Premiere Pro w/ mac+PC setup

[matteusclement]

I am shooting a documentary for the first time.
I will be using Mac and PC computers.
Both have CS5.5.
The PC is stationary and the Mac comes with me on the road.
I am shooting DSLR (canon).

Can I make it so that My projects on my laptop sync with my projects on my PC when I come back from my trip?

I will be using a shared raid0 4 bay enclosure with FW800 + esata for all the footage, titles, etc.

 

[wonderspark]

Should work fine if you maintain a few rules:
- Files and folders should not have any odd characters like a slash (/) and such.
- Media storage should be formatted to Windows NTFS, and get Tuxera NTFS for the Mac to read/write on the drive.
- Test it out before you fly it for real, so you don't run into any surprises.

I have done this with CS3 and CS5, and it works great. CS5.5 should also work great, but... TEST FIRST!

 

[matteusclement]

So do you just keep overwriting the old files, sequences, etc on the central hard drive?

I might have a 4bay raid 10 for storage for speed and redundancy. Don't think there will be a conflict with the PC/Mac issue do you?

 

[wonderspark]

Well, most files will not be overwritten. Your media files from the camera, etc. will all be left alone. The only file I ever overwrite is the project file, and the sequences are in the project file, so as you update the project, that file grows.

I'd keep all the files on the RAID, and keep a backups of the project file on the laptop and PC, so you have it in three places. (I have a project file folder that has all my older versions of the project in case of disaster, but rarely do I ever use them.) I'm a bit cautious, but you should also keep another complete backup of everything on another drive, perhaps on the PC since it's the home base. RAID 10 isn't meant to replace another physical backup. If you accidentally delete something, it mirrors your deletion and you're S.O.L. I've seen it happen!

As long as you set up the format and file folders right, you should have no problem going back and forth between Mac and PC. Like I said, I have Tuxera NTFS on my Mac, which reads and writes NTFS files just fine. Where it gets iffy is how you organize the files to prevent having to re-link media each time you go from one to the other. If you change any folder structure between them, the links get lost and it asks you "Where is..."