best way to "teamwork" on 4k footage simultaneously ?

K1000 · June 21, 2017

Hello guys! We are a team of 4 people and we creat visual content in 4k. Until now we store everything on an old server ( very slow) only for back up and when we are editing we copy all the files we need on one external ssd and we pass it around! Now we got some extra money and we want to use one very fast storage ( NAS) to work together at the same time ! We want to use thunderbolt 2 connectivity.

What would be the best choice ?

( sorry for my bad english)

Cheers!!

mariushm · June 21, 2017

I'd suggest going for 10gbps ethernet instead of restricting yourselves on thunderbolt.

10gbps switches are getting cheaper and rj45/copper based 10gbps network cards aren't really that expensive when you think about it (130$ for aquantia cards , and you can find intel ethernet cards on eBay for as little as 75$ (intel x520, intel x540)

Thunderbold would limit you do small length cables and more expensive motherboards or apple products.

K1000 · June 21, 2017

ok! thx for your answer! I'm not very familiar with it, can you tell me if this kind of switch will allow to share files and keep the same speed (10gbps) ?

https://www.digitec.ch/en/s1/producttype/network-switches-93

So If I buy on NAS that use one 10gbps ethernet output I It will works fine?

mariushm · June 21, 2017

It's exactly like 1gbps networks , only you have to use network switches with 10gbps ethernet ports and network cards with 10gbps ports.

The cheapest on that website is this one: Netgear XS708E ProSafe Plus, 10GBase-T - it has 8 x 10 gbps ports on it. You connect your computers to it using Cat6a network cables .. from that website, these would work fine.

If that network switch is too expensive, you can try Amazon UK or .de (whatever is convenient to you.. though I'm not sure if you pay import taxes)

Here's XS708 : https://www.amazon.co.uk/NETGEAR-ProSAFE-10-Gigabit-Ethernet-XS708E-200NES/dp/B01GTWPTJY/

On Amazon it's very hard to find the items by going through menus, but you can look at other sites to see switches with 10gbps ports and then search Amazon for those particular models.

brwainer · June 21, 2017

I agree on going 10Gb ethernet instead of Thunderbolt 2. Thunderbolt 2 can offer greater speed (20Gb) but you are going to be limited into a technology that is EOL and somewhat proprietary (AFAIK only Intel makes Thunderbolt 2 chips). The only reason i could see going thunderbolt 2 would be if all your machines already support it.