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Can a NAS serve as a device to work with HD files
Hi guys
I am in the process of looking at Hard Drives for when i eventually put together my studio, and am looking at NAS’s as a means to protect myself against disc failures and and also, grow with my business.
I am interested in something like the Netgear ReadyNAS NV+. It has 4 slots for hard drives. I would use drive 1 as my footage drive to store my HDV, SD and possible future HD footage. Drive 2 would mirror Drive 1, and the other 2 would be used as storage and archiving.
I am not that familiar with the required speeds needed to work with HDV or uncompressed footage, but would a NAS, be able to handle this kind of performance? What do others use?
What should i be looking for?Any help in this area is greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Chris -
5 Replies
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Ethernet NAS setups aren’t fast enough to consider using for media storage. You need to look at eSATA setups instead… CalDigit has some great solutions for this.
Jerry
Apple Certified Trainer
Author: “Jerry Hofmann on Final Cut Pro 4” Click here
Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D
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I am currently using a Buffalo Terrastation NAS to stream two DV streams simultaneously to the video servers that link with the audio editing system. This is not a problem and is only using single giganet connection on both the computer and the NAS. I go via a D-Link switch which lets me set priority and QOS.
I have just purchased a second NAS for audio & video streaming which is a Thecus with two gigabit ethernet connectors. If you intend to run HDV off a NAS to a single Mac then in my experience that would not be a problem. Higher data rates will be an issue if you wanted to use ProRes. Uncompressed is totally out of the question.
Both Decklink & Kona have speed disk software so take that to your local store and run the test. I looked at the Netgear and with dual gig ethernet, it is a nice machine. The Thecus had five slots which was better suited to my needs.
If you consider the NAS, format it as one big drive with redundancy (RAID 5).
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[Jerry Hofmann] “Ethernet NAS setups aren’t fast enough to consider using for media storage.”
That’s absolutely not true. I’m using a FreeNAS box right now with SD ProRes media. Works great. Remember, he’s talking about HDV. You could edit HDV off an iPod. It’s a very, very low bitrate (25mbps).
Sean
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The original poster asked about the possibility of HD not just DV and HDV… HD will never work through a NAS Uncompressed 8 bit is likely the most he’d get, and at that only one stream of it… it’s just not the best solution for media storage if you care for any sort of RT playback of layers etc… 1 stream of SD or two isn’t enough for most folks. Just not enough bandwidth I’m afraid.
Jerry
Apple Certified Trainer
Author: “Jerry Hofmann on Final Cut Pro 4” Click here
Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D
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A NAS can serve just about anyone really well if they are using any type of compressed workflow. And I think it’s fair to say that includes the vast majority of people these days (with DVCProHD, ProRes, Redcode, etc.). But you’re right, there’s no way you could use a NAS for uncompressed HD or SD.
Sean
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