Alexa just got thrown into the mix.

[Matthew Love]

Hey guys,

I have a workflow question here. I'll be strictly data wrangling here (still learning the ropes)

I have a new macbook pro that I use on RED jobs with with R3D data manager.

I'm going to be dumping footage from TWO RED MXs tomorrow from Red Drives not two G Drives.

Typically for this setup I could just daisy chain the two drives via FW800 and then run a FW800 out of the 2nd drive to the RED DRIVE and dump the footage (safe? yes?)

I just now learned they want to throw an Alexa into the mix as well (I don't understand why) so I'm going to bring my older macbook pro with a PC slot to dump those SXS cards with ALEXA DATA MANAGER, but what is the best way to hook up to these 2 G DRIVES without having to disconnect them from each one of the computers? (sounds like an annoying back and forth to be honest). I'd like to use the two computers since I have R3D data manager on the new macbook pro but obviously since it's lacking a PC card slot, there's no way I'm using a USB 2.0 reader with a 32GB sxs card either .

How would you experienced guys tackle this?

 

[Matthew Love]

I suppose ideally the best thing to do would be to just use the older macbook pro for the whole process (both RED and the ALEXA) ideally. I'd rather be able to use my new macbook pro for the RED though personally .

 

[Jonas Andersson]

One thing you can do is to connect the two laptops with a ethernet cable and make the drives read and writeable for both machines. But I don't know how good that is for the data managing programs to backup through a network? Worth a try maybe?

 

[Conrad Hunziker]

R3D and Al3xa Data Manager will write to any mountable file system, including over a network. I do it all the time - in fact its my normal setup. The difference is that I use mac pros and bond the network connections, so its double the gigabit ethernet bandwidth of the MBP.

You would definitely be wise to never ever daisy chain firewire connections. Its just a lot of risk. Also make sure to always use the power adapters, never use the FW bus power.

You are correct that more cameras requires more resources. You wouldnt show up to a 3 camera shoot with a single focus puller - so you should show up with more resources. Two computers is a start, by why not 4 G drives? Its a bit more cost, but really the only way to get the job done. I always carry extra drives just for this reason.