[SOLVED] Does this data transfer workflow on my Dell XPS 15 laptop seem logical? Need advice.

[Robzob]

I posted this in another forum just now so forgive me if you've seen this elsewhere but I'm in a bit of a predicament and need all the help I can get. So I recently got signed onto a gig doing data wrangling on a film shoot. I am working on a Dell XPS 15 7590 laptop which has 1 USB C (thunderbolt) and 2 USB A (usb 3) ports. Essentially I will have to connect an external SSD with footage on it, and then copy those files to two locations: 1 external G-Raid Array (RAID 0 I believe), and 1 external Lacie Drive. Now from some research I realize that plugging too many things into a laptop isn't a great idea as the system may not have the power to complete all these tasks at once which is why I am looking into incorporating a powered USB dock into my workflow. The resulting setup would be G-Raid connected to my laptop through the USB C thunderbolt port, and then the dock connected to one of the laptops two USB A ports with both the Lacie Drive and the SSD connected to that. Does this seem logical? Is this a solution that will also preserve high transfer speeds?

Another little issue worth mentioning... My laptop has 1 USB C and 2 USB A ports. However, the G-Raid uses a USB C cable and the Lacie Drive also uses a USB C cable. So I probably need to add a USB C to USB A adapter somewhere in there as well. I've looked into this far too long and the whole issue is giving me a bit of a headache so I want to throw it out here to see if anyone has any potential ideas on how to make this mess work. Any opinions appreciated, thank you.

 

[USAFRet]

Who controls/owns all these external devices?
No, this does not seem logical.

Your laptop should connect to a "server" of some sort, via ethernet, and that should distribute data to other things as required.

 

[USAFRet]

Said "server" could be a $200-300 COTS NAS box and a couple of drives.
The LaCie and whatever else attached to that NAS.

 

[Robzob]

Said "server" could be a $200-300 COTS NAS box and a couple of drives.
The LaCie and whatever else attached to that NAS.

I'll look into this. Definitely seems like a better option although I'm not quite familiar with NAS systems as I've never had to use one on the smaller commercial projects I'm used to. Also, the production is supplying me these drives. One for general backups, the other one to be physically delivered to the editor.

 

[USAFRet]

I'll look into this. Definitely seems like a better option although I'm not quite familiar with NAS systems as I've never had to use one on the smaller commercial projects I'm used to. Also, the production is supplying me these drives. One for general backups, the other one to be physically delivered to the editor.

All that connecting/disconnecting has serious potential for fail.
Broken connector, dropped drive...yes, this WILL happen. You ARE going to lose data. And at precisely the wrong moment.

A "NAS" is really just a small PC, with drives inside and its own server OS.
QNAP or Synology.