hey, I am needing about 12 TB of storage with it able to be accessed by 6-8 Mac computers in the office via network. we already have Mac os X server installed on the Mac pro where the storage would be kept at. We need to be able to keep this server on a local network only accessible by the co-workers in this office. We are a photography and video production office so we are needing to be to transfer data fairly quickly. What do we need to get this going?
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- Thread starter lmathersphoto
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Well, you'll want the 12GB of storage in a RAID array so that if a disk dies you won't lose all the data on it. RAID 10 is probably the best bet but in order to get 12GBs worth of storage out of a RAID 10 array you need 24GBs worth of hard drives. This will protect you from a drive failure and will also offer some of the speed advantages of a RAID 0 array. It will certainly be faster than just having the drives on their own.
Unfortunately the more drives you put in a RAID 10 array the less reliable it becomes (you increase the likely hood of a drive dying) so you'll either want to buy a small number of very large drives or split the system up into multiple RAID arrays or use something like RAID 6 (but this is slower).
You'll also want a backup strategy. How are you planning on making sure that the data is always backed up? Do you have another 12GB of storage to use to backup the original? Do you have any provisions in place for off site backups in case there is a fire / flood / other act of god at your office?
Once you have worked your hardware requirements then you can deal with the server stuff (which is pretty easy).