Affordable P2 workflow

G

Greg Amaro

New member
Hi guys,

I am working out a P2 workflow with the intent of maximum efficiency while being safe with the footage and easy on my pocket. I think I may have a workflow that works and would value any opinions of it. I just can't see spending the money on Gtech stuff if it isn't necessary.

My System:

Mac dual G5 2.5GHz 2. 5 gigs ram
Final Cut Pro 5.1
HVX 200 with M2 adapter
8 gig P2 card
FS -100

Proposed storage system:

Seagate 750 gig internal SATA drive
Seagate 750 gig external backup firewire drive
multiple Western Digital firewire 500 gig - P2 Storage Drives
multiple Western Digital firewire 500 gig - Archive Drives

So the plan is to:
1. shoot to the P2 and or Firestore
2. Copy or image the P2 or Firestore footage to the 500 gig Western Digital firewire drive used for P2 storage
3. Ingest the P2 footage to Final cut, using the Seagate 750 gig internal SATA drive as my main working drive. Should be big enough for a few projects at a time.
4. Backup nightly to the Seagate 750 gig external firewire drive.
5. When I complete a project, I would save the final cut project files (minus render files) and Quicktime movies to the 500 gig Western Digital firewire drive used for Archiving.
6. Save the final cut project files (minus render files and minus Quicktime movies) to the 500 gig Western Digital firewire drive used for P2 Storage.
7. Delete all project and related files from the Seagate 750 gig internal SATA drive.
8. De-fragment the Seagate 750 gig internal SATA drive and delete from 750 backup drive.
9. Add more 500 gig WD drives as needed...they are less than $300 a piece


Does anyone have suggestions for good Mac Backup software and software to defrag big drives like these?

If anyone sees any holes in this scenario or suggestions please let me know.

Thank you,

Greg Amaro
 
Hi Amaro,

I wouldn't worry about de-fragging your drives unless you don't use Mac Journaled FS (i.e. FAT32). In my experience trying to "tidy" them makes things worse.

I also would recommend using a RAID system and streamline your workflow a bit:

Either internal (space might not be available) or external RAID5 system. 1TB should do nicely and you can always add more. I recommend an external hdd tower and a good hardware RAID controller on your Mac.

RAID 5 offers a good compromise between speed (much overrated btw) and redundancy (more important IMHO). Diskspace is also pretty good on 5 (c. 70% of your gross drive space afaik - RAID space calculator http://www.ibeast.com/content/tools/RaidCalc/RaidCalc.asp).

Just plug in your Firestore or P2 and move data to the RAID system. Partition it in any way that suits you (i.e one each for capturing, archive and other stuff). For extra savekeeping I'd recommend you continue using (mini-)DV tapes while shooting and do masters on DV as well. That at least seems to be the concensus of most of what I've heard and is a common sense choice.

This way you should have a nice and easy workflow with good redundency :-)
 
I use a G-Tech G-RAID 1TB drive and love it. No need for anything but a FW800 cable.

There is no "good" backup software for the Mac, they all suck pretty bad. I use my G-RAID drive to back up my three other production drives. I made three folders on the G-RAID, one for each drive. Then every Sunday morning after running MacJanitor and Disk Utility (Disk Warrior on everything once a month), I just drag and drop the contents of each drive to it's backup folder.

I've used several Mac backup software packages and found problems with them all. Deja Vu keeps not finding files that shouldn't be there in the first place and aborts.

SERIOUS WARNING!
"Data Backup" from Prosoft Engineering is the WORST! It is DANGEROUS! I made two of my hard drives vanish! Thankfully, I was a UNIX engineer before I got into video production, and I could handle the command line fix on my own. I'll never run that software on my machine again! It's dangerously full of bugs! Stay away from it totally!
 
Thanks for the advice, does anyone have experience editing HD on an internal SATA drive on a dual Mac G5 system?

Thanks!

Greg
 
Yep! DVCPRO-HD! Love it! Get the biggest secondary internal drive you can afford! You'll be glad you did!
-B

Sorry, not to be overly enthusiastic...
 
snarton said:
Axel, can you recommend a RAID 5 system for a Mac?
Click to expand...
Have a look at some of these:

BUFFALO TS-1.0TGL/R5 1TB TeraStation Pro Network Attached Storage RJ-45, USB 2.0
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822165009
$809.99 with 1TB Drives

Infrant ReadyNAS 600-1000 1TB (Includes 4 x 250GB SATA Disks) Network Storage
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16833329005
$849.99 with 1TB Drives

Intel SS4000ENA Entry Storage System 2 x USB 2.0 connectors Two Intel Gigabit LAN ports Intel 80219 processor running at 400 MHz Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822106001
$589.99 w/o Drives

Alternatively you could build your own fileserver if you happen to have enough time and spare hardware lying around :-)

BenB said:
Why partition the drive?
Click to expand...

I prefer to work with partitions rather than just folders. Also I have some stuff I like to keep seperate on my system. You can of course just have one large partition and work with folders.
 
Folders, partitions, it doesn't make any difference, except that partitions have to take up hidden space, so you get less over all disk storage capacity. Partitions were cool when any old OS couldn't access too much info at one time, back when I started as an IT Tech, many, many years ago. Now, the idea of partitioning, well, there's not a huge need for it. Any old OS can read huge segments of data. Partioning really is pretty out-dated, outside of serious security concerns. It simply doesn't give any advantage to a desktop system, but look cool.
 
What he said. Ben is absolutely right. Partitions used to buy you speed back in the PC days. But they don't buy you any speed or safety in these days of modern times. (When you can't tell the ACs from the DCs.) The operating system can handle terabyte-size files and volumes, so why partition? That's what folders are for.
 
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