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Bob Zelin: your advice please
Hey Bob,
I’ve been looking at getting external raids for a couple of workstations that are used for editing, sound design and motion graphics using a ProRes 422/HQ/4444 workflow mixed with some AVCHD. Last year I had worked off of a G-Speed Q for a few months connected via a G-speed quad esata card and didn’t have any major issues. However, I see from your previous posts that you say that these aren’t reliable. I would be using an internal raid-0 stripe as backup, but I don’t want to rely on my primary raid for stability if it’s likely to burn out or slow down significantly in reads once it reaches 70% capacity. I’ve seen your recommendations for reliable units, but they’re all ATTO SAS based solutions. Do you feel that something like the G-speed ES (non-pro) utilizing one of the ~$300 esata cards is also an inherently unreliable system? Also, are there any esata cards that support scrubbing for raid-5?
I know that you’ve mentioned Sonnet as a reliable brand, but how do you feel about their esata solutions, the Fusion R400S and the Fusion R800?
Lastly, how do you feel about the Proavio sas 8 drive EditBOX if configured with enterprise or enterprise-class drives as RAID-6?
Thanks!
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8 Replies
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are you working on a Thunderbolt based Mac computer ?
Why not try the new G-Tech G-Dock ev ?Every brand you mentioned – G-Tech, ProAvio, and Sonnet, all support the ATTO or Areca host adaptor cards. The combination of these are all reliable products. When you introduce a Highpoint as a host adaptor, or a Silicon Image based eSATA host adaptor, you are just looking for trouble. Do they work – sure they work, but reliability is the #1 factor for me, and every brand you mentioned sells and supports Areca and ATTO host adaptors. And remember, these cards alone cost over $900, so there is no cheapo solution.
But the G-Dock ev looks cool.
Bob Zelin
Bob Zelin
Rescue 1, Inc.
maxavid@cfl.rr.com -
Hi folks,
Netstor is a good solution when you operate with thunderbolt. I wonder whether you get enough speed for uncompressed 444 with esata.
cheers
Rainer
factstory
Rainer Wirth
phone_0049-177-2156086
Mac pro 8core
Adobe,FCP,Avid
several raid systems -
Unfortunately I’m on a current gen Mac Pro, so no TB. I would definitely be avoiding anything by Highpoint. For eSATA I’d be looking at cards from Sonnet or the G-Tech card.
Yeah, the Areca and ATTO host adaptors running $900-1000 would provide the best stability, but I was hoping to find something more affordable to pair with the Proavio EditBOX enclosure. The ATTO H680 comes in at half of the above mentioned price range. Is this card something that could reliably drive a SAS RAID like the EditBOX?
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Brad,
I just replied to your email to sales@proavio.com. The ATTO H680 is half the price of the R680 as it isn’t a RAID card, it’s a path-through JBOD card. Instead of a single volume showing on your desktop, you’ll have several volumes showing on your desktop, (as many as the amount of drives in the enclosure).
Hope this helps.
Jonathan Schilling
Vertical Sales Manager
Proavio Storage by Enhance Technology Inc.
12221 Florence Ave.
Santa Fe Springs, CA 90670
Dir: 562-777-3498
Main: 562-777-3488 X106
Fax: 562-777-3499
Email: jon@proavio.com -
G-Tech does not make cards, they buy either Highpoint or ATTO, and sell it with their name sticker on the card. That is the difference between the models.
Sonnet uses the R680 for their hi end products. They use the Silicon Image based chipset for their eSATA cards. To my knowledge, there are only 4 manufacturers that have miniSAS cards that are RAID controller cards – ATTO, Areca, Highpoint, and LSI Logic (with the Aztec driver which is $100 extra). That’s it for miniSAS (Cal Digit has a card too, but it only works for their drive arrays).
Sorry, I don’t know a cheap way to do this.
Bob Zelin
Bob Zelin
Rescue 1, Inc.
maxavid@cfl.rr.com -
Bob,
He emailed us & is considering the H680 from ATTO (see my reply above). It’s a cheaper way to do it, if he doesn’t mind going JBOD.
Jonathan Schilling
Vertical Sales Manager
Proavio Storage by Enhance Technology Inc.
12221 Florence Ave.
Santa Fe Springs, CA 90670
Dir: 562-777-3498
Main: 562-777-3488 X106
Fax: 562-777-3499
Email: jon@proavio.com -
Thank you guys for all of the info. I hadn’t realized that the H680 was JBOD-only. I need RAID-5 or 6 so that card is out for me unless I choose to go with a quad-drive multi-interface unit, in which case I’ll use that card and a min-SAS eSATA fan cable to boost the speeds like mentioned in one of the threads below.
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Brad,
Check your latest email. How Newegg can offer the Areca 1223X card for $549.00 I don’t know, but that’s the way to go.
Jonathan Schilling
Vertical Sales Manager
Proavio Storage by Enhance Technology Inc.
12221 Florence Ave.
Santa Fe Springs, CA 90670
Dir: 562-777-3498
Main: 562-777-3488 X106
Fax: 562-777-3499
Email: jon@proavio.com
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