My Storage Workflow for Video Production - 2021

What are the best hard drives for video editing? Should I use an SSD for editing? There are lots of things to consider when buying new hard drives. Here's a look at what we use for my video production companies hard drive workflow.

0:00 - A common problem with video production
0:36 - An update to our storage workflow for video production
0:57 - Context on how the company works with clients
1:58 - The 3 main things we use
2:30 - What does your import process look like?
3:47 - From a physical hard drive to Google drive
5:02 - Why we choose Google drive
6:13 - The physical hard drives we use
6:22 - Drobo
7:33 - OWC Mercury Elite Pro Quad
9:33 - 4 TB G Drives
10:08 - What computer should I use for storage?
11:00 - IMPORTANT battery backup
12:15 - Samsung T5 SSDs
14:57 - Will I have to replace SSDs?
15:35 - Should I backup my SSDs?
16:20 - How do I backup my external SSDs?
19:20 - How often should I backup my SSDs?
20:45 - Conclusion and overview
21:42 - Why don't you use a server based hard drive system?
23:32 - Thanks for watching

[ShervinShares]

Google Drive just ended my unlimited storage. they said I have 60 days to buy more storage or I cannot upload any new content. Are you still using Google Drive unlimited or have they phased you into their new pricing plans?

[eointhomas]

I’m a IT Engineer and helping a customer who does video editing and this has really helped me! Currently debating between a thunderbolt DAS vs a NAS

[Lunafilms]

Scott as a photographer I use the Qnap TVS 872 XT 8 bay and the fact that I could edit directly from the Nass with 10GB transfer rate is awsome. I love the fact that I could edit directly from the Nass. I set up ubiquiti WIFI 6 and it gives me the option to start my project on my IMac and continue on a laptop wirelessly.

[jasonhartelius]

Thank you. This was very helpful, as was your last video on this subject. As a long-time TV producer who had never edited from home, last year I took on a huge editing project. I used a scaled down version of your system. A super-fast Samsung SSD for editing, a 10TB G-Drive for storage of both raw shoots and finished videos, and Google Drive for online storage of all finished products. Worked great. And when problems did pop up and I had to go back and dig up older clips, I never had a problem. So... thanks!

[michaelvanarey]

This video has a lot of knowledge behind it! I would have loved to see some text graphics to explain the whole system / workflow!

[JStuff]

I'm currently trying to figure out how to manage two separate NAS systems, a Google Business Drive, and local storage remote drives for WFH editing. Even 1+ year later, there is a ton of helpful stuff in here that I'm going to be pulling from. Thanks, Scott!

[walkonwatertv]

Thanks for always creating great content with very useful information. I've learned a lot from your channel, always practical and very clear. I wish I knew more about editing and storage before I jumped into a camera system, but sometimes you just need to learn as you go.

[hussainallawati]

Great and useful thoughts. Waiting for your new video about the upgrade to Synology NAS!

[charminbaer]

I have 2 OWC Thunderbay RAID drives for my photography, one is the Mini which i have 4 x 1TB SSDs that I use for my external storage library, the other is the bigger one for HDDs with 4 x 1TB HDDs to backup my library. I just ordered 4 x 2 TB SSDs to upgrade the Thunderbay Mini which is almost full. I will order 4 x 4TB HDDs to upgrade the backup RAID drive too.

[curtiscrow]

This was extremely helpful. Biggest takeaway for me is using Trello to track what footage is on what drive. I'm constantly plugging in drives to figure out where my project is haha Next I'm looking into Chronosync to my backup process smoother. Thanks!

[SkinnyWasHere]

love this. currently running a 12bay Synology nas + dropbox unlimited. Also this bokeh is heavenly, you look so angelic!

[elizabethchevrie]

Best description of this process that I've heard so far, thanks for sharing.

[olegnafilm]

Hey Scott! Thanks for the tips now I'm planning to try the google drive business standard. I always run out of storage with my ssd because it's only 240 GB but with the google drive maybe I can store as many archives I want :))

[michaellees]

Hey Scott. Great video, thank you. I'm curious, it seems that Google drive has discontinued its unlimited storage with cap at 2tb and 5tb. What has your workaround been/ what would you recommend for archiving footage? Thanks

[nexa]

I love storage system videos. My workflow is: Cards > NAS+DesktopRAID+Offsite > Working Drive. I ONLY use Hedge to copy anything, I would 100% look into getting a checksum copy program! Once a project is done I transfer it to a dated Archive drive and add it to my HDD spreadsheet. The spreadsheet lists ALL of my drives and all of the projects/content on them. That way I can just CTRL+F to search for whatever project I need. My NAS is a 8-bay Synology that I added a 10Gbe card to, I get ~500MB/s read/write to my iMac so I can edit from it and transfers are super quick.

[simonr]

I never comment, but this video is superb, so good, so simple, so down to earth! I loved it.

[journeyfaithinternational]

Wonderful! Great value this video has brought. Comment earned for sure. Saved as well and subscribed.

[SbolenseMedia]

Thank you this has been very helpful. Gave me some pretty good ideas on storage and back up

[TravisWilson-hcez]

Great video. Follow up question: what software are people using to import video and creating appropriate subfolders?

[PEDoers]

Scott, have you ever considered setting up a local area network? That might save you some copy time. I started this comment prior to seeing the last couple of minutes of your video. There are 24tb NAS servers that you could get for less than $1200. You could enable remote access from other locations, then simply copy folders back and forth as you need to use them. Just a thought. I have been networked in my home office (just me and family) for 20-years. I recently upgraded to 10g wired network speeds on all equipment I use for editing.