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Media Pro on a Networked Drobo

Stretch Tuemmler
Is it possible to use Media Pro for files that are stored on a Networked Drobo? If so does it make sense to keep the Dam catalog on a local machine or the Drobo too? Or does the network slow the already slow MP too much.

We have changed our workflow so we are storing all of our files on a B800FS Drobo which gets synced to another B800FS as a backup. Seems to work well except for the Dam issue. I briefly tried putting the catalog on the Drobo and it was painfully slow. Thought I would ask the question before I put too much time into it.

The C1 software is great, really time to put some energy into Media Pro.
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Comments

7 comments

Date Votes
  • judophotos
    This interests me as I'm thinking of using a 5 bay Drobo FS to hold all my images. Any advice or experiences to guide Stretch and me would be helpful.
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  • Stretch Tuemmler
    I did ask the same question to P1 support. I'll let you know the response.
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  • Stretch Tuemmler
    Here's what P1 support had to say:

    Stretch,
    It's possible to use Media Pro with files on a Network Drive, the DROBO however offers it's own set of concerns since they have proven to be less than stable. The Catalog should be saved locally, this will allow the software to operate quickly and then the only slowdown will be the initial build (reading files from the external drive) and then any syncing you do (writting back to the external drive). However normal operation will be just as if the files were locally available, especially if you create Full Screen Previews and display them at all times.

    Kind Regards,
    Phase One Support

    I will give it a try and see how slow it really is. Hoping for the best. Stretch
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  • judophotos
    Thanks Stretch. All the reviews indicate that the Drobo is unfortunately slower than a pro NAS. I have to go down this route soon though and your experiences would be helpful.
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  • Stretch Tuemmler
    I gave Media Pro a speed test run comparing cataloging files that are stored on my networked Drobo (B800FS) to identical files that are stored on my local drive. Roughly 20% longer for files from the Drobo, that I can live with. I was creating new thumbnails and medium size previews. The catalog is stored on my local drive. 120mg file took about 12 seconds for files from the local drive, about 15 seconds for the same file from the Drobo. I was successful in cataloging EIP, PSD, RGB & CMYK tifs. The program did have some errors when I cataloged a folder from a job that contained EIP raws and processed tifs. The whole folder was about 1 G in size. 4 EIP & 4 tifs had errors, but when I went to rebuild those items it corrected the problem. I was only able to email photos when connected to my Drobo or if the original files are on the local drive. I would think that Media Pro could build the files to email from the previews, maybe in the next version.

    My experience with the Drobo's has been fairly good, we have 4 of them. I also have a Netgear Ready Nas which I am retiring. The Drobo is much faster but to be fair the Netgear is older technology at this point. Headed to the Ebay pile.

    Not the speediest cataloging process but so far it is working for me. Hoping I don't run into too many gremlins as I really start using it.

    Now if we could only get Phase One to put some real energy into Media Pro to make it faster and to solve all the issue's that so many have complained about. I have to believe that P1 will get this right, remember what C1v4 was like. Now version 6 performs very well with a few exceptions.
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  • judophotos
    Thank you very much, that is really helpful. I will look into it much more closely now. I have a Nertgear Readynas so a little bit of experience there, but it was a cheap one and is quite old.
    Thanks again for your experience.
    David
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  • Stretch Tuemmler
    If you need another one let me know:) We would have issue's with certain file types not copying over, seemed to not be Mac friendly. In my experience the Drobo is a big leap forward.
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