Desktop Storage Specs for DVCPRO HD

[Graeme Nattress]

A normal SATA drive without RAID will playback and record all DVCproHD modes. No need to RAID unless you really want to.

Graeme

– http://www.nattress.com – Film Effects and Standards Conversion for FCP

[Toke]

TeraStation with raid5 would be perfect file server, but current model has underpowered cpu, so write speed in raid5 is less than 50Mbit/s. I’m waiting for the next fixed model and then buy it.
It would be also nice to be able to buy hdd’s for terastation separately.
I have this funny superstition that I trust only seagates nowadays.
Well, with raid5 wd’s might be also fine if they have 5 years warranty.

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Graeme Nattress] “No need to RAID unless you really want to.”

ecca2323-

There’s many advantages to having a RAID. A RAID comes in handy when you can take advantage of redundancy. You can afford to totally lose a drive, keep working, keep all of your data, and sometimes, rebuild the redundant drive in the background while continue to edit. Graeme is right, it is not absolutely essential if you are working in the DVCPro HD codec, but there are advantages. It really depends on your workflow, how much editing you’re doing, if you edit onsite (ie physically move your drives around a lot on airplanes) and how fast your deadlines approach. Buying a more expensive raid will not only gain performance, but it might just buy you piece of mind as well. I know it has me. This means that whatever you choose, you must look for RAID3 or RAID5 capability. the best ones work with a dedicated hardware controller and an HBA (host bus adapter), but some people have luck with SATA Raids. I got in early on the SATA Raid game and got out about 6 months later after I almost lost a job due to lost data. I then went with a prebuilt, preconfigured RAID and have not looked back since. My situation is unique in that I often edit onsite and have to put my drives underneath an airplane and subject them to the likes of the Transportation Security Administration. If you are looking for external fibre channel raids, also look into Huge Systems or Medea products. Both companies have forums on this site.

Good luck in your decisions and don’t forget to have fun.

Jeremy

[Graeme Nattress]

Very true. I run my xraid in RAID50 for speed and redundancy, but I can play or capture DVCproHD off the internal SATA drive.

Graeme

– http://www.nattress.com – Film Effects and Standards Conversion for FCP

[Chris Elley]

Thanks for your thoughts and suggestions on RAIDs. I’ll definitely look into everything you all mentioned.

I am also interested in hearing Panasonic’s response to the non-SATA drive scenarios. I would like to really pinpoint what the requirements are of DVCPRO HD. At this point, I feel like my understanding of the codec’s demands is not complete.

Thanks again,
Chris

[Toke]

Dvcprohd has been edited for years and datarate has been very known 100Mbit/s = 12.5MBps.
What hdd speed you need depends on how many video streams you want to playback realtime when editing.
You can check hdd speeds eg. from storagereview.com.

[Barry Green]

Also, the requirements you’re looking for wouldn’t be coming from Panasonic, they’d be coming from the NLE manufacturers. How a particular NLE handles it will differ from NLE to NLE. So check with Apple or Avid or Canopus or whoever you’re planning on using, and check with them what the system requirements are.

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[Chris Elley]

Thank you all. I have since found great information that points me toward external SATA enclosures.

I found the following links posted on another CC forum as possible external SATA solutions:

https://store.yahoo.com/firmtek/
https://www.thedrgroup.com/DRaid.htm
https://www.macgurus.com/productpages/sata/Burly8RHS.php
https://barefeats.com/hard57.html
https://barefeats.com/hard58.html

Thanks again,
Chris