DAS for rMBP: recommendations and options?

[extemporisation]

Hi,

I have a mid-2012 rMBP (I'll upgrade to a newer model in time), and these days I use it as my main computer. When at home, it's connected to a Dell S2340L and a mechanical keyboard.

The 256GB SSD is reaching its capacity, and I would like to have a DAS to store photos (mostly RAW files) and archive other documents that I've accumulated over the years.

What are my options for a DAS?

Should I:

(1) Buy a multi-bay DAS enclosure and my own hard disks; or
(2) Buy a packaged solution like the WD MyBook USB3?

Any recommendations for either one of the options? What are the pros and cons?

Currently, I backup my rMBP's SSD to a portable HDD via Time Machine. Is there a solution where the photos and documents in a single drive in the DAS are backed-up together with my Mac's internal SSD's contents into another drive in the DAS?

I don't have a pressing need for RAID; I am okay with periodic back-ups since it's already a habit.

Thanks in advance!

 

[neubie]

Airport Time Capsule?

 

[erwinrommel]

Just saw your thread here..

I am currently using 4 bay Mediasonic Probox USB 3 (non RAID version ) to connect 3 HDDs to my iMac. The connection is simply just a USB 3 cable to my USB 3 port.

http://www.mediasonic.ca/product.php?id=1357292354

I have three HDDs.. seagate, hitachi, WD..

One HDD is for movies
The other is for photos, music, personal work documents archive
The third HDD is for my time machine backup.. partitioned into two backups. One for my imac, the second for my macbook air.
My 4th HDD slot is empty. I can choose to add in a 4TB hdd in future.

Not to worry. The setup is incredibly straightforward. Th moment you slot in the HDDs into their respective slots (in no particular order), plug in the power adapter and usb 3 cable to your mac usb port, it will immediately recognize all the HDDs and appear as external HDDs.

Just go for usb 3. It is fast enough for most people. Don't spend money on thunderbolt unless you are using SSD with RAID configuration.

 

[extemporisation]

Just saw your thread here..

I am currently using 4 bay Mediasonic Probox USB 3 (non RAID version ) to connect 3 HDDs to my iMac. The connection is simply just a USB 3 cable to my USB 3 port.

http://www.mediasonic.ca/product.php?id=1357292354

I have three HDDs.. seagate, hitachi, WD..

One HDD is for movies
The other is for photos, music, personal work documents archive
The third HDD is for my time machine backup.. partitioned into two backups. One for my imac, the second for my macbook air.
My 4th HDD slot is empty. I can choose to add in a 4TB hdd in future.

Not to worry. The setup is incredibly straightforward. Th moment you slot in the HDDs into their respective slots (in no particular order), plug in the power adapter and usb 3 cable to your mac usb port, it will immediately recognize all the HDDs and appear as external HDDs.

Just go for usb 3. It is fast enough for most people. Don't spend money on thunderbolt unless you are using SSD with RAID configuration.

Sounds good! Thanks! Just to check: the first two HDDs are also backed up into the third one? If so, what are their capacities?

 

[erwinrommel]

Sounds good! Thanks! Just to check: the first two HDDs are also backed up into the third one? If so, what are their capacities?

I only backup my iMac primary storage and my MBA primary storage into the third HDD-- which is being designated as my time machine. The third HDD won't backup other external HDDs.

Planning to add a 4th HDD soon. Maybe 3 or 4TB.

 

[extemporisation]

I only backup my iMac primary storage and my MBA primary storage into the third HDD-- which is being designated as my time machine. The third HDD won't backup other external HDDs.

Planning to add a 4th HDD soon. Maybe 3 or 4TB.

Ah okay understood. Thanks

BBB

 

[Calvin83]

Just saw your thread here..

I am currently using 4 bay Mediasonic Probox USB 3 (non RAID version ) to connect 3 HDDs to my iMac. The connection is simply just a USB 3 cable to my USB 3 port.

http://www.mediasonic.ca/product.php?id=1357292354

I have three HDDs.. seagate, hitachi, WD..

One HDD is for movies
The other is for photos, music, personal work documents archive
The third HDD is for my time machine backup.. partitioned into two backups. One for my imac, the second for my macbook air.
My 4th HDD slot is empty. I can choose to add in a 4TB hdd in future.

Not to worry. The setup is incredibly straightforward. Th moment you slot in the HDDs into their respective slots (in no particular order), plug in the power adapter and usb 3 cable to your mac usb port, it will immediately recognize all the HDDs and appear as external HDDs.

Just go for usb 3. It is fast enough for most people. Don't spend money on thunderbolt unless you are using SSD with RAID configuration.

I'm using the Probox with USB 3.0 too, and I find that the transfer speed, though faster than USB 2.0, is noticeably slower than other usual USB 3.0 external HDD.

I have 4 HDD in the Probox,
4TB WDD
3TB WDD
2TB WDD
2TB WDD

It is neat and convenient though. All 4 in 1 case, and no need for separate power cables.

 

[ralliart12]

Fellows, just curious, those of you who uses/asks for a DAS, is it due to Photos for OS X/Aperture usage?

 

[erwinrommel]

Fellows, just curious, those of you who uses/asks for a DAS, is it due to Photos for OS X/Aperture usage?

I have a lot of photos, videos, music and work documents to keep.

 

[Calvin83]

Yeah, photos, videos and music takes up lots of space. 1TB on iMac is definitely insufficient. With 4k video recording and live photo not the iPhone 6S, it's getting worse!

 

[erwinrommel]

Yeah, photos, videos and music takes up lots of space. 1TB on iMac is definitely insufficient. With 4k video recording and live photo not the iPhone 6S, it's getting worse!

When i went for a one week holiday at taiwan last year, i took about 25-30gb worth of videos and photos.. all taken using my iPhone. I had to transfer all the photos and videos everyday from my iphone to external hard disk.

My sis in law and dad also took quite a few gb of photos/videos. All are now stored on my DAS.

Inclusive of all other photos/videos and iPhoto library, i used about 1.6TB on my 3TB external HDD.

Those movies and ahem ahem downloaded from internet.. took up about 1.5TB on another of my 3TB HDD.

 

[ralliart12]

I have a lot of photos, videos, music and work documents to keep.

Yeah, photos, videos and music takes up lots of space. 1TB on iMac is definitely insufficient. With 4k video recording and live photo not the iPhone 6S, it's getting worse!

Actually my question is: is there a more specific reason of your choice for DIRECT-attached storage instead of NAS?

 

[erwinrommel]

Actually my question is: is there a more specific reason of your choice for DIRECT-attached storage instead of NAS?

Cheaper and simpler? And we don't need the files to be shared around...

 

[szeli]

if u want speed: thunderbolt, else usb...

 

[Calvin83]

Actually I have both. But as Erwin said, doesn't need to share everything around. I don't keep confidential files on the NAS.

 

[victorp]

What about using 2-bay or 4-bay hard drive dock? You simply slot in the bare hard disk unit into the bay or removing it by pressing the eject lever (of course, you need to eject properly within OS X Finder). So you can have several bare hard disks for your backup purposes.

If you have important files you want to keep safe, you can use a set of two same-brand-same-capacity hard disks in a RAID1 configuration to backup files on. After the backup process is done, store the drives each in separate location and bring them together for further backups.

 

[ralliart12]

Cheaper and simpler? And we don't need the files to be shared around...

Actually I have both. But as Erwin said, doesn't need to share everything around. I don't keep confidential files on the NAS.

So non of you used DAS due to the fact that Photos for OS X & Aperture can't store their libraries on a NAS?

 

[Calvin83]

So non of you used DAS due to the fact that Photos for OS X & Aperture can't store their libraries on a NAS?

Not for me. I don't use those apps.

 

[erwinrommel]

So non of you used DAS due to the fact that Photos for OS X & Aperture can't store their libraries on a NAS?

Not sure what you are beating about the bush..

I used to store all my iPhoto library on one HDD. 3.5" external one with plug in power. As the HDD storage space reduced, i decided to I need to add another HDD.. was contemplating either another 3.5" external hdd, or just use an integrated solution like DAS...

As for Photos and aperture not able to run in nas.. no idea cuz i never have nas before.

 

[extemporisation]

Not sure what you are beating about the bush..

I used to store all my iPhoto library on one HDD. 3.5" external one with plug in power. As the HDD storage space reduced, i decided to I need to add another HDD.. was contemplating either another 3.5" external hdd, or just use an integrated solution like DAS...

As for Photos and aperture not able to run in nas.. no idea cuz i never have nas before.

Similar case here... my internal drive was running out of space for all the RAW photos, so I saw the DAS as a solution. I use Lightroom.

I used to have a NAS but I got rid of it because I found it redundant. Didn't find a need to share files with anyone at home. No real need to share music/movie files too because there's Spotify + Netflix + Android TV box + MioTV at home... Enough entertainment for my parents

For sharing documents across devices I find Dropbox/OneDrive/Google Drive more convenient.

Anyway to update on my first post:

I was about to buy the Probox USB3 and a few HGST drives because Qoo10 had a good voucher discount. But I chanced upon Samsung D3 3TB external drives going at $119 each at Challenger Funan's clearance sale, so I bought two of that.

I designated one D3 for my photos and whatnot, and the other D3 is used to backup that first D3 via Time Machine. I backup my rMBP's SSD in a separate drive. Both D3s are connected via a powered Orico USB3 hub. I don't have a very high requirement for performance so this set-up works just fine for me. Saved me quite a fair bit of cash too!