Using a Network-Attached Server as a Photographer

Shutterbug posted an article today introducing the concept of using a Network-Attached Server (NAS) in a photography setting.

The article is a bit perfunctory and introduces some concepts without enough explanation for those not familiar with IT terms.


To start with, a server is a computer dedicated to providing information to other computers.  The information stored on the server can be accessed by any computer capable of communicating with the server.

The information in this page is stored on a server owned by Google.  It then sends that information over the Internet to anyone requesting access to this post.  If someone posts a comment, that comment is stored on the same server.  (Well, probably.  Google actually owns thousands of servers and there is no reason that the comment couldn't be stored on another server.)

In an office setting, using a server allows anyone in the office to access a file.  There is no need to place it on a portable storage device.  This feature is useful when dealing with collaborative efforts. 

Servers can also be configured to allow outside access.  This allows employees to access files from home or at a client's location.  This feature is one not mentioned in the article and could be beneficial to some photographers.  (It does require additional security measures to prevent non-authorized access.)


The term "RAID" refers to the multiple hard drives used by servers.  The term originally stood for "Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks."  It now has come to mean "Redundant Array of Independent Disks."

The server can be configured to use the hard drives in different ways.  This configuration setting is the number used after RAID.

RAID 0 results in the server splitting files up and storing them on different hard drives.  Each drive only contains part of the file.  The server accesses each hard drive at the same time when someone requests the file.  This speeds up delivery of the file, but provides no redundancy. 

The other configuration settings result in the file being stored on multiple hard drives.  This varies based on which configuration is used.  However, these settings always result in there being at least one back-up copy of the data being stored on the server.

RAID settings other than RAID 0 results in the server storing files in a redundant manner (hence RAID) which helps prevent loss of important files.  The drawback is that storage space is reduced.

RAID 1 is the simplest setup.  RAID 1 uses two hard drives and each drive stores a copy of the file.  This provides redundancy, but basically halves the storage size of each drive.

RAID 5 and RAID 6 are the other settings commonly used.  These split the files up between drives, but the server also stores error correction data.  Servers with these setting combine the redundancy protection of RAID 1 with the ability to increase read times associated with RAID 0.  These settings require the use of three or more hard drives, which increases cost.


The Wikipedia article on RAID settings includes links to articles on non-RAID servers architecture as well as non-Standard RAID settings if interested in further reading.