Using NAS/File server for recording studio

tman26

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Jan 20, 2014
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Hi guys,

Currently I am working in a recording studio that has 3 different rooms. Sometimes it becomes a pain when we have to transfer a session from one room to another room. So lately I've been thinking if it would be a possibility to have all sessions stored in one location and can be worked on and accessed from over the ethernet in the building, rather than transferring sessions all over the place. This causes multiple copies of the same sessions and creates a mess.

In the studio, all the computers are OSX.

What do you think would be the best way to go about this? A file server or a NAS setup? I would like all the computer to be able to access the work files, open them and work on them from within the location anywhere in the studio without creating multiple copies.

My only concern is the Pro Tools won't be able to read the files fast enough and error out. But I'm wondering if a Gigabit connection would work.

Let me know what you guys think.

Thanks!
 
Solution
NAS will be connected via Gigabit Ethernet, so will have an IP and you treat it like any old server, create shares and privileges and then map the share on each client. The NAS can also handle the backing up to the cloud out of hours using plugin routines, as it is Linux based. Yes they support FTP.

How hard, not very, the web interface is very simple to use. if you have ever configured a home router, no harder.
A 4xHDD NAS in raid-10 should be more than capable of handling this requirement. Just make sure it has a minimum of a dual core 1Ghz processor and 1GB ram.

I like the Synology DS412+, due to its features.

http://www.ebuyer.com/387318-synology-ds412-4-bay-nas-enclosure-ds412-

If you go NAS, don't use cheap green drives, as they may not be able to supply data quick enough, if the data is business critical, go for Red Western Digitals.
 

tman26

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Jan 20, 2014
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10,510


Thanks for the reply.

Can you give me a short description on how you think all the computers will be able to access this drive? Also, would it be possible to access the NAS from outside of the studio, over the internet if we needed to? FTP?

How hard do you think it would be to set up?

Thanks again.

 
NAS will be connected via Gigabit Ethernet, so will have an IP and you treat it like any old server, create shares and privileges and then map the share on each client. The NAS can also handle the backing up to the cloud out of hours using plugin routines, as it is Linux based. Yes they support FTP.

How hard, not very, the web interface is very simple to use. if you have ever configured a home router, no harder.
 
Solution

tman26

Honorable
Jan 20, 2014
3
0
10,510


Thanks a lot for your answers!

Very helpful.