OWC Jellyfish: From Tweaks to Triumph

Learn how creative.space created a true plug-and-play storage solution from the ground up, delivering the seamless experience that OWC Jellyfish originally promised.

By Nick Anderson, Product Manager for creative.space at DigitalGlue

Back in 2016, when overseeing the Sneaky Big Studios project for Bob Parsons’ PXG brand, I enthusiastically recommended Lumaforge’s Jellyfish as our go-to storage solution. On paper, Jellyfish promised plug-and-play simplicity, effortless connectivity, and blazing performance—exactly what our state-of-the-art DaVinci Resolve color suite demanded. Reality, however, turned out differently.

I vividly remember numerous screen-sharing sessions watching Lumaforge technicians remotely log into FreeNAS (now TrueNAS), manually tweaking settings, installing third-party NFS drivers, and adjusting parameters to coax promised speeds from our high-end Resolve workstation. Despite genuine effort, these complexities underscored a key realization: to truly eliminate storage headaches for creative teams, we had to reimagine the experience from the ground up.

Why “Tweaking” Isn’t True Simplicity

Lumaforge (now OWC Jellyfish) has significantly improved their software over the years, offering more polished user interfaces and a simpler setup experience compared to those early days. Yet, the core challenge remains: Jellyfish was built on top of TrueNAS, inherently designed as a DIY storage solution. While Jellyfish simplifies TrueNAS with custom tools, underneath it still relies on manual tuning and third-party integrations for optimal performance.

This approach inevitably creates hidden complexity, often revealed under demanding workloads or complex workflows. Creative teams don’t just need simpler software—they need storage they never have to think about.

Building a New OS from the Ground Up

At DigitalGlue, when we created creative.space, we didn’t merely polish existing DIY storage solutions—we reinvented the entire storage experience around the powerful ZFS filesystem. As a team of industry veteran systems engineers and integrators, our goal wasn’t incremental improvement; it was true simplicity from installation to daily operation.

creative.space isn’t just a custom UI layered atop TrueNAS. It’s a completely new operating system built from scratch, specifically optimized for high-performance, collaborative video production workflows. Every component, from the core ZFS implementation to system tuning scripts, was designed to ensure seamless performance without requiring users to ever touch a configuration file or install third-party drivers.

Advanced Permissions Without Complexity

Recognizing that managing user access can be complicated, especially for non-technical team leads, we integrated OpenLDAP directly into creative.space. This built-in directory system eliminates the need for an external Active Directory server. Instead, advanced permissions are effortlessly managed through an intuitive graphical interface that allows team leaders to grant, adjust, or revoke access with just a few clicks.

creative.space transforms what was traditionally an IT headache into a straightforward task—empowering creative teams without burdening them with complexity.

Fully Managed Means Proactive Simplicity

Unlike OWC Jellyfish, which still requires active maintenance and manual tuning for peak performance, creative.space operates as a fully managed service. Our dedicated storage experts continuously monitor thousands of metrics, proactively addressing issues before they become problems. This proactive approach ensures consistent, reliable performance, freeing your creative team to focus entirely on their craft, without ever worrying about technical interruptions or performance bottlenecks.

Award-Winning Cloud-Like Collaboration

One of the standout innovations of creative.space—recognized twice as NAB Product of the Year—is our unique cloud-like link sharing capability. Unlike OWC Jellyfish, which relies on costly OEM integrations such as ZeroTier (with fees of up to $250 per user per month), creative.space provides instant, secure, and cost-free remote access.

With creative.space, sharing any file, folder, or project is as easy as sending a direct URL. Collaborators access media directly, without downloading or syncing. It’s simple, effective, and entirely transparent—no hidden fees, no complicated VPN setups, just effortless collaboration.

Real-World Results: PXG’s Journey from Jellyfish to creative.space

PXG, originally Sneaky Big Studios, eventually transitioned fully to creative.space after their Jellyfish experience. The immediate benefits included:

• Superior Performance: Optimized ZFS caching ensures consistently fast speeds without manual tweaks.
• Intuitive Access Management: Built-in OpenLDAP and a simplified GUI allow team leaders to effortlessly manage permissions.
• Effortless Collaboration: The link-based workflow radically streamlined remote editing and client approvals.
• Significant Cost Savings: The subscription-based managed service eliminated hefty upfront expenses, spreading predictable costs across hardware life cycles.

creative.space: Storage That Truly Disappears

The ultimate measure of successful storage isn’t just how easy it is to set up—it’s how effortlessly it supports your team’s day-to-day creative workflow. While OWC Jellyfish improved significantly, creative.space started from a fundamentally different philosophy: storage should be invisible, proactive, and frictionless from the outset.

creative.space delivers precisely what Jellyfish initially promised: plug-and-play simplicity without hidden complexities, proactive support instead of reactive troubleshooting, and cloud-like collaboration without costly OEM fees.

With creative.space, your team no longer manages storage—they simply create. That’s what true simplicity looks like.

Stop tweaking storage. Start creating with creative.space.