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Suggestions for central storage
I am looking for opinions on the best way to expand a system. There are currently five Avid edit stations and four graphic stations using assorted apps as well as a stock film library. Some are using G4’s and a G5 with a little mixture of some PC’s in there. The Storage is currently a 6 TB Facilis TerraBlock Shared Storage Network with decent performance, but now there is the need for more storage and better performance.
The plan is to add three more edit bays and develop a larger vault. The current Terrablock system could be expanded and we also are considering the Avid Unity. Are there another systems that someone would suggest to handle this expansion that might work better than what is currently being used? The buld of production is shot on Varicam, but there are possibilities of working on 1080i/p, 2k DI and maybe 4K in the near future.
TIA,
Gary -
3 Replies
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I would go for the Avid Unity or ISIS systems. They’re tried and tested and perform well. You get the Media Manager application too, which is a huge boon for managing your, er, media.
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ISIS cannot handle the throughput you need. It may at sometime in the future, but for now HD is limited to the LOWER DNXHD resolutions. IMHO, other Unity systems are not price nor performance competitive. UNLESS you absolutely need project level integration. For some workflows, simple volume level sharing is more than enough to get the job done. It is simpler to manage as well.
We have had a 6TB Terrablock for 1 1/2 years and are very happy with it. Pound for pound, it is a great deal. It is flexible and nearly bullet proof. I will admitt, it can be a bit clumsy cross platform Mac / PC sharing. But there are some options there. Hopefully the future holds some solutions too.
The 4 Gbit fibre option should be robust enough to handle most of what you need.
Out of curiousity…what do you like and dislike about your Terrablock?
Chris Magid
RTVF -
Chris,
I just started with a company that is growing. I asked the same questions the other day and I was told that the Terra was not always being dependable and some of the users where having fears and doubts each day. I wish I had better details for you at this time. So far, I only know they were also thinking about getting the Unity instead of expanding on the Terrablock. I justed started my research. I am interested in what other facilities are using for a similar setup and what works the best.Gary
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