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setting up simple network – advice wanted
I would like to set up a very simple network for three different machines running Xpress Pro 5.2. We cannot afford EditShare, Unity or Terrablock at the moment.
What I was thinking of doing was adding an external hard disk drive (or two) to the network (the kind that plug directly into a broadband router).
Here is an example of the kind of drive I was thinking of purchasing:
All our footage is DV411 and DV420 – nothing higher res than that at the moment, although there might be some HDV stuff later.
There are a couple of things I am not clear about and would welcome anyone’s feedback on.
I understand it will not be possible to edit the same project simultaneously on two different machines, but what about two different machines accessing MediaFiles on the same drive for different projects? Can a standard 7200rpm external drive handle that kind of demand? Can a 100mbs network handle it too for that matter? Or do you need a gigabit network?
Also, if changes are made to a project in one machine, what would be the best way of copying those changes across? Is it simply a matter of copying and pasting the updated project files manually or across the network into the project folders on the other machines?
Does anybody have any ideas/inputs/caveats as far as this setup goes?
Thanks in advance.
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1 Reply
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There’s a reason Unity / EditShare are so expensive.
ITS THE MAN! THEY ARE TRYING TO KEEP US DOWN!!!
Sorry. The drugs aren’t working anymore – but the coffee is.
We’ve got all our production machines – both Mac and PC – on a network. Its a gigabit / Cisco router / Cat6 (I’m at the limit of my networking hardware knowledge) thing.
You will not, as I understand it, be able to access different project files stored on a shared drive. The Avid is constantly updating its media database. As you make changes to your project it updates the media database. Having media on a network, with another Avid, would create a feedback loop – as one Avid updates, the other says “Hey, that database file changed. I have to update”. Then the other Avid says “Hey, that database file changed. I have to update”. Then the first Avid says….. You get the picture. Unity / EditShare act as traffic cops. “Settle down, boys, there’s nothing to see here…”
As long as you are just using your shared drive for storage, you should be fine (in the ‘Media Creation’ setting there is a check box to filter out network drives, I believe). A gig network switch is always better (faster) than a 100mbs switch. Transferring files will be quicker. A faster drive is better than a standard 7200rpm drive – faster transfer times.
Last, I’m ging to buy the Lacie Ethernet RAID drive ( https://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?pid=10877 OR, assuming you are in the UK, https://www.lacie.com/uk/products/product.htm?pid=10876) to facilitate a tapeless workflow. I suppose you could go with a UK69.00 drive. But to paraphrase a pearl of wisdom from the bicycle world, “If you’ve got cheap media, get a cheap drive”.
Jon
“So you want to throw out the old you – but the old you is old enough to know it won’t make it better”
Del Amitri – “Make it Better”
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