I can’t believe how much computer stuff I’ve done this week. After examining the backup / data protection / file sharing system at the studio I made the decision that I wasn’t comfortable with the level of reliability that we had. That meant upgrades, which meant shopping [which I love]. The bad thing is, shopping for server hardware, hard drives, eSata enclosures, etc… is not nearly as fun as say… a new lens.

For those that care [photographers, nerds, and Joe] the final *rock solid* setup is as follows ::

• Mac Pro Dual 2.66ghz machine running OSX Leopard Server
• (3) Internal 1TB SATA drives
• (1) Sans digital eSata JBOD external enclosure with…
• (3) More Internal 1TB SATA drives to be used as backup

The other big change is that no files will be stored on local computers anymore. The backup strategy when trying to configure for each internal + external drive in each workstation is a nightmare, and one missed keystroke or program that fails to launch and the data isn’t being backed up properly. So, as of now all files will be located on the server and worked on via Gigabit network. It’s still REALLY fast. Then, twice a day, the server will perform backups of its drives to the external drives at 3Gbit/sec, so it shouldn’t take long at all.

As a side note, I’m still having trouble configuring Leopard Server, so if anyone knows anything about it, I’d LOVE the help. I have no idea what I’m doing.

Hopefully this will all be over soon…

Matt

Kessler started working at the studio today. It’s going to be the most productive summer ever if she doesn’t want to kill me a week in… This, I believe, will be the biggest test of our relationship yet. Even a bigger test than discussions about getting a cabin (which I insist on, and she will have none of) or the time when she called me ‘plumpy’ which in her defense is factually accurate.

We decided to end the day with a TTV photoshoot using the wonderful $10 Kodak Duaflex I bought at National Camera and Video.

Enjoy!

That you could get Strep Throat as an adult and that when you do it will hurt like 10 times as bad as when you had it as a kid? I didn’t either, but I do now. So for everyone that I’ve been around in the last few days, if you start to get a sore throat, please go see your family physician. And by all means… do NOT try to cure it with beer like I did.

I’m leaving for LA on Wednesday and hopefully I’ll be better by then. I’ve got a few shoots out there and reservations at Matsuhisa which I’m so excited about I can’t stand it.  Anyway, stay healthy and more blogging soon hopefully.