Workflow question about using NAS storage

3

321 rollem

Member
Hello. I am thinking about just picking up a good NAS storage cage for my editing workstation/gaming rig. The reason why is because I modded the case to accommodate an h20 custom setup a while ago thinking i'd never use more than one drive in it. Well, the day has come.

Is it a good idea to use NAS for and editing machine & how will it effect my workflow?

Thanks

rollem!
 
I've used a NAS to edit footage in PP2.0.

Fair warning, make sure to check and read up on the NAS enclosures. Many of them don't actually perform at full gigabit performance. I ended up building my own NAS system and install Ubuntu on it to get a good 60 mb/s data transfer rate over gigabit.

You will be limited by the gigabit data transfer, much like you would be limited by using a USB 2.0 HDD. For some people's workflow this is fine, for others it may be too limiting. Unless you are doing lots of multiple HD streams or uncompressed footage this should be OK for you.

The real question is: why? For me, I went NAS because I have a PC and a Mac and this eliminated HDD format problems (NTFS/HFS+) since it was all accessed over the network. I also have a laptop. It allowed me to sync all my files easily between them, and also as a hobby I would sometimes have friends come over and work on projects. this allowed them to access all the same files off the NAS and work collaboratively.

If you don't have a need for a NAS for any of these reasons, or a reason you know of, it might be better to just get some internal HDDs and edit off those instead. Or, external HDDs to move around if you want. Or, use a NAS only as a backup or a way to sync other files, such as photos/music/documents across all computers.

Actually, I rarely edit off my NAS nowadays, but I love it for storing all my other files!

Good luck!
 
Thanks for the reply!

I think I'm going to make it first and foremost a file storage server. I'll probably use a second HD on the Premiere Pro machine and just back up the project and files on a large HD in the NAS, and i'll also be able to use it for backing up files for my other pc like music, video, photo's etc.
 
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