Faster or shared storage, but not both

I create and edit architectural files typically of 25MB or larger, and am a keen photographer with a large Photos library. The former files are stored on a WD MyCloud Mirror so I can access them from other systems, but they take a long time to save. My Photos library is eating space on my laptop’s internal 512GB SSD. How can I reduce the time it takes to save files and keep my photos to hand?

[ RICHARD JAGGER ]

Ian Sleightholm replies: A faster hardwarebased RAID NAS would improve performance a bit, but you would need to go up to much more expensive network systems to match the performance of internal storage. Your fastest option would be to fit a larger internal SSD, but architectural files stored there would need to be synchronised over your network to the NAS or other shared storage; you could do that using a folder-syncing app, perhaps.

An SSD or even a hard drive in a Thunderbolt enclosure would also perform very well, although again, you’d need to synchronise over your network. USB 3 models are often significantly cheaper. For your Photos library, a cost-effective and neat answer might be to add a fast 128GB or larger card to an SDXC card-reader (which will cost upwards of $100). Otherwise, keeping it on an external drive would mean the library would only be accessible while that drive is connected to your laptop.