Last night I appeared to have had a complete meltdown with the loss of most of my files, over 500gb of stuff.
Luckily it's backed up (but one backup is now about 2 weeks old) and it's going to take about 2 days to restore. I have it restoring to my desktop folder on my imac. I'm concerned about all of the itunes library folders and stuff that are out there. I'd ultimately like to get it restored back to the external hard drive.
What is the best method? I'm restoring just the content, not the various library files. Should I uninstall Itunes and re-install it to try to start fresh, or just re-add the content?
I've already wasted a lot of time on this and I'm just looking to avoid more problems. Any suggestions?
Thanks.

Anyone help with this?
I am restoring over 500gb to my local drive after a NAS was corrupted. I'm very hesitant about putting stuff back out on the network drive again so i guess I may keep it on my local hard drive. Currently, when I open itunes it has all of my old files remembered (just with exclamation points) and my playlists. I'd love to keep that intact but point itunes to the correct files in a new location.
Is it as simple as going to preferences and changing the location of the itunes folder once I have it in place?

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I want to protect my PDFs from people editing them and publishing them under their names, but I also want search engines to be able to scan it properly for SEO purposes. What's the best security settings to use for the PDF to accomplish both?
Thanks

I am currently using WD 2TB Thunderbolt hard drive for my iTunes, which i love and is works great. i am connected directly to my Mac Book Pro. I am running low on Memory and thinking of buying a bigger Hard drive. My question is should I buy 6TB thunderbolt HD or 6TB NAS drive to work solely for iTunes. I have home sharing enabled for my Apple TV
I also have my time capsule connected just as back up only.

I was told that it takes about 10 years to outdate a MAC desktop, which I think is the case, but I have ran out of storage. What is the best option?

I was told that it takes about 10 years to outdate a MAC desktop, which I think is the case, but I have ran out of storage. What is the best option?

There is no one best for everyong.
For most though: a dedicated boot drive. $105 Samsung 840 SSD is best in that category
WD Black in 1 to 4TB (1-4 drives) for up to 16TB of storage.
Sonnet Tempo Pro PCIe SSD card to boot from and boost SSD speed, as well as free up your drive bays for the other drives.
2-4 backup sets. One or two used for TimeMachine. Two or three clones of your system. Even clone your critical data.
And then there is external storage of unlimited size, capacity and expansion.
Upgrade your system drive every year or two and move the current drive to use as a backup set.
SSD: Samsung 840 128GB
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Series-120GB-internal-MZ-7TD120BW/dp/B009NHAF06/
SSD Maintenance
Icy Dock $15
http://www.amazon.com/2-5-3-5-Ssd-sata-Convert/dp/B002Z2QDNE/
Sonnet Technologies Tempo SSD 6Gb/s SATA PCIe
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Sonnet%20Technologies/TSATA6SSDE/
WD Black 1TB $85
http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Caviar-Internal-Desktop/dp/B0036Q7MV0/
WD 3TB $225
Western Digital 3TB WD Black SATA III 7200 RPM 64 MB Cache Desktop Hard Drive WD3001FAEX
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B2UWTHE/
WD Green 3TB $149 - (might want WD RED NAS/RAID 3TB though)
http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Caviar-Green-Desktop/dp/B004RORMF6/
WD VR 10K 250GB $103 200MB/sec boot drive :
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007V5A1BK/
Those last and last and make a nice boot drive.
Using Cloning as a Backup Strategy
http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/7032/carbon-copy-cloner http://www.bombich.com/software/updates/ccc-3.5.html
How to clone your system:
http://macperformanceguide.com/Mac-HowToClone-backup.html
http://macperformanceguide.com/Mac-HowToClone.html
http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/7032/carbon-copy-cloner
http://www.macperformanceguide.com/blog/2012/20120711_2-MacPro-internal-clone-ba ckup.html

What's the best way to do quality subtitles on an Elements film?

Thanks to Steve Grissetti and The Wine Snob for their advice on Keyframing...
I'm doing a 35 minute project with a LOT of subtitles. I would like old school white on black background subtitles over my images if possible, but I can go lower quality if necessary.
- Is it possible to do this in Elements?
- If I have to use an external program, what is the most compatible with Elements? I'd like it freeware, or less than 100 dollars, and relatively user friendly.
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PrE does not support full Subtitles, like Encore does. Before I give you the method, let's do a bit of background.
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What's the Best Open Source DB for use with Kodo?

Hi everyone,
In terms of ease of setup and use, tools to view info in the database, and least difficulty in
running with Kodo, what is the best open source database to use? I'm use to using Oracle and
SQLPlus. I need to use an open source DB for a learning environment, and I'd like your informed
opinion.
Thanks,
David Ezzio

I have been using postgresql 7.1 with Kodo for a while with mostly positive results, and currently
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DELETE statement.
BTW, there are some severe problems somewhere in the 2.2.4 release with postgresql if you intend to
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it a little less than optimal. But as a learning environment, it's what I'd recommend.
-Mike
Marc Prud'hommeaux wrote:
David-
Here is the rundown of the databases I have experience with:
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configuration, especially adding users, can be a pain. A separate open
source project called "mysql-navigator" makes it fairly easy to do
simple queries, inserts, etc. In most of my tests it outperforms
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modern features like line history, etc (unlike the horrific SQLPlus).
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correct" database than MySQL. I've also found it to be quite a bit
easier to set up. Their GUI (called "pgaccess") is simplistic, but does
most things you need. Has a CLI similiar to MySQL's.
HypersonicSQL: By far the easiest to set up (just drop the jar in your
CLASSPATH), but is java only, can be rather slow, and has no GUI tools
available that I know of (except various free vanilla-JDBC GUI tools).
We feel that Kodo works quite well with all these DBs. The MySQL JDBC
driver seems a bit less buggy than Postgres', but their transaction
support is very recent and not very well tested. If I had to pick one or
the other, I would probably go with MySQL.
David Ezzio <[email protected]> wrote:
Hi everyone,
In terms of ease of setup and use, tools to view info in the database, and least difficulty in
running with Kodo, what is the best open source database to use? I'm use to using Oracle and
SQLPlus. I need to use an open source DB for a learning environment, and I'd like your informed
opinion.
Thanks,
David Ezzio--
Marc Prud'hommeaux [email protected]
SolarMetric Inc. http://www.solarmetric.com
Kodo Java Data Objects Full featured JDO: eliminate the SQL from your code--
Mike Bridge

What is the best way to set up iTunes on our home network so all family members have access to all of our itunes library, even music we don't have on the cloud?

I have five different people using 10 different apple devices on one itunes account in our family. We have had trouble sharing. What is the best way to set up itunes on our home network? We have purchased music that sits on icloud, but we also have music we have imported from our previous cd library. Our itunes program keeps crashing and dumping everyone's playlists. So far we have all been using just the one desktop computer to sync to because we can't figure out how to share the same librarly and playlists on multiple computers in our home so devices can be synced at any location as well as playlists and purchases be made.

What is the best way to set up itunes on our home network?
One iTunes library per person. One iTunes account per person.
If people wish to share songs, they can make copies.
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What is the best? NAS or SAN??

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