My Storage Workflow for Video Production - 2021

[@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?

[@charminbaer2323]

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.

[@journeyfaithinternational9974]

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

[@scottmckenna]

Thanks. Make sure you watch the updated video.

[@olegnafilm7666]

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 :))

[@hussainallawati2790]

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

[@SbolenseMedia]

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

[@felixedin8764]

Great content as usual. Have you considered building a custom unraid rig as a long term storage solution instead of the OWC? Easy to scale, easy to maintain, easy to sync to google drive, relatively cheap and you can get good import speeds too with cache drives.

[@DanyloBobyk]

Interesting! What is a custom “unraid” rig?

[@gordonrobb]

Excellent Video, and I'm using it to set up my process. Only problem is it seems Google no longer offers unlimited :( So I still need to find a backup solution that gives me off-site backup.

[@scottmckenna]

Correct. I use Dropbox now.

[@scottmckenna]

I'm also not using this set up any more. Watch my newest video about my new server setup.

[@gordonrobb]

@@scottmckenna Oh, is there a Dropbox unlimited? I'll take a look.

[@gordonrobb]

@@scottmckenna I'll go have a look. Thanks.

[@biancaoctaviatt]

I love this, thank you so much! now please tell me how to get 20k pictures and videos out of icloud to my external hard drive with slow internet connection (everywhere in germany), an old macbook without storage and a new iphone without storage. It seems like I need a new bloody device for it? the only option that seems to work is transferring about 10 at once which would take forever. I'm going crazy because of it.

[@RickyGuerreroZ]

Extremely helpful. Thanks, Scott!

[@scottmckenna]

Glad to help.

[@annastayziaa]

Hi Scott! I can’t find the program you’re talking about with google suite 🥺 what do you use now for storage on a cloud?

[@scottmckenna]

You no longer can get unlimited data with google suite. Sorry.

[@annastayziaa]

@@scottmckenna what is the method you use now or recommend for cloud storage? 🥺 please advise. thank you.

[@scottmckenna]

@@annastayziaa i still have unlimited storage from google. You just can't sign up for it any more.

[@annastayziaa]

@@scottmckenna oh, I understand. thank you!

[@byEmmaFranzen]

Hi Scott! Thanks for this! It seems like they have removed the unlimited storage space from google, or am I wrong? Would it be possible for you to link it? Would be grateful for any help!

[@LouisLuzuka]

I have a drobo but it’s not maxed out yet, I wonder if I should just invest in something else… 🤔

[@scottmckenna]

Stay away from Drobo. That’s all I can say.

[@LouisLuzuka]

@@scottmckenna okay I wont fill it up anymore, any suggestions for me? I have about 10TB on drobo and 20Tb scattered on 2-5tb drives 😭 I just want to organize my files I already lost 1 full 2TB hard drive feels like pain I wouldn't wish on anyone 🙏🏽

[@LouisLuzuka]

Any black Friday deals ☺️

[@LouisLuzuka]

@@scottmckenna the drobo was a gift but it's a pain to use and the fan is audible 😭

[@forgesmedia]

What do you use now that Google Drive isn't unlimited

[@scottmckenna]

It's still Unlimited for me. I'm grandfathered in.

[@forgesmedia]

@@scottmckenna I used to have unlimited, but they changed me to Google Workspace with Max 5TB. I'm trying out Wasabi...

[@jtquick01]

I seriously needed this info! The only question i have is how you managed to get unlimited storage on google? How much is it per user?

[@scottmckenna]

G Suite business, minimum of 5 users, $12 per month. $60 per month total at the minimum

[@MitchellBarkman]

@@scottmckenna I think that the plans have changed to google workspace so the unlimited is no longer available? Have they contacted you to transfer over?

[@Lunafilms12]

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!

[@scottmckenna]

Glad it was helpful

[@theTechNotice]

Just checked the pricing for G Drive business, but the Unlimited Storage option doesn't have a price on it. Do you mind me asking what are the rough prices for the Unlimited Plan for business? :)

[@scottmckenna]

5 users minimum. $12 per month per user.

[@michaellees370]

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

[@devarni]

Thank you, very helpful! You wouldn't store project files or databases of video editing programs on GDrive? So only the footage online, project files and footage on external SSDs?

[@michaelvanarey8013]

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

[@nolanpatterson7285]

I agree... a lot of talking about the set up VS showing us how it all works.

[@focusandcreatenow]

ok is Chomosync simlafr to carbon copy? and what if you need to go back a version??

[@HopeProphecy]

Thanks for this info! Would there be any benefit for me getting a Seagate Firecuda 530 4TB Pci 4.0 ($900) over a Sabrent Rocket 4TB PCI 3.0 ($650 )for my media/project files/Dropbox drive? I will also have a separate drive (fast m.2 4.0) for my boot/OS disk, and another drive (fast m.2 4.0) for my cache/scratch files. I want to maximize performance (including scrubbing on the timeline in Davinci), but don’t want to waste $250 if the extra speed from Firecuda will just be wasted. I’m a professional creator with a good system (5950x, 64gb ram, x570 motherboard, etc.) and I will be editing 4k 30fps footage, with effects such as grading transitions, fusion, sometimes multiple video sources, and b-roll-etc. for KZbin! Thanks for any help!

[@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!

[@scottmckenna]

Super useful way to stay organized.

[@BranBillington]

Do you update Google Drive and the RAID to match the SSDs at the end of the project as well? If so, is that also through chronosync or is that manual?

[@scottmckenna]

I don't use this same system any more. Update coming soon. We still use google drive for all archival footage, but we use a Synology NAS now.

[@eointhomas2914]

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

[@scottmckenna]

For what it’s worth, I have a whole new server system now. I’ll be doing a video all about in the new year. Synology NAS

[@eointhomas2914]

@@scottmckenna Thanks Scott, I am actually in the middle of the project, ended up getting a Synology 1621xs+, will introduce 10 Gb once the data has migrated, thanks for the comment. Hope your new workflow is going well

[@scottmckenna]

I have a new whole NAS system as well now from Synology. It works amazing. I’ll be making a video in the new year.

[@kennethgarcia25]

what backup power device are you using?

[@PE4Doers]

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.

[@scottmckenna]

I talked about this in the video at the end.

[@fishernigel]

This was so helpful. Thank you. Can I ask for advice please? Should I run my put my editing software ( resolve ) on an ssd and use that to launch my program, or should I have my editing software on the Mac itself?

[@scottmckenna]

Always keep the applications themselves on the actual computer. Don't run the app from an SSD.

[@fishernigel]

@@scottmckenna thanks mate

[@joshuatimmins2681]

Thank you so much for creating this video! I have one question; when editing current projects off the SSD, I'm presuming all the raw footage has to be on that SSD as well? May seem like a silly question but would you be able to only have the project library on the SSD and then also have an external drive plugged in which contains all the footage? Or would this be slow to edit on? Trying to wrap my head around it all

[@Purl82]

Yes this is the question I'm trying to figure out too. I have a 2TB SSD but I have 1.45TB worth of raw footage. So I'm trying to figure out if I need to edit ALL of that on the SSD or could potentially store the raw footage on external and just edit proxies on SSD. Would love for him to do another tutorial on this.

[@SkinnyWasHere]

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

[@scottmckenna]

Lol. Thanks.

[@walkonwatertv7744]

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.

[@scottmckenna]

Glad it’s been helpful

[@dinoatcharterdotnet]

Best external hard drive for video editing? I do a lot of editing (on Final Cut Pro) and need an external hard drive to save all my files. Currently I am using a WD Elements 4 TB drive that works great, however I have already used 3.5 TB of storage on it. I'm looking for a new hard drive that will give me more space to save files.

[@gthrillah]

thought I was watching unboxtherapy for a second lol

[@FilipposPapalitsas]

Unraid server with a "ancient" 12 core Xeon and 64GB ECC RAM with 6 HDDs totaling 24TB of available space with 1 parity disk (planing for a second) and an 500GB SSD for cache. Feeding to a 10Gbit network serving 2 editing pcs. Automated backups to cloud and offsite. Total cost including disks and network: 1700€

[@SookieSews]

I have a question, do you run your video editing software ON the SSD?

[@azyt]

why do you need a physical hard drive AND a cloud storage like google drive? can't I just use google drive for storage?

[@nancyunangst2781]

Is unlimited storage on Google Business Suite still available as a choice? If Someone already has that option, will it continue to be honored by Google?

[@lancechapman7492]

Do you know if it is possible to use chronosync to back up to a virtual drive through a cloud provider like Pcloud?

[@TravisWilson-hc1ez]

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

[@basedviet]

Synology > Drobo

[@melodycgeorge]

Thanks for this amazing video, so helpful! I've been looking for an online backup system and your Google drive business suite setup really appeals to me. How much do you pay per month for that? Do you have super high speed internet in order to back up large video files? I'm shooting terabytes of stuff in 4k / 6k and that I'll need to upload. Any pointers? Thx!

[@scottmckenna]

For what it’s worth, this is an old video. I don’t use this system anymore. New video coming soon.

[@Plant_Based_Riffs]

Hey, you mention at 5:13 that you can watch files on Google Drive... Is this true for 4k 10 bit a7S III files? I can't even watch those in quicktime on my mac. Thanks!

[@scottmckenna]

Yes, everything plays fine. It's basically a KZbin embedded later in google drive so it has no problems playing anything.

[@benjamin.kelley]

I HATE buying storage...it's such a necessary cost, but on the surface it doesn't seem super helpful in growing business or video production skills...Currently working on a SanDisk 1TB SSD for working projects, then dumping them to a Segate 5TB External HD...probably purchasing a 10 TB G drive soon though...and building a PC with a 5 TB internal SSD and a 1 TB M.2 SSD on the motherboard. Just got an R6 and now my videos are so much more clear/workable with color as opposed to a 5D 4 or my 80D.

[@scottmckenna]

Necessary evil for sure.

[@ChoiceMediaWorks]

Do you have a template of how you organize your video content for your clients that's available?

[@adrian-alexandruneculcea206]

Google Drive is not a backup, you have no file versioning available, if a file gets corrupted you cannot go to the ”original” and there is no way to get it back... and there are a lot of privacy concerns with them, no encryption supported on the user side, and when you have client work project if someone raises questions about how private their files you're not looking good.

[@scottmckenna]

Ok

[@kostasgt500]

You need SharePoint... For most of the things that you mentioned

[@FilmQi]

Great and very helpful tips! thanks for sharing

[@JStuff01]

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!

[@scottmckenna]

I have changed a lot since this video. New video coming soon. We are using a Synology NAS now. Great upgrade.

[@Gael_AG]

Drobo is dead anyway ))

[@scottmckenna]

Drobo is awful.

[@brandonlazo]

Awesome video! Im starting to shoot video and maybe this is a silly question but what happened with my sd when I passed all the videos to my pc? Shoud I format this in camera and reuse it? Its a SONY-G sd, so is expensive to me buy a lot of sd cards for 4k shooting

[@scottmckenna]

I format the card in my camera when I plug it back in to the camera.

[@docyt]

I know that historically you've been big on Drobos. Why not Synology? Do you see any advantage of the Mercury Pro Elite over a similar Synology? Just curious since I love the Synology product so much...can you tell?

[@scottmckenna]

Not a fan of Drobos any more. I mentioned that.

[@mrjamesmay3548]

I was annoyed when I saw the drobo but then happy when you said you feel the same as me 😂.. I use to love mine but I’ve massively fell out of love with it. Also find it massively slows down my iMac when it’s waiting for the drobo

[@scottmckenna]

Agreed.

[@elizabethchevrie6574]

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

[@nexa4498]

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.

[@ericallnight]

Does Hedge also do the kind of backup mirroring that cronosync does or us it just for manually moving files around,

[@TheToneWork]

How do you get the unlimited storage for google drive? I can't find it anywhere.

[@scottmckenna]

Google drive business suite.

[@usermvda39dae]

@@scottmckenna they changed the G Suite business, it's not unlimted anymore, they gonna transition to the new system Workspace on January 2022, and the maximum 5tb, they confirmed o me on the chat with google specliast, I backing up my 32tb on drive today. it'll take a long time to download them tho

[@simonr2180]

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

[@scottmckenna]

Thanks so much Simon. I truly appreciate the comment and time you took.

[@samsomu]

I want to ask, any idea how many years do we allowed to keep clients HD in house?

[@scottmckenna]

That’s your decision.

[@focusandcreatenow]

have you got a nas yet?

[@scottmckenna]

Yes. New video coming shortly.

[@focusandcreatenow]

@@scottmckenna yes me too!!

[@nathanstotts1585]

Look at you trying to be techy.

[@BreezeA]

Hello Scott. Thanks for the walkthrough. You have not touched on system backups. Do you have any processes in place for system backups.

[@scottmckenna]

Online.

[@BreezeA]

@@scottmckenna thanks. That makes sense. I should have assumed that. 😊

[@GabrielCuillier]

This is exactly the info I needed. Thanks Scott!

[@wildfernweddings4187]

Have you had issues with Google Drive not processing or formatting videos that you upload?

[@scottmckenna]

Every once in awhile

[@wildfernweddings4187]

@@scottmckenna How do you troubleshoot it and be sure it doesn't happen? I just backed up 20TB of footage and am realizing a lot of it isn't properly uploaded :(

[@WayneLSnyder]

great video thanks for the info ! Super helpful!

[@scottmckenna]

You’re welcome. Glad you enjoyed it.

[@jordanwilliams4738]

Ru we urge

[@BoboMedia007]

We use a Jellyfish at work. It wasn't easy to setup but it might of been to some firewalls in our system.

[@scottmckenna]

The jellyfish is by far one of the best systems that I've ever seen. They just are not cheap at all.

[@BoboMedia007]

@@scottmckenna yes, I’m glad I didn’t pay for it!

[@ruffneck718]

Thank you for sharing Sir.

[@SlowPCGaming1]

Linus Tech Tips did a video on how they made a JellyFish equivalent file storage solution for a fraction of the price without sacrificing performance or capacity. I'd wager they'd be willing to supply you with that sort of service if you cover their costs and agree to a cross channel promotional set of videos. Are you using solar "generator" battery packs with regulated 3-prong power sockets as you UPS? BLUETTI EP500 5120wh LiFePO4 UPS BACKUP Off Grid Solar Generator: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jmTImIp9g96Hj9k

[@RON_ZHOU]

Hi Scott, will you move the footages to backup drive after editing in ssd? How do you relink the footage when you’re needing? Thanks

[@scottmckenna]

I move the events to back up drives. Yes.

[@RON_ZHOU]

@@scottmckenna Thanks for your reply.

[@relaxingmusic9267]

Loved the video

[@PaulFeinberg]

I know you did a video like this in the past but it has been a while. I would love to see how you organize your FCPX client Projects, Libraries, and stuff. I also would like to know how to cutdown FCPX file sizes when you back up your stuff because those FCPX libraries can get big fast. I use a similar system as you (minus the storage raid). I just use Google Drive for backing up all my Client, KZbin, projects and all (I have unlimited storage). Then I have one Samsung T5 for client work, and one Samsung T7 for KZbin.

[@scottmckenna]

We delete render files from projects every single day after we edit. Saves tons of space.

[@FlyPavilion]

Tell FCP to put render files to a local folder outside of the FCP library and to leave footage files in place instead of copying them in. I rarely have FCP libraries larger than 100mb these days.

[@scottmckenna]

I don’t like the idea of files outside of the library. Honestly, copying to library and having all footage built into the library is one of my favorite things about FCPX. I love knowing that nothing is ever missing. I simply copy one icon onto another whole drive, and everything comes with. It’s a good feeling.

[@FlyPavilion]

@@scottmckenna While I can imagine it is useful for some projects, when you are suddenly doubling the storage taken up by footage it can become painful, especially when projects hit 3-4TB in size and leaving files in place is a lifesaver. I just created a nicely organised folder for each project and keep everything inside the folder including the FCP library, makes creating multiple versions of a library for multiple editors very fast and easy!

[@scottmckenna]

It’s no different if you have the footage itself on another drive though. That doesn’t make any sense. What’s the difference? You then have two drives plugged in instead of one large one?

[@bencorwin]

You rock Scott!

[@scottmckenna]

So do you.

[@PelicanNorth]

Great overview! Thanks for your time to do this. I have two RAID-0 32TB enclosures (OWC). One is working drive, the other is back up using Carbon Copy Cloner. All on a battery back-up power supply. I also archive old projects on a mess of older HDD's I keep in a drawer. Thinking about an LTO tape solution at some point. Question: What is your upload speed to Google Drive? I only have 10mbps up, and for a 500GB + project (two cameras, long interviews, b-roll), the upload time for a project would take days. I've not yet seen cloud storage as viable for TB's of data because of this.

[@scottmckenna]

Our upload speed is 1G per second on Verizon Fios. That's a big factor into why we do things this way. It takes seconds to upload things.

[@bfs5113]

I use three NAS to get backup to backup, best practice. One down, two to go in minutes and I don't even bother with RAID since I have stacks of new HDD. Plus file server and DAS. I think my first NAS was over third decades ago.

[@jon_almas]

Coming in June the unlimited that has been included is no more! as far as I understand anyway - I've been backing stuff up there as well

[@bammediafilms]

I believe he was talking about the business/company account of google drive. There are no changes on those accounts for this year.

[@jon_almas]

@@bammediafilms ah ok. That’s what I meant the g suite business accounts. I didn’t go back to their email alerts to review but I thought I remembered they were changing around their paid levels and caps for drive. This is good news if they won’t be doing that this year

[@broLgray]

@@jon_almas It may not be this year, but it is coming. Google is being very vague about what’s going to happen to G Suite customers with unlimited storage. My guess is before too long, Scott will be contacted about migrating data. To add more storage, you have to pay for it 2 TB at a time by adding new users. With the new plans, you’ll be looking at $500/month for 70 TB of storage.

[@scottmckenna]

I've heard. I'm going to see how it plays out. I can decide then I guess.

[@jon_almas]

@@broLgray no doubt. I’m in the process of changing from basically this same operation Scott uses to a primary raid drive a NAS and I guess a bunch of 10tb single drives to archive instead of drive