Great info here, thanks.

About the SSD drives, I'm only planning on installing OS and applications on there so even if it does fail it's not the end of the world. Saying that I do plan regular backups.

I think I need to investigate the NAS drives a bit further as i've discovered the CPU in them can greatly effect the speed that data is transferred, and I suspect that the cost of a decent unit may be prohibitive. Saying that, I plan on at least 16GB of RAM so I doubt that I'll need to actually stream any audio from the drive at all.

I also don't plan to do any hot swapping either. The idea is that I'll have a 4TB (2x2TB) unit that'll be set up so it backs itself up on a regular basis, and i'll also buy a 1TB USB drive for secondary backup, once the price drops back down to a normal level again!

As for joining the dark side....well. Perhaps a Thunderbolt/MBP setup will work out to be a similar cost so who knows!

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quote:

Originally posted by tehlord Great info here, thanks. About the SSD drives, I'm only planning on installing OS and applications on there so even if it does fail it's not the end of the world. Saying that I do plan regular backups. I think I need to investigate the NAS drives a bit further as i've discovered the CPU in them can greatly effect the speed that data is transferred, and I suspect that the cost of a decent unit may be prohibitive. Saying that, I plan on at least 16GB of RAM so I doubt that I'll need to actually stream any audio from the drive at all. I also don't plan to do any hot swapping either. The idea is that I'll have a 4TB (2x2TB) unit that'll be set up so it backs itself up on a regular basis, and i'll also buy a 1TB USB drive for secondary backup, once the price drops back down to a normal level again! As for joining the dark side....well. Perhaps a Thunderbolt/MBP setup will work out to be a similar cost so who knows!

I think I've got the soltuion for you!

Get the Lacie 2big network 2. for the 2tb (2 x 1tb) version it's going to be about 300 quid. There's also a 4tb (2 x 2tb)

It can do either raid0 (no backup but full size data usage and very fast data) or raid1 (slightly slower, 50% data usage but completely protected in case one drive fails.
Here the great thing about it though - aside from it being one of the fastest non server based NAS drives (60mb/s - fast enough to work from for medium size projects) is also has a USB connection, meaning that for the primary computer, you have a dedicated full bandwidth connection, and can still use the gigabit ethernet connection for the other computer when needed.

It also has full DNS/IP protocol so if you ever need to access it from someone else studio and they have a good broadband connection, you can just tap in to it.

I don't think there's another solution this cheap that let's you do all this, and the fact you can get 60mb/s over the ethernet connection is basically enough to produce with if you really don't want to copy project samples to the working project folder on the local drive. It's also compatible with all of the major backup programs.

http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?id=10477

Or just, like build one yourself for fifty bucks.

But yeah, I was actually checking out another one of the Lacie's the other day, but decided I'd rather wait till after Xmas to decide anything.

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Got a Synology 2-bay networked storage myself. Sets you back 400E but it's reasonably safe and highly configurable for the simpler tasks. I'm happy.

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quote:

If less is more think about how much more more would be. -Frasier

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Originally posted by DJ RANN I think I've got the soltuion for you! Get the Lacie 2big network 2. for the 2tb (2 x 1tb) version it's going to be about 300 quid. There's also a 4tb (2 x 2tb) It can do either raid0 (no backup but full size data usage and very fast data) or raid1 (slightly slower, 50% data usage but completely protected in case one drive fails. Here the great thing about it though - aside from it being one of the fastest non server based NAS drives (60mb/s - fast enough to work from for medium size projects) is also has a USB connection, meaning that for the primary computer, you have a dedicated full bandwidth connection, and can still use the gigabit ethernet connection for the other computer when needed. It also has full DNS/IP protocol so if you ever need to access it from someone else studio and they have a good broadband connection, you can just tap in to it. I don't think there's another solution this cheap that let's you do all this, and the fact you can get 60mb/s over the ethernet connection is basically enough to produce with if you really don't want to copy project samples to the working project folder on the local drive. It's also compatible with all of the major backup programs. http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?id=10477

Apart from the fact that i've heard that some Lacie drives can be a little ropey........BINGO!

I think we may have a winner there

As for sample importing, I generally do import all audio into a working project file, using the Cubase audio pool. I'll also get into the habit of switching off DFD in Kontakt and I might just throw in 24 or 32GB or RAM as it's so cheap, there should be no streaming whatsoever in that case!

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Originally posted by tehlord Apart from the fact that i've heard that some Lacie drives can be a little ropey........BINGO! I think we may have a winner there As for sample importing, I generally do import all audio into a working project file, using the Cubase audio pool. I'll also get into the habit of switching off DFD in Kontakt and I might just throw in 24 or 32GB or RAM as it's so cheap, there should be no streaming whatsoever in that case!

Sounds like a plan! But I've never come across a pro studio that didn't use LaCie as the majority of their drives. If anything, they probably have the best rep, and lowest failure rate out there.

We were using 40 odd LaCie drives on rotation for about 3 years, and those poor things took a pounding, yet only two of them failed, and even then, that was just the FW bridges burning out from over abusive hotswapping - the actual drives and data inside were fine so we just popped them in to another enclosure (supplied for free by LaCie) and we're back in business.

Can't comment that specific model, but for crucial data, it's only G-raid or LaCie I buy.

quote:

Originally posted by DJ RANN Sounds like a plan! But I've never come across a pro studio that didn't use LaCie as the majority of their drives. If anything, they probably have the best rep, and lowest failure rate out there. We were using 40 odd LaCie drives on rotation for about 3 years, and those poor things took a pounding, yet only two of them failed, and even then, that was just the FW bridges burning out from over abusive hotswapping - the actual drives and data inside were fine so we just popped them in to another enclosure (supplied for free by LaCie) and we're back in business. Can't comment that specific model, but for crucial data, it's only G-raid or LaCie I buy.

Ok fair enough, I may well have been thinking of another brand, i've been looking at a lot of articles on these things lately

The £900 Thunderbolt drive can kiss my ass!

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Originally posted by tehlord Ok fair enough, I may well have been thinking of another brand, i've been looking at a lot of articles on these things lately The £900 Thunderbolt drive can kiss my ass!

Fuck me, that's a lot of money for a drive

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Originally posted by DJ RANN Fuck me, that's a lot of money for a drive

I lied, £869!

http://store.apple.com/uk/product/H...node=MTY1NDA0Nw

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Originally posted by Sean Walsh L4C, as far as backups go, what do professionals use for this sort of thing in the audio space? I work in video games and we use Perforce servers to manage all our code/content. I've always wanted to set-up a P4 server at home for my music production projects as I can see some serious value in having a proper versioning system for tracks I'm working on as opposed to just a bunch of arbitrarily named .alp files.

well there is a historical component to it. Tape drives were really the only solution for a long time. 50 years or so in shielded storage rooms. IT also depends on the extent of the work and the company doing it. Alot of guys that work as contractors don't really have a bullet proof system, they will back up every couple days, but they don't take into account theft, fire. So what you need is local temp backup. Mid level backup. And long term.

I think as technology improves, tape drives will be replaced with systems with rediculous multi location redundancy. The thing is that people invested alot of money in tape drives so they still use them and they still are very reliable.

my own system involves 8 3TB drives in a layered raid configuration. These drives are stored in a bathroom I don't use connected via lan. I also have 8 other drives as intermediate backups. I tend to back up stuff that changes often twice a day so root drives on 3 computers and the audio drives as well. The samples are all the same on each computer so i just make a back up of that every week. And then everything is backed up to the bathroom drives every week as well.

I had a drive crash once. When it happens, you just get silly paranoid. I lost about 400 of the hottest teen pre teen porn pics around.

DVDs are not a backup solution. They have a life expectancy of about 2-5 years. Cds are a little better. Hard

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Last edited by Looney4Clooney on Dec-15-2011 at 22:36

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Originally posted by Looney4Clooney I had a drive crash once. When it happens, you just get silly paranoid. I lost about 400 of the hottest teen pre teen porn pics around.

You know that's how Gary Glitter got convicted of pedophilia?

His drive was corrupted, and he took the Laptop in to PC world to get it fixed. They found a treasure trove of kiddie fiddling greatest hits.

So he ran away to Cambodia, but he got extreme and after a couple of years of child buggery they kicked him out - shit, you know you're a deviant when Cambodia asks you to leave their country.