Need to know if NAS is the best solution

[DVLPR]

I am trying to find a hardware solution for an historical database. I have been looking into NAS and I'm wondering if I am heading in the right direction. If so, can anyone advise me on a build based on some specific needs:

I currently have a database that contains (or will contain) the following:

Existing - 550 video clips average size 300Mb
To Be Entered - 1688 video clips average size 300Mb
(These files will all be accessible to the public through a website)

Existing - 21,000 images average size 2mb
To Be Entered - 80,000 images average size 2mb
(These files will all be accessible to the public through a website)

All of these images (100,000) also exist in a high-res format with an average size of 80mb

The high-res files will be referenced by number only within a public website, however, I will need the ability to access these files via ftp upon request.

Backups of the web files and database will be critical.

So the storage needs (approximately 9TB) will be much greater than what I will need to serve the public (approximately 3TB).

Traffic to the site will be relatively low.

Thanks for any insight and let me know if you need any additional information.

[stevech]

things that come to mind...

What database app and web server allows users to search, view, etc, the data? That would not be a NAS function. Some server is needed. It is viable to do all this on the NAS itself, but the NAS would lack the sophistication you'd need in order to avoid lots of system development work.

Is the public accessing the data on your NAS, using your ISP bandwidth? Yikes. And it might be a violation of a residential ISP service contract. If not stored on your NAS, then the data is somewhere in the cloud on a server?

Not knowing the essence of the objective.. my first guess is that you should be looking at a hosting service provider, if that cost makes sense. Amazon Web Services is inexpensive. Also inexpensive for backup. But upload speeds from a residence can be too slow.