If you want to share data with the computers in your studio (in a single physical location) you'll need a wired network configuration. This means that all your computers have network cables connecting to a gigabit network switch. Using a wireless network usually will not move data fast enough so music and video will not play correctly. If you don't have experience with networking, it's probably best to hire a local professional to set it up for you.
Once your network is in place, you'll need a shared data point. This could be a network server, an internal drive on a computer on the network, an external drive or RAID storage device directly attached to a computer or a NAS (network attached storage) device (although we have seen lots of problems with NAS devices as they are traditionally slow).
If you're working on a Windows network, you'll need to share a drive or a folder. This is called a mapped network drive. You might have a folder named Studio Data, then call map it as the S: drive on all machines. Be sure "reconnect at login" is selected on each machine.
If you're working on a Mac network, you'll need a similar equipment setup. Once all your machines are connected, you'll need to set your shared folder (Studio Data), to auto-mount on each machine. You can do that by adding the shared folder (or drive) to the login items on each computer in the user account. Be sure you tell it to save the password so it can login automatically at startup.
In both Windows and Mac scenarios, you need to set the shared folder so each machine/user account using that folder or drive, has read and write permissions. Again, a local network professional can help you with this process.
Shared Data Storage Options
Once you have your wired network in place, it's best to have a well-organized central storage system for your jobs. With this system, all your jobs should be saved here so everything can be easily found. Here's an example of a directory structure.
/Studio Jobs
/Children
/Family
/HS Class of 2016
/Smith_Nancy_Job#
Smith_Nancy-01234.JPG
Smith_Nancy-01234.CR2
Smith_Nancy-01235.JPG
Smith_Nancy-01235.CR2
Smith_Nancy-01235.PSD
Smith_Nancy-01236.JPG
Smith_Nancy-01236.CR2
Smith_Nancy-01234 Album.PSA
/Output Images
/School Events
The job folder should contain all files relating to the job. JPG, RAW, retouched images (PSD or TIF) and your ProSelect Album file (.PSA) should all be in the same folder, not broken down into subfolders. We suggest letting ProSelect Production create an "Output Images" folder at the time production images are created. That will hold the images that are created from ProSelect Pro production that you will upload to the lab.
This "Studio Jobs" folder should be on assessable by all computers on the network. We suggest off-loading your images and creating your ProSelect Album from your production computer by transferring the images directly to the "Studio Jobs" folder that may or may not be on that local computer.
When you off-load original camera files, you could make a second copy on a physically separate hard drive.
When you go to access the ProSelect job file from another machine, you will just go to your shared network drive, find the .PSA file and open it. The path may look like this:
/StudioData/Studio Jobs/HS Class of 2015/Smith_Nancy _Job#/Smith_Nancy-01234Album.PSA
When you open the ProSelect Album (or any other file), you don't want to copy or move the file to the local machine. With a modern, correctly configured wired network, you should be able to open the file, work with, and then save it back in its source location.
Shared Storage Devices
Your shared storage device can be any of the following.
- Hard drive in a networked computer
- External drive in a networked computer
- External RAID device connected to a networked computer
- NAS RAID device connected to a network
- RAID device connected to a network server
- Network Server with RAID
It's important that you have backups of all your data, but particularly your ongoing job files. The best solution is a RAID device as it creates redundancy as you work. A RAID is a redundant array of independent drives. You can Google RAID and find lots of information.
RAID's can be configured different ways depending on the number of drives in an array. Typically a RAID 1 would consist of two drives, whereas all data is written to both drives at once. This is known as mirroring. A RAID 5 would consist of four drives; where pieces of data are written across all four, but any three drives contain the complete data set.
If you have a RAID 1 that is made up of two 2TB drives, you will only have 2TB of net storage as the information is duplicated. If one drive fails, you still have all the data on the other drive.
If you have a RAID 5 that contains four 2TB drives, your net storage will be about 6TB. If one drive fails, you replace the drive and the RAID rebuilds all your data. Whenever you have a RAID system, it's important to monitor the status so you can immediately replace a failed drive. If a 4 second drive fails before the first is replace (in either configuration), it's a catastrophic failure.
A RAID configuration can exist within a single workstation, a server or as an external device.
Configuration Advantages and Disadvantages of Shared Devices
Hard drive in a networked computer
This can work in a small studio, typically one to two people. Unless the workstation has an internal RAID, the is no backup. You'll need to configure backup software or use something like Apple's Time Machine.
External drive in a networked computer
This is the same situation as above. The data will likely stream slower than that from an internal drive unless you are using a high-speed connection like USB 3.0 or Thunderbolt connection.
External RAID device connected to a networked computer
This configuration works well in small studio operations (two-five people). An external RAID device is directly connected to a workstation, then shared across the network. The device should be attached to the computer that requires the most use of the data, usually the production or retouching machine. This workstation should at least use a quad-core processor (I7+) and have 12-32GB of memory. The device MUST use a high-speed connection USB 3.0, Thunderbolt, e-Sata or Firewire 800.
Some of this computer's resources will be used to "push" data across the network. This machine must always be running so data is available to others.
NAS RAID device connected to a network
NAS is Network Attached Storage. This is typically a RAID device that is connected to the network via a network cable, rather than going through a computer. Since NAS devices have very limited internal processors and memory, they are usually too slow for use in a studio situation. Some high-end NAS device may work, but we have seen very limited success.
Please also see section "Unable to save to a NAS drive" in the article ProSelect on El Capitan, and/or search for "NAS" in the KnowledgeBase (under the Support menu) for this and more.
RAID device connected to a network server
An example of this would be an external RAID connected to a Mac mini server via thunderbolt. This provides a large volume of storage combined with a computer to manage permissions and processing power to feed the data across the network. Because no one would "work" at the server, its processing power is dedicated to serving the network.
Network Server with RAID
This is a higher-end solution providing the fastest connections to many simultaneous users. This also allows more permission management with dedicated server software. This setup is essential in larger studio operations, but installation and setup usually need to be done by an IT professional.
External RAID Devices
Examples available at time of writing.
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/Thunderbolt/External-Drive/OWC/ThunderBay-4-RAID5
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/hard-drives/RAID/Desktop/
Further General ProSelect Information
The following article will assist with your ProSelect data sharing (Prices, Templates and Resource data) and also the ProSelect Reference Manual "Backing up and Sharing" section (quick access under the Help menu in ProSelect).
Also specific articles on Workflow using ProSelect which may be of interest:
- Suggested ProSelect Workflow
- Retouching workflow with Production
- Working with Raw images in ProSelect
All information is given to the best of TimeExposure.com's knowledge and is believed to be accurate at the time of writing this article. Your conditions of use of the suggested products and recommendations are beyond our control. TimeExposure.com specifically disclaims any responsibility or liability relating to the use of the suggested products and recommendations and shall under no circumstances whatsoever, be liable for any special, incidental or consequential damages which may arise from such use.
KnowledgeBase Article: Networking Basics for Photography Studios