QNAP TS-1232XU-RP for video editing

[CinéMatica]

Hello everyone,

First post over here to ask some advice about the new setup that I would like to purchase.
I first have to tell you that I am a completely beginner at this point as I have never owned or used a NAS before. Please bare that in mind. But not new to the video business as in 1987 I got the first video camera on my shoulder. Started tape to tape editing in 1994. And bought my first NLE in 1998, and so on.

During the latest years I used a Sonnet Fusion D400QR5 (4 bay eSATA) as storage device for all my video editing on a Mac Pro 4.1 (early 2009). As this only gave me about 4.5 TB of storage in RAID5, it’s more than time to put this 10 year old dinosaur to rest and move on.
I am not into 4K yet, but I want to be prepared for this and maybe the even farther future. The footage that I edit for the moment is coming from my Sony XDCAM HD camera (MPEG-HD422, 1920 x 1080i, 50 Mbps).

Earlier this year I already bought a refurbished (read brand-new) HP Z840 workstation with the following specifications to refresh my editing suite.

Original HP Z840 build:
2x 12 Core Xeon E5-2690v3 / 2,6GHz 35 MB
256 GB PC4-21300P 2666MHz / 8x 32 GB DDR4
2x Samsung Enterprise 960 GB SSD
Nvidia Quadro P4000 / 8 GB GDDR5 / 4x DP 5K
Intel X520-DA2 Dual Port 10 Gbit PCI-e (2x 10 GBE SFP+)

Still have to be pulled out of my Mac Pro and installed into HP Z-840:
Sonnet Allegro FireWire 800 PCIe (for Avid Mbox 3)
Sonnet Allegro Pro USB 3.0 PCIe (for Sony PDW-U2)
Avid HBA PCIe (for Avid Nitris DX)

As new storage I want to buy a NAS that gives me enough storage and highspeed data transfer.
So here is what I actually had in mind. As there already is built-in a dual 10 Gbit SPF+ PCI-e card into my workstation, I want to buy the QNAP TS-1232XU-RP 12-bay rackmount NAS. I want to populate this with 12 (and a couple of spares of course) IronWolf Pro 7200 RPM hard drives. I am still not sure with which capacity, but it will be at least 8 Terabyte drives. If necessary I will expand the RAM memory to 16 GB . It will be setup as a single static volume in RAID6.

I will be the only one using this NAS, as I am a one man does it all shop. As single user of such a NAS is it then possible to connect the two 10 Gbit connections from the NAS directly to two on the Intel X520-DA card inside my workstation? Does this give me a double throughput of data instead of using only one cable? Or is something like this just not possible? Remember, I am a beginner at this point.

Then I also going to upgrade my regular subscription from Avid Media Composer to the Ultimate version.

And I have been reading about indiestor MIMIQ. Do I also need this when there is only one system connected to the NAS? Or is it just enough for me to upgrade to Media Composer Ultimate?

Lastly but not least a pair of good SPF+ cables. I need about 10 to 15 meter (32 to 50 feet). Any specific brands or specifications I have to look for?

I have chosen this entry-level QNAP TS-1232XU-RP as I don’t need too much bells and whistles. Just a larger storage device with more speed than before, preferable 10 Gbe, that I can put in a 19” server rack.
Is this what I am willing to buy going to work? If not what are my other options? Are there other things that I need to let this work?

Thank you all very much in advanced for your answers, advice, suggestions and precious time!

Very friendly greetings,

Ivan

[dolbyman]

search for threads by bob zelin for video editing recommendations

he also discourages usage of arm nas units ..as he has had bad experience with these (bad performance)


he also says, that 10GbE is plenty of speed for editing most 4k+ codecs ..not sure why you would need 2x10GbE for one workstation (not even using 4k yet)

[Bob Zelin]

hello CineMatica -
I will do my best to answer your questions. I am sure you will be insulted when I get done answering your questions. I am just telling you how it is.
First, you state -
I will be the only one using this NAS, as I am a one man does it all shop. As single user of such a NAS
well - you don't need a NAS. There is a lot of complex setup with a product from QNAP (or Synology or Asustor or Netgear). You could simply purchase a hardware RAID controller (like you had with your Sonnet Fusion) - but that was a port multiplier card from Sonnet (Silicon Image). I am amazed that this is still working for you. Most people have had them fail by now. But with this card, you would simply go into the Apple Disk Utility, create your RAID, and you were done. The QNAP is nothing like this. If you want simple, you can get a hardware RAID controller from
Highpoint, Areca or ATTO, put this in the computer, and run to an external miniSAS RAID array. While you still have to learn the user interface for the Highpoint, Areca or ATTO, this will be much less painful than doing the QNAP - or any of the other NAS products that are on the market.
But I am assuming that you are looking at QNAP, simply because it COSTS LESS MONEY than any of these solutions, and that is the appeal to you (since you have no other users that will share the QNAP).

Dolbyman is correct. Any product that is Annapurna CPU based will be a total waste of time and money for you. I don't know how updated your Mac Pro 4,1 is, but you may already know that as of this December, that is it for even a 2012 Mac Pro. macOS 10.15 Catalina will NO LONGER run on these computers - period. (I am crying too, as I own one that is updated and currently running
macOS 10.14.5 with a GPU card that supports Metal). Your HP Z840 is old, but is an excellent computer. The new HP is the Z8, and AVID supports other modern HP's like the Z4 as well.

For a single user, you DO NOT need Indiestor Mimiq. You can run Media Composer full, without any issue on the QNAP, as long as you are the ONLY user running Media Composer.

I can keep dragging this out, but to make a long story short - the cheapest thing you can buy from QNAP that will do the job is the QNAP TVS-872XT. This comes with a single 10Gbase-T port.
I don't know if you will use your PC or your Mac. If you intend to use your PC with the QNAP (as you are the only user) - you get a QNAP QXG-10G1T, which is a single port 10Gbase-T card (Cat 6) that costs $89 dollars. And you will get enough bandwidth to edit not only 4K, but 8K media. You are a single user. There is NO REASON for you to purchase a rack mounted QNAP. The TVS-872XT will sit on your desk, and run silently. This is not 10 years ago. Yes, you have to purchase all eight 7200 RPM drives that match - any size that you like.

You do not need SFP+ DAC cables. Tear out the Intel X520 dual SFP+ card, and install the QNAP QXG-10G1T for $89 and use a cheap Cat 6 cable. Even if you were crazy enough to purchase a dual port SFP+ card for the QNAP TVS-872XT, and run them into your dual port X520 card in your HP Z840 - link aggregation (LACP IEEE 802.3ad) does not double your bandwidth from client to server. This process only works from server (QNAP) to switch for increased bandwidth. When you create the LAG on the client, you have REDUNDANCY, but not increased bandwidth. With that said, the single QXG-10G1T in your HP that costs you $89 will give you close to 1000 MB/sec, and you are not going to exceed this, no matter what you do, over a 10G connection.
And all of this is enough to edit not only 4K but 6K and 8K as well.

I do this all the time Ivan. I only setup QNAP's for video post production. I have tried countless models, so I know what does - and what does not - work for your application.

Bob Zelin

[Bob Zelin]

Oh, the TVS-871XT-16G is $1899 street price with the 10G port. You will spend more money for the drives, then you will for the QNAP. Yes, the TVS-871XT is expandable. And one day, when you decide that you want both the HP Z840 and some Mac to be running on it at the same time - there will be no issue in doing so.

Bob Zelin

[CinéMatica]

Thank you very much Dolbyman but most of all Bob!

First of all, I am not insulted by your answers Bob. Helping someone, is not insulting them. I am actually very glad that you have responded and gave me some excellent advice. As I said in my previous post, I am a beginner on the NAS side, but not afraid to learn new things.

The old Mac Pro 4,1 is not going to be used anymore for editing. The OS-X that is installed on it (El Capitan) cannot be upgraded anymore the official way. Also the latest versions of Media Composer (2018.12.6 and 2019.6 ) are not supported anymore. Yes, there are ways to squeeze a couple of drops more out of this lemon that already is dried up, but I'm not interested in that.

The new storage device will be connected to the HP Z840 that I bought refurbished and at an extremely good price.

I will take a closer look at the QNAP-TVS872XT device and the QNAP QXG-10GIT card.
What RAID do you suggest with the 8 drives from the TVS-872XT? RAID 5 or 6?

Thanks again for your great explanation and time to respond.
Have a very nice day!

Ivan

[Bob Zelin]

for the TVS-872XT - a single static volume with all 8 drives. I personally always recommend RAID 6, but you will lose the equivalent of 2 drives in storage. So 80 TB will become 60 TB after RAID 6. RAID 5 will work just fine, but you can only lose ONE drive before you lose all your data. With that said - both RAID 5, and RAID 6 (and RAID 10, and everything else) is NOT backup. It is just protection against a failed drive. There is a little poem in the storage biz - "RAID 5 is not Archive". Live by those words.

Bob Zelin