# New Computer & Backup system



## hollybolly (Mar 14, 2011)

Hi
Having had my lightroom queries answered over in another forum I thought I would being my hardware queries over here.

Firstly - I was toying with the idea of moving to a Mac a few weeks ago - the tech person at my local computer store advised against for a few reasons which seemed very sensible to me.
a - if it goes wrong it needs to be sent off to apple to be sorted out and goodness only knows how long you are then without a computer for
b - as they are all enclosed (I think) he said that if one bit goes generally you need to replace everything
c - you can get much more for your money with a PC

Why are Macs so much better than PCs if the above is correct...or is it just a preference thing?  I think they are stunning to look at but that ain't a very good reason for buying one!

Secondly - my current PC is about to die on me and takes ages to do anything - if I am in photoshop it will currently take about 8 minutes to go through the print screens if I want to print something - driving me mad!  I am on vista and was advised to try to upgrade to windows 7 but to be honest I can't stomach the idea of losing everything I've got on my pc at the moment and moving it all across- when I am only really getting used to how lightroom works.

So I am looking at a new PC with a good backup system (as I am currently in the dark ages and back up to dvds) and would be grateful if anyone can recommend a good set up.  At the moment he has been talking about a PC with either a SATA drive or SSD drive (someone on the other forum advised both - what would you put on each though) with NAS drives for backing up.

My current PC is as follows: Intel (R)Core(TM)2 Quad CPU @2.66ghz, 8gb ram, nividia Geforce GTS250. I use vista ultimate - but will go for windows 7!

What do you use and recommend?

Thanks


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## RikkFlohr (Mar 14, 2011)

I use both and recommend both, depending upon the user, the task at hand and the limitations with which you are willing to live.  If you are happy in the PC world there is little reason to change even though the learning curve on a Mac is less steep. 

While what your tech advisor said is technically true it paints an incomplete picture.  PC to Mac conversions are usually very expensive as not all software comes cross-platform (LR does- PS doesn't) This usually means leaving trusted software programs behind and buying new versions.  Many software packages are available for only one platform and far more of those are PC than Mac. 

I live in both worlds because I teach to both worlds. If I had to choose one it would PC simply because it makes me compatible with 90% of the world.  Conversely, if I were stuck the rest of my life using a Mac I would shrug my shoulders and keep plugging away. 

I would recommend the upgrade to Windows 7 whole-heartedly.


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## Victoria Bampton (Mar 14, 2011)

hollybolly said:


> I think they are stunning to look at but that ain't a very good reason for buying one!


 
Sounds like a pretty good reason to me!    Ok, just kidding.  

I've done Windows, I love my Mac, and I wouldn't switch back, BUT that's a matter of personal preference.  I like the way it thinks.  I like the integration across a wide range of software and hardware.  I like not having to mess around with windows registries and viruses.  I like my computer to understand that I'm quite capable of setting my own security measures.  I like the a lot of software that's not available for Windows, such as OmniFocus.  I spend my life on computers, so it's important to me that I enjoy it.  

All that said, it's just a tool.  Either will do the job, and either can do the job well.  If you're used to Windows and you're happy with it, stick with it.  But do upgrade to Windows 7.

As far as hard drives go, the SSD is a nice luxury for the boot drive - makes it boot quickly and open programs quickly.  For files, SATA drives for storing the images (I like the Hitachi Deskstar 7K2000 2tb drives for storage).  And then yes, NAS or external drive enclosure for backup is good.


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## clee01l (Mar 14, 2011)

I don't own a Mac but would if they were priced competitively with an equivalent Win7 model from HP or Dell.  I think your tech person is showing a lot of bias that probably reflects an anticipated loss of repair business if he steered customers toward products that his shop can't service.   I would ignore such advice.

If the price is right for you, go for the Mac.  But do factor in the cost of Windows only software that you will also need to replace or plan to purchase fusion or parallels.  
FWIW, in November 2009, I got an HP quad Core for less than $600 after pricing an equivalent Mac Desktop at ~$3000.


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## LouieSherwin (Mar 15, 2011)

> My current PC is as follows: Intel (R)Core(TM)2 Quad CPU @2.66ghz, 8gb ram, nividia Geforce GTS250. I use vista ultimate - but will go for windows 7!



I am surprised that this system is being so slow. I have a Mac Pro with about the same configuration and I am still quite pleased with the performance. You should not have to wait minutes for anything except building more than 50 1:1 previews. 

I would first consider upgrading to Windows 7. I am not familiar with your video card but that is another possible upgrade that can improve LR performance. A good fast supported GPU will help a lot with screen refresh time.

Last but not least I suggest reviewing your disk drives and configuration.  Upgrading to faster drives SATA can make a noticeable difference. The Hitachi drives that Victoria mentions are excellent. In addition I split my boot, caches and photos onto separate drives. I recently put my boot and caches onto the new 600GB WD Velociraptor 10k drives. That alone gave me a immediate and noticeable improvement in system and application startup. 

Also check your free space on your existing system drive. I typically keep mine at least 30% free. Anything less can impact system performance. Both Mac OS and Windows make heavy use of the free space on the system drive as scratch areas. 

All of the above applies to a new system also. 

-louie


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## Jim Wilde (Mar 15, 2011)

Have to agree with Louie....a PC with that spec should be perfectly fine for running Lightroom and Photoshop. Nothing wrong with the video card either....looking at the Passmark benchmark data the GTS250 is ranked 70 out of 313 'high-end' cards. For comparison Louie's 4870 is ranked 36, my 5750 is ranked 47....and both these cards are way more than Lightroom needs, they are gaming quality...

For sure I would try a clean Win7 install first, before I rushed out to buy a 'better' machine, and I'd also endorse the point about trying a multiple internal drive setup to separate key Lightroom components (I have 4 internal drives: boot,catalogs,cache,pictures).

Of course, if you're anything like me you wouldn't really need much of an excuse to go looking for a new system!


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## drmaxx (Mar 15, 2011)

Both my windows systems (A laptop with an 2.5 GHz dual core, and a desktop with 2.7 GHz dual core) are running Lightroom just fine. Not specifically fast, but workable. I agree with the others that there is something wrong with your current set-up....


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## edgley (Mar 16, 2011)

Please remember that the cost of the hardware is only one cost that occurs during the life of a computer.
I have to do no work to keep my Macs going; the same cannot be said of Windows.

Furthermore, as I have just been looking, the resale value of Macs are impressive. My three year old Mac Pro is worth over 50% of what I paid for it, if I sell it on Ebay.


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## RikkFlohr (Mar 16, 2011)

edgley said:


> Please remember that the cost of the hardware is only one cost that occurs during the life of a computer.
> I have to do no work to keep my Macs going; the same cannot be said of Windows.


 
I must be doing something wrong. I have to do no work to keep my Windows PC going. (At least no more than my Mac)


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## Jim Wilde (Mar 16, 2011)

RikkFlohr said:


> I must be doing something wrong. I have to do no work to keep my Windows PC going.


 
Same here....


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## edgley (Mar 16, 2011)

Okay, sorry to imply that you are doing something wrong. I should have put the following down:

In my personal experience of 20+ years of windows ownership, compared to my 4 years of Mac ownership, I have to do almost nothing to keep my Macs running.

Furthermore, since switching my old man to a Mac 2 years ago, I no longer have any calls from him going wtf.


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## RikkFlohr (Mar 16, 2011)

The point is "Everyone's mileage varies" I think Tolkien said it best when he said "Go not to the elves for advice for they will say both no and yes." 

Go not to the forums for platform advice for they will say both PC and Mac!

Advice is a dangerous gift-even from wise to the wise and all courses may run ill…

Ok, I've exceeded my nerd limit now.


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## edgley (Mar 16, 2011)

Of course, and I don't care what computer someone (who I don't have to help in person with) uses, just like what car they drive (unless I am next to them at the lights).

I just get fed up with hearing, Macs are expensive and not worth the extra money; I spent years telling people that myself till I was faced with the choice of a laptop with Vista on it, or OS X.


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## hollybolly (Mar 16, 2011)

edgley said:


> Furthermore, since switching my old man to a Mac 2 years ago, I no longer have any calls from him going wtf.


LOL - maybe I should get my dad one!!


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## edgley (Mar 16, 2011)

Gets better:
one of his friends has been telling him to switch for years and years. Now that he has wont tell him as he doesnt want to face the told you so


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## hollybolly (Mar 16, 2011)

Thanks for all the responses.  My techy did suggest going down the windows 7 upgrade first -but as I am only just getting my head properly around the cataloging bit in LR I am petrified I am going to lose data and Jim has hit the nail on the head! I don't really need much of an excuse to go looking for a new system! 

Due to this suggestion I do not feel, as suggested, that he is showing bias to get more business out of me - he has always been honest with me and offers much clearer solutions to just buying a new pc.  Right now in Photoshop, I am trying to use the magnetic lasso tool on an eye and every time I click the screen just goes black and nothing is selected once it returns.  It is driving me mad and my busy season starts on Saturday and I don't want to be without a machine for any length of time - or realiseing that the upgrade has not worked half way through the season and have to go hrough the hassle of purchasing a new system then.  I think more than likely the machine would benefit from the upgrade but I would be so annoyed if it did not improve.

I have a 1 TB drive on the computer and currently about 300GB is used, so it has plenty of space but every single thing I try and do comes up with a high usage messge be it in LR, PS or even internet explorer.

I would LOVE to get a Mac - but I did feel what he was saying about any potential problems was a valid enough reason to stick to a PC - and they do appear expensive in comparison - though Yes Victoria, their looks are almost a good enough reason to purchase one!  Whether I get along with them is another consideration of course as well - and would I then have to upgrade my laptop to an apple too?  Having said all of this apart from my graphics card dying on me last year I have never had anything done to the PC in its two years of it being with me - and I suppose at some point I am going to stop just buying a new pc everytime it annoys me!

 If I were to re-contemplate the MAC what spec would you recommend? And would you do a similar NAS system for a backup?
If I stuck with a PC and got SSD and SATA drives - would lightroom go on the sata drive... as I think he was talking about putting it on a small SSD drive?


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## bluesplayer43 (Mar 16, 2011)

I was persuaded to try MAC's last year and purchased a macBook Pro 15-inch after having grown up with Windows. Having used it for several months I'm still undecided which is best, but find my self reverting back to Windows for most things. At least you can run both systems on a Mac; You can read more if you want here: http://johnbirchphotography.blogspot.com/2010/12/my-first-impressions-mac-os-x-compared.html.

As for backup I use a Drobo and have to say it's been brilliant. They are not cheap and not fast (although they have USB 3.0 versions now), but for simple ease of use, upgradability and capacity, they can't be beat. I've tried many external hard drives, NAS, Raids etc but the Drtobo wins hands down. All desltops should come with a sytem like this bult in as standard. Look no further.


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## Jim Wilde (Mar 16, 2011)

hollybolly said:


> Thanks for all the responses.  My techy did suggest going down the windows 7 upgrade first -but as I am only just getting my head properly around the cataloging bit in LR I am petrified I am going to lose data and Jim has hit the nail on the head! I don't really need much of an excuse to go looking for a new system!



I really do not see what you have to be petrified about, many people's experience in upgrading to Windows 7 has been pleasantly surprisingly easy. In fact, as you are already running Vista your upgrade path is even easier than those upgrading from XP....all your data and applications will be retained should you do the standard upgrade. T'were it me, however, I'd be going for the custom upgrade involving effectively a reformat of the existing hard drive, but that would mean backing up your data beforehand (you could use the Windows Easy Transfer tool to do that) and then re-installing your applications after the upgrade. More time consuming, certainly, but perhaps a 'cleaner' method. Either way, however, I'd certainly give that a go before buying a new machine.



> If I stuck with a PC and got SSD and SATA drives - would lightroom go on the sata drive... as I think he was talking about putting it on a small SSD drive?


However, should you decide that you ARE going for a new computer, I'm not going to into the tiresome MAC vs Windows debate, at the end of the day you make your own mind up based on what's important to you. Also I can't comment meaningfully on the SSD issue either, when I upgraded my PC last year I chose not to use SSD (mainly a budget consideration) and I can honestly say that I haven't regretted that decision. Yes my disk performance is my 'weak link' on the Windows Experience Index - only 5.9 out of a max of 7.9, all other components around 7.5 - but I'm genuinely very happy with my Lightroom/Photoshop performance, and can't see that an SSD would make major improvements. If I was to install one today I'd probably start off with the OS and Program files on it, and start from there.

However, I do need to pick up on your comment about putting Lightroom on the sata drive....do you understand that there are basically 4 different components of the Lightroom 'infrastructure' and in an ideal world you would have each of the 4 on a different drive? You have the executable program, then the catalog/preview data, then the Camera Raw Cache, then your actual picture files. You need to consider all these when deciding how many drives to configure in a new computer, and then what type. I installed 4 in my PC, to get complete separation, though of course many people get by quite happily with only one!

Finally, you keep talking about a NAS and I keep thinking: WHY? If you only have one computer, why do you think you need a NAS? In my opinion that's a complication you don't need (that you would pay extra for), I would suggest for backup purposes 'ordinary' external drives (why not USB 3.0, will be faster than a NAS drive), you can use these as stand-alone devices or stick 'em in an enclosure.

Whatever you decide, plenty of help and opinions will be freely available from the folks here....


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## hollybolly (Mar 16, 2011)

TNG said:


> I really do not see what you have to be petrified about, many people's experience in upgrading to Windows 7 has been pleasantly surprisingly easy. In fact, as you are already running Vista your upgrade path is even easier than those upgrading from XP....all your data and applications will be retained should you do the standard upgrade. T'were it me, however, I'd be going for the custom upgrade involving effectively a reformat of the existing hard drive, but that would mean backing up your data beforehand (you could use the Windows Easy Transfer tool to do that) and then re-installing your applications after the upgrade. More time consuming, certainly, but perhaps a 'cleaner' method. Either way, however, I'd certainly give that a go before buying a new machine.


Shop advised backing everything up and installing 7 from scratch so yes backing up date that I am scared I will lose!




TNG said:


> However, I do need to pick up on your comment about putting Lightroom on the sata drive....do you understand that there are basically 4 different components of the Lightroom 'infrastructure' and in an ideal world you would have each of the 4 on a different drive? You have the executable program, then the catalog/preview data, then the Camera Raw Cache, then your actual picture files. You need to consider all these when deciding how many drives to configure in a new computer, and then what type. I installed 4 in my PC, to get complete separation, though of course many people get by quite happily with only one!



No I don't understand that!!  Do you know anywhere I can read up more on that?  How on earth do you go about splitting it all?  Obviously my picture files are on a separate drive anyway.  WHat kind of drives do you have in your PC.  Why do you have to be a tchnical genius to use software these days!!!!!??



TNG said:


> Finally, you keep talking about a NAS and I keep thinking: WHY? If you only have one computer, why do you think you need a NAS? In my opinion that's a complication you don't need (that you would pay extra for), I would suggest for backup purposes 'ordinary' external drives (why not USB 3.0, will be faster than a NAS drive), you can use these as stand-alone devices or stick 'em in an enclosure.



This is what my tech guy has advised.  I currently have no automated backup system in place for anything other than my lightroom catalog and need one.  But as my picture files are all on external hard drives anyway - are they backable up through an automated system?

Thanks Jim.


Whatever you decide, plenty of help and opinions will be freely available from the folks here.... [/QUOTE]


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## Jim Wilde (Mar 16, 2011)

hollybolly said:


> No i don't understand that!!  Do you know anywhere i can read up more on that?  How on earth do you go about splitting it all?  Obviously my picture files are on a separate drive anyway.  What kind of drives do you have in your pc.  Why do you have to be a tchnical genius to use software these days!!!!!??



There are plenty of old threads here that talk about the various components (that's how I found out, courtesy of Brad Snyder). In terms of 'splitting it all', it actually already is:

The executable program is usually installed in the Program Files directory (you could change this, but who does?), usually this will be on the same drive as the Operating System (C drive on Windows).

The catalog can be placed wherever you want it to be placed (by default the first catalog is usually installed in My Pictures, IIRC). It can be moved to any location or drive apart from a network drive. The accompanying Previews folder is auto-created by Lightroom alongside the catalog, this cannot easily be changed so best not to try.

The Camera Raw Cache can also be placed wherever you want/prefer....by default it is setup in the user profile, but can be changed within the Lightroom Preferences. Also note that the default size is only 1gb, in practice more is better (I have mine set to the max of 200gb, but only because I have a dedicated hard drive for it....10-20gb would probably be fine).

And of course you can put the pictures wherever you want, yes even on a NAS!.



> This is what my tech guy has advised.  I currently have no automated backup system in place for anything other than my lightroom catalog and need one.  But as my picture files are all on external hard drives anyway - are they backable up through an automated system?


Unless your tech guy has some specific reason for recommending a NAS I still don't get it....but it's your money! Yes your pictures can be backed up using automated software from one external drive to another or a NAS.


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## Victoria Bampton (Mar 17, 2011)

hollybolly said:


> Shop advised backing everything up and installing 7 from scratch so yes backing up date that I am scared I will lose!


 
If you're really concerned, the shop may offer that service and do the clean upgrade for you.


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## drmaxx (Mar 17, 2011)

hollybolly said:


> Shop advised backing everything up and installing 7 from scratch so yes backing up date that I am scared I will lose!


 
I just did some research for upgrading my Vista machine and I decided against it. It seems that on an older machine the difference between Vista SP2 and WP7 is not that substantial. The performance gain is minimal and not worth my time. 
In your case however, it seems that there is something substantially wrong with your current set-up. So a new OS installation might solve the problem. So you might as well switch to W7 and go for the 64bit version, if you not already on that.
If you have a lot of programs installed you might indeed want to get some professional help to mirror your current drive and set-up.


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## clee01l (Mar 17, 2011)

hollybolly said:


> Shop advised backing everything up and installing 7 from scratch so yes backing up date that I am scared I will lose!


  You only need to do this if you are still on XP. Vista64 upgrades directly to Win7 64  This upgrade is painless.  You should really do this yourself and not pay anyone else to do it.  Upgrading form Vista to Win7 takes about an hour, no more than two at most.  You can do it in your home.   You can purchase the Win7 upgrade disk from Amazon for ~$110.  IMO the only thing 'the shop' is right about is always having a current backup of all your critical data.


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## hollybolly (Mar 29, 2011)

OK - Thanks for all the advice - this is what it looks as though I am going for:
Coolermaster Case (Front Vented)
700W Quiet Power Supply
Intel i7 950 Processor
12Gb DDR3 Memory (a friend has queried whether this is 1333 or 1600 - do you think it matters which?)
2 x 2Tb SATAII hard disks
X58 Mainboard with USB 3.0
ATI 5670 Graphics with 1Gb DDR5 and dual outputs - (same friend also suggested this might be a little old and to try for the 5770??)
Card Reader
DVDRW + DL
MS windows 7 HP (ensure this is 64 bit)

Backup is going to be to NAS - I know someone doubted the need for this, but it is all going to be set up across a network with more than one pc feeding into it so quite happy with this I think!

Appreciate your thoughts!
Thanks again for your time!


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## Jim Wilde (Mar 29, 2011)

Sounds great!

Re the memory, not sure you'd notice the difference between 1333 or 1600MHz unless you were running some specific benchmarks.....but if the price difference isn't great I probably would upgrade (when I bought my - very similar - configuration last year I could only get 6gb at 1600, so went with the 12gb at 1333 and have been very happy with the PC). Though with that configuration using either 1333 or 1600 you'll find that Lightroom will fly!! 

Re the graphics card, unless you are a serious gamer I doubt very much that you would ever see a difference between 5670 and 5770.....I have the 5750 which sits about halfway between the 5670 and 5770 in the Passmark benchmarks and is perfectly fine....in fact we are talking about the top few percent in a very large field, these are all really gaming/video editing cards, way more performance than Lightroom needs.

Looking at your proposed internal hard drives, and going back to our previous discussion about the various Lightroom components, how do you envisage setting them up? 

Finally, re the NAS....yes I couldn't see the need initially as you were talking about a single PC, but now that you are actually going to network more than one PC then of course a NAS makes perfect sense.


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## hollybolly (Mar 29, 2011)

Fab - thanks Jim!



TNG said:


> Looking at your proposed internal hard drives, and going back to our previous discussion about the various Lightroom components, how do you envisage setting them up?



lol - well there is the next question - it does not give me 4 drives does it!  I tried to explain this to him but I am not sure he understood - he has no knowledge of lightroom at all other than what I have probably incorrectly bombarded at him.  Would you recommend a couple of other smaller drives in there so that everything can be split as it should??  I presume havin 4 2tb is overkill?  I want to do it right!

Yeah re the NAS I have my laptop too and also when everything is off the old computer and safe, this is going to be upgraded and used as a backup machine as well.
Thanks

It took my 20 minutes to print a single 6x4 images yesterday from my pc - I need this pc and quick!


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## Jim Wilde (Mar 29, 2011)

Well, obviously I'm biased because I like my setup....but yes a couple of smaller drives wouldn't go amiss in my opinion. If you've decided not to go the SSD route I'd maybe have a couple of 250 or 500gb drives, one for the OS and programs and the like, the other could be for the ACR Cache. How much disk space do your images take up? Will they be spread over the 2 x 2TB drives, or is one sufficient? So the other one would be used for Catalog and Previews, in which case maybe a 2TB drive is too much? Just thinking out loud really....

If you want the best performance then I think sticking with an internal drive setup with external/NAS backup would be optimal, so then you have to try to do a bit of future-proofing if you expect the new PC to last you for how long? 3-5years, maybe more? The biggest issue is likely to be disk space demands, so you just have to have a way ahead should you need more than you buy from the get-go. Check your case and find out how many hard drives it will take (the larger cases these days generally will have maybe 9 bays in total, allowing say 6 x hard drives, a card-reader and a couple of opticals)....if the case you are buying allows that number then you could easily add additional 2 or 3gb drives as the need arises. I started with 2 x 640gb 'small drives' for catalog and cache, a slightly larger 750gb drive for OS, Programs, Documents and exported jpegs, and a 1.5tb drive for original images. All have plenty of room for growth and I have a couple of spare bays should I need more drives.

Hope that helps....


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## hollybolly (Mar 29, 2011)

TNG said:


> If you want the best performance then I think sticking with an internal drive setup with external/NAS backup would be optimal, so then you have to try to do a bit of future-proofing if you expect the new PC to last you for how long? 3-5years, maybe more? The biggest issue is likely to be disk space demands, so you just have to have a way ahead should you need more than you buy from the get-go. Check your case and find out how many hard drives it will take (the larger cases these days generally will have maybe 9 bays in total, allowing say 6 x hard drives, a card-reader and a couple of opticals)....if the case you are buying allows that number then you could easily add additional 2 or 3gb drives as the need arises. I started with 2 x 640gb 'small drives' for catalog and cache, a slightly larger 750gb drive for OS, Programs, Documents and exported jpegs, and a 1.5tb drive for original images. All have plenty of room for growth and I have a couple of spare bays should I need more drives.



OK I think we are looking at 3 1 TB drives then (as there is apparently not much different pricewise between that and something smaller) and 1 2 tb drive for my photos.

Am I right in thinking that whist I am primarily using the NAS for backup, once I have finished working on a set of photos and no longer need them on my main hard drive, can I move the photos (within lightroom of course) to the NAS?  I know you can do this with external hard drives and am presuming the NAS will work the same?

Thanks again


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## edgley (Mar 29, 2011)

Not sure if its still around, but if you mobo support intel matrix storage you might want to look at that.
I used to use it and it made the internal disks very fast.

http://www.intel.com/design/chipsets/matrixstorage_sb.htm


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## Jim Wilde (Mar 29, 2011)

hollybolly said:


> OK I think we are looking at 3 1 TB drives then (as there is apparently not much different pricewise between that and something smaller) and 1 2 tb drive for my photos.



Lol....that's exactly how I ended up with some of my drives being larger than I needed!



> Am I right in thinking that whist I am primarily using the NAS for backup, once I have finished working on a set of photos and no longer need them on my main hard drive, can I move the photos (within lightroom of course) to the NAS?  I know you can do this with external hard drives and am presuming the NAS will work the same?


Absolutely you could do this, no technical constraint at all (apart from a performance hit using a slower drive, but for archive photos it's hardly going to matter). *But *(there's always one!) doing that would effectively compromise your backup strategy (if your images AND their backup are on the same NAS you really don't have a backup)....unless of course you have an additional backup component (e.g. off-site)?


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## hollybolly (Mar 29, 2011)

TNG said:


> Lol....that's exactly how I ended up with some of my drives being larger than I needed!
> 
> Absolutely you could do this, no technical constraint at all (apart from a performance hit using a slower drive, but for archive photos it's hardly going to matter).



The NAS is going to be connected via a gigabit switch - which apparently is quite quick?



TNG said:


> *But *(there's always one!) doing that would effectively compromise your backup strategy (if your images AND their backup are on the same NAS you really don't have a backup)....unless of course you have an additional backup component (e.g. off-site)?



The NAS though is going to have 2 hard drives that mirror each other , so there will still be the originals and one backup.  It will also ultimately take 4 hard drives, so when I get to that position I could always get a 3rd drive installed and put the photos on that.  OR just move the photos off the main pc onto other external drives.  As long as I know I have options that is the main thing!

I hope you're going to be ready to assist in telling me where to put everything when it getting round to installing the software - lol!!!!


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## Jim Wilde (Mar 29, 2011)

hollybolly said:


> The NAS is going to be connected via a gigabit switch - which apparently is quite quick?



Indeed it is, but still probably not as quick as an internal Sata drive. But for your intended usage this really isn't likely to be an issue.




> The NAS though is going to have 2 hard drives that mirror each other , so there will still be the originals and one backup.  It will also ultimately take 4 hard drives, so when I get to that position I could always get a 3rd drive installed and put the photos on that.  OR just move the photos off the main pc onto other external drives.  As long as I know I have options that is the main thing!


[SERMON]Hmmm. When putting your backup strategy together you have to think in terms of 'what could go wrong', 'does it matter if it did', and 'how would I protect myself against it'....in other words a basic risk assessment. Risks will likely range from accidental deletion of files, through hard drive failure, up to more extreme events like your house burning down. Somewhere in the list should be '*what happens if I accidentally drop my NAS enclosure when moving it and all its drives are damaged?'*. If you have both original and backup copies of your photos, even on separate drives, you're heading for a very expensive session with a data recovery specialist! In my opinion, original and backup copies of data do NOT belong in the same disk enclosure....but that's just my opinion based on my own attitude to risk (and yes I do try to protect myself against the risk of my house burning down!). Many people are likely to have different approaches, all I would encourage you to do is think through the various issues that may crop up and make your decisions accordingly.[/SERMON] 



> I hope you're going to be ready to assist in telling me where to put everything when it getting round to installing the software - lol!!!!


For sure, if not me there are plenty of other folks here willing and able to help. Just yell!


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## hollybolly (Mar 30, 2011)

Sermon accepted!  External drives it is then Jim!  Everything is ordered and it is getting built this week for me.  Quick question!  Where will Windows be loaded on to - that's one of the 1TB disks yes?
So excited! Bankrupt but excited!
Thanks


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## Jim Wilde (Mar 30, 2011)

hollybolly said:


> Quick question!  Where will Windows be loaded on to - that's one of the 1TB disks yes?
> So excited! Bankrupt but excited!



Well, just make sure your configurator knows that you don't want the 2TB drive to be the 'C' drive (because the C drive will typically be where the OS etc would be installed). Also make sure he doesn't do anything like 'helpfully' partitioning the drives either (unless you specifically request it).

Yes, I would be excited too!


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## Jim Wilde (Mar 30, 2011)

By the way, there's absolutely nothing wrong with using a NAS drive for backup purposes and of course for networking data. I just think things start to get a little fuzzy when you've got original AND backup in the same enclosure.

I use a NAS as part of my backup strategy (as well as for network sharing)....but it's only a part, I also use desktop connected external drives PLUS portable hard drives which are rotated off-site (my 'house burning down' fix! ).


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