Best practice: Synology Diskstation Workflow

[RuffDraft]

Hello everyone,

I'm a wedding videographer. After a day's shoot, I transfer around 300GB of data to my Thunderbolt 2 RAID, which takes me around 2-3 hours checking the data and getting it across to my editing drive. After this, I go to sleep, whilst the 300GB folder transfers to my 5-bay Synology Diskstation.

This can take anywhere up to a day.

The server is downstairs, my Mac is upstairs, the Internet in my home is ridiculously slow (5mb download, 0.9mb upload) and the transfer means that I generally take the day off... that was until today when the 300GB decided to tell me that it would take a day, and then 12 hours later, it's still saying a day... the transfer of 100GB has occurred, but it's just a ridiculously slow workflow that I'd like to nip in the bud.

What would you suggest that I do? Do I have someone install a router in my office so that I can connect my Diskstation to my Mac and use an Ethernet cable to do this? I am not so sure that I understand the speed difference between 1gb ethernet and wireless transfers.

I'd be grateful if someone more knowledgeable could school me or point me to an article that would help me to plan my home network out a lot better than I am currently doing.

The Diskstation is a 5-bay set up in RAID 5 and has 20TB of storage. It does not support 10gb ethernet - just the one.

I am tempted to move to a 10gb/s system, as the iMac Pro will support this and I'm waiting for one to arrive.

Thanks to anyone who can offer any helpful input! I know that I'm a noob when it comes to home networking... if that isn't obvious already!

 

[IHelpId10t5]

Using Gigabit Ethernet should only take that transfer about an hour. There really is still no comparison between the speed and reliability of wired Ethernet connections and even the best wireless even under ideal conditions.

By the way, unless I'm misunderstanding your setup, your home Internet connection speed has absolutely nothing to do with the LAN data transfer you explained. Either get your house wired for Ethernet or move all of your equipment to the same room where you can use wired connections.

Lastly, I know it's already a challenge working with that amount of data but how are you backing that up?

 

[danielwsmithee]

Some new NAS boxes by QNAP support either 10gb/s Ethernet or Thunderbolt network bringing which allows multiple macs to connect to the same NAS via Thunderbolt at 40gb/s.

The first problem you need to solve though is getting a wired connection. Even the best AC wireless still won’t touch real world throughput of gigabit Ethernet.

I’ve got a Synology NAS in my basement but the whole house is wired with gigabit Ethernet. Transfers are typically around 80-90 MB/s, but I only have 3 drive bays populated.

 

[RuffDraft]

Using Gigabit Ethernet should only take that transfer about an hour. There really is still no comparison between the speed and reliability of wired Ethernet connections and even the best wireless even under ideal conditions.

By the way, unless I'm misunderstanding your setup, your home Internet connection speed has absolutely nothing to do with the LAN data transfer you explained. Either get your house wired for Ethernet or move all of your equipment to the same room where you can use wired connections.

Lastly, I know it's already a challenge working with that amount of data but how are you backing that up?

Wow! That fast?! That's insane! I actually bought a 10metre ethernet cable, so I can probably just use that until I move everything to the same room - I feel like a right noob now - this is an incredible jump in speed! Haha! I'm hoping that the ethernet cable will just work, but I'll have a Google and see how to set it up.

I don't even understand my own setup if I'm honest. I have the power cable plugged in and another cable going into my router. It just works after messing with it about 3 years ago when I first set it up. I really could do with learning a lot more, but I am not sure which resources would help me to do so.

So, I have a 24TB G RAID Shuttle XL Thunderbolt 2 set up in a RAID 5, and then the data stored there is transferred across to my 20TB Synology Diskstation server, which is also running in RAID 5. I have my data in two places at all times, but I don't at the moment update my libraries for back up - this is something else that I'd like to resolve with the new FCPX 10.4 being able to link with the Diskstation natively.

I'd only ever lose a day, unless both systems were to fail and data was unrecoverable, but I'm not sure of what those odds would be? Both are powered through a UPS too, so they're fairly safe. In the new year, once finances allow, I'd like to add a third back up, but with 300GB of data, I'm not so sure that with my 0.9mb/s upload speed, it'd be possible to back up my weddings online. Therefore, I'm considering an 8TB drive and transporting that hard drive between my auntie's house and mine so that I have my weddings in both locations. It's a bit of an effort, but much easier than using the Internet that we have on my estate, which hasn't got a fibre connection yet.

If you've got any further advice, I'd be really happy to listen?

Thanks very much for your time! :O)
[doublepost=1513612155][/doublepost]

Some new NAS boxes by QNAP support either 10gb/s Ethernet or Thunderbolt network bringing which allows multiple macs to connect to the same NAS via Thunderbolt at 40gb/s.

The first problem you need to solve though is getting a wired connection. Even the best AC wireless still won’t touch real world throughput of gigabit Ethernet.

I’ve got a Synology NAS in my basement but the whole house is wired with gigabit Ethernet. Transfers are typically around 80-90 MB/s, but I only have 3 drive bays populated.

That's incredible... my issue is that I don't have this understanding when it comes to home networking. I have been so busy with the business, that I haven't had the time to look into this enough.

How do most people set up a wired connection in their homes? I'm quite happy with one being downstairs and one being upstairs, as if I was home during a fire, I could unplug one and run out of the house, knowing that I have everything I need to re-build.

My T&Cs state that data is only stored on-site as well, and for the price that I'm charging, my clients are getting quite a comprehensive back up strategy. In a few years when I'm able to charge a lot more, I'll have a back up strategy that suits those clients' budgets too.

I'm going to have a whirl with this ethernet cable now - I'll be back with how long it takes me to figure it out! Haha!

Thanks for your help too!

 

[danielwsmithee]

Wow! That fast?! That's insane! I actually bought a 10metre ethernet cable, so I can probably just use that until I move everything to the same room - I feel like a right noob now - this is an incredible jump in speed! Haha! I'm hoping that the ethernet cable will just work, but I'll have a Google and see how to set it up.

I don't even understand my own setup if I'm honest. I have the power cable plugged in and another cable going into my router. It just works after messing with it about 3 years ago when I first set it up. I really could do with learning a lot more, but I am not sure which resources would help me to do so.

So, I have a 24TB G RAID Shuttle XL Thunderbolt 2 set up in a RAID 5, and then the data stored there is transferred across to my 20TB Synology Diskstation server, which is also running in RAID 5. I have my data in two places at all times, but I don't at the moment update my libraries for back up - this is something else that I'd like to resolve with the new FCPX 10.4 being able to link with the Diskstation natively.

I'd only ever lose a day, unless both systems were to fail and data was unrecoverable, but I'm not sure of what those odds would be? Both are powered through a UPS too, so they're fairly safe. In the new year, once finances allow, I'd like to add a third back up, but with 300GB of data, I'm not so sure that with my 0.9mb/s upload speed, it'd be possible to back up my weddings online. Therefore, I'm considering an 8TB drive and transporting that hard drive between my auntie's house and mine so that I have my weddings in both locations. It's a bit of an effort, but much easier than using the Internet that we have on my estate, which hasn't got a fibre connection yet.

If you've got any further advice, I'd be really happy to listen?

Thanks very much for your time! :O)
[doublepost=1513612155][/doublepost]

That's incredible... my issue is that I don't have this understanding when it comes to home networking. I have been so busy with the business, that I haven't had the time to look into this enough.

How do most people set up a wired connection in their homes? I'm quite happy with one being downstairs and one being upstairs, as if I was home during a fire, I could unplug one and run out of the house, knowing that I have everything I need to re-build.

My T&Cs state that data is only stored on-site as well, and for the price that I'm charging, my clients are getting quite a comprehensive back up strategy. In a few years when I'm able to charge a lot more, I'll have a back up strategy that suits those clients' budgets too.

I'm going to have a whirl with this ethernet cable now - I'll be back with how long it takes me to figure it out! Haha!

Thanks for your help too!

I have my router in my basement. It then connects to a 16-port gigabit Ethernet switch. Which then connects to all wired devices in my house as well as 2 wirelas access points. The only devices that use wireless are mobile devices like iPhones and iPads, everything else uses gigabit Ethernet.

Are you using your own router is it provided by the ISP. Make sure it is a gigabit router and has enough ports for what you are doing.

As far as off site backups. Our city just installed gigabit fiber to homes. I’m planning on setting up a second NAS at my in-laws that is backed up to from the one in my basement. Of course you can’t do that without a very high speed internet connection.

 

[RuffDraft]

I have my router in my basement. It then connects to a 16-port gigabit Ethernet switch. Which then connects to all wired devices in my house as well as 2 wirelas access points. The only devices that use wireless are mobile devices like iPhones and iPads, everything else uses gigabit Ethernet.

Are you using your own router is it provided by the ISP. Make sure it is a gigabit router and has enough ports for what you are doing.

As far as off site backups. Our city just installed gigabit fiber to homes. I’m planning on setting up a second NAS at my in-laws that is backed up to from the one in my basement. Of course you can’t do that without a very high speed internet connection.

Thanks Daniel. I have just successfully setup the ethernet cable to be my server's default gateway and I transferred 150GB in 22 minutes - it took me two days to do the same amount of data wirelessly - incredible transfer improvement - so glad I posted and bought that £3 ethernet cable!!!

The router is provided by the ISP. Well pleased with that! Thanks for everyone's help in this group!

Yeah... that'd be a sweet idea. I may do the same if fibre ever comes to my estate. Unfortunately, the people who built our homes refused access for five years, which was when all the cables were laid for fibre, so we've been left in the dark.

Either way, I think I'll use the physical media transfer between locations next year, once I have enough money to buy another HDD - I just shelled out for the iMac Pro, which is going to take a few months to pay off.

Thanks for posting and sharing your information with me though - a massive help!