Running Music.app & Photos.app from SMB Shares

[jingo_man]

I would like to move the data from these 2 apps to a NAS, which presents it to the LAN as a SMB share. To regularly and conveniently use these apps from my (only) MacBook Air laptop without having to be physically tethered to a USB device...

• Photos - to be able to simplify the syncing of photos from my iPhone into the library. Easier to manage the library, and create books and other items from this library. I have no interest in the iCloud Photo Library service, though I see that at least it is now covered by my own encryption via the new Advanced Data Protection option.
• Music - I only subscribe to iTunes Match, so that new purchases I make can then be streamed from my other Apple devices without having to synchronise. I also use Smart Playlists, though they have broken the chaining of smart playlists as sources for other smart playlists, so I am also dismayed by the current functionality. I have no interest in Apple Music and prefer to own my media, keep it at a high fidelity. I have tried the Doppler app, but it is too basic for my needs and I still need to keep my Music library to make use of iTunes Match.

Once mounted, I re-point / re-open the app and choose the network-based location for the library. I have done this in the distant past.

However, both libraries have ballooned in size over the years...

• Photos = 300GB
• Music = 100GB

Poor Performance​

Music.app performance is terrible, with constant beach-balling, slow and non-responsive UIs, regular error messages about being unable to save the library.

Photos.app just crashes as I try to do the first loading of this network-based library.

Suggestions?​

Is this a similar experience for others? Or do I have something configured wrong in my setup?

If performance is known to be bad, what alternatives do people use? Other apps or services?

Can you make a USB HDD into a wireless device? Anyone's experience of this?