Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/256420
5D Mark III cameras; and a number of Apple MacBook Pro edit stations running Final Cut Pro. The company uses a host of Drobo products for its primary storage needs: a Drobo 5D to store and back up fi les for stu- dio shoots, a Drobo Mini to do the same on location, a Drobo 5N to share fi les within the network for post production, and Drobo B1200i and B800i devices for archiving. "GeekBeat is just one of our shows. We've done over 1,000 videos in the last two and a half years," explains CEO and show host John Pozadzides. "We deal with so much data, tremen- dous fi le sizes and can easily run out of space. We have no time to take 10TB of data and move it around in the network — although we have a Cisco Gigabit Ethernet backbone here. "We bought a Drobo B800i because disk packs can be in- stantly upgraded to gain more room, which is unheard of! The B800i uses iSCSI transfer protocol that's so fast — even through the Gigabit Ethernet network, it's as fast or faster than the normal internal hard drive in the machine. It virtually at- taches to each of our Mac Pro edit stations so we have great speed and security, although iSCSI drives can't be shared." For sharing, Pozadzides opted for the 5N fi le server, which holds raw show footage, intros and commercials. "It's all there for anyone to grab assets," he says. "I just shot footage at Mac World in San Francisco on a Canon 5D, pulled out the Mini and my MacBook Air with Thunderbolt, and ingested all the raw video onto the Mini until I got back to the offi ce, where we offl oaded the Mini to the 5D. We avoid risks we'd get using individual drives — every show is money to us." Each Drobo 5D for editing is outfi tted with fi ve 3TB drives and confi gured with dual-disk redundancy, which can keep data safe even if two drive failures should occur. Having expe- rienced a single drive failure in the past, Pozadzides decided "to go with dual-drive redundancy on everything, including the Mini. I don't want to sweat out another possible drive fail- ure in the middle of a rebuild." About 30 days after editing is done, raw fi les are deleted and the fi nished videos are archived on the B800i or B1200i devices, freeing up storage on the 5D again. Since GeekBeat.tv also produces WebBeat, My Mobile Life and several shows for local stations, the company needs STORAGE SOLUTIONS www.small-tree.com • www.granitestor.com • 866.STC.4MAC 7300 Hudson Blvd., Suite 165, Oakdale, MN 55128 Sm a ll Tre e S h a r e d S to r ag e thats Si m pl e, a ffo r da b l e, & h ig h pe r fo r m a n ce Small Tree Shared Storage unleashes the capability of Ethernet - simplifing your editing workflow while cutting your SAN production costs. Small Tree's high performance products support next generation technology such as Thunderbolt I/O and 10 Gigabit Ethernet. Call for a quote or reach us at www.small-tree.com VH1's Love & Hip Hop: NFGTV boasts 48 edit stations and calls on Facilis storage solutions. See page 8. Storage Supplement 2013RAV10FINAL READ.indd 5 2/28/13 10:33 AM