Central storage solution for 12 iMacs Adobe Indesign and Photoshop files

We have quite a high performing program, but aging infrastructure. I have 12 imacs that need constant access to Adobe Indesign and Photoshop files. All computers will touch the files at some point so they need to be in a centralized and local location. We currently build our 300 page book on an Apple Time capsule, and it is understandably a headache as it was not designed for our current use of it. I have been looking at the Synology DS218 or DS218+. Am I way off base here on a solution? Any help is appreciated.

With 12 computers accessing you should really consider DS918+ which can be populated with only 2 or 3 drives. It has slots for cache and also RAM memory can be upgraded. This is very beneficial when working with many little files and in workgroup with more than 12 people.

Synology software is cutting edge technology and offers many free apps to make into a bespoke solution. Version control is the most popular function so that you can go back in time if needed to recover older file versions. It will also work as a time machine for iMacs.

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What can I connect to a NAS?

Wireless Speaker Sonos

The great thing about Sonos is that you don't need to pay for music subscription service. With the cheapest NAS at home like DS115j or any other, you can have your backups done for all of your devices and still use your network drive as a Sonos music library. Sonos will connect to your NAS via your network and let access your provided music library. If you have little more of IT knowledge, you can even set up your Alexa or Sonos with Alexa built in to play music on your voice commands ("Alexa! Ask DS Audio to Play Music!").

Casting devices

Nowadays it is so cheap to upgrade your old TV and make it smart. All you need is Google Chrome or EZcast alternative plugged into your HDMI port at the back of your TV. Now you have great functionality added to your TV to send a video file directly from your NAS to a TV. No need for wires and chargers and other mess. You can use your phone as a remote to go to your movies or family videos and cast that content on your TV during family or friend gatherings.

 

Apple TV

Amazon Fire TV

You may not have a smartphone, or you just simply prefer to control your content with a remote in that case Amazon Fire TV will be a great addon to get to your TV. It also plugs into your HDMI port and will play content from your NAS to a TV. No wires no mess.

nVidia Shield TV

It gets even better! If you want some more entertainment and all previously mentioned functions - nVidia TV is a great thing to get. You can use it for playing games and watching movies from your NAS. The greatest thing is - shield TV does video transcoding. So even if you have a cheap NAS with a weak CPU, in a combination of shield TV you can now automatically on the fly change video file size and format for a destination device. It is a great way to reduce network load and let older devices to play video content which normally was not supported on the device.