Best Home Server Solution for Visual Effects Production?

[timdenby]

We are a group of visual effects artists working in a home environment. We have four computers, two are running off wireless at the moment, we only have a 3-Ethernet-Port Modem/Router

 

We will soon have for four 3TB drives and we will be adding another four drives at a later date (Not sure which brand or type to get yet) as we are working independently on the effects shots of an undisclosed film. We need a fast way to work off large files from a single location or group of HDDs, without copying anything anywhere, how would you do it? Is home sharing fast enough? Is a NAS fast enough to be worth the money? Would a Gigabit Switch lower network speeds enough to be noticeable?

 

We also have a case that can fit eight 3.5" drives, and a GA-X58A-UD5 motherboard with 10 SATA ports (possible home server?).

 

We are trying to avoid a big spend-up, but if we can't get the performance and stream-lined work flow that we need on a budget, we will fork out for a decent set-up.

[tommy-b-10]

Im not an expert, but based from my own home, a Gigabit solution will be much faster than the existing wireless, so definitely invest in a cheap gigabit switch.

 

In terms of drive speeds, your best option will probably be Raid 10 will probably be your best bet. As you have 4 3tb drives, raid 10 will double the speed of the drives, whilst still maintaining redundancy, that is you will always have 2 copies of everything on it.

 

Simple google search will be able to tell you the benifits of this.

 

Also it would probably be best, if you can afford it, to create a home server running freenas software.