Netwok Storage - Need Advise/Thoughts

Hi everybody, happy new year to all!!!

on to my questions... i decided to try out having NAS for my home network, streaming all my stuff to ps3, apple tv, iPads, iPhones,etc, while being able to access it from anywhere in the world (my own cloud i guess), but i think i have all that covered, my question of course pertains to my raw files.

1. should i keep the catalog and raw files on the NAS, is this a good idea?

2. if it is, my pc desktop is lr3, and im thinking of getting lr4 for my macbook, would it cause any issues?

3. should i keep the lr3 catalog on the desktop, lr4 catalog on the macbook, and keep the raw on the NAS? how do i go about sharing the same raw file between lr3 on pc and lr4 on laptop?

btw, i think i have decided to get the synology 112 paired with 3tb or 4tb. since im new to this, i really dont know if i could access all files from pc and mac. im assuming i can. im pretty sure it can do everything i plan on doing, please correct me if im wrong.

im also thinking of getting some kind of hd dock and use that as my backup. im thinking that at least i could easily swap drives if need be. i dont do a lot of work on my computers, so i will probably do backup once a month or whenever i put a lot of new stuff to my NAS. this means the hd in my NAS will have everything i have on it, with a bare drive as a backup. is this a bad idea?

Thoughts?

ps. im assuming that when i buy lr4, it only comes with 1 license, somebody please let me know if i buy a full version if i can install it on both my pc and mac.

1, The Catalog can not reside on a remote device, lightroom won't let you put it on a network drive, simply for performance reasons it needs to be local.
If you have a decent gigabit network however, there is no reason you can't keep the RAW files on a network drive.
I do this with the office computer and there is only a small difference in performance.
A good gigabit network is capable of carrying more data than a single HDD can provide.


LR3 and LR 4 are not compatible with each other and will not read from the same catalog.
Why not put LR4 on both computers?
Your allowed two installs as long as you don't use both at the same time.
If you buy it via download from Adobe (upgrade your LR3) it is platform independent.

Moppie wrote in post #15435663
1, The Catalog can not reside on a remote device, lightroom won't let you put it on a network drive, simply for performance reasons it needs to be local.
If you have a decent gigabit network however, there is no reason you can't keep the RAW files on a network drive.
I do this with the office computer and there is only a small difference in performance.
A good gigabit network is capable of carrying more data than a single HDD can provide.


LR3 and LR 4 are not compatible with each other and will not read from the same catalog.
Why not put LR4 on both computers?
Your allowed two installs as long as you don't use both at the same time.
If you buy it via download from Adobe (upgrade your LR3) it is platform independent.

Hey thanks for that! So if i get this right, buy the full boxed version and i can install it in both the pc and mac? What do u mean by dont use both at the same time? I thought the serial number can only be used once.

Also, if i have lr4 on both, how do i manage the catalog? I will have 2 catalog on both computers? If i change something from the desktop, will it reflect the changes in the laptop?

Not sure what discs are in the boxed version, but the license itself will work on windows or OSX.
There is no need to own any physical media from Adobe anymore. If you join, you can manage all your licenses and subscriptions online through their website, including software downloads.

The standard license allows you to install on a "main computer" with a second install on a "portable computer". The idea is you don't use both machines in a production environment at the same time. For example you might use your laptop for tethered shooting, or editing while traveling, then transfer the images to a different computer you use for your main editing work.


Lightroom is designed to be run from ONE computer, since the catalog needs to be maintained locally you can not access the same catalog from more than one computer with out copying it.

When working from my laptop I export only the photos I need as a catalog, and then import those into the other computer.

Moppie wrote in post #15436329
Not sure what discs are in the boxed version, but the license itself will work on windows or OSX.
There is no need to own any physical media from Adobe anymore. If you join, you can manage all your licenses and subscriptions online through their website, including software downloads.

The standard license allows you to install on a "main computer" with a second install on a "portable computer". The idea is you don't use both machines in a production environment at the same time. For example you might use your laptop for tethered shooting, or editing while traveling, then transfer the images to a different computer you use for your main editing work.


Lightroom is designed to be run from ONE computer, since the catalog needs to be maintained locally you can not access the same catalog from more than one computer with out copying it.

When working from my laptop I export only the photos I need as a catalog, and then import those into the other computer.

Hey thats right! Since i only have 1 pc, i forgot that theres an import/export for catalog! Since theres that, i can always have everything on my desktop, export the catalog i can/want to work on my laptop, then import it back to my desktop when i get home. I can do all that since the raw will always be in the NAS, i can edit while at home, work, or anywhere else. Did i get that right?

i have another question, and i think im over thinking this, but since all my data will be on the NAS, should i have an external hd that can be accessed by both system (dont know how to do this yet) or just an external thats accessible by only one system since im just backing up my NAS anyway. how do i even backup a synology NAS since i think it runs its own software? i would be using usb3 on the laptop, or esata if i use the desktop, dont know which is more reliable.

You should be able to directly attach the drive to the NAS and use its software to run backup job(s). I have done this with both QNAP and Netgear NAS boxes. Just be aware that a NAS runs Linux, not Windows, so that external drive you can't just throw on a PC and use. This is why I ended up getting a second smaller NAS for backup, and can directly access it if I need to.

Moppie wrote in post #15435663
1, The Catalog can not reside on a remote device, lightroom won't let you put it on a network drive, simply for performance reasons it needs to be local.
If you have a decent gigabit network however, there is no reason you can't keep the RAW files on a network drive.
I do this with the office computer and there is only a small difference in performance.
A good gigabit network is capable of carrying more data than a single HDD can provide.


LR3 and LR 4 are not compatible with each other and will not read from the same catalog.
Why not put LR4 on both computers?
Your allowed two installs as long as you don't use both at the same time.
If you buy it via download from Adobe (upgrade your LR3) it is platform independent.

I know the catalog have to be on a local storage device, but can it access RAW files stored in a NAS? I thought both the catalog and RAW files have to be on a local storage device.

lsquare wrote in post #16258344
I know the catalog have to be on a local storage device, but can it access RAW files stored in a NAS? I thought both the catalog and RAW files have to be on a local storage device.

It can access image files on any drive, including network drives.
Only the catalog, cache and previews need to be on local drives.