• Storage & Archiving

  Moving away from consumer storage – Advice needed!

  Posted by Patrick Bateman on January 11, 2015 at 6:13 pm

  Im currently looking to upgrade my storage, and I have a few questions.

  Short version: I use a HP Z820 for online work. Media is mostly 2K-4K, finishing to HD. I need to have about +16Tb storage space WITHOUT using the internal drive bays. Something that gives me upwards of 300Mbps, relatively stable and plays nice with Windows 7, Davinci Resolve, AE, et al. What’s the best way? Thunderbolt on Windows? RAID controller + SAS Expander boxes? Any suggestions?

  Long version:

  I have a HP Z820 workstation that I use for online work using Davinci Resolve. Most of the footage we handle is Sony F5 Raw, 2K and occassionally 4K.

  I need to upgrade from USB3 external drives, since it just doesn’t cut it for grading or any real-time playback. I’ve been using internal hard drives, but im already out of drive bays. They aren’t really quick either (tops off at 150Mbps read/write according to AJA test)

  I need to upgrade to Hardware RAID solutions. Hopefully something 20TB or more (or expandable?)

  So, questions:
  – What is going to work best with Windows, the HP Z820 and 2K – 4K media postproduction? eSata? miniSAS? Thunderbolt? I’ve googled and seen a TON of options, a LOT of tech info that’s a bit over my head, and a WIDE price range.

  There seems to be a good niche for Thunderbolt expansion chassis, haven’t heard much confirmation regarding Thunderbolt and windows though. A lot of vendors flat-out say: This is for MAC only. Sad, since these seem to the the most simple version of what Im looking for.

  eSata/SAS expansion chassis obviously do exist for windows, but I cant seem to find much information aimed at postproduction professionals.

  The closest I could find was cineraid, specifically this one:
  https://www.cineraid.com/products/editpro_x_t08e.htm

  Any thoughts?

  Alex Dejesus replied 11 years, 3 months ago 3 Members · 2 Replies
• 2 Replies

• 

  Ryan Ackland

  January 12, 2015 at 10:13 pm

  Hey Patrick,

  We can probably help you out if you would like to give us a call. https://www.maxxdigital.com 714-374-4944

  We have a couple different solutions that we could talk about

  Thanks,

  Ryan
  Maxx Digital
• 

  Alex Dejesus

  January 21, 2015 at 7:55 am

  I have a similar question. Except that I have a PC with an Areca ARC-1883ix 12G RAID controller. Wondering what would be best for external storage, maybe 8 or 12 bays. I see a few units like the Sans Digital EliteStor and RAID Machine and a new item from Taiwan. Priced at $2000 or so. Which hard drives, SAS, SSDs would be best?

  Alex DeJesus

Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up