Home server to backup PC and Mac

[cyberbronco]

I know Gavin switched to Mac a few years back so maybe he has some tips.  I just got a 27 iMac. I have been using PC all of my life. I love the sweet 27 inch LED monitor!  I don't really see an advantage to using Mac over PC except it's a little prettier, but here I am. I want to use both formats and have my files in a central location so I can access them with either PC or Mac.  I am leaning towards a Windows Home Server.  I have an old PC to put it on so it would be cheaper than a ReadyNAS or Drobo.
Does this sound good? Has anyone tried anything similar? I am getting up to 3TB in data so I need good backup and I want to access it through my PC, iMac or even my Linux Ubuntu laptop.

Thanks,

Jeff

[Gavin Seim]

Sounds OK to me, though I confess I'm not really familiar with W Home Server. I would probably go the drobo route or just leave the drive connected to the mac as Mac will let you access drives from other machines.

Just bear in mine that LR (of you're using it) does not allow catalogs to be used over a network at the moment.

[FullMetalPhotographer]

There is no reason why you can't set a home network with drobos or a media server that your different computer OS systems to access.

I think the solution depends largely on what you need to access and how many computers you planning on accessing the Data. For example I have about 5 computers accessing my databases, which are photos files, video files and graphics. I running Macs and a TriCaster Broadcaster (windows based) so I went with a network based system.

So for my clipart and templates I use network drives. For my photo server I am using a G4 Mac that I converted into a server that backs up with backup side drives. I do use firewire drives attached to my Mac that I uses final cut pro.

If you are running on only on machine then a firewire drive or USB2 system would make more sense.

I am looking at adding drobos because I can set them up on a network. The other device I am looking at is the HP mediasmart server.http://www.hp.com/united-states/campaigns/mediasmart-server/index.html?jumpid=ex_r602_go/mediasmartserver
What I like about the HP MediaSmart is that you can access it over the web to add files or access photos.

[cyberbronco]

This is funny.  I was scanning the forums tonight and clicked on this thread completely having forgotten that I started it.  Sorry I never followed up but in case it can help anyone here goes.

I found servers were too slow for what I wanted to do.  I was not able to bring up an entire Lightroom catalog and start working it like I could from an external drive.  It was great for backing up but not a solution for what I was looking for which was to be able to work my images from either a PC or MAC format and be able to work it from any room in the house having everything stored in a central location.

As it turned out my conversion to a Mac was not meant to be.  My Mac hard drive crashed 3 months into ownership.  It had been stalling and stopping almost since I got it and that turned out to be the reason why.  While I loved the great screen the frustration from the product soured me and since Apple would not accept a return I sold it.

Once your business reaches a certain volume an iMac is hard to use because it only has one internal drive. It's also difficult to have to be without your system when just one component like a hard drive fails.  I could see a Mac Pro being a good altenative, but not an iMac.

My solution was a new PC.  I built a new system with components from NewEgg; Asus Sabertooth X58 motherboard, Core i7 3.06 CPU, 6 gigs RAM (expandable to 24), 4 hard drives ( 1 for the OS, 1 for the programs and 2 - 2TB SATA 6 drives running in RAID 1)
I love the RAID setup. This way my backup is built in.  When the two - 2 TB drives gets too full as I start shooting more video I can switch to a bigger - faster RAID.

Sorry it took me 9 months to get back here to report.  I hope this can help someone else. Oh! And I did use a Radeon 6870 video card so I can always switch to a new Mac monitor when I go to upgrade again.

Cheers!

[Gavin Seim]

Too bad you had such issues with the mac and gave upn. Their a great machine for the kind of work we do. Even the idea of going back makes me cringe.