Help - NAS for small post production team

[Vidaddy]

Hello everyone,

 

We are a small business with 4 employees that do video editing and animation. I am not that knowledgable about NAS but i know what we need:

 

1. 4 or more HDD slots

2. Enough speed for at least 3 PCs to watch 4k footage at the same time

3. Is it possibe that we do all of our editing and exports right at the NAS drives? As in just eliminate the need to copy files on PC drives.

4. Raid ofc

 

The last think i am not sure how people do is how do i connect all 4 PCs with ethernet cables when all of the NASs have like 1 or 2 ethernet slots. I probably need some kind of an adapter right?

 

Thank you in advance for your help.

[Electronics Wizardy]

What bitrate of footage are you working with? How much storage do you want?

 

5 minutes ago, Vidaddy said:

The last think i am not sure how people do is how do i connect all 4 PCs with ethernet cables when all of the NASs have like 1 or 2 ethernet slots. I probably need some kind of an adapter right?

This is what a network switch is for. Plug the computers, nas and router into the switch and all the packets will go where they are needed.

 

5 minutes ago, Vidaddy said:

3. Is it possibe that we do all of our editing and exports right at the NAS drives? As in just eliminate the need to copy files on PC drives.

 

Yup this is possible, but you will want ssds in the nas likely and probably a 10gbe network, signifanty increasing cost.

 

You can start with a basic option like a synology 4 bay nas with 4 x 12tb hdds or simmilar. It will play many streams of 4k at once and copy files just fine, but I wouldn't want to have multiple editors editing from it at once.

 

If you want to do editing off the nas, Id get a higher end nas that has 10gbe, and probably something like 4x4tb ssds, and some hard drives for older projects. Then probably get a 8 port 10gbe switch and 10gbe network cards for all the PCs

[Vidaddy]

Wow thanks fot the fast reply.

 

We are working with h.264 12bitrate files and mxf 50bitrate files.

 

Oh ok I got it, then a 4 bay sinology NAS is the thing to go with.

[Electronics Wizardy]

13 minutes ago, Vidaddy said:

Wow thanks fot the fast reply.

 

We are working with h.264 12bitrate files and mxf 50bitrate files.

 

Oh ok I got it, then a 4 bay sinology NAS is the thing to go with.

do you mean 12 and 50 mbit? Thats fairly low, so you may be able to get away with a 1gbe connections. 

 

There are many other options, synology is pretty good at being plug and play. You can also diy your own system.

[Vidaddy]

Yea I saw some videos on how to make a DIY server but a sinology NAS is the way to go for us atm.

 

Thank you for all the help!