chrsgrain
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| posted on 8/10/13 at 09:35 AM |
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Choosing computer help..
Hi all,
Got a problem, thought I'd consult to locostbuilder massive!
The wife is a professional photographer, and usual workflow is to get memory card out of camera, put in MacBook Pro, rename and drop images to DVD and
simultaneously to 4TB RAID external hard drive. No problems.
New camera has 2 memory cards (which each image gets recorded to in parallel simultaneously as a backup) which are now bigger, up to 32GB on each
card. Also, some of her projects are now 'unrepeatable' so we want to have full reducndancy where possible.
Plan is to take one card out of the camera, and go via the Mac (renaming the files) to the 4TB external RAID drive as normal. Other card we want to go
into a separate computer, rename (to the same names as the 'Mac' files. Then onto BluRay/DVD as needed. 2 copies of the disc, 1 into
fireproof safe at home, 1 to external storage (my office at work!). We want the second computer to be 'not Mac', and not be connected to
the internet. This gives complete redundancy, 2 different memory cards, 2 different operating systems and the files in 4 places (2 copies on the RAID
drive, 1 BluRay at home in safe, 1 BluRay at off site storage) and only the RAID copies would be edited (in a non destructive manner).
Whew!
OK - the question is - what computer should we get to do the second transfer? Its the ONLY job it needs to do, nothing else. Doesn't have to be
fast, images if transferred to its hard disc can be deleted once on the BluRay/DVD. New / second hand doesn't matter. Linux might be good as I
have a hatred of Windows, if we didn't want to be completely over the top and have different operating systems, we'd get another Mac, but
that would be v. expensive to just transfer and rename files....
We know nothing about PC's - any help gratefully received!
Chris
Spoing! - the sound of an irony meter breaking...
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mookaloid
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| posted on 8/10/13 at 10:01 AM |
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A pc is a pc so even a reasonable spec pc will do the trick.
If the photos are really important then the weak link in your plan is only using one camera - if the first camera doesn't actually put the
photos onto the memory cards then it all falls over. I would have 2 cameras and take the photos twice 
"That thing you're thinking - it wont be that."
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snakebelly
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| posted on 8/10/13 at 10:55 AM |
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Why bother with a pc at all? This is related to my line of work and for this application i would normally suggest something like dropbox, that way
there will always be a copy on the mac and even if it dies totally and your house burns down you will still have a copy in the cloud. The only
downside may be cost as im guessing you talking about a lot of data? You would need to decide what size storage you need and work out the cost
compared to another machine.
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britishtrident
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| posted on 8/10/13 at 10:57 AM |
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You can pick fairly decent second user and end of line PCs from Morgan computers
I have been dealing with Morgan for almost 25 years and never had a problem.
Software Google Picasa is very good at picking fresh images off an SD card or camera USB connection and cataloguing storing them to disc.
It will also export them to DVD/CD and produce contact sheets.
Personally I was looking for hassle free reliability and no virus problems I would load the PC with Mint Linux. and use K3B to create
DVD/CDs
Link to Morgan Computers http://www.morgancomputers.co.uk/c/407/Desktops-PCs-Monitors/
[Edited on 8/10/13 by britishtrident]
[Edited on 8/10/13 by britishtrident]
[I] “ What use our work, Bennet, if we cannot care for those we love? .”
― From BBC TV/Amazon's Ripper Street.
[/I]
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snakebelly
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| posted on 8/10/13 at 10:57 AM |
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This maybe worth trawling through
http://www.thetop10bestonlinebackup.com/cloud-storage
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chrsgrain
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| posted on 8/10/13 at 11:08 AM |
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Thanks all,
She actually has 2 camera bodies, so half the pictures will be on one body and half on the other, in case of camera failure! Camera bodies not writing
to their cards and not warning you about it is (almost) unheard of, card failure is a little more common (though they get 'retired' after
about 6 months heavy use to try and prevent this).
We've been thinking about the cloud and storing things there, and it is likely in future that we will go that way, unfortunately at the moment
large volume cloud storage has its problems. Cost and upload time are the two main ones. This system could be used with the cloud as another back up
though in the future, either from the Mac or the PC.
Mint Linux sounds good, will that do the drivers for the BluRay writer and have renaming software available? Never used Linux but would like to!
Cheers again
Chris
Spoing! - the sound of an irony meter breaking...
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scudderfish
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| posted on 8/10/13 at 12:15 PM |
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When you rename the files, how are you deciding what the new name is, and how do you ensure the same naming convention on the other machine?
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britishtrident
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| posted on 8/10/13 at 03:12 PM |
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Mint Linux is fairly easy to try just download a DVD ISO image file from the Mint website, then burn the image to a DVD to make a bootable
DVD.
Then you can boot a PC off the DVD you have created and it will start up in Mint Linux. Running off a DVD will be as slow as treacle but it
proves the PC will run in Linux. Once running in Mint from DVD it is very easy to install to hard disk, just klick on an icon and the
installation program will guide you through a few menu choices that let you install dual boot or Linux only. Mint Linux comes complete with
every hardware driver you might need and the hardware detection is very good.
[I] “ What use our work, Bennet, if we cannot care for those we love? .”
― From BBC TV/Amazon's Ripper Street.
[/I]
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