Waiting Outside
Photography, geek, gadget stuff and life.
Expanding capacity of Synology DS1010+
Aug 31st
I’m a huge consumer of data; typically my data storage hovers around the 2.5TB range with most of that being my archive of photos. So as the Synology DS1010+ is to be my main file server I needed to feed it with drives. Yesterday after noon (approximately 20 hours ago) I added a 2tb drive to compliment the other 4 2tb drives already in there. It’s taking much longer than I anticipated but at least it’s doing it’s job. I’ve been having issues with the DS1010+ and Apple Macs which I’m hoping to solve. I have been in touch with Synology tech support but they have been very slow to respond and not up to the standard I would expect. Time will tell, I will keep you updated.
Synology DS1010+ a few days on.
Aug 23rd
I received the Synology DS1010 less than a week ago. I’ve not really had time to put it through it’s paces, but I thought I would write about my impressions so far.
The unit itself is heavy for it’s size, sleek and does look the business in an understated fashion. I initially loaded it up with three 1TB drives; one Western Digital WD10EACS-65D and two Hitachi HDT72101.
The DS1010 took around six hours to build the Raid 5 volume, after that I decided to run some very short tests; I wasn’t impressed. The unit is attached to a gigabit Netgear switch, I made sure all the a cables were quick enough by testing it on other Gigabit capable machines. However when transferring files across to and from the DS101 the speeds were well below par, only reaching around 20mb/s. Sometimes it would burst to an unbelievable 100mb/s but only for short moments.
Since then I’ve put in two 2TB drives and as of right now it’s rebuilding the Raid 5 volume which does take a long time.
I shall post some benchmarks when I have a bit more time.
Synology Ds1010+ NAS
Aug 17th
First there was FreeNas, then there was Drobo V2, now I’ve expanded to the Synology DS1010+. I’ve been doing alot of research lately; I’ve been needing a proper NAS device for sometime, as good as the Drobo is, it’s not a NAS, the FW800 connection is painfully slow and it does not have a fraction of the abilities even my 5 year old Synology 106e NAS does!
I have literally ordered the DS1010+ today. It it totally geeky to admit I’m looking forward to playing with it, but so be it… I’m totally excited to get it!!
As a photographer with a thirst for huge amounts of disk-space, I shall be writing updates as and when I have time. In the meantime, below is a list of all the best reviews of the Synology DS1010+ I have been able to find on the internet.
- SmallNetBuilder.com
- Amazon.com – the feedback from purchasers is an interesting positive read
- TechWorld.com
- PCPro.co.uk
- Synology
I also discovered on YouTube that there is a video made by Synology to prove the LAN speed of the DS1010+
If you’ve found a good review, then please post it in the comments!
Star Wars(Electone)スターウォーズ(ファンファーレ付き)エレクトーン,maru氏
May 14th
Star Wars, as played by a very talented woman on the Electone. It has to be seen to believed. A big Salute to Mr John Williams.
Hipstamatic app on the iPhone
Apr 29th
I’ve recently discovered a wonderful application that takes photos like those old 1960-70s film cameras. I love them because they remind me of when I was a young; these type of photos encompass that era, now it’s instantly possible on the iPhone.
Upgrading 2006 Mac Pro 1.1 – 2 months later
Apr 14th
I can tell from the amount of traffic I get about upgrading the 2006 Mac Pro that there is alot of interest. So I thought I’d give you an update.
First and foremost, my Mac Pro has been stable. It has not wobbled once since the upgrade. I was originally worried about the heat before I did the upgrade but the temperate has remained the same, even when pushed by HandBrake or Final Cut Pro 2. In the first month I ran a battery of real world stability tests by opening up multiple applications while copying multiple files and folders to my drobo and to other internal hard drives. The heat only went up a few degrees.
The speed increase has been amazing, especially when my applications utilize multiple processors! The following isn’t very scientific but I’ll do my best.
- Handbrake – uses multiple cores. Speed increase isn’t quite halved, but realistically I just leave that running and do something else. I don’t tend to sit there watching it. It is noticeably faster.
- Final Cut Pro 2 – uses multiple cores. Rendering previews is much quicker, I would say again it almost halves the time which is damn important as I do alot of rendered previewing when I’m editing. When I try to view the edits with effects, then it does drop frames alot (which is why i render). However, when I edit HD material then it really does struggle, I can’t view the previews properly unless I render.
- Photoshop CS4 – recently composited some magazine covers for a band at full resolution. I could see all 8 cores doing something but I couldn’t tell if anything felt quicker.
- Parallels – just for a test I wanted to see if Half Life 2 would run in Parallels which was running Windows XP. It ran fine. Also in the background I ran a YouTube video and a BBC iPlayer video simultaneously all running in the background. I could see no lag while editing photos in Lightroom. I believe a faster HDD would make a siginificant difference.
- LightRoom 2.0 – editing individual photos show no significant increase in speed, if anything Lightroom hits the Hard drives harder than the CPU. However, when bulk exporting files it does feel alot faster than before. Since I work in Lightroom 80% of the time this was well received.
Without doubt, it’s a worthy upgrade. If you have any questions, then leave comments below and I’ll do my best to answer them.
Antec 300. My messy case!
Apr 6th
I’m an Apple Mac fan. Although I own three Apple computers I still can’t get away from Microsoft Windows. I’m quite happy with the latest incarnation Windows 7 which is the only reason I have it around.
Built around the Antec 300, it has become my third backup solution of my photos.
As you can see from the photos, it’s full of cables; I’m ashamed of my cable management skills. It was tidy, but after consistantly inserting and pulling out components I gave up!
These photos were taking with a Nikon 10.5mm Fisheye lens and a D300.
More photos can be viewed here
Miss Buckinghamshire 2010 Heat 2
Apr 6th
(My Original Blog Post: http://ping.fm/U3tZ1)
I have an amazing job. As well as being able to be invited to photograph the most beautiful weddings in the Home Counties, I also get asked to photograph some of the most beautiful women in Buckinghamshire. Last Saturday I was asked by my good friend Jade Parsons to continue my work on documenting the Miss Buckinghamshire 2010 contenders.
Without exception, they are as individual as they are spectacular infront of the camera.
You can view more on my portrait website framedserenity.com
Michael Jackson’s Man in the Mirror Cover version
Mar 29th
(My Original Blog Post: http://ping.fm/OkxKE)
I was in the mood for some MJ, but rather than listen to his original Man in the Mirror I wanted to see what the talented world out there can do. After a very quick search on YouTube I found this guy called Gabe Bondoc. He’s very talented. His treatment of a classic is done with tenderness and respectfully.
Click the video, have a listen and comment below. What do you think? Do you hate it? Do you even prefer it the MJ’s classic?
These are Gabe’s details.
http://ping.fm/wCaiH
http://ping.fm/mKyqG
http://ping.fm/fv9LV
http://ping.fm/iYQj7
Miss Buckinghamshire 2010 Heat 2
Mar 24th
(My Original Blog Post: http://ping.fm/nOqVI)
I have an amazing job. As well as being able to be invited to photograph the most beautiful weddings in the Home Counties, I also get asked to photograph some of the most beautiful women in Buckinghamshire. Last Saturday I was asked by my good friend Jade Parsons to continue my work on documenting the Miss Buckinghamshire 2010 contenders.
Without exception, they are as individual as they are spectacular infront of the camera.
You can view more on my portrait website framedserenity.com
