Free checklist
The 5-Test NAS Bottleneck Checklist
Find out why editing feels slow — in 10 minutes, without buying anything. Works with any NAS, any brand.
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Test 1 · 2 min
Link Speed
Check the speed your computer actually negotiated — on Mac: System Settings → Network; on Windows: adapter status; on your NAS: its network panel.
Pass = wired 1GbE or faster. Fail = 100 Mbps, Wi-Fi, or powerline adapters. Fix the link before you touch anything else.
Test 2 · 1 min
Name Your Codec
Write down your camera, codec, and frame rate. Planning targets: H.265 ≈ 12–25 MB/s, ProRes 422 ≈ 74 MB/s, ProRes HQ ≈ 110 MB/s (4K30).
Rule: your streams’ total MB/s must stay well under your link’s real speed (~100 MB/s on 1GbE). Two streams of ProRes HQ already saturate a gigabit link — that’s math, not a broken NAS.
Test 3 · 3 min
The Big Copy Test
Copy a 5GB+ file to your NAS and back. Watch the speed graph the whole time — don’t just glance at the peak.
Pass = steady, near link speed throughout. Fail, falls off a cliff = cache or drives choking. Fail, never reaches link speed = link or disk problem.
Test 4 · 2 min
The Quiet NAS Test
Pause indexing, thumbnail generation, and backups — then try your timeline again.
If it suddenly plays smooth, you don’t have a speed problem — you have a scheduling problem. Move those jobs to overnight and you’re done.
Test 5 · 2 min
Walk the Chain
Write out every hop between your footage and your screen: NAS → cable → switch → adapter → computer. Circle the slowest one.
Rule: your whole system runs at the speed of its slowest link. A 10-gig NAS on a 1-gig switch is a 1-gig NAS.
Your result
Network tests failed?
Fix the link first, retest, and don’t buy anything yet.
Drives failed the copy test?
That’s an array or SSD conversation — not a network one.
Everything passes but editing still stutters?
You’re a candidate for proxy workflows — or 2.5/10GbE with an NVMe pool.
Stuck after the checklist?
Book a free design call — or skip the DIY and get a prebuilt creator system, restore-tested before it ships.
Speeds are planning targets — actual numbers vary by camera, frame rate, and file system.