NAS for iMac Pro: I need 10GpE/Thunderbolt 3?

[MarcoTogni]

Hi,
I would like to buy a NAS with 2 hard drives, each one with 8TB, to save things on one hard drive and have a mirror backup on the other.
I was thinking to buy the Synology DS218j but I noticed it has just 1GpE and just USB 3.0.

Two questions:
1) What do you think, should I buy a Nas with 10GpE and/or Thunderbolt 3? or 1GpE and USB 3.0 is usually enough? Maybe sometimes I would like to edit videos save in the NAS..

2) Do you have any advice on which NAS with 10GpE/Thunderbolt 3 I should buy?

Thank you!

 

[Sahib7]

What do you think, should I buy a Nas with 10GpE and/or Thunderbolt 3? or 1GpE and USB 3.0 is usually enough

As long as you use HHDs only USB3 is sufficient and there is no speed benefit by using TB3.
Regarding LAN: 1GB LAN has a maximum transfer speed of 125MB/s, so you could relatively easy reach it´s limits. Ask yourself if that is enough for your use case.
Problem is that even the high end consumer versions from Synology (my preferred NAS company) do not offer 10GpE. I have a DS 918+. If I would want to have 10GpE and for me 4bays are enough. The cheapest NAS from Synology with 10GbE is the DS1718+ which is an 8 bay device for about 1000$...

So i would recommend a 1GbE NAS (e.g. DS918+) and an additional USB3 Gen2 housing for the files you need more speed (e.g. Terramaster D2-310).

 

[komatsu]

Solid advice there Sahib!

OP, if you're working with stuff like video editing files, a USB 3 device will be quicker.

 

[BayouTiger]

Keep in ,mind that most NAS units are full PC's so thunderbolt is likely to be via Thunderbolt Bridge networking. My QNAP has it and I greatly prefer the 10Gbe connection. If you are only connecting with one computer, a DAS unit is a lot easier to live with, but if you need access from elsewhere the NAS is better.

 

[AlexJoda]

Solid advice there Sahib!

OP, if you're working with stuff like video editing files, a USB 3 device will be quicker.

But this is limited to be placed near the iMac and can only be used by one User. My 10 GBe NAS (a Thecus N7710-G, which is relatively inexpensive and transfers 300-400 MB/s with ease) is placed in the cellar where I cannot hear it and access it from all our devices...

 

[komatsu]

Alex, I think the OP needs it setup for just one user.

BTW, what file transfer protocol is your Thecus configured with?

 

[Sahib7]

is placed in the cellar where I cannot hear it and access it from all our devices...

Those with good wires, lucky are - as Yoda would say

 

[TGB]

I use Synology DS3615xs; which support pci-express-card 10Gbit network card (single or dual port, any such card will work - but wise to get one on the compatibility list from Synology) . It contains 36*4TB drives. Just bought a Synology DS3617xs (starting with 6*10TB drives) which got the same possibility. But I would go for network, not thunderbolt - being able to have the NAS-box in another room is a big plus regarding noise.

 

[danielwsmithee]

Hi,
I would like to buy a NAS with 2 hard drives, each one with 8TB, to save things on one hard drive and have a mirror backup on the other.
I was thinking to buy the Synology DS218j but I noticed it has just 1GpE and just USB 3.0.

Two questions:
1) What do you think, should I buy a Nas with 10GpE and/or Thunderbolt 3? or 1GpE and USB 3.0 is usually enough? Maybe sometimes I would like to edit videos save in the NAS..

2) Do you have any advice on which NAS with 10GpE/Thunderbolt 3 I should buy?

Thank you!

i don’t really get what you are trying to accomplish with this request. Two drives in RAID1 isn’t going to very high performance, so why the desire to move to a much more expensive 10gbe Ethernet Interface.

Personally I use my NAS for backups and personal cloud access. I wouldn’t actually work from one, that is what DAS is for.

If you just want backups get the cheaper NAS if you want something to work from get a USB 3.1 dual drive enclosure.

A NAS with 10gbe or Thunderbolt bridge networking is a good investment if you got a group of people that all want simultaneous access. So if that is your situation go for it.

 

[spikerules]

I have the little bro to this one https://www.qnap.com/solution/thunderbolt3-nas/en/. I went for the TS-453BT3 as we only need two people editing 4k RAW at the same time, but the one I linked is much faster and more professional if you have the money!

 

[mmllee]

I have the little bro to this one https://www.qnap.com/solution/thunderbolt3-nas/en/. I went for the TS-453BT3 as we only need two people editing 4k RAW at the same time, but the one I linked is much faster and more professional if you have the money!

hi,
in case you set up your TS-453BT3 with HDD based RAID5 would you mind reporting the transfer speeds you're getting with it (over thunderbolt?)? it's impossible to find any data points on that on the web
cheers

 

[whwang]

hi,
in case you set up your TS-453BT3 with HDD based RAID5 would you mind reporting the transfer speeds you're getting with it (over thunderbolt?)? it's impossible to find any data points on that on the web
cheers

Even if you can find a number, be careful. I have a TVS-1282T. When I purchased it, QNAP had its transfer speed on its product webpage. However, the speed I get, no matter over TB2 or 10GbE, is never over 3/4 of what QNAP claimed. Now they remove the numbers from the product page of TVS-1282T, and I believe they just do not dare to show the numbers any more.

Also, my TVS-1282T is loud. Hope yours is not.

 

[spikerules]

hi,
in case you set up your TS-453BT3 with HDD based RAID5 would you mind reporting the transfer speeds you're getting with it (over thunderbolt?)? it's impossible to find any data points on that on the web
cheers

Hi with two people using BMD speed test in RAID 5 (at the same time) we get around 250 read and 360 write, but with one of us using speed test we get approx 365-430 read and 560 write. Hope that helps! I haven't added any M.2 drives for caching though, so not sure how much that could help.

PS - The latter result still has both computers (1 iMac pro and one PC) connotes to the drive, just not accessing the speed test app.

 

[mmllee]

thank you for the info, that's very valuable !
just one more question:if the share would be mounted to the same machine via thunderbolt and via network then it would show up twice in finder, right ?

 

[spikerules]

thank you for the info, that's very valuable !
just one more question:if the share would be mounted to the same machine via thunderbolt and via network then it would show up twice in finder, right ?

It shows up as a network drive. Not a local drive. Is that what you mean?

 

[mmllee]

It shows up as a network drive. Not a local drive. Is that what you mean?

thx, for your reply.
my question was if you're connected over Thunderbolt and at the same time e.g. via wireless / lan (through your home network), whether then it shows twice as a network drive

thx

 

[spikerules]

thx, for your reply.
my question was if you're connected over Thunderbolt and at the same time e.g. via wireless / lan (through your home network), whether then it shows twice as a network drive

thx

Yes it does. With two different IP’s. The thunderbolt normally starts with 169.xxx etc

 

[AnakChan]

Sorry to bump an old thread. For the TS-453BT3 owners connecting via TB3, what sort of read/write speeds are you getting? I'm guessing that there'll be some performance loss since the TB3 is going via 10GbE that there's TCP/IP and SMB protocols overhead?

 

[Ifti]

i don’t really get what you are trying to accomplish with this request. Two drives in RAID1 isn’t going to very high performance, so why the desire to move to a much more expensive 10gbe Ethernet Interface.

Personally I use my NAS for backups and personal cloud access. I wouldn’t actually work from one, that is what DAS is for.

If you just want backups get the cheaper NAS if you want something to work from get a USB 3.1 dual drive enclosure.

A NAS with 10gbe or Thunderbolt bridge networking is a good investment if you got a group of people that all want simultaneous access. So if that is your situation go for it.

100% agree with this.
Great response.....

 

[jimthing]

Sorry to bump an old thread. For the TS-453BT3 owners connecting via TB3, what sort of read/write speeds are you getting? I'm guessing that there'll be some performance loss since the TB3 is going via 10GbE that there's TCP/IP and SMB protocols overhead?

A YouTube video from Robbie at span.com suggests ~300 read/writes.

Best info you'll likely find out there.

If I had 10GbE ethernet built in to my MBP I'd likely get that, as you can store the drive away from your Mac. External storage with HDDs always makes a noise, regardless of type, and quiet is very good to have.
Trouble is all other non-iMac Pro's don't have 10GbE, so the rest of us have to buy an expensive TB3-to-10GbE adapters from Sonnet for 'only' £700 (the Promise and Akitio ones are rubbish, apparently)! So we're stuffed.

There's also zero optical TB3 cables out there, so the maximum distance on TB3 active 40Gbit cables is only a whopping 2m. Bit crap really, isn't it. :-|

(although I've been reading around and apparently using a 10m Corning optical TB1/2 cable with 2x Apple TB1/2<>TB3 adapters on each end, means you may be able to put a TB3 DAS at a distance. So I'd try that, if I had a iMac Pro, as it'd give higher than 300MB/s going forward, which'd give a better overall experience.)