Best Practices: Working with Productions

Productions can be saved anywhere just like if you were working with a single project file. However, a networked shared storage system is required for a team of editors to collaborate in a production.

 Productions in Premiere Pro can work on a wide range of available storage solutions. Because productions can work on many systems, Adobe does not validate compatibility for specific storage systems. Before purchasing or renting a shared storage solution ask if it has been tested to work with productions in Premiere Pro. 

• Network Attached Storage (NAS) systems usually offer multiple ways to connect. When choosing between options like SMB, AFP, or NFS always prefer connecting with SMB.
• Premiere Pro can handle translating path differences between macOS and Windows. For best results on macOS make sure the same volume name is used on all systems. On Windows make sure to map the share to a drive letter that is the same on all systems.
  
• Other types of shared storage systems that use proprietary file systems or client applications to connect can work with Productions assuming they provide updates to the file system in a way Premiere Pro can understand. Check with the storage provider to see if they support Productions.
  
• Scratch disks (Auto Save, Preview Files, etc) are safe to put on shared storage. Productions will set the scratch disks next to the Production folder by default and the location can be configured in Production Settings.
  
• Media Cache Files and Media Cache Database are recommended to stay either in their default location on the system boot drive or on a separate fast SSD directly attached to each workstation. Adobe does not recommend and cannot support configurations where Media Cache files are placed on shared storage.
  
• Like with traditional hard drives, a faster connection will generally yield better performance. A 1Gbps connection speed per workstation is the minimum for working in a Production. For greater than HD frame sizes and larger Productions a faster connection like 10Gbps is recommended. The more users working simultaneously in a Production, the faster the storage system and network need to be.
  
• Like with traditional hard drives, a faster connection will generally yield better performance. A 1Gbps connection speed per workstation is the minimum for working in a Production. For greater than HD frame sizes and larger Productions a faster connection like 10Gbps is recommended. The more users working simultaneously in a Production, the faster the storage system and network need to be.
  
• While it is safe to store a production in a consumer file syncing service (Dropbox, Google Drive, etc), doing so is not recommended to simulate a shared storage system. Collaboration with Productions is not designed to work with these services.
  

Server time and productions

Core parts of collaborating with productions rely on the timestamps of files as reported by the file system. With shared storage systems there is usually a configurable date and time setting. Always check that your editing system time matches the storage server’s time.

The easiest way to ensure this is to set the server to communicate with an NTP time server. If this is not an option, manually set the time as close as possible. Check the server time often to make sure it has not drifted. More than a few minutes time difference can lead to unexpected behavior in Premiere Pro.

Storage vendors who have tested Productions

Productions in Premiere Pro has been tested and qualified by the following Adobe technology partners:

• Dell EMC – Isilon OneFS storage
• Dell EMC – post-production workflows (PDF)
• EditShare – EFS Storage
• Quantum – Stornet
• Studio Network Solutions (SNS) - EVO

Technology partner webinar recordings:

• EditShare - Production, Group Editing, and Remote Workflows with Adobe Premiere Pro
• Keycode Media - Adobe Productions for Premiere Pro