@ralph257
when the basic idea of buying your NAS was a safe storage of your photo files you need take into consideration some prerequisites:
1. All my photo files need to be stored primary in the NAS = single source for many mentioned services below
Then you can store your files in your predefined structure, e.g. " year/month/date folders ".
I have my own principle for the folder structure: YYYY_MM_event name:
YYYY = year, e.g. 2020
MM = month, e.g. 07
event name = e.g. "Tuscany"
It's really fast and predictive for search in NAS directly (File Station, Elastic Search) for many of future services (external links, backup, synchronize to another NAS, ....) mentioned below.
However, each of us has its own organization way. What is OK.
Just move your files from your Mac into your Shared folder (NAS).
2. When I will use RAID for the photo storage, this isn't a backup of my photos. It's just a storage. More you can read
here.
It is really necessary to use an external device/service that will serve as a backup for your resources in the NAS. It's up to your choice if you will use an external HDD, or another small NAS or cloud service. It's your own choice. When you will use the Cloud service you have to take into account your speed of internet. Some of members have experience with +7 days transfer to the Cloud target.
3. For my photo edition purposes:
- don't need store your photos in your Mac anymore (but you can, if you wish, your choice)
- just mount NAS Shared folder with your photos to your NAS, then you can work directly (catalog, edit, rename, save to external media/web, ...)
- more you can read in this
thread
- don't need Syno Drive or Moments for a local edit purposes (you have a catalog in your Mac connected directly to mounted NAS folder). Don't need special indexing processes, what is heavy for your NAS (specially for the "j" series).
When you need all your photos stored also in your Mac, then Drive is better than Moments = Because for an edition purposes you have your catalog and you can use it for all possible purposes, then you don't need Moments. You have to setup Drive carefully (on demand for some files, ...). This
part of our forum will help you with Drive setup. Ask, when you need a help.
4. For my photo external connection (3rd parties or me):
- when you need provide to someone an external link to your specified photo folder, you can use Syno File station service. It's better than in Moments, because Moments doesn't have module for an audit of used external links (what is still available for whom).
- when you need to be connected from external site and you need edit your photos, it's better to use Drive than Moments. You need what you will edit (then you don't need Moments features), just connection to the data.
- when you need to show some your photos externally - Syno Photo station is really faster and more flexible. Because Syno Moments will kill your CPU by heavy demand.
PS:
From my yearly photo experiences I don’t use Moments. I tried it and stop it. I have enough power in my NASes, but the finally it’s a mess of the photos, specially when you have more than +10k photos in your catalog (now I have >60k).