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Ext. Storage Options / Recommendations
Greetings fellow travelers.
Long story short – I recently inherited 4 Seagate 1.5Tb drives, new in the box. I’d like to set up an external storage array for them. My setup is:
Mac Pro 2×2.66 Intel, running 10.4.11 and FCS 2 (will likely upgrade to Snow Leopard & FCS 3 once I see some benchmarks on how GPU acceleration will work in the new OS and Studio.) Working in DV, HDV, AVCHD, and ProRes. The project this computer runs is a documentary-style project for the school I teach at. We shoot a ton of footage of the senior class all year long, boil it down to a 20-minute video for display at the end of the year (hence the multiple formats). Having upgraded from only DV to hi-def this last year, the internal 2GB of storage on the MacPro ran out FAST, which is why I’m thankful to have inherited the Seagate drives.
Questions:
1. I’m looking at the PROAvio 4ML for an external enclosure. Where I’m stuck is the RAID card to pair with it. I keep reading evil, evil comments about RocketRAID cards, in terms of Mac drivers & FCS & customer support. I know the CalDigit RAID card comes highly recommended in terms of functionality and support, but a $640 RAID card for a $350 enclosure seems a bit like overkill. Or is it not overkill, but rather perfectly appropriate? Alternatives?
2. Since the highest codec I’m working in is ProRes, would something like the OWC Mercury Elite AL-Pro Qx2, paired with a CalDigit FASTA-2e card, provide sufficient bandwith?
3. One last thought would be the CalDigit RAID card, using the internal Mini-SAS and using all four of the Seagates internally. But this doesn’t seem to be the best option. If I’m thinking right, one drive would be dedicated for the OS, “forcing” me to use RAID 5 for the other three.I’m thinking of setting up a RAID 0 – and yes, before you ask, I already have a backup solution in place so I can have the data twice in case of drive failure. though I will say that RAID 5 floats in my mind knowing the somewhat sketchy track record of the Seagate 1.5TB drives.
Basically, I have a $400 option that’s the lowest bandwith, lowest price, but could maximize storage space, a $650 option that’s all internal but the smallest amount of capture storage space, or a $1000 option that allows for maximum storage space & bandwith but it, of course, the most expensive – unless there’s a decent alternative to the Caldigit RAID card (in terms of functionality, customer service, and price – prioritized in that order).
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12 Replies
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Jason,
The CalDigit raid card is a hardware raid card. The less expensive cards are software raid cards. There a huge difference other than simply price. I suggest you do some additional homework such as possibly calling CalDigit to find out more.
Keep in mind that, other than the computer processors themselves, the hard drive sub-system of your FCP system is perhaps the single most important hardware component affecting your day to day editing experience. If you cheap-out and don’t get it right you will be kicking yourself every minute of every day that you’re editing.
Good luck,
DavidDavid Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.
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David – thank you for the reply. I’ve been doing considerable reading on hardware vs. software RAID, naturally, and am aware of the differences beyond price. I apologize for not indicating I was already aware of that issue. I was thinking of the horror stories of cards like RocketRAID 3522 or 2522, both hardware RAID cards, when referring to cheaper cards.
My concern is this: I spent the last year editing DV, HDV, AVCHD, and ProRes on internal, non-RAIDED SATA drives. The biggest pain in the butt was render times (esp. with Color) but if I’m not mistaken, that’s a product of CPU bottleneck on my configuration, isn’t it? I am hoping that GPU acceleration in Snow Leopard and FCS 3 will address some of that (taking into account I’ll need to replace my X1900 with something current, of course).
OWC advertises the Mercury Pro Qx2 as a hardware RAID solution over eSATA, with a 237MB transfer rate on the 6TB array (using the exact drives I’ve inherited) in QuickBench. Granted, OWC doesn’t tell you what RAID card they were using or what the drive config was (I would assume RAID 0).
The ProAvio lists the 4ML’s bandwith as 217MBS over mini-SAS in RAID 0, CalDigit claims up to 330 mbs on 4-drive RAID 0 arrays with the CalDigit RAID.
Can you see where I am concerned? I understand not to “cheap out” – what I am concerned about is value, as I’m sure we all are. If the CalDigit RAID makes the most sense given what I’m going to set up and edit, if it will really make that much of a difference in my workflow and time, then I will spend the money on it. But if it’s going to be “overkill” for my source material and not address some of my main issues (rendering time), then why shouldn’t I use the Mercury Pro?
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In case you didn’t understand the language that Arnie just wrote, let me make it a little clearer for you.
ATTO or Areca.
You can take these “specs” and shove them up your @#$ when your system stops working, and you have to deliver a product to your client who is paying your bills. Reliability is all that matters.
Unless you are a student making a film for fun.bob Zelin
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Now that I’ve finished making sure I understand three words, shoving specs up my @$$ and doing some final shopping & research, it looks like I’ll be doing with the ProAvio 4MS box and the CalDigit RAID card. None of the Areca or Atto cards seem to be able to beat the price/performance ratio of the Caldigit RAID.
I prefer turning to experienced users as opposed to salesman, figuring I can get a better ground-level feeling for what’s out there and what’s true in real life as opposed to paper-specs. I know posts on this subject are somewhat common, and searching through here found the most recent info being a year old. I asked because I wanted to see if anything major had changed since that time that I couldn’t dig up in my reading. I apologize for taxing the patience of more experienced users than myself with these questions and not making clear what I had / had not already read.
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Cal Digit makes an excellent product. When you shop for the “cheapest thing I can get” – that’s what you usually get – a piece of crap.
bob Zelin
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Every time I’m ready to pull the trigger on some kind of purchase, it seems like I find one more bit of info . . .
I was reading through the Caldigit RAID manual, and saw the instructions on how to install your system drive in the 2nd optical bay so you could use 4 internal drives for the RAID. I’m assuming the bandwith I could get from using the 4 drives internally will be roughly as good as using them externally in the ProAvio 4MS box?
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[Jason Scherer] “I’m assuming the bandwith I could get from using the 4 drives internally will be roughly as good as using them externally in the ProAvio 4MS box?
“That is true. So, save your money for an eight-bay raid later on. That’s a very legitimate way to proceed.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.
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This use of an internal setup – with the CalDigit card sounds perfect for me too. I realize this post is old, is there anyone out there that can still currently recommend this setup. By putting your system drive in the 2nd optical bay, do you sacrifice performance when using other apps (photoshop, ProTools, etc)?
Thanks,
– Chad
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Why not go for the G-speed Q without raid controller as it is built in. 8 TB drive with Raid 0,1 and 5 and quad interface, the brand is used by pro’s…. The G-Technology drive will be out soon.
Just a thought….
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