First NAS setup for video editing

[Enquiries]

Hi there,

I'm in the process of trying to figure out which NAS setup makes sense for my needs. We are a small video production company, two on site editors (in office), one offsite editor (work from home). In total we need roughly 160 TB to work with, which should last the next 3-4 years. I've been looking at the QNAP TVS-h1688X-W1250-32G-US, using only 8 bays for now with 20TB drives (Seagate 20TB IronWolf Pro 7200 rpm SATA III 3.5" Internal NAS HDD (CMR) setup as a raid 5. Plan is have the additional 4 bays available for future expansion. Using Samsung 2TB 990 PRO PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 Internal SSDs for cache. All using 10Gb connections.

I am an absolute newbie to all of this. Product support, drive speed, software, etc are all things I'd like to make sure I got covered.

I'd love to hear what is recommended or what others might use for video editing as well. Experiences, do's and dont's.

Thanks!

[ed]

It sounds like you're putting together a great NAS setup for your video production company! The QNAP TVS-h1688X-W1250-32G-US is an excellent choice with its 8 bays, powerful Intel Xeon processor, 32GB RAM, and PCIe support. Using Seagate 20TB IronWolf Pro drives in a RAID 5 configuration is smart for redundancy and efficient use of space. Adding Samsung 2TB 990 PRO NVMe SSDs for cache will help speed up your workflow, especially with large video files.

Given your 160TB requirement, this setup should handle your current and future needs, and the ability to expand with the extra 4 bays is great for long-term growth.

A Few Things to Consider:
RAID Setup: RAID 5 offers redundancy with decent space efficiency, but it can have performance overhead due to parity calculations. If speed is a priority, you might also want to consider RAID 10, though it offers less usable space.

10Gb Ethernet: Since you’re using 10Gb connections, make sure your entire network (editors' workstations, switches, etc.) supports this speed to avoid bottlenecks.

You might also want to look into the QNAP 74 series models, like the TS-474 or TS-674, which come with newer processors (such as the Intel Core i3/i5/i7 options) and can handle workloads like yours very well. These models provide great performance and flexibility, especially with their expansion options and support for NVMe SSDs, which would complement your video editing needs.

All in all, the QNAP TVS-h1688X is a great choice for your needs, and with solid expansion options, it should be a reliable workhorse for your video editing workflows.