Storage system for 6 user set-up

Hi All -

First, an apology. I'm brand new to this list, and haven't had a chance to check the archives before posting this, but at the same time, I know equipment is constantly changing, so I wanted to get the latest advice.

I'm in the process of setting up an educational system with 6 FCP users and a server/administrator, and was looking for recommendations for a hard drive array/storage system. For teh most part, they won't be working on the same project at the same time. The two I've had suggested so far are Editshare and Small Tree's GraniteSTOR.

Also, would Final Cut Server be beneficial/necessary for this set-up? Is there anything better?

Thanks!
Russ

Final Cut Server won't help at all. It is not a shared storage solution...XSAN is.

EditShare is best with shared project workflows. If you just want a shared drive that all machines can access, I'd look at the Small Tree option. Very affordable and works great. They demo'd a setup at a meeting where they played 2K Red files on 3 machines via Ethernet...including a MacBook.

You can see this demo as the LAFCPUG meetings are now available for purchase.

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What meeting was that....hmmmm....AH. March 2009...FINAL SHARE:

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Try to be a little more specific about your needs. Will the students be sharing the same media, same projects? How much media are we talking about keeping on the drives at any one time? Are you accounting for archival space or do you have a separate plan for that? Do you have a lot of assets to keep track of?

I don't have any experience working with either system you listed, but I did see a demo of Editshare at NAB. It's not just storage, it's really a turn-key solution for media access, organization and management.

Depending on your needs, Editshare and even Final Cut Server could be more than what's necessary.

One thing I do know is if you have Editshare, you don't need FC Server.

I've seen educational set-ups that can be organized simply with fibre SAN and some good organizational ground rules.

Andy

Hi Shane - Thanks for the information. I thought that the Small Tree option should be sufficient for or needs. Editshare seemed like a bit of overkill.

I know FC Server isn't a storage solution, but I was wondering how well it really works in the real world for media management, or if there were any other options

Hi Shane - Thanks for the information. I thought that the Small Tree option should be sufficient for our needs. Editshare seemed like a bit of overkill.

I know FC Server isn't a storage solution, but I was wondering how well it really works in the real world for media management, or if there were any other options.

Thanks!
Russ

It doesn't manage the media...not on FCPs level. It is rather a large catalog of footage, and it organizes the proxies for the producers and other people to access. But it doesn't organize the footage on FCPs end at all.

You really should look into my tutorial DVD on organizing projects and media. Especially if you are teaching young minds how to do things.

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Hi Andy - The students shouldn't be sharing media. For the most part, they will be working on individual projects. For the few tutorials or training projects we might do, I can make multiple copies of the media for each workstation to access. Don't know total amount of media, but from previous experience, I'm thinking 1 TB per workstation should be sufficient. The actually shouldn't be much archiving. Once they're finished with their projects, their media would be removed, or they could dump it onto an external drive if they wanted to save it. Number of assets? Don't think there'd be too many...

Editshare does look like an awesome system, but a bit pricey.

Thanks!
Russ

If that is what you want, why get shared storage? Just put 1TB or 1.5TB drives in each computer for them to use. Then if you need to copy footage onto them, just have one machine...the teaching machine, that has larger storage to hold all the footage. Connect the computers via GigE, network them, and then you can drag the footage onto the local storage on each machine.

or the students can get their own hard drives.


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Quote
Russ
For the few tutorials or training projects we might do, I can make multiple copies of the media for each workstation to access.

I'm confused. I thought the point was to buy a hard drive array. Why create 6 separate arrays, when you can set up a SAN that all the systems pull from. Then you wouldn't have to copy tutorials or training projects multiple times.

The students can access the same media without sharing projects. And their individual projects would all be in separate folders.

Of course, there is a security issue because it'd be relatively easy for a person on one machine to delete the media of another student if they were all accessing the same storage. There may be a way to secure that though (I'm not a SAN or server tech).

If you do go the individual storage route then you can create over a TB of storage easily with internal drives. But if you want the protection of a RAID, then there are affordable ones out there.

In either case, based on what you've posted, I don't think you really need an asset management solution. There's nothing you're doing that a little FCP organizational training can't keep straight.

Andy

The biggest reason for the shared storage is that the students probaly won't always be on the same computers to work on their projects. That could be solved by giving them external drives to store their media, but I really don't want to have to deal with drives getting dropped or broken, forgotten at home, or just plain missing. Maybe I should mention these are high school students.

There are a few other reasons, too, like ease of managing the media drives, and the instructor having the the ability to review student work easily.

I will definitely look over your material on asset managment - I have worked with (although not on) a Media Composer for 16 years, and have been on an Avid DS for the past 7, but I'm fairly new to FCP.

My interest in FC Server was based on a training session ProMax did at the NAB where it seemed interesting, especially the ability to assign assets to only certain users, but it may be too complex for my purposes.

Thanks for the suggestions!
Russ

Trust me, it's better to let them deal with their own drives than to go for shared storage. Besides, amateur editors need to learn drive care and maintenance, anyway. And those things are really cheap now, about 50 cents per GB, and dropping fast.

As for reviewing student work, just have them upload smaller movie files (and that will teach them compression techniques, codecs, frame rates, frame sizes -- elements of controlling and managing their media rather than everything being set right and done for them), or bring a USB stick around the room.

Don't do too much hand-holding. I taught at a film school where they did that -- managed all central server storage, capture settings -- and not a single student that graduated from that school was what I would consider an employable assistant editor or editor. Treat the students like dummies, you end up with dummies.


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