142GB photo library, 155GB iTunes library...

[PaulMoore]

I have a photos library which is 142GB and a music library of 155GB
They're both currently on a 1TB iMac which needs replacing (would like to get an M1 Mac mini or MacBook Air to replace it)

QUESTION:
Is there a better way of storing these (e.g. in cloud or on external drive) than having to pay through the nose for Apple's TB of storage? Or is the convenience of being on one device without connection issues worth the price?

 

[satcomer]

Maybe a Smart NAS to house your music, videos, pictures on it and not worry!

 

[pmiles]

Ask yourself this question... How much of the photo library and music library do you really access from day to day? Odds are pretty good, the majority of it doesn't see the light of day 9 times out of 10, in which case, simple archiving to an external drive is your solution.

If you can honestly say you need 24/7 access to all of it, then some sort of cloud storage or NAS is warranted to make it live to all your devices.

Think of the digital space like the attic... lots of stuff ends up there, but little of it is ever seen or used again. Sort of like that LP collection that became a cassette collection then a DVD collection, then a MP3 collection... it's like we have ample capacity to spend money to keep things that we don't actually need but zero capacity to get rid of it. Data storage services were made for people like us... that and a TV show on A&E to chronicle the result.

 

[nicho]

I have a photos library which is 142GB and a music library of 155GB
They're both currently on a 1TB iMac which needs replacing (would like to get an M1 Mac mini or MacBook Air to replace it)

QUESTION:
Is there a better way of storing these (e.g. in cloud or on external drive) than having to pay through the nose for Apple's TB of storage? Or is the convenience of being on one device without connection issues worth the price?

Both of these would work perfectly fine from an external SSD. If you only need access from one computer, it wouldn't be worth splashing out on a NAS.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

I found several old Apple drives and have been extracting the iPhoto databases, and have several folders full of exported photos probably running into the upper 5 figures, and have at least 5 folders like that. I didn't realize I was losing so many pictures. Now I'm just so depressed thinking of all of the people that were/are in the same position. *shrug*

 

[yurc]

I am repurpose my old 5,1 as iTunes library because 5,1 can fits internal expansion easily, and I already have 7,1.
Mine isn't big as yours, currently still holds around ~60GB, mostly from self ripped in ALAC format.

Yes it's not power efficient but I am not use as NAS, still functional machine sometimes, at least nice as additional backup data bank machine.

I am not used HDD tho, just use 4TB SATA3 SSD on 5,1 drive sleds, even they bottlenecked by SATA2 they still gave me astounding random IOPS compared with mech HDD, so no more platter noise and heat.

 

[shapesinaframe]

I used to have a stupidly large Photos library, needed 1TB of iCloud storage to host it.
Then I realised I only really looked at the last 4-6 months of photos.

Every April I review the previous years images and create a shared iCloud album where I store all the best images of the previous year I might want to look at again in the future.

I then duplicate my Photos library (I use PowerPhotos for this) so I have:

• Last year.library
• Photos Library.library

Then I clean up the libraries:

1. I open up Last year.library and remove all the photos from this year.
2. I open up Photos Library.library and remove all the photos from last year.

Photos Library.library is always my system library, synced with iCloud.
Don’t rename this library else you’ll have to re-sync the whole thing to iCloud again.

The end result is

• a collection of year based library files
• a collection of iCloud shared albums containing best of previous years photos
• a much smaller iCloud photos library, containing the images from the past 4-16 months

You will still get memory notifications on your Mac from any previous year libraries stored on it which is kinda cool.

 

[shapesinaframe]

I used to have a stupidly large Photos library, needed 1TB of iCloud storage to host it.
Then I realised I only really looked at the last 4-6 months of photos.

Every April I review the previous years images and create a shared iCloud album where I store all the best images of the previous year I might want to look at again in the future.

I then duplicate my Photos library (I use PowerPhotos for this) so I have:

• Last year.library
• Photos Library.library

Then I clean up the libraries:

1. I open up Last year.library and remove all the photos from this year.
2. I open up Photos Library.library and remove all the photos from last year.

Photos Library.library is always my system library, synced with iCloud.
Don’t rename this library else you’ll have to re-sync the whole thing to iCloud again.

The end result is

• a collection of year based library files
• a collection of iCloud shared albums containing best of previous years photos
• a much smaller iCloud photos library, containing the images from the past 4-16 months

You will still get memory notifications on your Mac from any previous year libraries stored on it which is kinda cool.

I want to add that getting to this system wasn’t easy, making the first duplicate to start carving the library down to size was a very time consuming task. I also had loose image files stored on multiple drives and cloud services. Exif data was in a mess too. Got it all sorted out eventually and vowed to never let my photo library get into such a state ever again 😅

I also keep RAW files and images taken with cameras other than my iPhone on a Synology NAS, I use the Synology PhotoStation app to manage that library. I treat the NAS as my source file archive, and Apple Photos as my “working directory” for images throughout the year due to it being the conduit for all image editing apps on iPad and iPhone.

 

[Fishrrman]

What you could do:

Buy TWO external drives.
One 1tb SSD.
The other 1tb platter-based hard drive.

Now...
Move both the music and photo libraries to the external SSD.
They can be easily accessed by the OS this way -- completely transparent.
This now becomes your "primary external storage" drive to be used side-by-side with your internal boot drive.

Use the platter-based HDD in combination with either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper.
The platter-based drive becomes your "backup of your primary external storage" drive.
CCC or SD will produce AN EXACT COPY of the original, that is all-but-impossible to tell apart FROM the original. NOTHING will do this better.

With your music and photo libraries relocated (and BACKED UP) this way, you could now buy either a 256gb or 512gb iMac, and still have the "extra room you need".

And of course, you'll need ANOTHER external drive to serve as the backup for the iMac's internal drive.

Yes, more drives than you may have expected.
But you DO want to be backed up.... don't you....?

The other way:
Spend the $$$ to buy a 1tb internal SSD.
Then, get a platter-based external drive to serve as backup.

To save a little money, you might wait until the models you like start showing up on Apple's refurbished site...

 

[jz0309]

I have a 2.5 TB iTunes library on an external hard drive - works just fine
I have a 600GB+ photo library on an external SSD - works fine
my photos are in Lightroom, the raw files are on the external SSD, the index is on the internal SSD

 

[trip1ex]

Depends on your needs. I mean you can just pay $10/mo in perpetuity for icloud 2tb and call it good.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

I was looking for a drive array system, and there are so many out there that deciding was a huge chore. I still haven't pulled the trigger, so to speak, but feel that having an array would solve a lot of issues. I do have an acquired Dell Poweredge T330 server, but the drive cage only had one row populated, and Dell dropped the bare carriages to add more drives to the thing. So maddening that Dell dropped them! GRRRR!!! I might actually have to buy an old server on ebay, and scrap the entire tibg except for the carriers. Talk about STOOPID!!! But I figured with 4 3tb drives, I could get 9tb RAID 5 and only have to spring for drives, and carriages, but now another server? Just for carriers? Because Dell doesn't sell them anymore? (They do sell them WITH drives, but their prices are breathtaking)

 

[shapesinaframe]

The other way:
Spend the $$$ to buy a 1tb internal SSD.
Then, get a platter-based external drive to serve as backup.

I also did this. Very nice to have all that internal storage, but it’s going to suck when the times comes to selling it to fund the next one 💸💸💸
Next time I’ll just get 512GB 🤦‍♂️

 

[coolajami]

I have exactly the same problem. Massive libraries of photographs and other media.

What I used to do up until recently, I was backing them up in two (2) different external drives (exactly as someone suggested earlier): One 2TB SSD, for quick access, that I'm carrying with me, and a 2TB HDD external when I'm home, for redundancy. I used to always copy the files first on the SSD and when at home, I will connect both drives to the laptop, and i set up Hazel to update the HDD drive with any new files ( you can use another back-up software, I like Hazel because of the flexibility). For the media I don't particularly bother, but for photo access online I was using Mylio and the Amazon Drive for backing and quick access of the photo library.

Recently I decided to streamline my workload, and I bought a NAS RAID Drive with 2 x 4TB HDD's and I set it up to RAID-1. I copied everything there and due to RAID, the two drives are cloned and also got a benefit of setting up a time machine backup.

This is the best option if you're using laptops and you rely heavily in WiFi: it may not be the fastest option, but It make life much easier, because there is automatic redundancy and also can access the data all the time if you're in the same wifi network. Also the one I got has the option to set-up a personal cloud that you can access online (no subscription cost, the NAS works as your personal server). I've never look back as now all my data are readily available to access them when I need them and also the NAS runs a PLEX server, so I can stream my data to my devices.

If you're working on a desktop and you don't require your data to be available when you're on the move, the fastest and safest option is the use of a USB-C or TB3 RAID drive, that will provide you redundancy but you're loosing the benefit to share the data within your network.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

I have exactly the same problem. Massive libraries of photographs and other media.

What I used to do up until recently, I was backing them up in two (2) different external drives (exactly as someone suggested earlier): One 2TB SSD, for quick access, that I'm carrying with me, and a 2TB HDD external when I'm home, for redundancy. I used to always copy the files first on the SSD and when at home, I will connect both drives to the laptop, and i set up Hazel to update the HDD drive with any new files ( you can use another back-up software, I like Hazel because of the flexibility). For the media I don't particularly bother, but for photo access online I was using Mylio and the Amazon Drive for backing and quick access of the photo library.

Recently I decided to streamline my workload, and I bought a NAS RAID Drive with 2 x 4TB HDD's and I set it up to RAID-1. I copied everything there and due to RAID, the two drives are cloned and also got a benefit of setting up a time machine backup.

This is the best option if you're using laptops and you rely heavily in WiFi: it may not be the fastest option, but It make life much easier, because there is automatic redundancy and also can access the data all the time if you're in the same wifi network. Also the one I got has the option to set-up a personal cloud that you can access online (no subscription cost, the NAS works as your personal server). I've never look back as now all my data are readily available to access them when I need them and also the NAS runs a PLEX server, so I can stream my data to my devices.

If you're working on a desktop and you don't require your data to be available when you're on the move, the fastest and safest option is the use of a USB-C or TB3 RAID drive, that will provide you redundancy but you're loosing the benefit to share the data within your network.

What did you get? I'm looking for options. Thanks...

 

[coolajami]

What did you get? I'm looking for options. Thanks...

I got the WD My Cloud Ex2 Ultra with 2x4TB WD Red HDDs. This setup cost something less than $300 if you look around and it does the job very well. I'm using other WD equipment for professional reasons and it was kinda the best option for my setup.
Most people will tell you to go for an entry level Synology or QNAP NAS station, as their newer models seem to outperform the WD My Cloud Ex2 Ultra ( be careful, the My Cloud Home Duo is NOT a NAS drive).

That said, I believe the WD NAS is the best bang for your buck as it can be significantly cheaper than a Synology or QNAP NAS setup with the same WD RED HDD drives and you get only marginal differences in performance.

For me the WD NAS is a game changer: I'm using a WD My Passport Wireless SSD for backing-up my SD cards when I'm shooting as I don't have my laptop with me most of the times. Then I can immediately back-up my photos directly to my NAS through any internet connection(!) where they would sync with my online back-up service if needed. When I'm back home everything is set for me. I hope to be able to test the workflow again soon, when we could start travelling abroad!

 

[jeyf]

personal home storage is not going away any time soon:


-buy a 4bay Synology NASbox if you can afford it. Qnap had has a history of firmware malware issues that were are badly handled.
-keep it simple, dont download run apps on your NASbox, use it only for storage. Your security is only as good as the last the last app you instaled.
-avoid proprietary i/o ports and odd cables. connect the NASbox via ethernet(s) into your router
-the up time and reliability on a NASbox is very good.
-my NASbox is in the basement, less vibration dust there

last year I put some effort into a home backup scheem:
-i re purposed a second slower older NASbox as a backup. the kitchen iMac wakes up and runs ChronoSync early 1am every few days.
-ChronoSync will scan/toouch for changes. If no changes or only a few change, the writes are miniual.
-fiels to be over written in the backup are archived first. I do not use large packed image files
-the backkup NASbox is physically in a spare bedroom.


I have a small business.
i use my NASbox as a read many times, write once.
-Say if I am working on a tax project, first I create a work area on my macBook. If the project takes a few days I push a copy of my project back onto the NAS box ever so often. When the project is completed I manually put the final project on to the NASBox, erase the macBook, erase the incrimental projects.