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Advice needed - ReadyNas for small network.
Hi there,
I run a small aniamtion company. We render image files, open and edit doc etc all to a shared folder hosted on one of our 4 etherneted iMacs. One of our macs run OS server to do this. Recently though we've had lots of permissions problems and everyone has to stop working if the machine needs updating etc. So its not really working for us!
We bassicly need a shared drive that we can all acess and work from and as you can tell were not technically minded! Any advice on if a ReadyNAS 424 with a few 4 TB red drives would be a good solution to our problem?
Permissions can get messy, one approach is to use a single NAS logon for all users.
garthjones wrote:
We bassicly need a shared drive that we can all acess and work from and as you can tell were not technically minded! Any advice on if a ReadyNAS 424 with a few 4 TB red drives would be a good solution to our problem?
I suspect that your workflow involves a lot of small files. It that's the case, you might want to go with an RN426 and take advantage of the SSD tiering feature - that is, use 2-4 mechanical disks, with 1-2 SSDs for tiering/caching. That speeds up small file performance.
You might also want to use enterprise-class drives, since they spin faster, and will give you better random access times.
As far as the economics go, drives between 4-8 TB offer about the same cost per TB. Over the long haul it is often cheaper to go with fewer larger disks, because it gives you empty slots you can use for expansion.
So perhaps consider an RN426 using three 8 TB WDC gold disks (giving you 16 TB of actual storage), one SSD for tiering. That gives you 2 slots for future expansion.
The above assumes that you will be working directly with the files on the NAS. If you are simply using the NAS to save your completed work product, then an RN424 with WDC Reds would be enough. I still recommend keeping at least one slot open for future expansion (using 6 or 8 TB drives instead of 4 TB).
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Permissions can get messy, one approach is to use a single NAS logon for all users.
garthjones wrote:
We bassicly need a shared drive that we can all acess and work from and as you can tell were not technically minded! Any advice on if a ReadyNAS 424 with a few 4 TB red drives would be a good solution to our problem?
I suspect that your workflow involves a lot of small files. It that's the case, you might want to go with an RN426 and take advantage of the SSD tiering feature - that is, use 2-4 mechanical disks, with 1-2 SSDs for tiering/caching. That speeds up small file performance.
You might also want to use enterprise-class drives, since they spin faster, and will give you better random access times.
As far as the economics go, drives between 4-8 TB offer about the same cost per TB. Over the long haul it is often cheaper to go with fewer larger disks, because it gives you empty slots you can use for expansion.
So perhaps consider an RN426 using three 8 TB WDC gold disks (giving you 16 TB of actual storage), one SSD for tiering. That gives you 2 slots for future expansion.
The above assumes that you will be working directly with the files on the NAS. If you are simply using the NAS to save your completed work product, then an RN424 with WDC Reds would be enough. I still recommend keeping at least one slot open for future expansion (using 6 or 8 TB drives instead of 4 TB).
Also consider a backup strategy for the nas to a seperate place/drive
bedlam1 wrote:
Also consider a backup strategy for the nas to a separate place/drive
Yes. RAID is good at keeping your data available when a drive fails, but it isn't enough to keep your data safe. And of course you need the data for your business to run efficiently.
So you definitely do need a backup plan, and likely that is needed for your Macs and for the NAS itself. The NAS does support timemachine, so that might be part of the puzzle.
Backing up the NAS to USB drives is the cheapest. Backing them up to a less expensive NAS (perhaps an RN214 with ordinary WDC Red drives) is another option - more expensive than USB, but you can cut over to the backup NAS very quickly, so it reduces downtime if the main NAS fails.
Another useful accessory is a UPS. The NAS can monitor UPS systems that have a USB connector. It can then shut down cleanly if there is an extended power loss. That also helps protect your data. They cost ~$100-$150.
Hi StephenB,
Perfect! Thats exactly the kind of advice I was atfer, thanks so much its incredibly helpful.
Absolutely, most of our files are small only a few meg usually. So a SSD sounds like a great idea, and we'll be working directly with the files on the NAS.
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