Best cheapest raid system solution for mac pro

[Michael Gissing]

I would suspect that the cheapest way is to internally RAID. I have a four drive internal 4.5TB RAID which is fast enough to do Uncompressed HD and cost very little.

[Shane Ross]

YOu want a RAID and backup. Do you mean a PROTECTED RAID like Raid 5 or 6? Or a RAID for speed, and then drives for backup? You won’t get RAID 5 internally without the Apple or CalDigit Raid cards. But then you can only RAID together 3 drives. You want cheap, and fast, and backup?

Shane

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[Rob Fourchalk]

I would like a raid for speed and then drives for backup. Would this not be achieved by Raid 0 and 1 with (if I maxed out my internal drive bays) 3 drives Raiding at 0 and the one last drive Raiding at 1 mirroring or backing up files, data.

The thing is I’m setting up my mac pro to be editing wedding videography (business) in hdv and want it to run as fast as possible (and cheapest – money is tight starting out the business with all other expenses) while backing up everything in case the original drive goes kapootz.

I’m I slightly off track here or would raid 5 with a raid card be best (yet more expensive- yikes).

[David Roth weiss]

Forget RAID 1, it’s not suitable for video.

The cheapest solution for you would be (2) 1Tb hard drives striped as RAID 0, and a single 2Tb drive to backup that up to.

Backups are not a constantly nagging and ongoing issue that’s so demanding that it can’t simply be done manually. You capture new video and back it up that night while you sleep, and you’re done. And when you acquire new material, or audio, or graphics, you back them up too. But, that’s about it…

It’s your FCP project files that you need to back up often, and that’s no big deal, it can be backed up to a thumb drive or a DVD.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles
https://www.drwfilms.com

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A forum host of Creative COW’s Business & Marketing and Apple Final Cut Pro forums. Formerly host of the Apple Final Cut Basics, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.

[Rob Fourchalk]

That sounds like it would suit my basic needs David. Thanks. Probably a stupid question but couldn’t I just back up my FCP project files on the 2tb backup drive which you speak of?

[David Roth weiss]

[Rob Fourchalk] “couldn’t I just back up my FCP project files on the 2tb backup drive which you speak of?”

You can… But, most usually want them safely stored off of the computer. A thumb drive is mighty convenient for that purpose.

Personally, I back up all of my project files to my MobileMe iDisk, to a thumb drive, and to another computer.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles
https://www.drwfilms.com

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

A forum host of Creative COW’s Business & Marketing and Apple Final Cut Pro forums. Formerly host of the Apple Final Cut Basics, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.

[Rob Fourchalk]

Gotch ya. Lastly, would you recommend backing up to the 2tb internal drive with time machine or just, as you mentioned, manually?

[David Roth weiss]

If you’re a one man band just backup manually, and hope you never have use the backup.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles
https://www.drwfilms.com

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

A forum host of Creative COW’s Business & Marketing and Apple Final Cut Pro forums. Formerly host of the Apple Final Cut Basics, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.

[Jason Porthouse]

I have 3 of the 4 internal bays in my Mac Pro RAIDed as Raid 0 for speed. Plenty fast for 90% of my needs.

I then backup media to bare drives, bought cheaply and attached using one of the caddies you can buy – mine is USB2 but there are Firewire 800 and SATA versions. But as it’s an overnight thing, it’s no biggie for me. The bare drives then get put back in their antistat wrappers and stored, remembering to spin them up and run a check every couple of months or so. FCP projects get backed up to thumb drives as well as another attached drive, so 3 copies in all.

I can be un and running reasonably quickly – not as good as RAID 5 but cheaper. For the work I do it suits me fine.

Jason

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[Rob Fourchalk]

Hi Jason. Couple questions about your set up. Actually I’ll just fill you in on what I’d like to do. Firstly, right now I have a 1tb drive (main drive for programs etc..), and I have for my 2nd drive a 2tb drive (both drives the stock Serial ATA’s). I would like to add (2) more 2tb hard drives (different brand from macsales.com) to fill all bays.

Questions: If I’m going to raid 0 my 2nd 3rd and 4th drives together, do they all need to have the same capacity (eg all need to be 1tb drives or all need to be 2tb drives)?

Next question: is it ok to mix with different hard drive brands together (eg https://eshop.macsales.com/item/Hitachi/0S02861/ with my stocked hard drives?

Thanks….