Apologies if this was asked before, but if I wanted to have Channels run on an external cloud drive (hooked up to my Mac and my wireless network), which is the best to use? I want to do this since I will be traveling a lot and sometime my iMac has logged out or not working. I want to have a stand alone drive which I can put the Channels sever on and maybe even have it plugged into my UPS. Thanks!
By ācloud driveā do you mean Network Attached Storage (NAS)? If so: Iāve been pleased with our Synology DS218+, so far. Weāve had it a bit over a month. Hasnāt skipped a single beat.
Yes, I think NAS but I also think there are cloud drives out there that run on your network without a computer like thisā¦
Iām guess with the above, you wonāt be able to put the Channels server on it so that it can be āstand aloneā without a computer?
Cloud means āThe Internetā.
Personal Cloud means āLAN (LocalAreaNework)ā.
Personal Cloud is just a marketing term for a NAS (Network Attached Storage) device on your internal network (LAN), i.e. in your home/office behind your router.
You have to look at the specs of each NAS to determine if it fits your needs.
Kind of like being your own personal I.T. department.
Personally, I love Synology NASās.
I looked at NASās, and with a drive, your looking at almost $500. Cloud drives wonāt work?
No such thing as a āCloudā drive unless youāre thinking Dropbox kind of stuff and then no.
So this wouldnāt workā¦
I donāt think so. I donāt see a Channels DVR app for it.
You also have to consider if you want it to have the horsepower to transcode content for remote viewing.
Iām assuming youāre looking for something to run Channels DVR on?
Yes, but not something that will end up costing me almost $500.
OK, was just trying to help with the terminology.
The link goes to a generic page.
If you want external access, which requires transcoding, it requires a bit more progressing power than the less expensive NASā offer.
In any event: The WD āHomeā devices are no go. Theyāre not supported by either Channelsā or SDās DVR software. The older WD āPersonalā NASā, such as this one: https://www.amazon.com/Cloud-Personal-Network-Attached-Storage/dp/B00EVVGAC6 are, but no remote viewing with that one. Insufficient go power.
Yes. Thatās the list of supported platforms.
i bought a 2 TB version of this. They did make an app for it. i tried it but it wasnāt powerful enough for me. I think it had trouble doing more than 2 streams, where i get up to 4 going sometimes. i ended up giving it away.
I balked at the price of a diskless Synology NAS 6 years ago when I was looking for a NAS.
The more I learned, the less I balked.
Kind of like when youāre first introduced to the Apple eco-system.
Iāve been happy with my purchase ever since and itās still going strong.
Looking to upgrade it next year.
You mean the WD MyCloud Personal? Interesting. A guy over on SDās forums swore heād run up to six streams on/off one.
Same story. I started out thinking a WD MyCloud Personal. Then it was a Synology DS218j. Then I finally decided to go for broke and go with the DS218+.
Yes, it is exactly the same as entering the Apple ecosystem. I now have a NAS that does everything I want, without breaking a sweat, and I can use it to do even more.
E.g.: Iām now looking at leveraging the Surveillance Station and Iāve already played with NFS exports to our main LAN server. Thinking on that latter is that, once I get the 2nd drive added, for RAID 1 (SHR), and a backup solution, Iāll move all our photos and any local videos over to it.
No, the WD MyCloud Home. and Im big on Commercial Skipping, so even just watching Tonight show recording while recording Seth Meyers and Comskipping Tonight Show killed it. but thats 4 nights a week for me. this is why i run an i5 6gen. others may have the patience. slow devices like this are why comskip should be able to be scheduled instead of always running immediately. i love that i get all my commercial breaks filled in within 3 minutes, but if i were on a budget, iād want that to happen overnight.
id have to see if i still have my WD MyCloud Personal. i think it works better for SD than Channels. i couldnt see giving up all the cool stuff like Remote access and comskip just to run more streams on smaller gear.
Since you donāt want to spend the money on a true NAS we could look at thisā¦
Why does it log out or not work sometimes? The uptime on my iMac is 24 days right now, and the last restart was for an update. The uptime on my NAS is 22 days (and that restart was an update, too). I use my Mac for the server and the NAS for the storage since the CPU in my Mac is a LOT better than in the NAS. Both are hooked up to an UPS, and you seem like you already have one of those.
I have my Mac display set to turn off after 5 minutes, but to never go to sleep. Sometimes for some weird reason (prob my kids on their account but I never tracked it down), it would still go to sleep so I got the app āAmphetamineā and use that all the time now. Thatās set to never let my Mac go to sleep as well as the Energy Settings for the Mac, and since I added that itās never gone to sleep
I thought neither SDās nor Channelsā DVR software would run on those.