OWC Jupiter Mini: 30-second evaluate
Specs
CPU: 2.2 GHz Intel Xeon D-1518 4-Core
Graphics: VGA
RAM: 32GB ECC RAM.
Storage: 5 x 4TB 3.5″ 7200 rpm SATA HDDs
Rear Ports: Consists of 2x 10GbE and 2x 1GbE community connections, USB-A 3.2 Gen 1.
Entrance Ports: 2 x USB-A 2.0
Connectivity: 2x 10GbE and 2x 1GbE community connections
Audio: n/a
Digicam: n/a
Dimension: 325 x 220 x 230mm
OS put in: TrueNAS SCALE.
Equipment: n/a
Within the background of most workplaces and studios, there’s normally some type of server with entry to mass storage working away. This storage is often present in a secluded space and accessed solely by a certified IT skilled. Whereas such community techniques are complicated and will be difficult to manage, their performance is crucial for any enterprise, primarily supplying a centralised useful resource the place all workers can entry shared recordsdata of all kinds.
The OWC Jupiter Mini is a Community Connected Storage (NAS) system that, whereas not a completely built-in server, performs all of the storage jobs that bigger enterprise expertise handles in massive establishments. The Jupiter Mini, although smaller and simpler to manage, nonetheless provides the potential for a considerable quantity of storage, as much as 100TB and will be accessed by a number of customers with out the system slowing down, making it an excellent answer for small to medium-sized companies and professionals working with TB of photographs or video recordsdata and needing knowledgeable storage answer.
The Jupiter Mini integrates together with your community and will be subdivided into community drives (datasets) that may then be accessed by anybody on that community or remotely, given the right permissions.
Whereas there are numerous different NAS techniques available on the market, which can appear significantly cheaper, the Jupiter Mini provides unbelievable worth, contemplating the efficiency, storage, and help offered. In contrast to many client models designed for infrequent entry, this NAS can connect with the community with a 10GbE connection and is supported by highly effective inner {hardware} able to dealing with substantial knowledge move and a number of concurrent connections with out faltering.
We have tried out loads of the perfect NAS gadgets, and in our assessments, the speeds over the wired connection have been spectacular. 140 GB was transferred to 3 machines in round half-hour, which is considerably quicker than a client unit used to match.
The pace of the connection makes a substantial distinction when storing recordsdata, permitting a number of customers easy accessibility over the community in a small studio setting utilizing smb shares. This implies mission folders and recordsdata will be shortly downloaded to a working drive and restored as soon as completed. Moreover, tools types, threat assessments, and different repeatedly accessed recordsdata are simply reachable on-site, which is invaluable when web connectivity is unreliable.
Finally, in case you’re a small to medium-sized enterprise and wish a simple mass storage system that’s quick and simple to entry with nice help, then there’s little to fault with the OWC Jupiter Mini.
OWC Jupiter Mini: Value & availability
The OWC Jupiter Mini is out there instantly from OWC and from many expertise shops. Nonetheless, shopping for instantly ensures that you just get the precise specs and construct you require, whether or not for private use or your corporation. Models begin on the base degree of 20TB, which we have examined on this evaluate, and start at $2,999.
OWC Jupiter Mini: Design & construct
NAS bins usually have a practical type with quick-access drive slot doorways on the entrance and varied ports across the again, usually resembling an enlarged exterior arduous drive. OWC, nevertheless, has enhanced this design precept with the Jupiter Mini, including aesthetic touches similar to blue anodised door lever locks on the entrance, giving the drive a trendy edge over opponents.
Regardless of its aesthetic enchantment, this unit’s true worth lies in its options and performance. The drive is out there pre-configured from OWC and lots of different retailers, saving at the least a few hours of setup time. This implies it may be shortly built-in into your community and prepared to be used, offering instantaneous, high-capacity storage with out a lot fuss.
For a lot of small companies, this easy accessibility to massive storage capability might be greater than sufficient, having a drive that you could merely plug in after which browse the community positioned the drive login, and the Jupiter Mini community drive simply seems in your desktop, prepared to make use of, all quite simple. Nonetheless, the Jupiter Mini is way extra, and the enchantment of the machine is not simply the simplicity of connection however the ease of use on the subject of the administration of that storage for the folks accessing the drive. Administration is dealt with by the TrueNAS interface, which is pre-installed and permits an administrator to log in and allocate totally different storage areas to teams or people within the type of datasets, in addition to allow exterior sharing and verify drive well being.
The drive additionally provides future enlargement choices, so you can begin with the 20TB model after which broaden the storage as wanted. Drive substitute is made doable in a few methods, both by changing the drives bodily within the mini after which creating a brand new pool/dataset/share with the brand new drives. Or exchange one drive within the pool with the bigger one, let it resolve, exchange one other, let it resilver, and proceed till you’ve changed all 5 drives. As soon as that is completed, you possibly can then broaden the pool to take up extra house on the drives, which is completed with a single button press in TrueNAS.
In case you prefer to discover the system, you possibly can connect with the Jupiter Mini instantly. It has a VGA port on the again and will be linked to a keyboard and mouse. This method is way extra akin to enterprise-level options, and for many customers, the GUI of the TrueNAS browser model might be a far simpler setting to navigate.
OWC Jupiter Mini: Options
The {hardware} of the Jupiter Mini is designed to fulfill the wants of creatives and help the massive file sorts that are typically dealt with in these environments, which is the place related capability however lesser-powered NAS bins battle. The Jupiter Mini base capability is 20TB (expandable to 100TB) and makes use of ZFS RAID for knowledge safety; this leaves 16TB of usable house. The field comes pre-configured as RAIDZ1 (just like RAID 5). One of many benefits of that is that the ZFS routinely caches your most regularly used and up to date recordsdata in RAM, offering quicker entry to recordsdata at flash-like speeds. It additionally contains a high-speed 10GbE community connection, offering quicker file entry in comparison with normal NAS drives, with all of the processing right down to its enterprise-grade Xeon Processor and 32GB of ECC RAM. Utilizing the Jupiter Mini as a part of a studio or workplace setup permits a number of customers to entry the NAS concurrently, with automated file caching for swift retrieval of regularly accessed recordsdata.
The system comes preloaded with the TrueNAS SCALE, which permits the straightforward administration of the drive and its storage. This permits totally different community drives to be created and entry permissions granted, guaranteeing a simple setup and administration and a system that’s absolutely suitable with each Mac and PC techniques.
Whereas the drive’s total dealing with is sort of easy, in case you do get caught, there’s loads of documentation on-line, in addition to a complete single-source guarantee and excellent Professional Assist from OWC. This help provides help through the setup and past, guaranteeing that assistance is simply an e mail away when you’ve got any questions or points which will come up.
OWC Jupiter Mini: Efficiency
Community storage is a major asset in any studio or workplace setting. It permits the sharing of large-format recordsdata amongst colleagues. In a studio setting, that is notably useful for transferring massive video recordsdata throughout the community, eliminating the necessity to copy every thing onto transportable arduous drives and transfer them from one individual to a different.
Whereas there are many NAS options out there, the Jupiter Mini stands out as one of many few choices tailor-made for small to medium-sized companies, boasting ease of use and operation, energy, and scalability with out requiring in depth IT expertise.
The preliminary setup and use of the Jupiter Mini have been notably easy, with the system connecting to the again of the EERO 6 wifi router and turning into accessible all through the studio and residential. This centralised useful resource proved its worth by permitting fast entry to important video and picture recordsdata for initiatives. The pace of file transfers was immediately spectacular over the wifi connection, with 140GB of knowledge downloading in about an hour and a half, in comparison with six hours with our current NAS.
Nonetheless, when linked to the studio’s wired community, the obtain time for a similar recordsdata dropped to lower than half-hour because the recordsdata have been transferred to the OWC ThunderBlade X8. The OWC ThunderBlade X8 was used as an area working drive and enabled the quick switch speeds required by the perfect video enhancing software program for slicing and grading.
Within the take a look at, the community right here will not be the quickest 10GbE community at 2.5GbE. Nonetheless, the pace was spectacular for a self-managed system. After per week, the potential of quicker community storage turned apparent, and TrueNAS was used to create extra datasets for various teams and customers. This enabled totally different areas of the storage to be assigned as a community drive, with permissions to customers and teams assigned. As soon as the dataset is created, it might then be shared by means of smb. One other good function is that you just create a zvol, which then lets you format that phase of the drive in one other file format. There’s additionally a bunch of apps that may be downloaded and used in case you want an on-site net improvement setting, and once more, you possibly can assign a part of the storage to this.
Via the take a look at all administration was managed by means of the browser TrueNAS GUI. Whereas there was a studying curve, it proved to be a strong software with loads of documentation to help its use. As beforehand talked about, in case you do need a bit of extra, then you possibly can entry the command-line model of TrueNAS by utilizing a VGA monitor, keyboard, and mouse, a setup extra widespread in server environments than in small workplaces.
One key consideration was whether or not the OWC Jupiter Mini might function shared community enhancing storage for software program like Last Reduce Professional, DaVinci Resolve, or Premiere Professional. Whereas technically doable with the right setup and community pace, this NAS will not be particularly designed for such intensive duties, a job higher suited to extra highly effective and costly options just like the OWC Jellyfish. Nonetheless, lighter duties, similar to a centralised useful resource for picture or graphic design, are nicely throughout the Jupiter Mini’s remit.
The OWC Jupiter Mini provides an easy-to-maintain, out-of-the-box NAS answer that gives enterprise-level efficiency, far surpassing what’s achievable with client fashions and is scalable as much as 100TB to fulfill the rising knowledge storage wants of dwelling, workplace, or studio environments.
Must you purchase the OWC Jupiter Mini?
The OWC Jupiter Mini is designed for artistic professionals and small companies that require a industrial community storage answer with substantial storage potential with out the necessity for in depth IT know-how. Industrial NAS bins, though ultimate in performance, usually develop into utterly impractical on account of their design, price, and infrequently complicated command-line administration. Conversely, smaller client fashions might supply ease of use however not often supply the pace or energy for a number of concurrent connections, capability, connection options or prepared help. These are all areas the place OWC and the Jupiter Mini excel.
As a fundamental NAS, the Jupiter Mini is easy and environment friendly, making it notably engaging to videographers and photographers needing dependable storage for initiatives and recordsdata. Its compatibility with the ThunderBlade X8 as an area working drive enhances its performance. In a house setting, investing time in TrueNAS permits for segmenting the storage and offering devoted areas for community or shared storage wants throughout the workplace or family.
The true benefit lies in its enchantment to these in search of commercial-grade community storage that’s each high-performing, expandable and dependable. The system features a built-in help e mail system to alert customers of potential points with the {hardware}, stopping drive failures or different vital issues. In an workplace or studio setting, this single unit will be configured to supply varied storage areas for various teams, with tailor-made allocations and entry, mirroring the capabilities of a big firm’s IT system.
Though the preliminary funding within the OWC Jupiter Mini is important, the worth it provides in storage capability and the power to self-manage—backed by OWC’s wonderful help—makes it a fantastic alternative. For studios or small workplaces in want of a community storage answer, the OWC Jupiter Mini stands out as one of many quickest, easiest-to-use, and most versatile techniques out there.
| Row 0 – Cell 0 | Row 0 – Cell 1 | Row 0 – Cell 2 |
| Worth | Environment friendly and cost-effective for its capabilities | 4 |
| Design | Modern, fashionable design with sensible options | 4 |
| Options | Intensive options, ultimate for various storage wants | 5 |
| Efficiency | Quick, dependable, and handles massive recordsdata simply | 5 |
| Whole | Excessive-performing, feature-rich NAS for professionals | 4.5 |
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