• Apple Final Cut Pro

  Which thunderbolt drive enclosure: HighPoint or StarTech?

  Posted by Noam Osband on October 17, 2015 at 3:03 pm

  I want to get a thunderbolt hard drive enclosure for use of FCP X. I’m trying to choose between two products:

  1 – https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc….html/mode/edu
  2 – https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-E…/dp/B00IFZN842

  The HighPoint is cheaper…..but the StarTech has a fan and a metal enclosure. The HighPoint one seems like a bit of flimsy plastic. I can’t decide. Any thoughts?

  Kevin Rag replied 10 years, 6 months ago 5 Members · 5 Replies
• 5 Replies

• 

  Eric Sternberger

  October 18, 2015 at 11:20 am

  promise…
• 

  Noah Kadner

  October 19, 2015 at 3:05 am

  Yeah why go ultra cheap with your precious creative work? Lots of really nice name brand RAID drive and NAS boxes out there with warranties, service, support, etc.

  Noah

  FCPWORKS – FCPX Workflow
  FCP eXchange – FCPX Workshops
• 

  Noam Osband

  October 19, 2015 at 3:04 pm

  I saw this: https://www.amazon.com/OWC-Mercury-Elite-Thunderbolt-Enclosure/dp/B00PR2YSZY/ref=br_lf_m_1001100051_1_5_ttl?ie=UTF8&s=pc&pf_rd_p=2238246262&pf_rd_s=center-3&pf_rd_t=1401&pf_rd_i=1001100051&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=02RYS1QQB2EF2WC5ZZ3P

  I just want a dual enclosure. I do wonder if it’s worth the extra 100 if performance wise they will be about the same. Any thoughts? Often on these technical issues, there are little things I just dont know.
• 

  Doug Metz

  October 19, 2015 at 8:12 pm

  It really depends on how you’re going to configure it – if you’re going RAID 0, then the Thunderbolt enclosures will likely be faster (assuming identical HDD specs).

  The thing about RAID 0 is that you trade speed for safety. If one of your drives dies, you lose everything. So a rigorous backup schedule is necessary. I’d recommend going with a 4-bay chassis and configure RAID 5 – this way, if one drive crashes, you can pop in a new one and the RAID set can be rebuilt – saving your data.

  I run an 8-bay enclosure configured RAID 6, which allows for 2 drives to fail and still retain the ability to rebuild the volume, FWIW.

  Doug Metz

  Anode
• 

  Kevin Rag

  October 20, 2015 at 12:10 am

  I’ve been using a Promise Pegasus R4 (4 drives RAID 5) for over 3 years now without any problems. RAID 5 is the ideal setup for editing as it offers both speed and safety. While it maybe a bit expensive, the warranty offered and the performance is totally worth it.

  Kannan Raghavan
  The Big Toad Films Pte. Ltd.

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