PreRollPost vs Silverstack for simultaneous footage offload/LTO backup

[Dan Montgomery]

Joe, Thanks for your kind words about ShotPut Pro. Please visit us at NAB booth this year to discuss your LTO needs.

I’m not aware that SilverStack nor Cat DV have direct LTO integration? And BRU is not LTFS based, so you should be sure what your client’s LTO deliverable requirements are before acquiring software.

PreRoll Post is available now for Mac or Win, and both support LTFS formatted tapes. Both also create tapes to Discovery Channel’s specs. Both support LTO-5 through LTO-7, and we also sell several hardware solutions depending upon your connectivity needs and budget.

There are other software solutions for LTO control out there ranging from $500- $15000 depending on your needs. What we offer is a local single deck control application, that has a backend SQLite database for keeping track of tapes and their contents. You may also add options for Proxy generation (ProxyMill) with thumbs and playback (HD-VU2).

Take a look at the website https://www.imagineproducts.com for demos, product specs, and tutorial videos.

Offload with Confidence…

[Neil Sadwelkar]

What kind of data are you going to back up?

Is it a huge number of small files like in the case of ArriRaw/DPX/OpenEXR which are file sequences. Or a smaller number of large files like in the case of Red Raw,/Quicktime ProRes/Sony F65 Raw/Canon C300 MXF?

I’ve used both PreRoll Post and Bru-PE. These are two different things and you don’t necessarily need both. Both have their pros and cons.

And then there’s Yoyotta ID LTFS which is an offload cum LTO backup software.

The cost of these three is comparable.
PreRoll Post is $499, or $399 if bought with an mLogic LTO drive
Bru-PE is $499 and there’s a 30-day full trial so you can figure if it works for you
YoYotta ID LTFS is $514 after conversion from UK pounds
Yoyotta has a demo too.

So my suggestion is to get an LTO drive, gather about 2 TB of footage, back it up and check for yourself which is easiest to use and works stably.

———————————–
Neil Sadwelkar
neilsadwelkar.blogspot.com
twitter: fcpguru
FCP Editor, Edit systems consultant
Mumbai India

[Joe Bender]

Thanks Dan and Neil for your responses!

To answer your questions Neil, for this project my footage is long takes in 4K ProRes, so large single files. I work in indie docs, so we don’t have occasion to shoot RAW very often.

Does either of you have any experience with Quantum LTO drives? I’m a bit skeptical since it’s an off brand, but it’s a lot cheaper than the competitors: https://www.backupworks.com/Quantum-LTO-7-1U-Rackmount-TC-L73CN-AR.aspx

Also, does using SAS vs. Thunderbolt interface on the tape drive make any difference for the software?

Thanks again!

Joe

[Neil Sadwelkar]

I’ve used IBM, Tandberg and HP LTO drives, not Quantum. But I don’t think there’s any difference between drives, they all do the same thing.

Internally, an LTOP drive is usually SAS. If there’s a Thunderbolt interface to the case, its probably doing a Thunderbolt to SAS conversion internally. So there too you won’t see a difference in speed or performance.

———————————–
Neil Sadwelkar
neilsadwelkar.blogspot.com
twitter: fcpguru
FCP Editor, Edit systems consultant
Mumbai India

[Tim Jones]

The physical devices are only manufactured by HP or IBM. Everyone else is just a rebranded version of one of those drives. Quantum is definitely not an off brand. They are also a major member of LTO.org. They actually used to manufacture drives, but consolidating the manufacturing under the two big guys helps manage costs better.

As to Neil’s note about TB vs. SAS, all the drives are either SAS or Fibre-Channel. Therefore, when you purchase a so-called Thunderbolt drive, you’re actually buying a drive with an adapter. The adapter may be built in (mLogic) or a separate sidecar (ATTO, Sonnet, HighPoint), but there’s no such thing as a native Thunderbolt drive, For the mLogic mTape unit, you’re actually getting a Thunderbolt to PCIe adapter built into their case with a HighPoint RR 27XX card installed.

Tim
—
Tim Jones
CTO – TOLIS Group, Inc.
https://www.tolisgroup.com
BRU … because it’s the RESTORE that matters!

[Joe Bender]

Thank you for the detail, Tim. That’s good to know, as I’ve ordered myself a rack-mount Quantum drive. 😉

[Joe Bender]

Hi again Dan,
Could you please point me toward a good explanation/tutorial on the ShotPutPro/PreRollPost workflow for offloading and doing simultaneous LTO backups? I’ve installed the trials of PreRollPost and the related apps (I already own ShotPut), but I’m having a hard time figuring out how they all fit together.
Thanks in advance!

Joe

[Malcolm Wright]

I know some water had flowed under the bridge since the last post to this thread, but I’d second Joe’s request to Dan for a tutorial on how Shotput Pro and Preroll post work together. I had the exact same grey area of not understanding the workflow between the too.

Thanks!
Malcolm