Buying a Lacie 5big NAS Storage

[GreenApple29]

hello all
i own a mac mini 2012 and at the moment i have a drobo second generation stoarage device with 4 bays
im thinking to sell this and get the lacie big nas storage but i have two options and still havent decide
the one option is this one:

http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?id=10604
and the other one is this one:
http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?id=10485

the main difference is that the first has usb 3 and second one doesn't. I dont take into account the eSata option since there is no input on my mac mini...
Since there is a great difference money wise between these two my question is

if i connect the Lacie that only has the gigabit will my speeds be the same as the ones with a USB 3 connection?
since the hard drives are mechanical and they have a transfer speed limit

any thoughts?

 

[FreakinEurekan]

I'm guessing the USB ports are to connect additional external drives, not to plug into your Mini. These are NAS boxes so communicate with your Mac via the network (Ethernet).

Generally I would say use NAS if you want the ability to "see" the data on this device from multiple computers/devices, without requiring a host computer to be on. If you only need additional storage for this one computer then local storage (USB 3.0 or Thunderbolt) will give you better performance than a NAS.

 

[GreenApple29]

I'm guessing the USB ports are to connect additional external drives, not to plug into your Mini. These are NAS boxes so communicate with your Mac via the network (Ethernet).

Generally I would say use NAS if you want the ability to "see" the data on this device from multiple computers/devices, without requiring a host computer to be on. If you only need additional storage for this one computer then local storage (USB 3.0 or Thunderbolt) will give you better performance than a NAS.

well my thought is to use this a a storage device mainly
the thing is that
if the drives are mechanical and their maximum speed is up to 200 read
why there is a difference between ethernet and USB 3?i mean both reach the maximum transfer speed of the mechanical drive

 

[AlexMaximus]

Nas and Network storage..

The way I understand the difference between the two is this:

A NAS is designed for the purpose to give you access to your data from an outside location over the net. For example you are on a business trip in China and lost your data. Over the net you would be able to access your data on our NAS Server. Of course the NAS can be used at home as well.

Now the Network Storage System is some what different, because it was designed for the purpose to provide data for you home network and being able to access those data files at home through your network.

In my opinion, those two design philosophies are completely different. Unfortunately both devices tap in the world of the other with some smart apps, so it becomes difficult to differentiate those solutions.

The way you described your need, I think you should go with the network storage, unless you travel extensive.

Before you decide, make sure to check out Synology as well.

 

[Giuly]

well my thought is to use this a a storage device mainly
the thing is that
if the drives are mechanical and their maximum speed is up to 200 read
why there is a difference between ethernet and USB 3?i mean both reach the maximum transfer speed of the mechanical drive

Gigabit Ethernet tops out at about 125MB/s.

Given that you have a Mac Mini and not a Mac Pro, the less expensive one will be sufficient unless you get a Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet adapter and a managed Ethernet switch, and then connect two Ethernet ports of the Mac to the switch and the two Ethernet ports of the NAS to the switch, which would increase the bandwidth to 200MB/s.

At $349, the LaCie 5big NAS 2 is actually a valid alternative to the Synology DS413j at $379.99, as it not only has a companion iOS app like the Synology to play movies and music, but it also has one more bay while being less expensive and well, you be the judge on the design of the enclosure made from aluminum:

That is, if it happens to work as well as the Synology and had SimplyRAID like the 5big NAS Pro.

 

[marzer]

well my thought is to use this a a storage device mainly
the thing is that
if the drives are mechanical and their maximum speed is up to 200 read
why there is a difference between ethernet and USB 3?i mean both reach the maximum transfer speed of the mechanical drive

No! The 5big can do speeds approaching 750MBs if it uses the Barracuda drives that came in my 2big Thunderbolt enclosures. You will not get near that over Gigabit, you will over USB 3 or Thunderbolt.

It comes down to whats your desire, standalone file server that operates independent of a host or high speed. If you don't mind having the box directly connected to the mini, go for speed every time!

 

[GreenApple29]

The way I understand the difference between the two is this:

A NAS is designed for the purpose to give you access to your data from an outside location over the net. For example you are on a business trip in China and lost your data. Over the net you would be able to access your data on our NAS Server. Of course the NAS can be used at home as well.

Now the Network Storage System is some what different, because it was designed for the purpose to provide data for you home network and being able to access those data files at home through your network.

In my opinion, those two design philosophies are completely different. Unfortunately both devices tap in the world of the other with some smart apps, so it becomes difficult to differentiate those solutions.

The way you described your need, I think you should go with the network storage, unless you travel extensive.

Before you decide, make sure to check out Synology as well.

well for several years now as i sai i use a drobo second generation connected with a firewire 800 and hasnt been moved at all since day one..so this isn't something that i will take into account (the portability i mean)
yeah i have seen the synology ones but i think both synology and drobi models that i think are of any interest are a bit higher in price
at least with 5bay options

----------

Gigabit Ethernet tops out at about 125MB/s.

Given that you have a Mac Mini and not a Mac Pro, the less expensive one will be sufficient unless you get a Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet adapter and a managed Ethernet switch, and then connect two Ethernet ports of the Mac to the switch and the two Ethernet ports of the NAS to the switch, which would increase the bandwidth to 200MB/s.

At $349, the LaCie 5big NAS 2 is actually a valid alternative to the Synology DS413j at $379.99, as it not only has a companion iOS app like the Synology to play movies and music, but it also has one more bay while being less expensive and well, you be the judge on the design of the enclosure made from aluminum:

That it, if it happens to work as well as the Synology.

thanks for the reply!
yeah if i have to choose depending on ten design my personal opinion ail be teh Lacie one

----------

No! The 5big can do speeds approaching 750MBs if it uses theBarracuda drives that came in my 2big Thunderbolt enclosures. You will not get near that over Gigabit, you will over USB 3 or Thunderbolt.

It comes down to whats your desire, standalone file server that operates independent of a host or high speed. If you don't mind having the box directly connected to the mini, go for speed every time!

oh right didnt know about the Barracuda drives....
can i connect the lacie via ethernet to my Apple display?and use it through there or do i have to connect it to my router?

 

[philipma1957]

well for several years now as i sai i use a drobo second generation connected with a firewire 800 and hasnt been moved at all since day one..so this isn't something that i will take into account (the portability i mean)
yeah i have seen the synology ones but i think both synology and drobi models that i think are of any interest are a bit higher in price
at least with 5bay options

----------



thanks for the reply!
yeah if i have to choose depending on ten design my personal opinion ail be teh Lacie one

----------



oh right didnt know about the Barracuda drives....
can i connect the lacie via ethernet to my Apple display?and use it through there or do i have to connect it to my router?

I use the router with my synology but maybe your display can do it . I Don't have that display so I do not know.

 

[marzer]

oh right didnt know about the Barracuda drives....
can i connect the lacie via ethernet to my Apple display?and use it through there or do i have to connect it to my router?

If you want to connect it directly to your machine, go with a USB3 or Thunderbolt model. As stated previously, running via ethernet seriously limits the speed that you can operate the 5big.

 

[flynz4]

Strong preference for a DAS (vs NAS) given what you said. A TB or USB3 DAS is significantly faster.

In addition to the slower wire speed... a NAS also has to deal with the entire networking software stack which also slows down the performance by a lot.

NAS is great when you want to share data... or access it anywhere on your LAN. That ability comes with a huge performance penalty.

DAS is high performance... but is not natively shared. However... you could always set up your Mac to share DAS data on your network.

/Jim

 

[GreenApple29]

Strong preference for a DAS (vs NAS) given what you said. A TB or USB3 DAS is significantly faster.

In addition to the slower wire speed... a NAS also has to deal with the entire networking software stack which also slows down the performance by a lot.

NAS is great when you want to share data... or access it anywhere on your LAN. That ability comes with a huge performance penalty.

DAS is high performance... but is not natively shared. However... you could always set up your Mac to share DAS data on your network.

/Jim

yes Jim you are right and i am tending towards the 5big with USB3 since i realized with the help of a friend that even the rest of the tech specs such as processor speed RAM are way different between these two models!

 

[Giuly]

yes Jim you are right and i am tending towards the 5big with USB3 since i realized with the help of a friend that even the rest of the tech specs such as processor speed RAM are way different between these two models!

The 5big doesn't have an USB 3.0 output, it has USB 3.0 inputs to attach more hard drives. The difference between the two units is that one can combine the two Ethernet ports to increase the bandwidth, and you need a faster CPU to feed the data fast enough. The Pro model also has NAS OS 3 with the SimplyRAID that lets you combine different size hard drives into something akin to a RAID 5, while the non-Pro model has NAS OS 2.

There is no LaCie 5big with an USB 3.0 connection to the computer, there's the LaCie 4big with USB 3.0 and FireWire800 or the 5big Thunderbolt.

 

[GreenApple29]

The 5big doesn't have an USB 3.0 output, it has USB 3.0 inputs to attach more hard drives. The difference between the two units is that one can combine the two Ethernet ports to increase the bandwidth, and you need a faster CPU to feed the data fast enough. The Pro model also has NAS OS 3 with the SimplyRAID that lets you combine different size hard drives into something akin to a RAID 5, while the non-Pro model has NAS OS 2.

There is no LaCie 5big with an USB 3.0 connection to the computer, there's the LaCie 4big with USB 3.0 and FireWire800 or the 5big Thunderbolt.

this one has usb 3
http://www.cyberport.de/lacie-5big-...x-sata-2x-usb3-0-2x-usb2-0--3F02-135_409.html

 

[Giuly]

No, it doesn't. The two USB 3.0 ports are intended to connect hard drives:

What you need is this, which is the 4big Quadra USB 3.0:

Or the 5big Thunderbolt:

 

[GreenApple29]

No, it doesn't. The two USB 3.0 ports are intended to connect hard drives:
Image
What you need is this, which is the 4big Quadra USB 3.0:
Image

oh really?so these usb 3 ports are only for expansion and not for connection for the 5big?seriously?

 

[FreakinEurekan]

oh really?so these usb 3 ports are only for expansion and not for connection for the 5big?seriously?

Right, that is a NAS - Network Attached Storage. It's not designed to connect to a computer, it's designed to connect to a network. If you want local disks use the USB3 or Thunderbolt products @Giuly mentioned. They'll be faster and usually cheaper.

Edit: Well, cheaper fully populated anyway. Looks like LaCie doesn't offer the USB or Thunderbolt chassis in diskless options

 

[marzer]

oh really?so these usb 3 ports are only for expansion and not for connection for the 5big?seriously?

Yes, on that model. But there are two other models to consider that use USB3 or Thunderbolt connections. I have 2 of the Thunderbolt 2big drives. They are really fast and daisy chaining is very convenient. I would strongly recommend the Thunderbolt model.

Another nice thing about Thunderbolt is that the drives in the enclosure show up as standard SATA devices on the host computer. So you get SMART status, etc.

 

[samwestcoast]

Here's my experience and reasoning if you're interested....

I have just bought a 5big NAS Pro for my Mac mini. I considered a DAS (lacie thunderbolt) option but it doesn't support raid 5 and redundancy is important to me.

There is no doubt that the speed of thunderbolt is huge but I can only see the point of it for people who need that sort of speed, mostly heavy data users such as motion artists and tv/film/photo production. I run Plex Media Server and for my use a gigabit Ethernet connection is adequate to play 1080p movies over.

The 5 big NAS pro can be bought diskless which is a bonus, the total cost of mine with 20TB of storage will be £1100. The 20tb version of the thunderbolt option is £1500-1600. The NAS option is cheaper and for my needs adequate.

 

[Rudolf12]

Gigabit Ethernet tops out at about 125MB/s.

Given that you have a Mac Mini and not a Mac Pro, the less expensive one will be sufficient unless you get a Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet adapter and a managed Ethernet switch, and then connect two Ethernet ports of the Mac to the switch and the two Ethernet ports of the NAS to the switch, which would increase the bandwidth to 200MB/s.




Maybe a stupid question but why does gigabit Ethernet tops at 125mb/s? I thought it was 1.000mb/s? Or is it the interface with the disks?

 

[Giuly]

8MBit/s = 1MB(yte)/s, so 1000MBit/s = 125MB/s (minus overhead).