Brian

I'm glad I'm wrong in this case.

You also might to make sure your Wacom drivers are the latest and greatest. El Capitan can be quirky.

Make sure your "Finder Preferences" is closed. This way the changes and possible check-boxes that you might have selected...those changes are saved. Let's start with the basics. I'd get a new Card Reader and try that 1st. Macs just do not like it when you hook your camera up. It almost takes and Act of Congress to get it to show up.

Well, Apple doesn't always put them in the most convenient spot. On the new models, the ones without the DVD SuperDrive, they are on the back of the unit towards the right. The older iMacs that had the DVD SuperDrives, the reader is on the right, just below the DVD Slot. Things that happened to lots of people with the older iMacs: If you weren't careful, you could drop your SD card down inside your Mac. All you had to do is insert it at the wrong angle. If this happened, a trip to the Genius Bar was in your future. With the newer iMac computers, I'm weary of moving the Mac slightly, reaching behind the thing and inserting it. Way too easy for something to crack and break off. Whether it's the SD card or the slot that's on the Motherboard. So while you don't necessarily NEED to purchase one if you have SD cards, I still recommend getting one for ease of use AND safety. I'd rather replace a $30 Reader than a $800 Motherboard.

If it were me, I'd get the Sandisk one. I also use Sandisk Cards myself.

Card Readers are funny things. When I recommend these I will always have a bunch of people disagree with me and say they are junk. But here are the two that I usually recommend: Sandisk Card Reader Lexar Card Reader

NAS = Network Attached Storage.

One more than thing, and this is what you actually might be asking: With a RAID setup in a NAS device like this, if the NAS itself were to fail, then you would need to get a replacement NAS in order to access the hard drives. This is true for all NAS units, regardless of brand. These HDs can't simply be removed and hooked up to another computer. They don't work that way. If you want to have that option, then you are looking at purchasing two or three individual EHDs and not a NAS.

The Black WD NAS doesn't seem to encrypt. At least from what I've read. It might be a newer model as well.

OK. I'm stumped. Can anyone answer this question? I've avoided iPhotos since it was first released. Consequently, I just don't know. Can anyone help out?

I'm wondering if this thread is destined to be the 1st post in "The Land of Misfits." i just don't have a good answer.

So that WD Duo comes with HDs that I don't like, and software that encrypts your data and can't be turned off.... Hmm....are you nuts? I would avoid that one like the Plague!! It should be off the table at this point. I know it's less than $500. I get it. I'm broke myself. When I recommend things in Ask Brian, I have your best interests in mind. I receive no compensation from B&H for recommending one brand over another. Often I will link to the more expensive option. Not because I have expensive tastes, well I do but that's not the point, the truth is I hate-hate-hate wasting money on this sh*t!! It doesn't do anyone any good by buying something that is "almost as good as" and then blowing up in 3 months. So please save up your money. Resist the urge to have instant gratification. Buy it Right...Buy it Once.

I didn't tell you to buy that WD Duo. Save up and get the one that I linked to. But it Right...Buy it Once All RAIDs have their own way of doing things and encrypting data if that option is turned on or even available. So that's why I recommend using a RAID that is configured and controlled by Hardware, and not software. Yes, if the data is encrypted and something happens to that code-book, you are SOL.

Ah. Well, the Dell XPS 8700 has been replaced by the XPS 8900. Here is one that is a good buy: Dell XPS 8900 with Intel i7 6700 As for the RAM, after you get the computer, head over to Crucial.com and run their scanning tool. You'll want to purchase a 16GB kit to take it from 8GB RAM to 24GB. Here is the main page for the Business Side of Dell: http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/xps-8900-desktop/fs

Oh, what computer to buy? The old Dell XPS article that I wrote a long time ago? Let's just start over. What's on your mind?

If it's just Photoshop, it doesn't matter. PS doesn't take advantage of an i7's architecture. In fact, there is only a 5-10% speed boost over a i5. So if you want more cores for multi-tasking and aren't into games, the 5820 might be a better overall fit in this case. This was a Good Question. You made me think on this one and now I'm wondering if I should be looking at the i7 5820 since I don't play games and multi-task a lot.

http://www.damiensymonds.net/what2buy.html You mean the "All About Memory" article? Or where to purchase RAM from?

What HDs does Brian buy for his computers? Western Digital Caviar Black HDs. That's why I recommended that particular WD NAS.

Personally, I DO NOT like Western Digital RED drives. Yes, they are supposed to be meant for server environments, but I have seen way too many problems being reported with them in the Geek Groups. Why did I recommend the QNAP device even though it had WD Red Drives? Because I hate Seagate Drives even more than WD Red Drives. It was the lesser of two evils in that case.

@Marie Monforte: Use the USB 3.0 port OR try the Thunderbolt port. It has two Thunderbolt Ports and one USB 3.0 port. See which one is faster and let me know.

Yep. Buy this and be happy: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1148572-REG/wd_wdbdtb0120jsl_nesn_my_book_pro_12tb.html Set it up as a RAID1.

You might want to look at this old thread in FB AD: https://www.facebook.com/groups/195567190503489/permalink/855303441196524/ This is one case where I hope to be proven wrong. If there is a way to get Raw files out of iPhoto, awesome. I'm glad to be wrong.

As for which one to buy.... That WD is probably the easiest one to use for the "average" user. I'm sure there are setup wizards that will configure things for you. The downside is that this unit is a glorified external HD and your Mac will need to be powered on in order to access the data. The QNAP though...it allows more flexibility. If you wanted to create a home media server, the Ethernet Ports are a bonus as it will act as it's own device. Streaming in house isn't going to be anywhere near 100Mb / second, unless you are streaming 4K HD over your network. If you didn't want to use the Ethernet ports, it does have USB 3.0 ports to use, as well as a eSATA. It all boils down to budget.

So now we come to the part of even more redundancy and cloud storage. With 6TB or more of Data, you will be uploading forever. It's best to find a Cloud Vendor that accepts Hard Drives being sent to them with your data. You could send two or three 4TB HDs, one for client data, one one for personal data and one for misc. stuff (or overflow from one of the other two hard drives.) Investigate the Cloud Vendor thoroughly. Often they will delete files after a month if they aren't available on your computer. Not all Cloud vendors are the same, so read the fine print. It's not a "Set it and forget it" type of thing. Don't ever assume that it's okay to delete any file on your HD to free up space, because it's in "The Cloud." It may not be. As you can see, the prices are starting to add up. Hopefully you'll have about $2000+ to spend on this project, because this stuff isn't cheap. You'll probably want two of the NAS systems, one as a primary, the other as a backup / secondary. You would copy NAS #1 to NAS #2 on a weekly / monthly basis. Then upload the files from either NAS #1 or NAS #2 (Probably NAS #2) to the Cloud. Of course, after you do your initial data-dump. Most ISPs have data caps and I'd hate for you to get penalized for going over 250GB of data. You might not want to purchase a second NAS, and that's fine. Just purchase a bunch of 4TB to 6TB hard drives to copy stuff to. Then backup your NAS to the Cloud. I know that you are trying to get away from having a bunch of HDs floating around, but the truth is to do that, it's gonna cost money. So before you do anything, have a realistic budget set. If you did go with the QNAP, I think you can configure two hard Drives as RAID0, then mirror those HDs to the other two. Check the manual.

Now for your selections. The manufacturers are finally releasing new NAS systems with larger HDs. This Western Digital Unit caught my eye. I've had very good luck with the WD Caviar Black Line of HDs. It's what I usually recommend when it comes to Western Digital's products. I highly recommend that you reconfigure that HD as a RAID1, of course, you will have only 6TB available if you configure it that way. I think 8TB hard drives are the largest at this point, but I haven't really checked lately, they could be bigger, but I'm thinking 8TB is the largest as I type this. QNAP's products are highly regarded in the industry. This QNAP TS-431 unit allows you to have the ability to create a RAID5. If you use all 4 hard drives as a RAID 5, after formatting, you should get close to 10TB total storage capcity, give or take. In addition, this unit has an Gigabit Ethernet Port, so all you have to do is hook it up to your router / switch and it acts like it's own server. If you configure it as a RAID5 with three HDs and one hot-spare with 4TB HDs, you'll get about 7TB or so of usable space, give or take. Your dream of having 12TB of storage space is still a bit early, unless you want to use RAID0. (Again, not recommended.) The hard drives aren't that big...yet. Still, 6TB is 6TB!! You will just need to cull and hack your images. Saving everything isn't a good idea anyway. Those images that will never see the light of day will continue to just sit there, taking up space.