Need some advice on setting up a server. Noob alert!

[Affinity Collective Tech]

My friend and I create YouTube videos together, but next year we will be moving apart to separate cities. He does all of the filming and I do the video editing, and I wanted to set up a NAS of some sort that he can connect to over the internet to upload footage. 

Right now we have a shared google account that he has to render down all of the footage and upload, and then I have to download. 

 

Is there a way for me to set up a server that we can both connect to?

 

Thanks,

 

Connor

[Benergy]

2 minutes ago, Affinity Collective Tech said:

Is there a way for me to set up a server that we can both connect to?

You could set up an FTP site that requires a username/password to login to (Google Filezilla - there's a client and a server program).

You could then set up your PCs to automatically sync with the FTP folder each time a new file is uploaded.

This isn't particularly fast (e.g. 4K video would take a long time, depending on your internet speeds) but it would get the job done. I'm unaware of any faster methods but someone else might be? 

 

 

[Guest]

Budget? Capacity Need? Standalone Computer?

[Thespragg]

A tunnel between your PC's would be a much faster way of doing this, no need to use a server, just send the files straight through to your pc

[Macronus]

3 minutes ago, Benergy said:

You could set up an FTP site that requires a username/password to login to (Google Filezilla - there's a client and a server program).

You could then set up your PCs to automatically sync with the FTP folder each time a new file is uploaded.

This isn't particularly fast (e.g. 4K video would take a long time, depending on your internet speeds) but it would get the job done. I'm unaware of any faster methods but someone else might be? 

 

 

Please don't use FTP, lets just try and forget that exists. What are you actually trying to avoid here what is the problem with using dropbox/google drive? If he puts a file in a folder it will start syncing automatically to your folder and your fill will download and be ready. 

 

But if you want him to edit or use your machine without him dealing with files try Remote Administration tools

[Affinity Collective Tech]

Just now, RAP_19 said:

Budget? Capacity Need? Standalone Computer?

I have an old computer that has an i5 chip in it -- I'd have to check to be sure what model exactly, but it should be strong enough to run the server. I can acquire plenty of HDD's to put into RAID's I just need to know how I would set up a server / what I would set up to make it the most effective / efficient for me and him. 

[Affinity Collective Tech]

3 minutes ago, Benergy said:

You could set up an FTP site that requires a username/password to login to (Google Filezilla - there's a client and a server program).

You could then set up your PCs to automatically sync with the FTP folder each time a new file is uploaded.

This isn't particularly fast (e.g. 4K video would take a long time, depending on your internet speeds) but it would get the job done. I'm unaware of any faster methods but someone else might be? 

 

 

That still keeps all of the storage on my computer, I think it would be nice to be able to have a second computer set up as a NAS with redundant array's so that in the case of physical failure on my computer I won't lose that data. Thoughts? I'll look into Google Filezilla, thanks!

[Benergy]

1 minute ago, Affinity Collective Tech said:

That still keeps all of the storage on my computer, I think it would be nice to be able to have a second computer set up as a NAS with redundant array's so that in the case of physical failure on my computer I won't lose that data. Thoughts? I'll look into Google Filezilla, thanks!

The files would be stored on the FTP server (the 'NAS'), and your computer would have the FTP site set up as a 'shared drive' on the network 

[Samishere]

2 minutes ago, Affinity Collective Tech said:

I have an old computer that has an i5 chip in it -- I'd have to check to be sure what model exactly, but it should be strong enough to run the server. I can acquire plenty of HDD's to put into RAID's I just need to know how I would set up a server / what I would set up to make it the most effective / efficient for me and him. 

Check out OwnCloud. it's like Dropbox, but a private server version. It's fairly easy to set up and has a lot of awesome features.

[Affinity Collective Tech]

3 minutes ago, Macronus said:

Please don't use FTP, lets just try and forget that exists. What are you actually trying to avoid here what is the problem with using dropbox/google drive? If he puts a file in a folder it will start syncing automatically to your folder and your fill will download and be ready. 

 

But if you want him to edit or use your machine without him dealing with files try Remote Administration tools

The problem with using it is the data restriction. We have 15GB shared but are trying to produce 3 videos a week, which is easily over 50GB in files. I also want that data to be redundant so I don't lose it (Raid 1/5). 

[Macronus]

3 minutes ago, Affinity Collective Tech said:

The problem with using it is the data restriction. We have 15GB shared but are trying to produce 3 videos a week, which is easily over 50GB in files. I also want that data to be redundant so I don't lose it (Raid 1/5). 

I have something perfect for you then.

We used this in the offices before for really large video files  It works like Dropbox/Google Drive. Only limit is your local machine. You can setup your separate machine to run btsync and he can do the same for you and your partners pc 

https://www.getsync.com/

[Affinity Collective Tech]

4 minutes ago, Thespragg said:

A tunnel between your PC's would be a much faster way of doing this, no need to use a server, just send the files straight through to your pc

How would I go about that?

[Affinity Collective Tech]

11 minutes ago, Macronus said:

I have something perfect for you then.

We used this in the offices before for really large video files  It works like Dropbox/Google Drive. Only limit is your local machine. You can setup your separate machine to run btsync and he can do the same for you and your partners pc 

https://www.getsync.com/

That looks pretty cool, I could still set up the local machine as the NAS and then just access it normally from my local machine, and have him upload to it from this?

[sybreeder]

13 minutes ago, Macronus said:

I have something perfect for you then.

We used this in the offices before for really large video files  It works like Dropbox/Google Drive. Only limit is your local machine. You can setup your separate machine to run btsync and he can do the same for you and your partners pc 

https://www.getsync.com/

Exacly Bittorrent Sync would be the best. 

 

Other option is to create OpenVPN tunnel between those PCs

[Affinity Collective Tech]

Just now, sybreeder said:

Exacly Bittorrent Sync would be the best. 

 

Other option is to create OpenVPN tunnel between those PCs

Pros/Cons on OpenVPN vs Bittorrent Sync in this scenario?

[sybreeder]

1 minute ago, Affinity Collective Tech said:

Pros/Cons on OpenVPN vs Bittorrent Sync in this scenario?

OpenVPN Pros:
Both network are acting as 1 so file sharing, remote desktop, plex - all works as this is 1 combined network

Cons: Maybe you doesn't want to allow your friend to see all of your network and vice versa.

BT Sync

Pros Fast replication of files between computers no matter location

Cons only access to files that are in specific folder. Nothing else can be replicated.