What your set up for Studio Computers / Storage?

[cdg52]

Currently looking for ideas of how to rework our studio, currently we have two powerhouse computers which do the bulk of our storage, and then two NAS box's which hold 2TB a piece as backups, we are looking into buying one big server to hold all our data and share all the drives between the development computers. Any ideas on what way would be better? Keep going the way we are currently, or change it up and go with a central server? Also whats your set up like?

[atomick]

While I rely on local storage in my home studio, I've worked in a broadcast design boutique shop where we used gigabit ethernet and had all our source files - ALL OF THEM - on an xRAID connected to an xServe. About 5-8 people were hitting it all at once, shuttling many, many gigabytes back and forth all day long. Worked like a charm, was very impressed, especially at how the gigabit ethernet network handled all the traffic. It was a critical advantage in a workgroup where anyone might have to pick up anyone else's work at any time. If it worked for 30fps high-def footage, it'll MORE than work for small-workgroup imaging of single RAW or PSD files!

It was also important to have the storage device controlled by a dedicated server for backup purposes (to Exabyte tapes, IIRC). It also, however, required a deep building retrofit of converting a closet into a cold-storage room to keep these beasts cool.

Back at home, though, where it's just me, I just stripe like pairs of LaCie drives together as RAIDs for redundant backups. I keep the drives mounted in a 4U rack unit under the desk. I also rotate one drive for offsite backup (yes, storing the HD offsite - I have too much data to entrust to DVD's at this point).

Hope this helps.
-Atomick

[Halcyon]

If you're happy with the speed and ease of access of your current set up, (The costs of expanding would be fairly low!) then I would suggest a back-up system that you can remove from the premises - a tape drive would make sense as the tapes are small-ish.

Without knowing your full setup, it's difficult to suggest an exact solution for you :-)

[showngo]

Another question is how big is your budget, and are you going to be growing?

[cdg52]

We have two identical Dev/Storage Computers, and they are as follows,
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Asus P5B Delux
Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 ghz
4gb Corsair DDR800
74gb Raptor OS drive
2x - 400gb Seagate Hard Drive
2x - 350gb Seagate Hard Drive
XFX GeForce 8600GT 256MB
-----------------------
Attached with a NAS Backup system:
2x - 400gb Seagate Hard Drive
2x - 350gb Seagate Hard Drive
-------------------------------------------------------------------

This is currently how we run our operations, for storage, but unfortunately if we have a issue with one of those two computers say Adobe Photoshop is hanging or and update which needs to be addressed, when this happens we take half our storage off-line for as long as it takes to fix the problem, this is why we have been leaning for a central server to be stored in a closet. We have some ruff ideas on what to get and they are as follows and from Newegg.com:

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hec RA448A00 4U Server Case
Item #:N82E16811121008
Price: $89.99

OCZ EvoStream OCZ720EVOSLI 720W Power Supply
Item #:N82E16817341005
Price: $169.99

ABIT IP35 Pro ATX Intel Motherboard
Item #: N82E16813127030
Price: $179.99

Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 2.33GHz LGA 775 65W Processor
Item #: N82E16819115030
Price: $169.99

CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM Desktop Memory
Item #:N82E16820145034
Price: $77.00

XFX GeForce 8400GS PVT86SWAQG Video Card
Item #:N82E16814150241
Price: $44.99

Western Digital Raptor 150GB 3.5" Serial ATA150 Hard Drive
Item #:N82E16822136012
Price: $169.99

Current Total: $901.94
-------------------------------------------------------------------

We currently own the hard drives for the storage for the server so those were not included but we have 4x - 500gb Seagate drives.

We were debating between buying Windows Storage Server Software or going the alternative free route with a version of Linux which was designed as NAS software also.

Any hints, helping suggestions, rating? Anything would help :-)

[Faolan]

Have you considered dedicated NAS systems such as the ReadyNAS NV+?

http://www.infrant.com/products/products_details.php?name=ReadyNAS%20NVPlus

This would simplify file sharing and give you expandable storage for far less than building a new PC storage system.

[cdg52]

The only problem with NAS, including that NAS is one $1100 for the enclosure with 1TB, and 2 we will be needed to add at least one terabyte a year to our systems. That would require a network port for every NAS system we set up and with a basic max of 2T per system, we will start overflowing our switch within the next year. A Fairly cheap computer with 1TB and a 74gb Raptor os Drive would be $1100 and it could double as a Development PC.

[Halcyon]

It looks like you need to go down the SAN route:
Do you really need all that data to be online?
Does the solution you mention include an expandable raid controller? something like the Adaptec RAID 31205 12 Port PCI-E SATA/II Controller might cost you $700 or so. then at least you could just keep adding drives - if the case you mention can handle that many drives. 12 x 500Gb could be 6TB, or 3TB if you mirror.

Make sure your gigabit switch can handle everything ok, make sure you have good quality Cat6E cables throughout.

I wouldn't suggest using the box for dual purpose - just use it as a dedicated server. Get a cheap PC if you want a development PC.

I would think long and hard about windows or linux question.. Windows has the ease of use and the familiarity - Linux would probably be cheaper and more powerful, but only if it's set up correctly (For which you'd need a resident daylight-dodger to set up for you!)

I would reccomend (again!) a back-up divice, tape drive or something.

[cdg52]

Well we need at least the last two years easily accessible, which accounts for at least 4-6 Terabytes worth of images. Although we could go and cut that due to we need a backup system, so lets say we can survive off of 2-4TB a year, with 500gb hard drives, that accounts for 4-8 drives for normal use and then 8-16 drives for a raid set-up, currently the computer I set up can handle 6 Sata storage and one OS drive, and with another raid card which handles 6 more drives we get up to 12 hard drives. Any suggestions for RAID cards? Currently we have a simple PCI card which costs around $40, do we really need a $600 card?