Suggestions on 2 Station Setup

videoboy77 wrote on 5/26/2005, 9:14 AM
I’m going to have 2 Vegas editing stations. What are your suggestions for sharing storage, a DSR-11, and a video monitor? For the deck and monitor I can probably get a 1394 switch (any suggestions on which one?). Obviously they wont be used by both computers at the same time… But for the storage what is the best option. Probably out of the price range to get a networked shared storage system set up… Should I just get two external 1394 drives and put them on a switch so they can be routed to whichever computer needs to work on whichever project? Should I set up firewire networking in windows to transfer files between systems? (is that possible even?) Is anyone using this type of setup? How do you have it all setup?

Thanks!!!

Comments

Chienworks wrote on 5/26/2005, 9:30 AM
1394 is pretty robust and open. You probably won't need a switch. A simple hub should be sufficient. I don't know what would happen if you tried to control the deck from both computers at the same time, but i imagine the worst that would happen is an error message.

If you connect the deck, both PCs, and all external drives to a hub then they should all be able to share data simultaneously. Windows XP should automatically set up TCP/IP between the PCs and the drives. The PCs will show up in each others' network neighborhoods and the external drives should show up as "removable" drive letters in Explorer.

Probably it would be a good idea to avoid writing to the same removable drive from both PCs at once. I don't know that it would cause a problem, but i can imagine scenarios that wouldn't be pleasant. If you wanted to be a little safer you could connect the removable drives directly to a PC rather than to the hub and then share that drive with the other PC. This way one PC has control over it and regulates the other's access.
Liam_Vegas wrote on 5/26/2005, 9:41 AM
Wow.. I've never even considered connecting a firewire drive to two PC's at once. Are you <certain> that is possible? Sounds like you are working oiff theory here rather than personal experience?

I have 3 external drives - all with removeable drive trays that allows me to share between the several PC's I work from. Either I share files on the LAN - or I physically switch the USB cables - or I simply move the drives from one external drive to another (slide in/out using the removeable drive trays I use).

My drives are combined USB/Firewire - but I consistently end up with drive write failures when using firewire - hence why I stick with USB.

I've just ordered a NAS (Network Attached Storage) unit ReadyNAS 600 in the hope it will streamline the way I work with network rendering. The unit can deliver around 220Mbps+ of data from the drives over the gigabit ethernet port - so that should be far better than I currently achieve using shared folders across my current network rendering setup.
Chienworks wrote on 5/26/2005, 10:01 AM
Definately theory, but i'm going by white papers about firewire networking.

Yes, it probably is better to connect them to one PC and share that way.
videoboy77 wrote on 5/26/2005, 1:30 PM
The storage thing is tricky... but most importaint is to figure out how to share the deck... Im not sure it will work to plug everythign into one Hub. I think it has to go to a switch that lets you manualy select which computer connection to use?
jkrepner wrote on 5/26/2005, 1:44 PM
Liam, please let us know how the ReadNAS 600 works out for you. That looks like a nice little product.
J_Mac wrote on 5/26/2005, 2:24 PM
What about getting two 1394 drives, connect one to each of your stations. Then run crossover Cat 5 between the 2 PCs. All resources should be available to each computer thruogh 'My Network Places', if shared? John.
videoboy77 wrote on 5/26/2005, 3:43 PM
i agree that for a stograge solution this would be the best... but it is sharign the deck im worried about now... making it accessabel by both computers... but not at the same time..
snicholshms wrote on 5/26/2005, 9:30 PM
I've got four PCs sharing 4 different firewire devices: 1. DSR-11; 2. 250GB HDD (media like JumpBacks storage); 3. Canopus 100 (videoout to monitor) ; 4. Canopus 300 (VHS in to capture) via an Ocean Matrix 4X4 Firewire Switcher from Markertek.

One firewire cable from each PC connects to one of four connectors on the RH side of the switcher. A firewire cable from each component goes to the four connectors on the LH side of the switcher.

GlennChan wrote on 5/27/2005, 12:02 AM
Liam, are your drives using a prolific chipset?
There is a firmware flash around that may fix it- it did for me. It's a really nasty problem though, because your drive's MFT will eventually get corrupted and you can't access your files.

see http://member.newsguy.com/~siccos/PL3507%20Firmware.htm
The bustrace site has a test utility to check if the firmware flash worked.

2- Maybe the fastest setup would be to have internal/local storage and a gigabit ethernet network? (Switched, or using a cross-over and with network configured correctly)