Nas volume structure help

[Les 76]

Hi, i have recently bought a synology 212j, but this is completely new for me and i need some, hopefully, quick help. I read somewhere that it was important to ensure you create the right volume structure at the very start, but i am not sure if one volume is right for me or i need to create several.

Main reason i bought the nas was to have this share all my media across different devices and so that i have a good back up in place as well

What i think are the important facts:
I have a macbook pro (500gb), that pretty much has my life and is now basically full.
I also have an ipad, ipod touch, iphone, apple tv (gen 1) and will likely purchase a new macbook soon for the missus
Main use is media, lots of video, music and photos, so i don't use it for anything complex.
Intention is to use nas to back up with a further HD attached to the nas and have all data on the nas to share across all devices.

I have search and read multiple threads, but still not sure what i should do. Is one volume ideal, or should i have one for media (shared stuff etc), one for back up and any reason i would need a third.

Any help would be much appreciated, especially on volume structure.

Many thanks,
Les

 

[Ifti]

It really depends on how you want to use stuff.
Remember that even if you create one volume, it doesn't mean that you have to store everything in the one place. You then create shared folders within that volume.

Think of a volume like a computer drive partition. You can create as many partitions as you want, and then create a folder structure within that partition. Volumes on the NAS are similar.

Let me use myself as an example.

I have the Synology 5 bay listed in my sig.
I have created a single volume across the 5 drives in the unit.
I have switched on the DLNA server, which automatically gives you a 'photos', 'video', and a 'music' folder. These folders are automatically shared so that all your iDevices, and anything else that supports DLNA will be able to connect and stream content from the respective folders without any further configuration.

All of my multimedia goes in these folders and is shared out for all users and my main TV in the living room.

On the same folder I have created a shared folder for each person who needs it. So I will have my own folder, my wife has hers, and so on. We have rights to our own folder and these are mapped to our own computers for us to backup any of our data to.

I then have a DX510 expansion unit, which is attached to the main NAS unit via eSATA. I could have used this to expand the original volume above, but I decided to use this to create a second volume, and this volume is simply used to backup the main volume on the NAS.

I have videos on all of this, including how to create volumes, expand volumes, and so on, in my YouTube channel - link in sig.

Remember you can always expand a volume if need be. So let's say you have 2 volumes set up and later decide you wanted 1, you can move all data to volume 1, then delete volume 2 and expand volume 1 across to it. It's pretty flexible.
Bear in mind that if you create 1 volume for now, and later decide you wanted more, it'll be harder as its more difficult trying to reduce volume sizes then it is to expand.

 

[Les 76]

Many thanks for the quick reply. Given what you say, i think i'll set up one volume but leave some space in case i discover later on that i need two +.

Given current space used on my macbook of 490 gb, would one volume of 1tb be enough or should be it be bigger (my nas has two 1 TB drives)?

what exactly does the dlna server do? I plan on moving my itunes library to the synology nas, for which i was just going to move all the files and re point itune to the new destination. Is it that simple or is there a better way?

Thanks again.

 

[Ifti]

Many thanks for the quick reply. Given what you say, i think i'll set up one volume but leave some space in case i discover later on that i need two +.

Given current space used on my macbook of 490 gb, would one volume of 1tb be enough or should be it be bigger (my nas has two 1 TB drives)?

what exactly does the dlna server do? I plan on moving my itunes library to the synology nas, for which i was just going to move all the files and re point itune to the new destination. Is it that simple or is there a better way?

Thanks again.

I think the general rule for Time Machine is to have at least twice the used space available for backups, so 1TB should be fine for you.
Simply switch the Time Machine server on the Synology on and you should then be able to select it via Time Machine on your Mac.

DLNA is a standard used for sharing media, which is widely recognised and accepted by many manufacturers. Samsung TV's, for example, support it, so you can connect the TV directly to your network and it will search for content hosted by a DLNA server.

By switching it on via the NAS it will create and automatically share the folders for you. You simply copy your media across. You can then use many devices to access the media. I, for example, use an app on my iPhone and iPad to access and play/view all my media, and my Samsung TV can directly access the content as well.

Remember an iTunes server just shares media. You do not use it for Home Sharing and you do not sync your iDevices to it. You still sync your devices to an instance of iTunes. An iTunes server simply shares media so that when you open iTunes it is all available via iTunes. It isn't available on other devices directly, only via an instance of iTunes. For example, if you have an AppleTV, you can't stream from the iTunes server directly to the AppleTV, you still need an instance of iTunes running in between.
An iTunes server is good for sharing many songs etc, so that others are able to access that media via their own iTunes on their own computers. So you can place all your music in the iTunes server, and everyone in the house will be able to run their own copy of iTunes on their own machines and have access to the shared files on the iTunes server directly via their own iTunes application.