ASK & DISCUSS
INDEXHow do you connect multiple iMacs to shared drives without spending £15k?
12 years, 5 months ago - Gavin Ricketts
My production company has grown organically, and we've got to the point where we have 3 iMacs working pretty much full time using FCP, AE and Premiere. Currently, two of the iMacs have a 16T G-Raid G-Speed Q attached directly by firewire, and this is where we store the media. The three iMacs are connected via cable to a switcher to form a network, allowing each if the three iMacs to see the two drives. However, this is really a chicken wire and blu tack solution, and we need something more sturdy.
I went to http://www.bvexpo.com/ this week, and took a look around. Some of the solutions that I saw were:
http://www.editshare.com/
This was £24k+
http://www.root6.com/Products/Storage/Online/DDP.html
This was £12K +
I also read this article:
http://library.creativecow.net/biscardi_walter/media_san/1
I just wondered if there was another solution, that isn't quite such a financial investment?
Basically, I want a way of storing the media centrally, and giving everyone access, while not caning the data exchange speed.
I'm interested to hear how other Shooters manage and share their media.
Cheers
Gavin Ricketts
Producer/Director, Napoleon Creative
Want to win more TV work? Read my book, Clearly Creative CVs
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12 years, 5 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin
What you want is a NAS http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network-attached_storage system. You plug it into your network via ethernet, set a few settings, and off you go.
You can buy them off the shelf for a few hundred quid for a cheapie or much more for a better one.
The cheaper you go, the slower they'll be as a rule - the costlier systems have more platters in a RAID format to optimise speed and/or robustness so it all depends on your workflow.
Response from 12 years, 5 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin SHOW
12 years, 5 months ago - Richard Cosgrove
A NAS is a very good option for shared access to files. I use one as a home media server.
You could also set up a centralised server for storing media. They can be a hefty investment, but are more scalable than a NAS and can have features such as automatic backup of data through using RAID technology. Also, a WiFI-enabled NAS can cut down on the wires you need.
Dell does a range of servers. Last time I looked, they started at £2,000. As with a NAS, the more you pay, the better the server and the more storage you're going to get. http://www.dell.com/uk/business/p/servers.
Alternatively, you could build your own server. The process is fairly simple, as you're basically connecting a series of hard drives to a motherboard. Whether it's more economical than buying an off-the-shelf server, is another question entirely. Cost wise, you're probably looking at around £50 per terabyte (TB) of storage, £100-£200 for a parity drive (which is not used for storing data), and another £200 for the UNRAID software, PC case, motherboard and fans. The software used in this Macworld article can run a server with up to 38TB of storage.
Instructions: http://www.macworld.com/article/1146120/unraid_server.html
Partially pre-built UNRAID servers: http://lime-technology.com/home/87-for-system-builders
You may also want to budget in a VPN (virtual private network) connection, to allow people to securely access your NAS or servers when not in the office.
- Richard
Response from 12 years, 5 months ago - Richard Cosgrove SHOW