Is Network Attached Storage (NAS) my only solution

TimPhilippines wrote on 6/28/2016, 8:26 AM

Need dependable NAS solution or some another answer.

Need to share pics & video files with 3 of my adult children and other family in 3 different states. They will all record their own family videos (7 grand kids) and I will be the sole video editor for everyone.

I have never used NAS before. Here's some possibilities:

Seagate Personal Cloud 2-bay Home Media Storage Device 8TB NAS STCS8000100 2x4TB $379.99
Would be 1st choice but reviews are not that great

Western Digital My Cloud Mirror Gen 2 4TB 2x2TB $299.00

Netgear ReadyNAS 202 --- PC Mag Editors Choice but sold with no drives

Buffalo TeraStation 5200DN (2TB) $482.99

Canon Connect StationCS100 looks beautiful but it will not accept edited video files, which is the main thing I want to do with it. Also would need to buy 5 of them instead of one of the above.

At least 3 of the homes have Verizon fiber optic. Since this is such an important task, don't mind spending a little more $ for dependability & better quality.

Probably no 4K or streaming. Just a central location for storage and retrieval of pics & HD videos shared among distant family members.

Thank you! Any and all advice would be much appreciated.

Comments

Dach wrote on 6/28/2016, 8:33 AM

NAS is a possible solution. It would require each household to install the client software which in theory is straight forward, but may create its own set of problems. I personally own the Seagate, while I do not have any problems with it, I find that I do not use it as often as I had thought I would.

Using a service, such as Google Drive or Dropbox would accomplish the same objective.

TimPhilippines wrote on 6/28/2016, 9:35 AM

Thanks, Dach! Unfortunately, Google is limited to 15 GB. Don't want to pay exorbitant storage fees. With 3 young mothers and 3 grand mothers all armed with HD video cameras for every birthday, graduation, holiday & get together, I wonder if the 2 x 4 TB will be enough. Of course we could closely monitor that everyone would download the videos quickly so the limits aren't exceeded, but I'd rather have the central repository be more lasting. Love the 2 bay security! I am 70 and live in the Philippines. My youngest son, 33, who owns a great internet company will probably end up being the headmaster of the system with me doing the video editing with Vegas. With all of the grand kids under 7 yrs old, it's possible that the whole system could outlive me.

dlion wrote on 6/28/2016, 11:02 AM

check out powweb.com. you could get a family website for as little as 4$ a month. use it to store your files with their unlimited disk space.

i've used them for years for my website, they are awesome.

you all could use ftp, or create a one-page html with an upload button.

wwaag wrote on 6/28/2016, 11:05 AM

Another option. Amazon unlimited storage at $60 a year. I'd sure give the online storage a try before sinking a lot of $ into hardware.

wwaag

TeetimeNC wrote on 6/28/2016, 12:19 PM

Tim, this is a bit of a "thinking out of the box" suggestion, but have you considered a photo sharing site like Smugmug? I use it for my business web site, and also for my family photos/videos. There is no limit on the number of photos/videos you can upload. There IS a limit on the size of each: currently photos 150MB, videos 3GB or 20 minute length, 1080p max.

If the size limits aren't an issue, there are some nice features for $60 or less per year:
- nicely designed gallery styles
- responsive design means you can view on any device from smartphone to PC
- you can set up galleries for family and friends to upload to (for example, when I attend a wedding I set up a new gallery for the other guests upload to, and view everyone's photos)
- friends and family can purchase prints and photo gifts
- all your photos and videos are backed up

Biggest downside - video hosting isn't a priority. On my business website I host my video on Vimeo and embed it. But for my personal videos I'm ok with hosting them on Smugmug.

Learn more at Smugmug.

Jerry
http://www.takeonesolutions.com
Photography • Video

john_dennis wrote on 6/28/2016, 11:40 PM

"[I]Love the 2 bay security![/I]"

Don't mistake a RAID mirror set of drives for any form of security except NAS uptime and the ability to replace a failed drive on the fly. Data protection is only guaranteed by backups that are kept in a different physical location. One lightning strike could take out the NAS controller and both the drives. Without a backup, the jig is up.

If you buy two 4TB drives to mirror you should consider buying three drives instead. Use the third drive for offsite backup.

I looked at Jerry's proposed solution and it looks very good to me.

TeetimeNC wrote on 6/29/2016, 7:57 AM

FWIW, here is a recent example of a guest gallery I created at my SmugMug site for attendees to share their photos from a wedding we attended.

Jerry
http://www.takeonesolutions.com
Photography • Video

musicvid10 wrote on 6/29/2016, 8:53 AM

Is there a reason you need to rule out a private YouTube channel for your family movies?
Maintaining a server for that seems like an awful lot of work.

jwcarney wrote on 6/29/2016, 9:58 AM

for 50.00 a year Vimeo is a great video hosted service that can be password protected. You can link to it via a custom website if you want that contains photos. Much better than trying to setup a home server accessible for everyone.
But, if you go that route, a single pc with a couple of large HDs (do not make a raid setup) and something like a media manager/server like Plex or Kodi can work very well, even across the internet. Either one is free and you can use a windows desktop if you like. No need for custom NAS for this type of project.