Why a NAS?

Introduction

How I use TrueNAS (probably what is described here can also apply to other distributions) to simplify and secure my workflow and my photos.

“How the NAS saves my life (as a photographer)”

Geek once, geek always! I had set up a DIY NAS long before I even considered what it could bring to my photography activities, but little by little, I realized its potential and gradually put solutions in place to meet my needs. And as the implementation of solutions brought new problems to light, I have been continuously improving my setup. Here, I share the initial steps. And above all, please leave a comment if you’d like me to share more technical details about the setup of the different things mentioned here.

NAS core feature: Data Storage …

… of my valuable artistic work

Right after OS installation went like a charm

• 📌 TrueNAS
• 📌 Intel Intel Celeron 5990 and 64Gb of DDR5
• 📌 5 HDD Seagate Ironwolf 4Tb ZRAID2

I’m starting to set up the backup of my already edited and exported photo library that I previously stored locally. The simplest and fastest way, after measuring the LAN/NAS transfer rate at 100MB/s, is to create an SMB share on the NAS and move all my local images remotely onto this new share.

Pros : Space saved locally without significantly impacting access times.

Cons : “Admittedly, storage on the NAS is more secure than on my PC, but not secure enough.”

What if my NAS was disappearing ?

I had already subscribed previously to pCloud’s ‘2TB for life’ plan. TrueNAS natively offers the functionality to sync files from the NAS to the cloud. After a few settings adjustments, I now have my images on my NAS and automatically synchronized/backed up to the cloud.

But explorer view for photographs is not enough

Happy to have all my images accessible, no longer taking up local space, and backed up, but not yet satisfied with the way I access them. Not worse, but especially not better.

After some research, I activated the Imminch app on TrueNAS. The setup wasn’t the easiest, but after some effort, I finally have access to my images, with the added bonus of new features like text search, geolocation, and easy recognition.

Key Takeaways

• 📌 TrueNAS as an open-source NAS solution rocks !
• 📌 A cloud with ample space to back up sensitive data is mandatory
• 📌 A solution with extendable capacility for adding features (Docker, VM hosting, plugins, etc.) to assure the future

Conclusion

If you enjoy tinkering and have some IT knowledge, setting up an open-source NAS will allow you to meet all your current needs… and even those you haven’t thought of yet, all while keeping control over your data.

In the next article, I will share how to make the most of the NAS with Adobe Lightroom…

What are your thoughts on this? Share your experience in the comments below!