I recently found a great deal on an LG N1A1DD1 NAS device, ordered it without doing much research, then realized that those NAS devices have some issues with Time Machine.
But first of all, let me tell you about my problems with my current setup. I have a Mac Mini that is connected to my TV and an old but upgraded PowerBook G4. Since both computers ran out of space a while ago, I transferred media files to my old WD MyBook Pro Firewire 800 external drive that is connected to Mini and started using a 1.5 TB USB drive for Time Machine backups. Now that all the internal and external drives are almost full, I started looking for a NAS drive and ordered that cheap single drive LG NAS.
My initial plan was to put all the media files including iPhoto and iTunes libraries into NAS, and to continue using Time Machine to backup everything to the big USB drive. Soon after I ordered the LG, I read that a NAS is not a good place to keep a large iPhoto library and LG brand NAS devices are not currently compatible with TM running on Lion.
Here are my questions...
- Can I store my movies, iTunes library and Pictures folder (which is separate from my iPhoto library) in the NAS and still use Time Machine to backup everything (including the contents of the NAS drive) to the USB hard drive? The LG NAS is a single drive device and in case of a failure, without a backup, I may lose everything.
- If that is not an option, I will connect the LG directly to Mac Mini and use it in external HD mode instead of NAS. In that case, is it still possible to use a CAT6 ethernet cable instead of USB, to get higher transfer speeds?
- Can you think of a better solution for this set of devices, that would free up some space in my Macs' HDs while still providing not so slow transfer speeds and redundancy?
Thanks in advance for all the help and comments!
But first of all, let me tell you about my problems with my current setup. I have a Mac Mini that is connected to my TV and an old but upgraded PowerBook G4. Since both computers ran out of space a while ago, I transferred media files to my old WD MyBook Pro Firewire 800 external drive that is connected to Mini and started using a 1.5 TB USB drive for Time Machine backups. Now that all the internal and external drives are almost full, I started looking for a NAS drive and ordered that cheap single drive LG NAS.
My initial plan was to put all the media files including iPhoto and iTunes libraries into NAS, and to continue using Time Machine to backup everything to the big USB drive. Soon after I ordered the LG, I read that a NAS is not a good place to keep a large iPhoto library and LG brand NAS devices are not currently compatible with TM running on Lion.
Here are my questions...
- Can I store my movies, iTunes library and Pictures folder (which is separate from my iPhoto library) in the NAS and still use Time Machine to backup everything (including the contents of the NAS drive) to the USB hard drive? The LG NAS is a single drive device and in case of a failure, without a backup, I may lose everything.
- If that is not an option, I will connect the LG directly to Mac Mini and use it in external HD mode instead of NAS. In that case, is it still possible to use a CAT6 ethernet cable instead of USB, to get higher transfer speeds?
- Can you think of a better solution for this set of devices, that would free up some space in my Macs' HDs while still providing not so slow transfer speeds and redundancy?
Thanks in advance for all the help and comments!