How the QNAP works

In May 2015, I switched from doing Mac Pro shared storage servers to QNAP systems, because their systems were dirt cheap, and much faster than Mac Pro server.

Since then, I have done over 1000 QNAP shared storage systems for video editing and graphics installations.

The process is quite simple. I use the QNAP instead of the Mac Pro and the separate external RAID array. The QNAP can be anything from an 6 bay chassis to a 24 bay RAID chassis. It can be expanded with up to eight 16 bay QNAP expanders. Because of the luxury of having access to 16TB drives, the ability to have a single shared storage system that is over 1 Pedabyte of total storage, is not that big of a deal anymore. The main cost of a system like this is the disk drives. The cost of building a super fast 10G shared storage system is a fraction of the price, of previous years.

Because of 10G Ethernet, and the wonderful QNAP shared storage system, I can achieve speeds of over 800 MB/sec per client, giving me the ability to do 4K and 6K editing on multiple workstations without issue. All of this at an incredibly low price - all because of QNAP. And for those that have super limited budget's, an entry level system can be put together for $2000 - $3000 US not including the price of the SATA drives (you choose the size of the drives that you want - the bigger they are - the more it costs !).

QNAP will also allow for remote access over the internet to the media on the system. So that freelancer, or even you can remote into the QNAP, and upload and download files, or simply view files on the QNAP over the internet. The QNAP makes any remote access possible. Why bother with cloud sites ! I am also now doing Ubiquiti UniFi remote VPN access, so you can avoid opening ports on the QNAP for greater security.

In the past, I stated that these systems could handle Adobe Premiere, FCP X, FCP 7 and Davinci Resolve. But with the advent of Indiestor Mimiq, that permits AVID Media Composer to work properly on a QNAP, with full bin locking, for multiple AVID clients, the ability to do a dirt cheap AVID Media Composer shared storage system for very little money is now a reality.

For years, people have been saying "isn't there a cheap simple way I can share video media between two or three MAC or PC edit systems ?". This is that system.

For all the little details of exactly how to do this, simply contact us, and we will tell you.