RAID/Storage solution for small production company

[David Roth weiss]

Hi Alexander,

We at ProMAX have the perfect solution for small workgroups like yours, check out our Platform Studio shared storage at: https://image.promax.com/web/company/sales_tools/ProMAX_platform_studio.pdf.

Platform Studio is a very powerful, yet extremely cost-effective shared storage solution, that, unlike other shared storage solutions, can also accommodate Digital Asset Management, Transcoding, and After Effects and Cinema 4D rendering, right on the central server without additional dedicated hardware.

If you’d like to know more feel free to call me at 949/861-2709 or drop me an email. I’ll be happy to answer all your questions above.

David Roth Weiss
ProMax Systems
Burbank
DRW@ProMax.com

Sales | Integration | Support

David is a Creative COW contributing editor and a forum host of the Apple Final Cut Pro forum.

[Bob Zelin]

Hi Alexander –
David Roth Weiss is correct. He has a solution that will work perfectly for you. However, the information that you have posted is INCORRECT, and I would like to find out from you how you determined the list of what you feel would accomplish what you want.

you write –
If I understand correctly, I need to make sure that each client has 1G NICs, we need a 1GB network switch, and at least cat5e cable. I need to connect a NAS to one of the clients and make it accessible via the network. Is this correct?

REPLY – this is INCORRECT, as has been shown and discussed on Creative Cow over and over and over again. Do you see this product? –
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/843829-REG/Drobo_32TB_8x4TB_B800fs_8_Bay.html

this is a 32 TB Drobo for $2500, that is a NAS that uses regular Cat5e for connection. You state (as you understand) that if you get a NAS like this, and a 1GB network switch, that you will have shared storage for your small production company. THIS IS INCORECT INFORMATION, and who ever told you that this is correct information is COMPLETELY WRONG. There are many wonderful solutions on the market, and David Roth Weiss is just one of the people that can provide a working solution for you, but buying a $1500 Drobo is NOT a solution that will work. So you may ask, what can you get for $1500 or $2500 that will allow your 3 Mac computers to do video shared storage. There is a simple answer to this question. NOTHING.

Do you recommend any specific NAS enclosures?
What RAID do you recommend? We edit HD primarily with the occasional 4k. It’s rare for two editors to be working on the same project at the same time.

REPLY –
a simple review of the companies that either participate on this forum, or a brief glance at the banner ads on Creative Cow will answer all of your questions. EVERY DAMN COMPANY, even discount companies, have PROFESSIONAL SOLUTIONS, and they are expensive.
Let me give you an example of a discount company (that I personally have bashed in the past) but has a perfectly working solution for you –
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/902508-REG/synology_rs10613xsplus_rs10613xs_rackstation.html
and you need to order the optional 10Gig card for this, and get a switch that can handle the 10Gig interface.
And QNAP has a box like this, and so does Netgear, and they are all expensive. Even Other World Computing makes the Jupiter series RAID arrays, that are wonderful, and expensive. Bottom line – the cheap stuff does not work.

you write –
Should we use raid0 for speed or will the ethernet be a bottleneck? What would the backup workflow be like using raid0? Should we just archive projects to an external drive?
Should we use raid5 for redundancy without sacrificing too much space?

REPLY –
there is a bigger question, other than RAID 0 or RAID 5. Should you rely on a mail order company to give you a working system, when you have no idea of how to implement this, or should you rely on someone like David Roth Weiss, who knows exactly what he is talking about ?

Bob Zelin

Bob Zelin
Rescue 1, Inc.
maxavid@cfl.rr.com