-
Storage best practices
We are installing several FCP workstations over the next few months.
Looking for advice on storage options:
– Standalone hi-speed hi-capacity RAID
– movable, shareable storage
– Shared storage
– short and long term archiving
Currently editing DVCPRO HD (tape and P2) plus HDCAM but rapidly heading down the 2K and 4K tracks….
Anyone?
-
4 Replies
-
You need to consult with a storage consultant. I would never give you advise on such a large project without meeting you, touring your facility and seeing what all is involved. And as such, I would be very wary of any specific suggestions on hardware that someone would give you from such a short message. You are about to spend huge amounts of money. Spend a little bit on hiring a professional to make sure it all work together and the system makes money for you, instead of you spending more money in down time and re-buying unnecessary equipment.
Tech-T Productions
http://www.technical-t.com -
Good advice and we doo have a consultant. I am also interested in real-world experience from multi-station FCP users.
-
Look at Final Share for your shared solution and Maxx Digital SAS / SATA arrays for high speed HD and 2K work.
I have a blog entry about Final Share. This allows ProRes HD editing on multiple workstations via ethernet. In our shop we have three FCP workstations and 3 iMacs all connected to the same SAN and all working with HD material.
For uncompressed HD and 2K we have 8TB Maxx Digital EVO HD arrays connected locally to two of our FCP workstations. That’s the beauty of Final Share. Since it’s ethernet based, you can also hang local storage off the machines and it all works together. and it’s all a fraction of Fibre Channel pricing.
I have a full article coming out soon on our set up but the blog will get you started. You can chat with Bob Zelin if you want more information about all the other broadcast facilities running this setup.
https://blogs.creativecow.net/blog/794/high-speed-san-via-ethernet-its-true
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR Apple Color Training DVD available now!
-
Very useful thread, and great responses.
I’d just add, re: long term storage, that tape has its place. Reliable, cheap, industry-standard — there’s a lot to like about LTO tape. The Ethernet-connected Quantum LTO-3a would seem appropriate for your networked configuration. (I have the cheaper LTO-3, attached to one computer, which is itself networked, requiring two steps. But I have already experienced more peace of mind and ease of use with tape, rather than external drives or DVDs.)
If you need to backup tapeless video, that will throw all of the capacity calculations out the window. Depending on how many video files you need to store, you may even be in the realm of autoloader tape units.
Good luck, and let us know how it works out.
Bob C
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up