Questions about LaunchBox in NAS

[MrDeKat]

Hi!! I have an iMac with Windows installed on a partition of about 200 GB. I run LaunchBox from a 2 TB SSD (where I also have installed PC and store games) and I have the ROMs on two 6 TB HDDs, which I can't always have connected because I have other SSDs and HDDs for saving and editing photos and videos for work.

It's a pain having to keep switching between hard drives for gaming (and for working with photos and videos), so I was thinking about buying a NAS system. I don't know much about these systems, so I had some doubts about how it works with LaunchBox.

• Will there be slowdowns if I play with the ROMs on the NAS, especially on more demanding systems (PS2, Wii U, PS3...)?
• Thinking about using the NAS for two computers, will LB work correctly if I install it completely on the NAS or is it better to have it on the SSD and use the NAS only for the ROMs?
• Will PC games run fine if I install them on the NAS? (I play on a Mac, obviously I'm not aspiring to run Cyberpunk at 4K 60fps 🤣)
• Finally, any recommendations for any minimum characteristics I should keep in mind to avoid making a mess? 😅

Thanks in advance! 

[Lahrs]

Yes, you will see slowdowns on larger, newer games, but there is a way to mitigate it and is something I have successfully done. The caveat is that I built my NAS and I can't speak for pre-builds. 1GB/s transfer speed is probably fine, but if you are looking to do newer games, I would look into a 2.5GB/s or higher components. Most important though is your NAS cache drive. I have 40TB of slow storage mechanical drives, and a 4TB SSD cache drive. The cache drive will have your often used files, in this case, your ROMS. At this point, it will be near identical to having a 4TB storage (or whatever you use) in your computer. You can move your ROMS to your fast drive as needed. Slower games, SNES, PS1, etc., will do just fine running straight from the slower storage if you prefer.