A Quick Rundown of NAS for Photographers | Ask David Bergman

[@funkyclucky9459]

David, you did a really good job with a pretty complex topic. One thing I would add: it’s not enough to back up your data. You need to periodically test your backups, especially when they are automated. I seen many cases where companies thought their automatic backups were working, but when they tried to recover data, the backups were empty or corrupt.

[@DavidBergmanPhoto]

Agreed! As I mentioned in the video, the data scrubbing function in the Synology software does this for me. I have it set to run every 3 months.

[@marcosalbernas]

Now I need another NAS for the amount of information you have delivered in this video, I must watch it several times to assimilate all the given information based on your professional experience. Continue sharing your work, your expertise makes me keep coming back to KZbin for more. Thanks!

[@jph364]

As an owner of two 2-bay synology NAS machines (1 off site) and perfectly happy with them, while implicitly suggested by David I strongly recommend when you rae buying your first NAS to get at least a 4 or 5 bay machine. Not only gives this room for expansion, it also enables a more efficient RAID configuration.

[@swphoto]

I’ve been using a Synology NAS for a few years and having just switched from a windows laptop to a MacBook I found the bonus that the NAS doesn’t care what is accessing it so I can read and write with either system. My windows formatted USB external drives were read only on the Mac

[@lokthalas7540]

Thank you, Sir I know what to shop for now. Great, detailled video

[@petermcginty3636]

Thank you David, really important info. As a hobby photographer, I use a NAS. FYI our family was already using a NAS for other key data, so I saved on the initial cost. I keep my processed photos on the cloud, but I have a copy of every RAW file on an SSD. I have weekly backups of the SSD drive to the NAS.

[@KeithHeinrich]

Good talk. This is absolutely the way. My NAS cascade so there is a second physical copy of all the images. I replace hard drives every five years whether they need it or not. Its cheap insurance. And having a large collection of images means discipline is required for metadata management.

[@shawnwyrozub]

I got a NAS earlier this year, I too went with Synology 5 bay system. Absolutely love it. It’s simple to set up, and allows me to access my files anywhere either on a computer or my phone/tablet. I highly recommend using a NAS.

[@valeriebegley3590]

You have described my life. Yes I have had an external hard drive fail. Now I Have many external hard drives with two copies of everything I photograph. I will look into this. Thank you.

[@CifuentesPhoto]

A little while back I was really considering getting a NAS. After doing some research, I found out that for editing would be easier and faster to keep the files locally. What you explained about the smart previews sounds like a great solution. I would still have to download the files onto the NAS first though. I’m just trying to think on how this would work if I’m on the road working off my laptop.

[@PhilipSalen]

Fascinating and useful Nas presentation, thank you for your work

[@allenbuyck7957]

Great video David !! I am using a 4 bay Synology NAS, that is SHR RAID configured, for all my photos and then I have another 2 bay Synology at my Brother-in-law's house that I backup to on a weekly basis. I also love being able to access the NAS on the road wherever I am.

[@wmshannahan]

Great Job, thank you.

[@camhitchcock8659]

Terrific video David! Thank you. You've inspired me to get another Synology NAS. I had one several years ago and loved it. Unfortunately the unit died and I never replaced it as I needed to upgrade my Mac then. But, to your point, I should have had two units for redundancy. Thankfully, I did not loose any data! I really enjoy your video's, keep up the good work. 😊

[@paulengle5784]

Thank so much, David. This is extraordinarily helpful!

[@jimjenjazz]

Hi David, thanks for the video which has some useful ideas to consider. I've used NAS's for years, starting with a pair of two Bay NetGear units (now long gone as the latest Windows versions don't like them) and now have a some QNAP units. As a hobbyist I have accumulated more shots than I ever thought I would, and like you, one disaster on an external hard drive was what it took to get me over my complacency! After many years of tinkering/re-jigging, I have arrived at a system that works for me, but it must be stressed that there are many ways of achieving data protection/back-up. In my case I have a 4TB internal drive in my pc which I work from for editing because it is just faster than it is possible on my home network. I use an automatic back-up to one of the NAS's daily so that is my second device. I then have two sets of USB drives which I use as a back-up keeping one set at a friends house and swoping those around approximately every month. This is not perfect, but it works and I am comfortable with it. Well, I was till you reminded me of the option to automate to an external NAS in another remote location! 🙂 Maybe I will revisit that thought and see what I can do. What can I say, I'm retired and a fully paid up geek! 🙂

[@DavidBergmanPhoto]

Once a geek, always a geek! I'm right there with ya. :)

[@dretwav]

Lightroom's fussiness about NAS drives is what drove me to give up on it and use Bridge and ACR. which allows me complete freedom to access files from anywhere without putting them in a catalog. I also have a Synology addiction. Getting ready to order my 4th one. My original one is pretty long in the tooth and I only use it for secondary backups now. You are absolutely correct that hard disk failure is an absolute certainty and is more likely to happen on the disk you do not routinely back up.

[@DavidBergmanPhoto]

I just bought my fourth also! Actually, it’s my fifth synology box, but one is the extension so only four total setups. I needed an off site backup of my new 923+!

[@thedailynugget]

Thank you, David and Adorama, for this video. Super helpful for someone like me who's been trying to figure out what and how a NAS system works. Just in time for Black Friday Sales ;)

[@thedailynugget]

Follow up question, can I back up, send files to my NAS from anywhere in the wold assuming I have a good internet connection where I am. I understand I can access my files from anywhere in the world but how about if I'm travelling and I want to back up my photos to my NAS system at home. Would I theoretically be able to transfer my photos of the day from my hotel and therefore would have no need to bring any hard drives on my trip?

[@WilliamBurdine]

Been using this system and Synology Drive App and A Synology DS920+ for 2+ years... this has been a WINNING SOLUTION! However I wish I wished I had waited for the DS923+ because it has a 10gb connection, however my Switch nor does my 2019 27" iMac. If you are going to do this, make sure you understand ALL the connection points and be able to purchase the necessary hardware to get the most speed. Done correctly, it will be almost like working on your native system. But if you use only the 1GB/sec Network interfaces... LOTS OF RAM for your Computer is the best cheapest solution to help with the slowness you will experience.... I have 64gig of RAM in my system and it helps with all the multitasking I do while using LrC.

[@el0blaino]

Great, David, I've been looking to ask you for more detail about how you use NAS! I got a Synology as well but in general that's where I want my "originals" to live. I found I couldn't have my originals on a network drive when working with Photo Mechanic, because Photo Mechanic would stall when I tried to scroll around a very large group of photos (e.g. if I were looking for a few photos out of a big multi-day vacation). So I have my photos on an external HDD drive, mac-formatted to match my macos desktop, and then do my Photo Mechanic work (culling, captioning, renaming) there before importing into Capture One. Once things are on Capture One I am in good shape for editing (or sometimes deleting unedited). I push a copy onto my NAS when the files are in a "finished" state and use the NAS to backup to the cloud. The one part I've been late on is getting my "local backup to an external HDD" back up and running. But I will do that soon, I promise! Some folks more knowledgable than me just shared how to make those backups (I'm not "deep enough in" to have multiple Synology bays!).

[@WilsonSilverthorne]

Great info. I’ve been using a synology nas for two years and they are about as plug and play NAS that you can get.

[@truthsayers8725]

i got the components for a NAS a couple of years ago. i set it all up and 2nd guessed myself and set it of in Raid 1. i initially wanted it in Raid 5 but changed my mind right at the last minute. ive NOT run it yet (going on a year +) and dont know how to change it over. its a Qnap with 4x10tb WD Red Pro disks. im going to have to try and call them. ive been using a Toshiba 4tb that is virtually full and just got another WD 4tb but yes. now i cant access stuff on the full, without a lot of swapping back and forth. good video!

[@DavidBergmanPhoto]

I don’t know the QNAP system, but my guess is that you’d have to move everything off to another external device and the completely wipe your NAS and change to the RAID you want. Then move everything back.

[@FlyingJay33]

I remember talking about this in the Shoot from the Pit in Corpus Cristy. I just map a folder on my computer and set it in Lightroom.

[@mjpt57]

An excellent video on NASes. I too run a NAS, a 4 bay one. It stores all of our photos, documents, videos and so on. It has 4x2tb WD "Red" drives for around 5.6tb of total capacity. As I'm a retired power industry technician I've taken photography up as a hobby so my storage demands aren't great. It's about 3 years old now and so far no hiccups. I also run an UPS (uninteruptible power supply) which powers the NAS, my Mac Mini, the router (modem) and a Wifi Mesh unit. So, if the power goes off or if we get a power surge or brownout then the NAS is protected and there is a reduced risk of data loss if someone is copying or reading data to/from the NAS. My system would be considered pre-industrial age compared to yours. The NAS also is connected to the UPS via a USB cable. When power goes off the UPS tells the NAS this and it will shut down in a timely manner to preserve data (and to alert anyone on the network that it's about to happen). I also back up the Photos folders to an external AC powered HDD (which is also UPS powered) every so often. I haven't gotten around to setting it up to back up automatically as I haven't really worked that one out yet. Documents are stored on the HDD but also in iCloud. There's only 100 megs or so of documents so that's not a big deal, datawise. My "workflow" is: copy the R6 SD card to the NAS. Then in Lightroom Classic I go through the latest images, select what I think are the best and copy them into LrC. The Adobe cloud thing then does its thing and I can access those images on my Macbook Air or iPad Pro. We're going to Europe in September. For that trip I'm taking just the iPad, an Apple USB-C/Thunderbolt SD card reader, a Hyperdrive USB-C hub and a pair of Samsung T7 1tb SSDs. So, I'll back up photos daily to each of the SSDs, then when I get home they'll be copied to the NAS. Phew. When I first travelled OS I had my trusty old Canon AE-1 and a bagful of rolls of film with bits of paper labelling them. Things have changed a bit since then.

[@DavidBergmanPhoto]

I actually forgot to mention the UPS. I use the same thing with USB so it'll safely shut down the Synology if the power is running low during a blackout. Fantastic feature! And yes - things certainly have changed. :)

[@rtyler1869]

I have a personal direct attached drive that I use for storage and editing. I also run a NAS via a Raspberry Pi with a second drive by the same manufacture and use this as a back up device

[@tonyzambos3138]

Great advice. I've been a hobbyist photographer since the early 70's. I managed to gather all my digital photos and scanned slides onto one dual drive external USB device. I still have a steamer trunk of prints to scan. Set the external device up so that one drive would mirror the other, Raid-1. Thought I was protected from failure. WRONG!. I should have known better being an ex-large-mainframe engineer. Remember there are only two types of hard drives, ones that have failed and ones that are going to. When one drive crashed, the second drive was corrupted. $1K later after sending the drives to a recovery service, I think I have a most of my data back. After this gut-wrenching event, I've ventured into the unknown, for me, and purchased a Synology NAS plus a large capacity USB external disk device. My recovered photos are on the NAS and once a week I plug the USB drive into the NAS, create a full backup, then unplug it. If my data gets corrupted by a hardware failure or some deviate on the web, the backup can not be affected. I am still very new to NAS usage. My NAS has only been up for the last 21 days.

[@DavidBergmanPhoto]

Happens to the best of us, right? You should also set up snapshots on your Synology. If you get corruption or ransomware, you can just roll back to a time before that happened. It's another piece to help me sleep at night! :)

[@blkscorpion01]

Synology Nas is one of the best and fastest way to keep images. I've been doing it for years.

[@ath3263]

This was excellent

[@matthewsky1520]

Love the video David. Could you do a video on how you have it all setup with your computer and how you have it setup with Lightroom. Could be two separate videos. :)

[@jpglaspie]

With little tech knowledge, you can add DAS. One stop shop NAS are pretty expensive. DAS allows you to connect USB drives to a existing computer and access them that way. Good video though!!!

[@erodutube]

Great video!! I know the sinology 1522+ is a great drive. What raid would it be to setup disk bays 1-4 with raid 1 then for disk bay 5 have a copy of the info on disk bays 1-4? So Bays 1-4 has 20tbs total with raid 1 for all 4, then disk 5 has another 20tb which is a constant copy of bays 1-4. Is this possible with the 1522+ and what raid would this be? Thank you

[@DavidBergmanPhoto]

Yes, you can do that by creating separate storage pools inside the Synology DSM software. However, I'm not sure it's the most efficient way to do it. There is already redundancy built into RAID in case a drive (or two, depending on RAID type) fails. And that 5th drive isn't really a safe backup if it's physically in the same unit. If the entire case dies, or if it's stolen or damaged by flood or fire, then everything is gone. Best to use that 20TB drive in an external case and keep it somewhere else for safekeeping.

[@ezequielSanson]

Thank you for this explanation! Once the photos are stored (external drive or NAS), which software do you use to sort, search and find for photos? Thanks again

[@jmendezh]

Addiction?? David, you. have a problem!!!! ja, but I understand why...this video change my entire back up AND NAS filosofy...it´s time to make some changes. Thanks.

[@EdgarGarcia81]

Great video. You mentioned how you don't like working off External drives, do you have a video of your workflow? Do you edit your images on your computers' drive then transfer when finished to your NAS? If so, I assume your computer is being backed up daily to the NAS too? Thank you

[@DavidBergmanPhoto]

Yes - I work locally on my computer's internal drive and then just transfer everything when done. I do a regular backup of my computer, but the data isn't staying on their very long anyway.

[@robertpanick2660]

A few things you said that were wrong: 1. A NAS generally isn't faster than a single drive. RAID 5 or something based on it is actually quite a bit slower than a single drive. What you gain with RAID 5 systems is more efficient use of disk space while having redundancy. 2. Ethernet, even 10 GB can't come close to Thunderbolt that ranges from 40 to 80 Gbps depending on the version. Not that it turns out that it matters because spinning disks are still the slow part, most drives are in the 640 Mbps range, a difference of around 100 times. Adding RAID just makes them slower. If you have SSD or nVME caching that can help with writing, and possibly with reading. But if you access something that isn't in the cache, it's going to take time. I should also point out that most computers if they have an Ethernet port, are only 1 Gbps. 3. I came up with a different approach for using the laptop and desktop. The laptop I create a new catalog when I'm remote on the laptop. I make backups to flash drives of the catalog and the images while I'm remote. When I get back to the desktop, I simply import the catalog to my main catalog, and have LRC move the images to my main storage. The advantage of this is that my main catalog lives on the nVME drive inside the computer running at the highest possible speed. I have LRC make a backup of the catalog to the external storage. This also gets around the problem of Adobe not allowing the catalog on a network drive.

[@jedailprod]

Do you use hyperbackup witin 2 drives in the same nas as well?

[@barneylaurance1865]

The story about the photographer Allan Moss who documented David's family suggests perhaps that not only should photographers keep all images, they should deliver all images to clients - and clients should keep all images for people who care about them to find. I can see a lot of merit in that, but it makes the archiving problem suddenly much harder. Both in terms of the storage space required and the problem of finding images in the archive later. Would be interesting to hear from David about his approach to storing photos that he didn't make himself - e.g. photos of him and his family and friends, or perhaps copies of other people's published photos that matter to him. Are they treated the same way as original photos?

[@DavidBergmanPhoto]

I don’t have too many of those. I simply just update the metadata and then store them in a folder named “pics of me,” or whatever means something to me.

[@timmelis4872]

If you choose a NAS, choose one with an online backup option. I've seen so many NAS/RAID systems fail. After a few years, the discs are degrading until one breaks. A spare is put in and when trying to rebuild the replaced disc, it reads heavily on the other degraded discs and they all break... NAS systems or not more safe than other electronics. Don't put your money in one basked. Backup to the cloud ...

[@DavidBergmanPhoto]

3-2-1 backup! :)

[@iang7007]

This was helpful thanks you :) 100TB, lightroom. I'm thinking you keep multiple catalogues rather than have everything in one. Is that correct? In the case of external hard drive with lightroom catalogue on it, would it make sense to have a catalogue per drive? and if so how do you keep track of metadata for all those images to search into them? thanks :)

[@patrickgrant4804]

I have three 18TB RAID 1 drives and have been seriously considering going NAS. If I under stand correctly, I can have the NAS tied into my network and I can read/write to it from anywhere in the world? How are the transfer speeds for large amounts of RAW files? Thank again for another informative video!

[@DavidBergmanPhoto]

Yes - that's exactly the idea! Bandwidth is definitely limited over the internet. It depends of course on the speed of the connection at your end, and the connection at the NAS end (your home or office internet). I shoot a couple hundred gigs every week and wait until I'm back home to transfer them to the NAS. I have extra external SSDs on the road for temporary backup. If you have less data, you can just let it copy - maybe overnight while you sleep.

[@peterblyth5500]

David, you are such a fanboy! :) Informative video.

[@josebrivera1716]

Great Video. I have a few Synology NAS. I do get aggravated when NAs Nerds say "NAS is not a back up". That silly term confuses people new to NAS. To them a backup is just a copy. It might be a copy outside of their camera or computer or it might not. I have always had at least a 2nd hard drive for my photos. But NAS Nerds need to rephrase their NAS is not a backup to something like, a NAS should not be your only copy.

[@DavidBergmanPhoto]

Good idea.

[@Fotogoscar]

Oh man...glad you mentioned this because it had already confused me. Thinking what in the world is NAS if it is not considered some sort of backup. I currently only use external storage. So looking into NAS.

[@nicoderouge]

Pro here, with many Tb of data. I used to have a Synology NAS setup, but found it a bit clunky and slow. I switched to Backblaze and don't see why I would ever go back to a NAS setup. (The yearly cost is low for unlimited backup, vs a much higher upfront cost for a good NAS setup) Why did you move from Backblaze to Synology? And why do you particularly like it over cheap and unlimited (+fast!) backup? I get the "having full control over your data side". But that's not enough for me. Thanks!

[@DavidBergmanPhoto]

Yes - control is part of it. However, for me, online storage is just for emergencies. I would never be able to restore more than a few GB of data from a commercial online service in a reasonable amount of time.

[@chuckmorton8823]

I prefer a DAS (Direct Attached Storage) because the Thunderbolt interface is far faster than a NAS. DAS configured in RAID 5 for parity and protection.

[@JobGreg]

I am also leaning towards a DAS. Can you recommend one

[@IdahoMthman]

I am more interested in building my own NAS, so I can run apps and tools besides saving my videos and photos. Do you have a video about that?

[@DavidBergmanPhoto]

I’ve never tried it!

[@paulchoccyt1303]

Can you have Nas running off WiFi instead of Ethernet if you don't have access to router?

[@DavidBergmanPhoto]

Not ideal. Wifi speed is usually considerably slower and less consistent than wired. If you have wifi, then you probably have a router. Just put the NAS close to it and use an ethernet cable to attach.

[@L.Spencer]

Why is it not good to keep the photos on memory cards?

[@DavidBergmanPhoto]

Memory cards are meant to be reused over and over again to temporarily store your images from the camera. They can get corrupted, and of course lost or damaged by exposure to weather, etc. By moving you images to a computer - and then backing up to other devices like a NAS, external hard drives, or online storage - your data is truly protected.

[@L.Spencer]

@@DavidBergmanPhoto Thanks for the explanation!

[@LouCondon-j1v]

I use a Samsung 8TB backup SSD and I also have another one offsite in a bank.

[@lightingbryan]

Question. Adding all your drives into one device seems very risky. I've seen so many people lose their NAS. Why not have two separate drives. One not always connected to power. Thus 2 true backups. Unless you have two NAS (Online is a must. But can be difficult to download in the moment of need). Two 20tb drives are way less expensive. 4 20tb or 6 20tb. Listen to the video. NAS is more complicated then needed. Just my 2 cents. But I understand why some might like NAS

[@DavidBergmanPhoto]

I used to to do exactly that - 2 copies of every drive. But when I got up to 72 drives (36 X 2), I had to do something. Having 130TB of data in one place makes it possible for me to easily and quickly find anything without having to swap drives. And it's accessible over the network / online. Can't do either of those with individual drives.

[@wayneroth7780]

I just purchased the Synology 923+ for image storage, I am having trouble being able to access my images into Lightroom. Can you tell me the procedure to make this happen? I switch from a Drobo which was easy to use, but since they are out of business and my unit was glitchy I switched. Thanks for the help.

[@pdubsweir3]

I gave up on NAS and switched to a DAS Raid. Neither adobe lightroom or backblaze plays well with a NAS without some weird workarounds. Plus with a NAS you need to be extra vigilant against hackers. Too many headaches honestly.

[@DavidBergmanPhoto]

Once I got everything setup how I wanted (including security), it pretty much runs itself.

[@robertleem5643]

Many thanks for sharing, I have a 4 bay Synology NAS and filled it with 4 x 14tb Toshiba NAS Drives, also have all my music on it and movie collection. I also purchased a 5 bay DAS with 5 x 14tb Toshiba NAS drives and back it up every month. The other advantage for me is when I go away I can copy my files to an external hard drive and also upload them to my NAS. I wouldn't be without it now. Don't see the point in having Cloud storage as this is basically my cloud device I also have Jellyfin installed and watch my movies while away It's just a shame that the photo app from Synology is rubbish

[@JobGreg]

Awesome . Which DAS do you use ?

[@felixrodriguez782]

So shall we all call you NAS Bergman 😇

[@DavidBergmanPhoto]

Yes, please. :)

[@mroblige1018]

NAS + backbaze = no worries. You're all welcome

[@2ShoesPhoto]

If it's a family photo file, understandable to save every shot, but when it's 3,000+ photos of the same bird, just to get one or two fantastic shots, I delete the rest.

[@SamongRaberd]

Your explanation is really good, however I feel like it can be improved with real examples insert.

[@ChaitanyaShukla2503]

I wouldn't recommend getting Synology NAS units these days, far too crippled out of the box in terms of supporting 3rd party accessories(NICs, and drives) and in 2024 they still sell NAS with 1Gbps NICs built-in. Edit: also 2 in 3-2-1 rule is 2 different type of media formats so its magnetic media coupled with optical media or some other data storage medium.

[@DavidBergmanPhoto]

I've been happy with Synology and the 10GbE is an easy upgrade if that's something you need. As for 3-2-1, I used to say 2 different types of media, but I know almost no-one using magnetic or optical media anymore as HDD and SSD are ubiquitous now. Having data is two different locations is much more practical today (as opposed to having two copies on hard drives sitting right next to each other).

[@ChaitanyaShukla2503]

@@DavidBergmanPhoto I have noticed Synology is turning into a walled garden with extra hoops needed to use non-Synology add in cards, RAM and drives. Also releasing expensive NAS units with 1Gbps NICs builtin and charging for 2.5/5Gbps NICs is daylight robbery when competition already offers better products at same prices. Hard drives are magnetic media and selecting Blu-ray or some other form of optical media in combination is a good plan.I work in NW security and most datacenters still heavily rely on magnetic tape and archival optical media(Sony offers Archive Disc) in consumer space its sad to see optical media falling by wayside. There are quite a few decent blu-ray burners available and I do use a blu-ray disc to store the highlights of photos and video for long term storage.

[@jeremyfmoses]

"NAS is not a backup." "I bought another NAS for my backup." NAS absolutely can be a backup - stop saying can't be. NAS should not be your only backup, but it can be a backup.

[@DavidBergmanPhoto]

It’s just semantics. A single NAS unit protects from some drive failure, but it’s not a backup solution on its own. Yes, a second NAS can be a backup for the first one, as I explain in the video.

[@johnsammonds]

My Synology NAS went down lost everything never ever trust one of these again.

[@DavidBergmanPhoto]

Any device can fail. That's why you need a backup!

[@Magximar]

YOU HAVE TO BE MORE PRACTICAL... I HTINK THE TALKING WAS TOO MUCH..