Older images on NAS - best practice?

[stefanjan2]

Fairly recently bought a new Synology NAS DS923+ and finding it works really well with imatch.

My current workflow:

-   Current images synced between NAS, Desktop and Laptop using  Synology Drive Client
-   Older images synced between NAS and desktop using Synology Drive Client
-   Older images on laptop accessed via mapped network drive (1TB m.2 SSD not large enough)

The above scenario works perfectly when at home but when travelling Synology Drive Client works fine for current images but the mapped drive of course no longer works.

I have experimented with several solutions while laptop not connected to local network:

1.   Use Synology Drive Client to synchronise older images to an external 2TB SSD on laptop.

2.   Use OpenVPN to connect to NAS using a mapped network drive

My preference I think is for option 2. OpenVPN but I'm wondering whether:

1.   I relocate mapped drives in imatch Z: when on LAN or Y: via OpenVPN when travelling

2.   Leave OpenVPN running and use Y: irrespective whether at home or travelling

Do you think there is any impact on performance or stability between the two options?

I'm also wondering whether instead of using Synology Drive Client on my desktop for older images I simple map the NAS network drive and save desktop space and syncing files. (Performance to a mapped drive from my laptop via WIFI on LAN and OpenVPN seems fine.

Can you think of any issues in the above scenarios?

Note at the moment I have some redundancy as all files are synced between RAID on NAS and RAID on Desktop. But this won't be an issue as I use Synology snapshot replication and Hyper backup to a second NAS plus offsite backups to external drives using Synology USB Copy.

[Mario]

I'm not really seeing a question for me to answer...?
Consider using On the Move: Portability Options when working with multiple computers.
IMatch can work with mapped drives and with UNC shares.

[stefanjan2]

Consider using On the Move: Portability

I am

UNC shares

I will try a UNC Share. Are there any performance differences between mapped drives and UNC Shares?

I'm not really seeing a question for me to answer...?

I guess that means there are no Mario danger warnings regarding my proposed workflow and no difference between relocating the source every time I leave or return to the LAN from travelling. Or any difference if I leave OpenVPN turned on and connect that way.

[Mario]

I will try a UNC Share. Are there any performance differences between mapped drives and UNC Shares? 

Not that I'm aware of. This is a question for Microsoft support, more like.

Relocation is quick if the to relocation media is fast. IMatch has to perform many file system queries while relocating.
Keep  in mind that accessing files over a network may be less reliable than accessing them locally - especially over Wi-Fi or mobile connections. I prefer to modify files only locally (on media directly connected to my laptop) and add them to my collection when I'm back.

[stefanjan2]

I prefer to modify files only locally (on media directly connected to my laptop)

In the main that's what I will be doing. Current files will be imported on my laptop and sync in the background to NAS back home. This seems to work very quickly.

The main purpose of having access to older files while travelling is to be able to show them to others and perhaps do some severe culling (my old stuff is a bit of a mess especially before I started using imatch)

Off to BC, Canada on Wednesday for 3 weeks so will have a chance to thoroughly test!