Synology LUN/iSCSI target for Lightroom Classic, corrupt catalogs NAS storage and remote access

[RobertSmits]

Hi all,

I am a photographer and have a Synology DS1821+ with currently 4 HDD's to store my RAW files (and M.2 ssd cache), while I usually edit on my MBP 2022 14' M1 Max, but I sometimes also go on my self-built WIN11 desktop.

Currently, the Synology is in SHR and was reading up on LUN and iSCSI, which I installed as a test on my Synology (all is working well with the setup). This allows me to connect to my Synology on my WIN11 pc as an external HDD, so that I can have Backblaze back-up all that data, without having to pay a lot more for the Backblaze business plan (for backing up a NAS)...

Currently, I have setup my NIC (synology) with a bond of 3 UTP's and pointed the LUN to that IP. I have ordered another PCIe double 10 GBe NIC to connect via an OWC Thunderbolt4 10G converter, so I can edit and export (hopefully) a lot faster. My Synology is accessible from outside my home network (when I am shooting remotely, but still need to access my images/catalogs), but I am not sure if/or I can connect to the LUN/iSCSI target in that same way remotely (I would likely use the 3 UTP connected NIC for Internet/remote access use) and internally the 10G connection - I live in Belgium, so my max upload speed is around 28/29Mb anyway.

Is the LUN/iSCSI "protected" by SHR in case of drive failure?

Another reason for wanting to investigate the LUN/iSCSI target, is that I notice issues with my LR catalogs. All cats are on my internal SSD, synched via Synology Drive and to my desktop and vice versa. However, sometimes, I notice that my catalogs are becoming corrupt and need to rebuild, which always succeeds (luckily), but I also notice that in the process, it seems to delete/forget/disconnect the smart previews and deletes the AI local adjustment settings (subject selection) and even the metadata (which lens was used, camera, etc). I can easily redo the Smart previews and and the rebuild the AI local adjustments, but that takes at least 2/3 days to do on per master catalog (of which I have 2), the missing metadata seems to be lost forever. It is then also grouping my Virtual copies in B&W together, separate to the original files (but still in the same folder) messing up the whole catalog structure in the process. Does anyone know if using a LUN/iSCSI target will reduce the corrupt catalogs? It definitely has to do with Synology Drive (or potentially a network cable disconnect), as since I paused Synology Drive, I don't have the issues with the corrupt catalogs anymore.

So 4 main questions :

1. Can I somehow access LUN/iSCSI remotely through my Synology, or can that only be achieved when using for example Anydesk?

2. Are the files in the LUN protected in case of Drive failure by the SHR?

3. Can LUN/iSCSI target help to reduce corrupt catalogs?

4. Does anyone have similar issues with corrupt catalogs and missing metadata while storing RAW files on a NAS?

Thank you in advance,

best regards,

DrBobke

[JohanElzenga]

Storing the Lightroom Classic catalog on a NAS is not supported and will often lead to corruption.

[RobertSmits]

Thank you for your reply, JohanElzenga and I do realize it's not supported, and I am storing the catalogs on my internal SSD, but they are just being synched to synology drive and my PC. There is nothing happening for the last few months from my PC side, but I need and want to have the option to edit LRc from there too, that is why it was set up that way. (And to be honest, I didn't think my MBP 14' would dramatically outperform my specially built WIN11 PC with all the best and fastest components for LRc use (looking at the hardware tests from Puget Systems and benchmark testing)).  But that is a bit beside the point.. I just need and want to export my RAWs with my edits from my catalog 🙂