whats the best NAS for mac?

I'm currently using a Netgear Ready NAS Duo which i have been fine tuning for the past 2 years and still hate it on Mac.

I am constantly reseting the file permissions as it seems to lock up the network with access permission issues.

I've had to change the MTU settings in order to get the fastest possible speed over gigabit.

While the Ready NAS Duo is not so Mac friendly like I initially thought, its been very stable.

I also made the mistake of buying eco drives initially which where not compatible.

Thanks for the info on this post i'll look at some Synology NAS for my next upgrade.

I've had my Synology DS 212+ running for about 5 - 6 Weeks, this thing has been a delight to work with!

I just config'd the video surveillance to keep an eye on my dogs when away during the day, it so far has been

totally functional. I can't say enough about this NAS, the software is very very friendly, lots of documents to assist if your do get stuck.

My only question is why Apple doen't sale these on their store site?

I like the last question. Not sure why.

hi, I bought a DroboFS about a week ago after I did only about a weeks worth of research, I was sold on it. Reviews were great and it seemed so Mac friendly. I'm not disapointed at all. Its great. OK its large but has 5 bays and dual disk redundancy if needed, so enough to expand and double protection. I only got 3 x 3TB drives as they are pricy at the moment. I wanted a server hidden away in a cupboard in the house, and for it to my Personal work, some freelance work and, photos, itunes media and also Time Machine back ups for three mac's.

After I got it I came across a review online with some critisiums about it, but I think these were the older versions of the Drobo and the photograher who did the review had used Drobos for 2 years with only one failure. He now has updated to Promise drive , which is mega money.

Hopefully it wil work ok with my Apple TV as I have a dedicated itunesMedia volume on it, so any mac can add files to it and it. I dont think it can be accessed directly to apple TV which is a pain, and Itunes has to be in for it to stream though. I wil update how it works.

Just incase I have total failure. I have decided to also use one of my old external HDs to back up my main photos and media and take this offsite as a secureity thing just incase the DroboFS Fails, but its working great at the moment. I need to test it out alot more though.

It has a gigabit ethernet connection, and is fast. Although slow to copy all your stuff over to begin with.

At last a clear desktop with no wires to external HDs.

Sweet

.. oh and Drobo Dashboard is easy to use and is working fine on Lion. I think they had issues, but worked it out now.

( Im stil in the honeymoon stage)

I am very new to the idea of NAS. I have been using Time Machine for years with a TimeCap and I also have an Airport Extreme with a USB Drive connected i use as a server for Itunes and Movies .. my question is will i find NAS 1GB faster moving files around than the TimeCap or Airpot with USB Drive? also do the NAS drive mount like a normal drive ? i was looking at the Synology DS 212, as its a good price

cheers

Andy

I did a bit of research on NAS options and settled on the Synology DS212. I installed it a couple weeks ago. Basic setup is a breeze (although the documentation is not Mac friendly and assumes you know basic networking principles). It has performed flawlessly. Anecdotal feedback from the users on this small network (four people) are that it is faster than the previous solution (HP Data Vault X510).

At this point, early in my use of the product, I highly recommend the DS212.

-SY

Hi, I'm also looking to buy a NAS or direct-attach mass storage device for my Mac Pro. I am an obsessive music collector, so this would be used primarily as a libray, but also for general backup. I'm pretty close to buying a ReadyNas Ultra 6 but am still paranoid it might not interact quickly enough w/ iTunes (since my library is more than 1 terabyte and growing, I still want to be able to quickly scroll through albums/etc.).

If anyone uses a NAS type device for a massive iTunes library like me, please advise. I'd much rather buy something that works well right off the bat then have to return something and try again.

Thanks,

Tom

You can check out any Synology model anything higher than DS-x11 (ie: 211, 212, 411, 411+, etc). The x09 and less are good for people who prefer to pay less but they get what they get (low performance). First digit represents how many bay. 2 or greater gets you a RAID setup. If one HDD goes, your collection won't be lost.

Whenever you throw in songs, Synology will re-index the music library to be shared via DLNA.

Thanks for that. I've checked out Synology and their products definitely seem to have all of the cool features I'd like to have. I guess my specific question is whether a NAS device is fast enough to serve as the main storage unit for my iTunes library, especially since mine is more than 1 terabyte and still growing. I've read some reviews where people say their NAS devices work well for everything except iTunes. Right now I can quickly scroll through my thousands of albums w/o any hiccups.

Ethernet apparently allows for data transfers around 100 MB/s vs. several times that for direct-attach storage devices. I'm hoping someone who has any experience with a large iTunes library might be able to provide some insight.

Thanks again

If you have all the good equipments, ie: high-performance router, gigabit ethernet cable, and a high-performance NAS.

I use Airport Extreme and CAT6 ethernet cable to connect to Synology DS-411+. I was able to copy at peak of 92 megabyte/sec from/to NAS to computer. My iTunes library is stored in /music folder where DLNA and iTunes will access.

at 92 MB/S which is rated at 736 Mb/s (that's 75% of what gigabit ethernet offers).. 😀

But one thing come in mind, you'll want the 7,200 RPM HDDs if you want to achieve that performance..

I've being using my DS 212+ since late fall without a single issue! this thing is as solid as a ROCK🙂

as "Kibb the Cabbit" suggested get quality drives, if you order anything from Synology follow their recommendations from their list of approved drives. I stream video through mine both wired and wireless, Synology functions without a hitch. As also stated, use quality cat 6 ethernet cables and a good quality gigabit switch.

I may sound like a salesman for Synology BUT I'm not 😁 I just see there equipment as very good and the OS works without issue, after all it's Linux 😊 which shares many engineering features of OS X (Unix inside!)

Tomselliott, I think you would be pleased with Synology products.

Excellent point ..This is the beating heart of all evil , the read/write speed of our hard disks.

I have the same configuration you have,but my NAS is Qnap 1079. The speed is more or less 92 mb/s.

There are many factors contribute to the overall performance. NAS processor, RAM, OS - core i3 sandy bridge ,4 gb and a Unix here.. But i believe that the bottle neck of data jam is right there in the hard disks.

I'm waiting for my SSD HD 512 gb to arrive next week. I'll install it in one of my NAS docks and since I don't use RAID ,I hope it would be easy to notice the difference in performance. I'll keep you posted when I'm done with it.

Does anyone know if the Synology RAID products support a Time Machine backup wirelessly?

Yes it does. Use your router as wireless option or purchase a supported USB Wifi dongle for your Synology.

Kibby the cabbit is totally correct and the dongle. I use two Apple Airport extreme in extended mode. The dongle is a good alt to purchasing and having another device hanging about. Also synology just recently updated to version 4, haven't totally exported yet. I don't think you can go wrong with Synology, plan and simple it works. As mentioned follow the documents on the correct drives when choosing one of their devices.