01-13-2022, 07:19 PM
Robbie, being "newish" to the NAS world, I have immersed myself in your videos. I'm learning but have long way to go before I feel confidence in what I am doing. My business and serious hobby involves video production/editing and digital photo processing in a home office environment. I've been using a couple of DAS units (G-Tech 9 TB G-Drive and a 4TB solid state drive) through the Thunderbolt 3 ports on one of my HP Z-Book workstations, but I'm running out of room. That has led me to explore the world of NAS. I'm looking to build a storage system that will last me for some time (I hitting max on my DAS in about two years). I made some purchases before I found your videos on purchase advice. I have not yet installed anything and need help on whether I should make any changes/exchanges before I do.
I have already purchased a QNAP TS-932PX and have purchased five Seagate Exos X18 16TB HDD to put in the upper bays and two WD Red SA500 to handle caching (trying for 10GbE network with a good amount of storage for the future). One of my main objectives is to be able to edit video (probably 4K now that I would have space) from my NAS from two workstations (both HP Z-Book workstations with Thunderbolt 3 ports). My photo library is over 100K photos (yes, it needs culling!) Other uses are a 30K record database that is extremely important in my business. I would like to be able to stream finished videos to a projection screen A/V system on another floor of my home and have the ability to easily stream to clients outside my home office.
I'm thinking I could have chosen a more appropriate NAS box. One this box does not have Thunderbolt ports (I thought it did) and runs on an Annapurna Labs AL324 quad-core 1.7 GHz CPU. Your comments in your review of this unit made me think this box is more for file storage than online video editing. I want video editing speed and ample storage in a collaborative video editing environment. With these five 18TB hard drives and two 500 GB SSD's would there be a better choice - the TS-h973AX perhaps? How much and what type of memory would you recommend? Would you recommend an NAS that has Thunderbolt ports for direct input from the workstations or do I just take care of that through the network? What's the best way to connect my two workstations to the network? They each have two Thunderbolt 3 ports, one HDMI port, two USB 3.0 ports, but NO RJ-45 ethernet port. How do I connect these workstations to the switch for max throughput?
I would appreciate your recommendations for a switch. The NAS and two workstations would be good for 10GbE connectivity. However, the rest of the network doesn't need that speed (printers, video projector, smart TVs, wife's computer that needs access to photos, iPad, 2 Samsung phones, etc.)
Finally, my internet modem & router are on a completely different floor from the home office. Right now I connect wirelessly, but I'm at the end of my range. How can I improve my wireless or should I go to the effort to install a cable back to the cable router? Or would it benefit me to run the internet cable-in down to my office (a lot of work!). Right now my internet connection is through RJ6 and not fiber optic. Someday fiber will come into our neighborhood, but I'm not holding my breath on that.
I have already purchased a QNAP TS-932PX and have purchased five Seagate Exos X18 16TB HDD to put in the upper bays and two WD Red SA500 to handle caching (trying for 10GbE network with a good amount of storage for the future). One of my main objectives is to be able to edit video (probably 4K now that I would have space) from my NAS from two workstations (both HP Z-Book workstations with Thunderbolt 3 ports). My photo library is over 100K photos (yes, it needs culling!) Other uses are a 30K record database that is extremely important in my business. I would like to be able to stream finished videos to a projection screen A/V system on another floor of my home and have the ability to easily stream to clients outside my home office.
I'm thinking I could have chosen a more appropriate NAS box. One this box does not have Thunderbolt ports (I thought it did) and runs on an Annapurna Labs AL324 quad-core 1.7 GHz CPU. Your comments in your review of this unit made me think this box is more for file storage than online video editing. I want video editing speed and ample storage in a collaborative video editing environment. With these five 18TB hard drives and two 500 GB SSD's would there be a better choice - the TS-h973AX perhaps? How much and what type of memory would you recommend? Would you recommend an NAS that has Thunderbolt ports for direct input from the workstations or do I just take care of that through the network? What's the best way to connect my two workstations to the network? They each have two Thunderbolt 3 ports, one HDMI port, two USB 3.0 ports, but NO RJ-45 ethernet port. How do I connect these workstations to the switch for max throughput?
I would appreciate your recommendations for a switch. The NAS and two workstations would be good for 10GbE connectivity. However, the rest of the network doesn't need that speed (printers, video projector, smart TVs, wife's computer that needs access to photos, iPad, 2 Samsung phones, etc.)
Finally, my internet modem & router are on a completely different floor from the home office. Right now I connect wirelessly, but I'm at the end of my range. How can I improve my wireless or should I go to the effort to install a cable back to the cable router? Or would it benefit me to run the internet cable-in down to my office (a lot of work!). Right now my internet connection is through RJ6 and not fiber optic. Someday fiber will come into our neighborhood, but I'm not holding my breath on that.