Brian

Dell M6400? Ugh. I'm going to go bang my head against the wall. I hate laptops. Such a PITA when you need to fix them. We now have to worry about physical size of your hard drives and the type of interface that they use. It's not as straightforward as a desktop computer. Bonus Points: Dell has discontinued it and the manuals for it aren't coming up so I'm kinda blind at this point. From where I stand, there is no hope for your existing partition; as far as I'm concerned, your hard drives are "Contaminated," for lack of a better term. In my honest and professional opinion, (doing this for almost 26 years) you either need to install new hard drives, or at the very least delete the current partition(s) and then re-install Windows 10 Pro. Anything other than a full "Nuke" (Delete Existing Partitions) is going to put you right back to the same spot as you are now. It's like you have some sort of "Virus" (for lack of a better term) and no matter how many "scans" or re-installations you do, it's not going to fix your problem. You need a clean slate to work from; the word "re-install" or even "Upgrade from Windows 7" is no longer part of your vocabulary. Your Windows is so corrupted, it is not repairable. Permissions and Folder Ownership Problems are nasty and usually aren't repairable. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news; believe it or not, you will fix your problem within a day or so rather than months by working from a clean slate. Now, since you have a RAID Setup, you will need the RAID Controller Drivers or else Windows will freak out and won't install.So before doing anything, try to create the Dell Recovery Media if that is an option. I'm more concerned about the RAID Drivers more than anything. If you have a repair shop to take your laptop to, do it. Have them delete your current C Drive partition and have them install Windows 10 Pro. (Bring along your license key.) Hopefully their labor fees are reasonable since we aren't going to try and "fix" this problem and just need a huge reset done on your laptop and go from there.

I received it, thanks.

THIS IS A VERY GOOD THING. To answer your question, when you purchase a store-bought / name-brand PC, Dell, HP, Toshiba, Sony, whatever...you actually do not purchase a Microsoft Windows License, but one that was given to the manufacture, and then that license is sold / forwarded to you. So it's not a "Microsoft Windows OEM" License but a "HP Version" of Microsoft Windows or a "Dell Version" of Microsoft Windows, or whatever. It works exactly the same as a OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) copy of Windows directly purchased from Microsoft; it just has to do with the licensing more than anything. (Another Splitting Hairs thing.) So by having Microsoft giving you a new license key, and getting the installer .ISO on a thumb-drive, has helped things immensely, even though it doesn't seem like it has and ties in with my idea. There is light at the end of the proverbial tunnel, and it's not an oncoming train. Since you are already backed up and have nothing to lose except time, we are ready to proceed with my idea. This should only take a day or so to get you up and running 100% and probably a week to get EVERYTHING reloaded, but at the end you will once again have a stable system, AND quite possibly install and run PS CC 2019 with no problems... What we are going to do is remove your existing hard drive, have you purchase a brand new main hard drive, and install a fresh Windows 10 Pro on that new HD with the key provided from Microsoft. Hopefully, this is a desktop computer and not a stupid laptop, which WILL complicate things if it's a laptop. I personally use and HIGHLY RECOMMEND the Western Digital Caviar Black Line of Internal Hard Drives. You could purchase a 1TB 7200RPM Model for about $72, or go with something larger, like a 2TB for $120. You could get a 4TB model, though by doing so adds a few steps to the Windows Installation Routine. This is due to the limitations of a MBR (Master Boot Record) partition of 2TB maximum. Anything higher 3TB or more will need to be converted / upgraded to a GPT Disk (the replacement for MBR) so that you will be able to use 4TB in its entirety for your main drive. So to keep things simple, and fairly inexpensive, I'd stick to a 1TB or 2TB hard drive. Replacing your hard drive is fairly straightforward. Unplug the computer, wait about a minute or two to make sure all the trickle charges have dissipated from the motherboard, and un-mount the existing HD. You will remove a power connector and data connector and then pull out the HD. Transfer over the mounting screws / mounting cage from the old hard drive to the new one and hook up the power / data cable. Then turn on your computer, let it detect the new HD (it should do this automatically,) then plug in the Window 10 Pro Thumb Drive. Follow the prompts to install a fresh copy of Windows 10 Pro. You will create an Administrator Account and more accounts / Admin Accounts after installation. (I can help with this part.) Then it's just a matter of letting Windows detect your components and getting a connection to the internet. That is the MAIN THING which is THE MOST IMPORTANT...THE NETWORK CARD DRIVER. You usually can download all sorts of manufacturer's drivers if they are available (like video card, sound card and motherboard chipset drivers, etc.) but that isn't going to happen if your Ethernet Port doesn't work. That said, these days that issue is pretty minor as Windows 10 Pro detects things 98% of the time on the first try. Even then it will attempt a Microsoft Generic Driver to get you going. Why Windows 10 Pro? Windows 7 is going to be taken behind the proverbial barn and shot dead on January 7, 2020. All support will be abandoned for Windows 7 on that date, so you better get used to Windows 10 now because its days are numbered. Actually, looking at the calendar...it's a year from this date as I type this. Oh, the benefit to replacing the Hard Drive is not only will you have a faster / higher quality drive and a clean slate to work from, you can always re-install your old HD if you needed to get something off of it. Plus, this new HD is an investment, when the time comes to get a new computer, simply pull this new HD and mount it into an external case. Boom! You will then have a 1TB or 2TB EHD that you can use in your new computer, OR mount it as a 2nd HD in your new desktop computer. Either way the installation process is very similar for both an internal enclosure or external. Thoughts?

Ah...here is the comment box from FB:

OK... Let's begin. Buzz!!! I'm sorry, that is incorrect. You are getting that error because your Windows is botched up. Either there was an underlying problem with your Windows and the PS CC update triggered something, OR the PS CC update is the main culprit. Either way, the end-result is the same. As I have stated over on FB, I've dealt with this permissions problem before, and it's a nasty one. I had to delete the main C Drive partition and re-create during the Windows custom installation to fix that server. I spent MONTHS trying to "fix" it and there was no fix. Nuke it and start all over...actually took me 4-6 hours to do. With my problem, I un-hid the App Data folder and each time I double clicked on the folder, it would triplicate. Clicked the folder again, triplicate again, then again, then again. I discovered this problem when the Backup Software ran the night prior and tried accessing this folder. Imagine a Folder that was only a couple of Kilobytes, ballooning into several Terabytes over 12 hours. I was fortunate to cancel the backup program, but had to manually delete thousands and thousands of corrupted App Data Folders. Coincidentally, you know what folder was in that corrupted folder? A folder labeled "Adobe." That is how I know what you are going through. I'll bet...and you are caught in the middle of a pissing contest between Adobe and Microsoft. You are correct, it won't fix anything if the App Data folder file has corrupted. Even if you install programs on an external drive, stuff gets put in the App Data Folder under the User Profile in Windows. The reason is that folder is more of what's called a "Symbolic Link," and it's not truly a folder. It is just a pointer file that is posing as a folder. (Well, that's my interpretation. I'm sure there is an official definition out there but we are splitting hairs on technicalities at this point.) That's why Adobe is trying to create a new profile to see if that works, and it will not. The core component that controls that folder is corrupted, I'm almost certain of it...and this is based on my own personal experience; I wish I could say something like, "Capacitor J2635 isn't running at the proper voltage oscillation, thereby contributing to the issue with the Flux Capacitor not being able to control the space-time continuum, which is causing your Windows to not function properly..." Or something. You are correct. Just like pushing the Elevator Button 15 times...it's not going to make the Elevator come any quicker, it just gives you something to do. Yes. That is not acceptable. Not only will this method not work, due to the corrupted Windows, if it did, you would be dealing with a bottleneck with working off a USB 2.0 or USB 3.0 port. Not good. Don't bother doing this. I empathize. You poor Woman. I can say that with this PS 2019 update...it has screwed up A LOT of people's computers. You are not alone. I think you mentioned somewhere that your computer is being replaced sometime later this year but as of right now it's not in the budget. Understandable with the Holidays just behind us. I do have an idea though. It's not as expensive as buying a new computer, but it will definitely solve your problem and get you up and running. That will be posted in the next comment box. I will ask, what type of computer do you have now? (Make / Model) How large is your current/main hard drive in terms of capacity?

Manual focusing on a digital camera is a pain in the ass. They are fun to play with. A few years ago, a company called KatzEye made focusing screen that worked like the split-prisms on SLR bodies, which made manual focusing MUCH easier. Unfortunately, that company is no longer in business. Personally I'd either wait for the 200mm f/4 or get the 105VR. Unless you are going to use a tripod 100% of the time. I'm in the same boat. I have toyed around with getting a 105VR, but I feel that a 150m - 200m Macro Lens might be a better fit. Honestly, you seem to want that 200mm and that is your answer. That said, I wouldn't hold my breath for Nikon to release anything like that in the near future. They have gone Mirrorless Happy with their new Nikon Z Mount lenses. What I do see being released is the Nikon D6, and the new 58mm f/0.95 Noct lens for the Nikon Z Mirrorless. Anything other than that is pure speculation.

OK. Throw me a bone here. What operating system? Details...Details.

Yeah, it's probably the only one you have. I just checked mine, and I'm in the same boat as you. It is possible that I told the Adobe Installer to delete old versions of PS, so that's what I'm thinking happened on my end. What you will need to do is fine the .dmg installer file for PS 2017 / 2018 or whatever. Just copying the folder over will not work. The program needs to be installed and a license key will need to be typed in. You might want to give Adobe a call and see if they can send you a link to the older version of PS that will work with your Creative Cloud Key.

PS CC 2018 is still on your Hard Drive. Adobe Software does not over-write old versions of their software. This is how you can end-up with three copies of Photoshop on your computer. LOL! Which is a good thing, since the PS CC 2019 is really messing up people's computers. Look in your Applications Folder, it should be in the list.

For which type of Media? Traditional Hard Drive or SSD? CF/SD Media?

The term you are looking for is "Un-nest." I don't think there is a way to do what you are wanting to do.

Ok, then that brings things down to a lower price-point. I will do some thinking and searching and get back to you, though my above recommendations still stand. Even though you aren’t playing games, a mid-range Gaming Setup will meet your requirements. The only difference is you don’t need any of the fancy show-off LED case / wire stuff. Horsepower from a Gaming System...yes. Bling...No.

Well, in Adobe’s defense, most of the Art / Video world is using Macs. Combine that with the limited hardware choices, Adobe only has to worry about 6 or so video card / hardware combinations across the Macintosh Line vs hundreds of video card / hardware combinations with Windows. Say what you will about Apple, limiting your products to a certain amount has some advantages. Apple bows to no one. Windows on the other hand has to make all sorts of manufacturers happy. Of course Adobe still screws up with Macs is too. LOL! They only get updates quicker, that doesn’t mean they don’t have problems. LOL.

You can get a very nice Windows Pre-Configured PC for US $3000. It’s just “editing video” is what throws a wrench into the mix. So let’s talk video. WHAT are you editing? 30 second YouTube Clips? Whole Weddings and Lifestyle sessions? Have you edited before?

Editing Video is a whole other world. If you are really serious about editing video, then you are looking at getting a iMac Pro. The reason is that software developers will often update and enhance their programs to work on a Mac, since the hardware choices are smaller. Give this video a watch to see what I mean. That guy spent $10,000+ on the fastest Windows computer that money could buy and still ended up with going with a iMac Pro. Now, if you are just starting out and playing around with things to learn, that's another story. You are really looking for a Gaming Computer. Not because you play games but you will need the performance boost that comes with a gaming computer. Here is my recommendations: Intel i7 or i9 CPU Asus / MSI / Gigabyte Motherboard that has at least 6 SATA Ports for Hard Drives on it and supports RAID0, RAID1 & RAID10. Also having lots of USB 3.0 ports would be nice to have. 1TB Main SSD or M.2 Drive 32GB RAM to start out with and upgrading to 64GB of RAM will be in your future. Windows 10 Pro Two additional Hard Drives configured as a RAID0 (This will be used for your video editing software's cache only, and NOT used for any file storage.) I recommend getting a couple of fast 7200 RPM Hard Drives, maybe a couple of Western Digital Caviar Black 4TB drives. A large HD, probably around 12TB to store your data files Video Card with it's own separate and dedicated video RAM. Probably around 8GB of video memory. Blue Ray DVD Drive. A high-end case with easy access to hard drives will be a must. Cooling will also be a concern and you could end up with a water-cooled system. 800 Watt Power Supply. Guess what? I've blown your budget. LOL!! I tried putting one of these systems together and stopped when I got to $3,000 US. So back to reality. Do you really want to build your own computer or would you settle for a high-end store-bought / Dell computer?

Unless you restore from a Time Machine Backup, which copies over all the crap from your old MBP, you are installing a fresh & current version of PS CC, complete with bugs. That said, I don't think it's going to be a major issue for you because it's a brand new Mac. There isn't previous versions to deal with, plugin transfers that could affect things, and other general crap, etc. The majority of the problems that I see when people complain, is from people that don't do normal maintenance on their computers. They have crap all over the place, their Mac Desktop is filled with hundreds...if not thousands, of images and files (which is a bad thing to do) and have only 4GB or 8GB of RAM with a filled HD. Then they update and it blows up in their faces. It's like complaining that your engine died because you didn't do an oil-change in 100,000+ miles. "But I don't know anything about cars..." translates to "I'm not tech savvy..." or "I don't know anything about computers..." No excuses. Learn. Educate yourself. I see it all the time; people will spend HOURS and HOURS, if not months chasing the "Perfect Skin-tone" or how this certain Photographer achieves this look but won't take a Saturday Afternoon to learn how to properly maintain/use their computer. I recently purchased a 27" iMac earlier this year, and for the most part, I only transferred the things I actually needed. Clean slates are a good thing, and if your old MBP is still working, makes this "clean slate" method easier. I have an external HD that all my images are stored on, so that left things like browsing favorites and logins/passwords, PS Actions & Brushes, my iTunes library and documents to transfer over. As far as the plug-ins, like Portraiture and the like, I downloaded fresh copies due to having a newer version of PS and a new Mac OS. I was not going to bother with installing old versions of anything. I recommend you do the same, newest versions of browsers and other programs. I also purchased CleanMyMac X from MacPaw.com and even installed MS Office 365. This way I would have the 2019 versions when available. Since you claim that you aren't tech savvy, I'd say the easiest way to transfer things is via a USB ThumbDrive, like a 32GB version or an External HD. There is a way to network your two Macs together and to create shared folders and such, which allows you to copy things directly but I don't give away that knowledge/methods for free.

Thank You for the Beer!! Damien forwarded it to me. Happy New Year!

One more thing... In my haste I forgot to mention one critical thing: When switching RAID methods / levels, the existing RAID configuration on the drives will be deleted in order to setup a different RAID configuration. So you will need to migrate the data to a temporary source, configure a RAID 5 in the 4-Bay NAS, then set things up again / migrate the data back. So I can see where purchasing a second NAS unit is tempting. Even so, you still have one problem...budget. I was trying to stay as close as possible to your $500 budget. If you do go with another NAS, you are either buying two larger HDs than 4TB and still have the limitations of a two-bay NAS. I'm thinking you really need to delete stuff and save up a bit more to get a 4-bay NAS setup.

When you upgrade, send it in.

Hmm...good question. Since things are working fine, and I'm guessing it focuses well, I'd leave it alone. Changing lenses on the beach is your main concern. Sand is evil so there is some merit to having things checked and cleaned. Now I'm thinking maybe you should send it in. LOL!! That said, if this is your only camera body then do not send it in. Just because you send it to Canon doesn't mean that the human doing the cleaning won't screw it up. I sent my D3s to Nikon to have it repaired, they broke it and couldn't fix it. I ended up with a refurbished camera from them. Thank God I have a backup body as I had Gigs coming up a few weeks after sending it in. Bottom Line: If you have sessions lined up? Do not send it in. If you do not have a second / backup body and it's working...DO NOT SEND IT IN. If you can afford being without your camera for a few months, or at the very worst they break it and you can handle that issue by using a backup body, THEN send it in. Clear as Mud?

No. You can have two different NAS units with their own IP addresses hooked to your router. What I'm talking about is with a NAS like the Synology DS918+, you can purchase a external module, the Synology DX517 Expansion Unit that uses the eSATA port on the back of the unit. This external unit doesn't do anything, it just houses 5 additional hard drives. The software on your main NAS controls it. So instead of just having 4 hard drives to play with / configure, you would have 9 drives at your disposal. The cost of this expansion unit is pretty decent, it's not much more than buying a separate NAS. The 918+ is $550 and the DX517 is $470. That's a lot less money than forking out $1600+ on a 8-bay unit. eSATA in this case is pretty fast. In terms of speed, with the main unit / expansion unit. it's faster than a 1Gb Ethernet Connection. The other thing you have to take into consideration is the bottleneck that you get with using mechanical hard drives. I think in the lab eSATA is 3Gbps, but in your real-world environment, it's more like 1.5Gbps-ish. Give or take. Still faster than a 1Gb Ethernet. The point I'm trying to make is it's silly to have multiple NAS units on your network. So instead of having two or three NAS units with small hard drives, replace the HDs in your NAS with larger ones. If your current NAS meets your needs and you know how to configure / utilize things, why buy another NAS because you are out of room? You need larger Hard Drives. Period. Even if you bought a second NAS, you are wasting your money if you just get another 4TB NAS setup. I'm sure it would seem cheaper, but spending $250 on a two-bay NAS, then forking out another $360 for a couple of 4TB drives, you are only kicking the proverbial "can" down the road. You are going to run out of room again in a year. Then what? A third NAS? RAID is a funny thing. To get the best performance and not deal with the unexpected "Gotchas," I would purchase two additional WD 4TB Red drives, with the exact same model number, capacity and speed (RPM). Since you are looking for the maximum storage, with RAID 1+0, we are mimicking that but using 4 drives instead of two. If you added the two 4TB Drives to a new enclosure and migrated your exisiting drives to the new 4-bay NAS unit, you would double your current capacity and still have redundancy. If you went with a RAID 5 setup, you would need a minimum of three hard drives, all identical. So let's use your current 4TB drives and you purchase one, that's 12TB total, but you'd lose around 4TB for redundancy (Mirroring / Striping) and that leaves you with 8TB. If speed isn't an issue for you, then RAID 5 makes sense. Keep in mind with a RAID 5, if one hard drive fails, you are fine but if two hard drives fail, the entire RAID fails. Here is a thought... Get the DS918+ and purchase one WD Red 4TB Drive...same exact model number, capacity, RPM, etc as you currently own. Configure the RAID in the new NAS unit as a RAID 5 and you'll get more storage, even better redundancy and end up with the same capacity if you were to do a RAID10. Since you are just housing data files (images and such) in your NAS, a RAID 5 would work well. With a 4 bay NAS, you could purchase another 4TB when funds allow and end up with 12TB of accessible storage. (16TB total Capacity, minus 4TB for redundancy = 12TB) By going this route, it keeps your budget in-check with using your existing drives, double your capacity, while allowing you options down the road that you just won't get with buying another 2-bay NAS. I'm thinking the cost will be around $125 for the extra WD RED drive, plus $550 for the DS918+. That's around the same cost as a single 12TB G-Drive Thunderbolt EHD. For me personally, since I would be streaming movies over my network, I need the performance boost that you get with RAID0, and by using the RAID1 Technology to mirror to another RAID0, I get redundancy. Personally, I feel when it comes to streaming video, RAID 1+0 / RAID10 should be used. For housing data files, I still use and recommend RAID5. Of course, there is RAID6 but that requires 4 hard drives to setup for even more redundancy, (Data is striped / mirrored using two hard drives instead of one) and you'd still only end up with 8TB if you had four 4TB drives in a RAID6 configuration. (Lots of overhead with RAID6.) If you want to play around with RAID configuration setups, Synology has a neat RAID Configuration Tool. OMG!!! You need to cull-cull-cull!!! Delete-Delete-Delete!!! You do not need 75 Raw files taken of your lunch from 6 years ago. Those blurry, never-gonna-see-the-light-of-day-photos? Delete!!! LOL!! You need to be ruthless, or plan on making a purchase really soon. It Is not good to have less than 10% free on ANY hard drive and you are past that at around 4 percent free!! UGH. You like living on the edge? That thing could crash you. Hard Drives are not dumping grounds. I know, 170 Gigabytes seems like a lot of space, if you compare it to Megabytes. Today's GB is yesterday's MB. So if this were 20+ years ago, you'd have 170MB free on that drive. Not good. From a Hardware standpoint, you won't "Damage" your hard drives by having them that full. Data Corruption? That's what is at risk. Just think of the HOURS you will spend rebuilding that thing.

Nope. It's just more to keep track of. If you did go the really big HD route, just have a "Business" and "Personal Folders setup, then go from there. It's the same as having two partitions. If you want redundancy, you are looking at some form of RAID. Which is either RAID 1, RAID 5/6, or RAID 10. More on this later. Yep. That is a slippery slope. "Oh I will just buy another NAS..." then it turns into another one, then another one, then another one. I have a friend who is a photographer. She has at least 18 external hard drives in her closet! She runs out of room and it's another EHD purchased. It drives me nuts, but you can only lead a horse to water, can't make them drink. Typically with the 2-Bay NAS, having the ability to setup a 2nd external enclosure isn't an option. OK, let's dive into your original post, shall we? No. Just don't. NAS units require a better HD than your typical cheap ones found in external drives. These drives usually run cooler and are meant to be on 24/7/365. Do not be tempted to get cheap HDs, RAID1, like all computer backup systems, isn't fool-proof. If you are determined to get a cheaper drive that isn't meant for a NAS, at least invest in higher quality drives, such as a Western Digital Caviar Black Drive. (Be sure to get the Caviar Black line and not the Blue or Green Drives.) "But I've never had a problem and have always used cheap drives..." I hear it all the time. Usually at some point I hear the phrase, "...why didn't I listen to you?" or "Why didn't I spend the money..." I also hate Seagate Hard drives. I don't seem to have good luck from them, and even had a couple SMOKE on me over the years. Some time back, Seagate bought Maxtor and their hard drives were cheap, and failed ALL THE TIME. So I often wonder if these inexpensive hard drives are just rebranded Maxtor Drives. Hmmm.... Of course this is the Internet, and there will be hoards of people telling me that I'm wrong and Seagate Hard Drives are #Amazeballz. Anyway, my remarks stand. So what drives do I recommend? At the bare minimum, the WD Caviar Black Line that I linked to above. For a NAS Unit, I'd purchase a WD Gold 12TB Enterprise Class Hard Disk Drives. Yep, I'd buy those over the older WD RED Drives, which are also meant for NAS units but seem to have a high failure rate and firmware issues. The Gold Drives are an improved model; of course at a much higher price point. Docking stations make me nervous. If you plan on just making an external HD out of them...fine, but then you are back to having 18 external hard drives like a friend of mine. LOL! Think bigger. Stop with the 2-Drive NAS units. You are going to keep outgrowing them. You really need at least a 4-Bay unit, which supports and external unit for added capacity. Currently, I'm looking at a Synology 4 bay NAS DiskStation DS918+ (Diskless) for $549.99. (There goes your $500 budget.) Why? Personally, all the stuff you can do with it and as I mentioned before, I want to create my own home-based "Netflix." So all of the "thinking" the NAS has to do in order for that to happen, you need horse power. Now if you are just storing photos, then something like the Synology DS418Play, might be a better fit. (I'm even considering this model and am on the fence.) In my humble opinion, a model like the DS918+ is more future proof. Better CPU, more cache options and it allows you to use a expansion unit to add more drives. Then again, if you are just dumping photos to it and want redundancy, then your price-point will be less. In either case, opt for a 4 bay model at the minimum. As for your existing RAID / NAS HDs, Synology makes it easy to migrate your hard drives to a new NAS without the loss of data. That's a whole other world and another topic. You will need a large budget to do video well. Probably a computer that supports RAID 0 that you would use as a cache drive. Actually, if you really want to get into video, you are looking at purchasing a Macintosh in the future. Give this video a watch to see what I mean. Now for the bottom line and some additional info. What if you don't have the budget to spend $3000 on a NAS unit? What do you do? I would make sure your firmware is the most current, and the software that runs the NAS is also current and purchase two larger HDs. Like two 12TB WD Gold Models. You really need 12TB going forward. Otherwise, we are going to have this conversation again in a year. Or get a 4 Bay NAS unit, put the existing HDs from your NAS into it and purchase two smaller HDs and have two RAID 1 units. Ultimately, if you are looking for the maximum amount of storage AND have some redundancy, you are looking at setting up a RAID10 or a RAID 1+0. Why that RAID and how many drives will I need? You will need a MINIMUM of four identical drives to get this setup and have it work well. Mix-matching HDs with a RAID10 is not good. Here is how it works... Let's say you just inherited a large some of money or that scratch-off lottery ticket was a winner and you have a large budget. We will start with 12TB drives: 12 TB + 12 TB | Configured as a RAID0 = 24TB >>----- Which is then Mirrored / RAID1 -----> 12 TB + 12 TB | Configured as a RAID0 = 24TB Mirrored. 24TB is A LOT of photographs. If you need even more storage, you just purchase a Synology External Enclosure, buy more drives and keep going. So RAID 10 is RAID 1+0 or RAID 0 + 1, depending on how you look at it. With RAID0, two hard drives act in unison and become one really big hard drive. Then the RAID1, which is mirroring comes into play. The RAID 0 / One big HD is Mirrored to another RAID 0. Make sense? Long term, I think this is what you are after. Now you don't need 12TB drives. You could go for a quantity of four 4TB drives, which will be 8TB Mirrored. Of course, you could scrap all of this and just get a External 12TB G-Drive and be done with it.

The good news is that I’ve been looking to build a home media server using plex, so I have been researching NAS stuff. So I will pick this thread up later tonight.

I’m going to have to look at this thread when I get home. LOL! Here is the quick and dirty advice: Your $500 budget is way too low if you want to continue with a NAS. It should be between $2000-$3000. Yes, you need a larger NAS and I don’t think the two-bay units hook to an external unit, though I could be wrong and will check this later. You could get a single external 12TB G-Drive ThunderBolt Drive for about $650 but you lose redundancy with a single drive. I wouldn’t bother with Drives that are less than 8TB for your situation. https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1360172-REG