ReadyNas Duo the correct solution?

[D1G1T4L]

I have my Macbook Pro that has a music library on it and a Windows tower with a mirrored/backup of the music I have on my Macbook.

I want to be able to store my music in once place and add/edit the music with my MBP and have my PC tower see these additions/edits. I want to use the PC tower as where I sync my iPhone as it is always on but I want to work/add on my music library on my MBP as it is what I'm usually on.

So is a ReadyNas a device that will allow this?

 

[MisterMe]

...

So is a ReadyNas a device that will allow this?

Buying the NAS will hurt nothing but your wallet. However, it is completely unnecessary. You may share your files via SMB, which gives your Windows-using friends the same access that they would have with a NAS.

 

[Eric-PTEK]

Buying the NAS will hurt nothing but your wallet. However, it is completely unnecessary. You may share your files via SMB, which gives your Windows-using friends the same access that they would have with a NAS.

The advantage is the NAS is on all the time, now he would have to keep his MBP on all the time.

 

[cmdrdredd]

The advantage is the NAS is on all the time, now he would have to keep his MBP on all the time.

Exactly. You want an always on solution and a NAS will work. Just remember that you'll be saving files across the network so it will not be as fast as doing it direct on a HDD.

 

[MisterMe]

The advantage is the NAS is on all the time, now he would have to keep his MBP on all the time.

Many Mac users leave their computers on all the time.

 

[D1G1T4L]

Many Mac users leave their computers on all the time.

Most leave their notebooks on all the time? I close my lid when I'm not using mine. I had no idea people left theirs running.

Thanks for the replies. Still haven't made my mind up on the NAS yet.

 

[MisterMe]

Most leave their notebooks on all the time? I close my lid when I'm not using mine. I had no idea people left theirs running.

...

"Most" has nothing to do with it. A laptop can't be left running on battery power. However, laptops work just fine using line power. It is not necessary to turn off your MacBook/MacBook Pro if it is on line power. FWIW, you may just put your MacBook to sleep if you don't have access to line power. There is still no need to turn it off.

 

[D1G1T4L]

"Most" has nothing to do with it. A laptop can't be left running on battery power. However, laptops work just fine using line power. It is not necessary to turn off your MacBook/MacBook Pro if it is on line power. FWIW, you may just put your MacBook to sleep if you don't have access to line power. There is still no need to turn it off.

I just close my macbook pro when I'm done using it. Not sure why I would want to leave it open and running. I like to leave that up to my tower.

 

[MisterMe]

I just close my macbook pro when I'm done using it. Not sure why I would want to leave it open and running. I like to leave that up to my tower.

The point that you can leave your MacBook running, not that you want to do it. However, you may want to leave your MacBook running for the same reason that someone else may want to leave a desktop Mac running. As I write this, I am using my MacBook Pro to download two torrents of old TV shows. I have one total seed and three total peers. So, things will take a while. I will leave my laptop on for as long as it takes.

Like me, you have a laptop and a tower. The tower would be a load to carry around, but the laptop can perform most of the functions of your tower. Certainly, mine can. We got into this discussion because I questioned your need for an NAS. The point remains. An NAS will not add functionality to the computing power that you already have. However, the NAS will relieve you of your money.

 

[Eric-PTEK]

The point that you can leave your MacBook running, not that you want to do it. However, you may want to leave your MacBook running for the same reason that someone else may want to leave a desktop Mac running. As I write this, I am using my MacBook Pro to download two torrents of old TV shows. I have one total seed and three total peers. So, things will take a while. I will leave my laptop on for as long as it takes.

Like me, you have a laptop and a tower. The tower would be a load to carry around, but the laptop can perform most of the functions of your tower. Certainly, mine can. We got into this discussion because I questioned your need for an NAS. The point remains. An NAS will not add functionality to the computing power that you already have. However, the NAS will relieve you of your money.

Get the NAS.

You'll spend more time talking about semantics than getting done the things you want to do.

It's a laptop, its portable. Why screw around?

Is it on? Is it charged? Did I take it out of my bag and turn it on when I got home?

It's $300 for convenience and ease of use.

Your making an argument for the sake of an argument. The easiest and best solution is to place the library on a device that has constant access.

 

[D1G1T4L]

Get the NAS.

You'll spend more time talking about semantics than getting done the things you want to do.

It's a laptop, its portable. Why screw around?

Is it on? Is it charged? Did I take it out of my bag and turn it on when I got home?

It's $300 for convenience and ease of use.

Your making an argument for the sake of an argument. The easiest and best solution is to place the library on a device that has constant access.

True and plus I do plan on using the two HD slots to have some sort of security against hard drive failure.

 

[ChristianVirtual]

I also first was thinking a NAS is oversized. But finally I got one from QNAP with 4x1TB disks in. Using RAID5 it gives me some 3 TB of disk space.
That was at a time when my main Mac was a Mac Mini with 320 GB disk.

Moved my whole iTunes files over but left the library files on the local machine. That would allow to have independant lib's on different Mac's.

The physical access is done via 1000MB/s Ethernet; fast enough and I don't see any negative impact on performance; all music and videos are playing as usual.

The good part of this "strategy" was: when I recently got my new iMac I didn't had to copy the whole Library over to the new Mac. Just link iTunes-folder to the NAS and recreate the library control files.