Storage Problem?

[rush_tech]

We are going to buy 10 Media PC's for a new media suite over the summer.
The problem of storing premiere files,
options floating about at the moment are:

USB Drive
Stripped HDD on each machine(have to use same machine each time)
External Hard Drive

how are other people doing this?

[tmcd35]

Our media dept uses an external usb/firewire drive and swaps that between their Macs. I did set up a NAS for Art on a local (to art) 1Gbps switch. So all the machines (5 of them) had 1Gbps to the NAS (which also supported 1Gbps). They never used it! So It's now been liberated and used else where!

[torledo]

We are going to buy 10 Media PC's for a new media suite over the summer.
The problem of storing premiere files,
options floating about at the moment are:

USB Drive
Stripped HDD on each machine(have to use same machine each time)
External Hard Drive

how are other people doing this?

working to local striped HD would be my recommendation....then syncing to a NAS at the end of the day or directly attached firewire drive.

We've not tried networked video with packages like Premiere or FCP on the mac. We've tried with imovie and it's been hit and miss. On the Mac 10 FCP workstations would struggle with a single link aggregated server, i suspect with premiere you'd find a similar outcome....so working from a local drive is the preferred option for that number of workstations.

[dhicks]

working to local striped HD would be my recommendation....then syncing to a NAS at the end of the day or directly attached firewire drive.

Anyone know if there's a source-code-control-for-video kind of system around anywhere (i.e. a source code control system that can handle large binary files)? I'm thinking of something that lets users log in, checkout their video, edit it and check it back in again, all nicely user-friendlily and probably Mac-compatible. Something that checks out by loading just the changed bits of the file is probably a good idea! Versioning and branching probably isn't important (well, maybe versioning of the smaller Premier files?), just file checkin/out. I'm sure something could be knocked together out of rsync and a few other bits, but I'd like a ready-made system if there's a suitable one out there.

--
David Hicks

[SSFC]

We have a similar problem here, our media machine's are on there own network so we dont get huge files flying around the main college network slowing everything down.

In regard to the backup we have a buffolow terra station (NAS box) the machines were fullybacked up over the holidays when it was installed and then an incremental backup is done each time the machine is switched on. (We auto boot the machines about an hour before college starts.)

[torledo]

Anyone know if there's a source-code-control-for-video kind of system around anywhere (i.e. a source code control system that can handle large binary files)? I'm thinking of something that lets users log in, checkout their video, edit it and check it back in again, all nicely user-friendlily and probably Mac-compatible. Something that checks out by loading just the changed bits of the file is probably a good idea! Versioning and branching probably isn't important (well, maybe versioning of the smaller Premier files?), just file checkin/out. I'm sure something could be knocked together out of rsync and a few other bits, but I'd like a ready-made system if there's a suitable one out there.

--
David Hicks

For mac compatible how about final cut server.....recently been announced.

Apple - Final Cut Server

[dhicks]

For mac compatible how about final cut server.....recently been announced.

Probably just the ticket, features-wise... Do you need a Mac server to run it? I can see it getting pricey...

--
David Hicks

[torledo]

Probably just the ticket, features-wise... Do you need a Mac server to run it? I can see it getting pricey...

--
David Hicks

Can't say i fully understand the architecture as yet, but a cursory glance suggests the server component requires a minimum 1.8ghz G5 or intel processor. Interestingly intel intergrated graphics aren't supported, so i think that leaves you with imac, macpro or xserve as the server hardware. Doesn't require osx server, minimum of osx 10.5.2

Then there are the client components....these would be you're FCP workstations in most cases - as this is where the FCP integration happens. Strangely windows is supported for the client software which is very bizarre as i would have thought FCP integration was the key feature. I'm not quite sure how windows clients would fit into the workflow.

As for price...a very reasonable imho $999 for one server and 10 client licenses. More than enough for schools, colleges or small editing shops.

[gaz350]

i am guessing final cut server will require your machines to be on your SAN

edite maybe not: depends on how many users you need to give access to i guess...

from apple.com
The server software for Final Cut Server can run on a MacBook Pro for use on location, a Mac Pro in the studio, or a full Xserve configuration for larger-scale facilities. Final Cut Server can support one user to hundreds of concurrent users on an appropriate network. The system you install today can easily grow as your business grows, with no need to replace the Final Cut Server software.

[PEO]

Im going to be doing installing premier in the next few weeks.

my idea is this

install a seperate sata drive in eah computer (60) and allow the kids to store and work from these drives with premier.

then at scheduled times during the evening, have 20 computers at a time switch on and back up the projects to a NAS server. and then have.

I think USB drives will end up been damaged after a while.

comments?

[SYNACK]

This probably won't be of help in your situation but it may be something that dhicks and the other linux gurus could play with Distributed storage. There are also a few MS research projects that I may look into here (PAST - A peer-to-peer scalable, persistent and anonymous storage utility). The idea would be to have googleish type storage spread over multiple dirt cheap motherboards and drives all hooked up via GB ethernet.

None of this stuff looks ready for production systems but it could become very useful in the future.

@MrHappy - I think that your current solution is a good way to go as USB drives can be comparitivly fragile and also the internal SATA link will be much faster and more relyable.

This looks like the commertial variation of the RAID Across Independent Gigabit Ethernet idea Pivot3, media portrail here