Can a Hive library live on a NAS or an external drive?

External SSD

An SSD formatted as APFS gives you fast storage without filling the device, which suits a library with a lot of video or very large images. Plug the drive in, create or choose the library folder on it, and work as usual. Libraries on an external SSD are part of Pro.

Why a NAS doesn't work well

We know a NAS is a common setup, and we keep looking at what's possible. For now, the rules iOS and iPadOS apply to apps don't allow a dependable cache for a library over the network, and reading over SMB can be around 200 times slower than local storage. At that speed, loading and syncing stop feeling normal.

Why exFAT is slow

exFAT is the format many drives use out of the box, and on iPhone and iPad it's too slow for a library, even a small one. From fastest to slowest, the order is: on the device or downloaded from iCloud, then an APFS SSD, then SMB, then exFAT.

Reformatting a drive as APFS

You can reformat a drive in Disk Utility on a Mac. Reformatting erases everything on the drive, so copy your files somewhere else first.

Questions