Blog: Video Editing Storage Solutions: Choosing a Storage Server

Video Editing Software - ACNCIf you plan on investing time and money into developing a video editing career, or if your business requires a lot of video editing, choosing the correct video storage server is essential to your success. But when outfitting your employees with the right software is complicated enough, how do you go about finding the correct video editing storage solution for the entire operation to rely on?

What Software Are You Using?

Before you can begin deciding on a video storage solution, you have to choose what kind of software you want to use first. Different video editing software requires different storage capacities as well. Unless you are planning on editing home videos, or are just beginning to dabble in video production and editing, you will most likely need a commercial grade software. Be sure to make note of how much storage space the software itself takes up, so that you can calculate that into how much space you will need to hold all of your data.

The most important part of choosing a video editing storage solution is to be sure it has enough capacity so that your processor isn’t continuously slowed down with too much data. When working with a video editor, your data can reach the Terabyte capacity quickly, and you will need a storage device that can support it. Some suggest having two separate hard drives – one with 1 TB of storage for input/output, and another for storing the video’s final cut. If you agree, looking at RAID options – such as RAID 0 – may be of help.

Which is Better: SAN or NAS?

Both SAN and NAS storage devices are acceptable options when looking for a storage solution for video editing. To choose, decide how you would like to receive your data – directly or from a storage server (similar to receiving data from the internet.) If you would like direct access to your data at all times and across all servers, a Storage Area Network (SAN) storage solution would be your choice. The Network Attached Storage (NAS) solution is the option you would choose if you would rather receive your information from a specific storage drive. Either option would be suitable for video editing, so long as there is enough available storage for your data.

Some video editors may suggest upgrading to an SSD rather than an HDD. While SSDs are more expensive, they have the ability to access applications much more quickly and can speed up the video editing process. Some video editors will say that SSDs have little to no impact on the actual editing process, and others say they do increase their productivity. Choosing to get an SSD wouldn’t hurt if you are rendering a lot of information and are needing to open applications more quickly, but if you don’t want to add the extra expense, it won’t harm the video editing process.

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