How to move iPhoto library to NAS

Yes I understand the concept of iSCSI ;-) I am not certain why MAC does not officially support this method, probably because they do not offer a free iSCSI Initiator like Windows does. What third party software do you use for the Initiator?

I assume Synology will RAID the iSCSI volume? Do you also do your Time Machine backup on it?

Thanks,

Kris

I use Xtend SAN (https://www.atto.com/products/software/none/software/INIT-MAC0-001)

Not really cheap but very stable ;-)

The iSCSI lun is implemented as a file on the NAS (thin or thick), so it's protected by the RAID. You can also backup the lun using the provided Synology backup tool.

For time machine, Synology have implemented a shared AFP volume (as time capsule does). I had some problems at early beginning (2009-2010) but none since.

So basically I should be able two create lets say 3 volumes, one ISCSI for Apple Photos, one set to TimeMachine and an other one that would share data between a Windows PC and MAC?

I was looking at the DS216+II

For the initiator I found this free one https://github.com/iscsi-osx/iSCSIInitiator/wiki not certain how reliable it is ;-)

You only need one volume on the NAS.

iSCSI luns are files on the NAS filesystem. You can specify for each lun its size.

TimeMachine is an AFP share on the NAS and I managed the maximum size using quotas

I would not buy the 216+II, I already have a 2 disks Synology and I felt too much limited. I would go with a 4 or 5 disk Synology and no need to pay the extra bucks for a "+" version if only 3 or 4 computers are connected.

Take a look at the 416 or 1515 and if you want hardware video decoding, look for the "play" versions.

I did not test this initiator so I can't say if it is reliable or not.

Would the Synology software let you do what I suggest though?

What did you find limiting in the two disk one?

Yes you can create multiple volumes even if it's not really necessary.

The problem with multiple volumes is only that you must allocate the space of each statically at creation. If you want to change the size of the iSCSI lun or the time machine, you need to resize the volumes too...

About 2 disks limitations:

2 disks = RAID 1 (mirror) = 50% usable of total disk capacity

4 disks = RAID 5 or SHR = 75% usable of total disk capacity

(https://www.synology.com/en-us/support/RAID_calculator)

RAID 5 or SHR has also better performance then a simple mirror.

And the last point, more you have disks, more it's easy to upgrade total capacity ; each time a disk fails, you can swap it with another with more capacity and get the benefits immediately (with SHR).

I was thinking mirror was enough for me but yes it will limit your ability to upgrade, you would need to upgrade two HDs instead of one.

I am going to have to play with the configuration once I get the NAS and see what can be accomplish. I wanted to only deal with one lun for the photos and the rest be set up as whatever they call their share drives. The reason for it is I do not want to have to set up initiators on every devices.

I my setup, I only use an iSCSI target for photos and one for music.

The rest is either AFP or SMB.

Thanks so much for all your help.

.

How do you connect iSCSI volume to a mac? Could you please share some details about your setup?